How to Disable "Register Globals" in PHP

Many content management systems (CMS) like Joomla recommend users disable a PHP security feature called “register_globals”. The default setting for it is controlled by your server administrator. If you have a shared hosting account, however, you still might be able to override the default server settings.

To accomplish this, create an .htaccess file (or edit the one you already have), and add the following line:

php_flag register_globals off

The reverse is also true. You can change “off” to “on” to enable register_globals when it is off on your server. Unfortunately, your web hosting provider still holds the keys and can disable your ability even to override it. In that case, contact your host and find out if they can modify the settings for you.

Joomla vs WordPress

Question: I’m torn between two content management systems (CMS). Should I choose Joomla or WordPress?

Answer: There are hundreds of content management systems and tens of really good ones, but two very popular ones: Joomla and WordPress, are often highlighted. The truth of the matter is that there are benefits and drawbacks of both, and the one that will work best for you mostly depends on your needs and preferences.

Joomla is a large multi-functional CMS that is highly extensible and very customizable. Your website could be anything from a storefront with an ecommerce shopping cart to photography portfolio featuring a gallery of your work. The frontend, templates, and arrangement of modules are all subject to your imagination. It can also function as a blog or news magazine, but in that category it is a sloppy second to WordPress.

WordPress was primarily created as a blogging application. Since then, however, it has grown into a full-featured news creation and management tool. With it you can have a single user blog or a multi-user site complete with user bios, advertisements, etc., all extended through the plugin interface. Installation, setup, and extending of WordPress has become very easy, arguably easier than Joomla, and WordPress suits those who do not need all of the extra bells and whistles of Joomla.

Search Engine Friendly URLs

In a previous post, we learned about dynamic websites. One of the drawbacks of dynamic websites that we did not mention was the incomprehensibly long URLs that often result. The URL to a page might looks something like: yourdomain.com/indep.php?reallylongname&somethingelse&sid003234.

Content management systems like Joomla, provide a solution that works fairly well. Relying on Apache’s mod_rewrite feature, the web server will translate your long URL into something simple that looks like a traditional HTML URL. The SEO theory is that these URLs are friendly to search engines and improve rankings.

Aside from that, a URL that looks like yourdomain.com/somethingelse.html is much more appealing to users, particularly if they want to find that page again and forget to bookmark it. It adds the appearance of permanence to your dynamic pages and will improve your site’s user experience.

Static vs Dynamic Websites

Question: What is the difference between a static website and a dynamic website?

Answer: A static website relies on traditional HTML pages to display content. Typically, a person will create the pages in an offline editor, such as Dreamweaver or even a plain text editor like Notepad, and then upload them to the server via FTP. The downside of static pages is that anytime you want to make changes to the site, you have to edit the pages and upload them again. It can be time consuming and costly, if you hire someone to make a site for you.

A dynamic website relies on a scripting language, such as PHP, Perl, ASP, JSP, or CFML. All of these languages employ server-side scripting. With Javascript and other client-side scripting, the browser is responsible for executing the script. That is why you can disable Javascript in your web browser. With server-side scripting, the scripts are executed on the server, so when you visit the site, the page is displayed as normal HTML.

The big advantage of a dynamic site is that data is stored in a separate database or series of text files. When you want to make changes to the site, you can use a content management system (CMS), such as Joomla or Druapl, and simply login to the site backend. Pages are created on the fly, and there is virtually no limit to the number of pages you can create. If you are interested in having a dynamic website, you need to make sure the web hosting company you choose supports the type of scripting your CMS will require.

Photo Source: Flickr

HostingCon: DemoWolf Releases 217 New Tutorials

DemoWolf is a web hosting tutorial provider that offers a wide range of tutorials on all types of hosting services and software. Their tutorials include: control panels (such as Cpanel and H-Sphere), PayPapl, PuTTY, Photoshop, DNS, FTP, phpMyAdmin, Drupal, Joomla, and many others. The tutorials are flash-based, offering both text-based and voice narration.

The tutorials were all for end users and resellers, giving them guidance on their hosting accounts, but now, DemoWolf announced at HostingCon that they are adding Server Level tutorials for people setting up dedicated servers.

“We are excited to finally bring Server Level demos to market”, says Rob Moore, President and Founder of DemoWolf. “More and more customers have been asking us for these and we felt it finally reached a point where it made sense from a demand point of view to develop them. This opens a whole new area for tutorial development… expect future releases to include setting up Parallels servers, and root-level help with specific operating systems.”

The company also added new Joomla Voice demos, including setup, admin, extensions, and end-user tutorials. They offer 3,600 tutorials for web hosting companies, 1,500 of which are voice tutorials. Their language availability includes English, French, Spanish, Dutch, Greek, Brazilian-Portuguese, Czech, and Bahasia-Indonesian.

Source: HostSearch

The Database Dilemma

One feature some consumers forget to look over before signing up for a hosting package is the number of MySQL databases offered. The most common type of database, MySQL is required to use any of the most popular blogging or CMS platforms.

One clever trick hosts use to keep usage down is limit the number of MySQL databases a customer can use. It’s not uncommon for entry-level hosting plans to have only one or possibly no databases. Because each CMS or blog installation requires a separate database, a limit on MySQL limits the number of sites you can run. Hosts may also achieve the same effect by restricting the number of domain names that can be added to an account.

Before signing up for a hosting package, make sure you have enough databases. Higher-end plans will give you at least 10. Of course, you can always use static HTML instead to get around a MySQL limit, but most hosters these days prefer the ease of use offered by a CMS.

Top Free Content Management Systems

Content management systems (CMSs) are great for websites of all shapes and sizes. They not only drastically reduce the amount of hardcode HTML editing needed to keep a website up-to-date, but are also easy to modify with add-ons and themes. Do a quick web search, though, and you’ll find there are literally thousands of CMSs to choose from.

Each CMS is built differently and may or may not be the best option for your site. Some content management systems are designed only for hardcore geeks, but have streamlined backends that make them great for large sites. Some might be easy to use, but offer poor performance, while others may offer a healthy mix between good performance and usability.

Here are my choices for the best content management systems. All are widely supported and respected in the web industry, but because requirements vary so greatly from person to person, the CMSs are ranked in no particular order.
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