Blog Creation

I have already experimented Joomla on a private personal server for several year, and I have discovered the several problems about this setup :

• repeated security flaws in joomla CMS, at least on old versions, that I had to patch.
• personal server located behind adsl modem, then limiting data rate and speed of the site
• a bunch of hours lost to support server system , do updates, and correct problems

This time the plan is to do as simple as possible, using well known and effective solution. Thanks to training sessions during October 2013 period, Lionel Myska’s presentations ( webpatron.com) and François Gallienne presentation ( jeveuxduweb.com ), selection of technical solution have been very easy.

I have followed those steps to create this blog :

• Domain “recipon.fr” transferred from 1and1 to OVH. Done
  • I took opportunity to have everything centralized at OVH ( I had already a SIP land line there ) to simplify management
  • 1st year cost : 0€
    Domain name transfer, is free of charge the first year, when buying a new mutualized web hosting
  • Next year cost : 8,36 € TTC /year
• Domain recipon.fr reconfiguration with OVH tools. Done
  • IP address configuration pointing to my own server, mutualized host, etc …
  • Email alias configuration
  • One comment about alias : I have lost one feature when transferring from 1and1 to OVH : capacity to send an email by SMS. It was as easy as creating an email alias pointing to a mobile phone number, and that was done. Really useful for home automation alerts for instance, although SMS price was quite expensive. I need to find now a new solution for this need.
• purchase of a mutualized web hosting at OVH. Done
  • Low cost dedicated servers Kimsufi are not already available
  • This is a good step to put in place a new website before adding server complexity
  • Domain name transfer is then offered, then cost is subtracted from Web hosting cost
  • Web hosting cost : 28,56€ TTC / year
  • I don’t plan to  renew the mutualized hosting if I obtain a dedicated server
• Automatic Installation of  WordPress using OVH tools . Done
  • I have kept opportunity to host multiple domains or sub-domains, so installation is not to be done directly inside /www directory but in a dedicated sub-folder
  • From OVH management interface, “Modules management” option permits to create a framework using WordPress, Joomla, etc …
  • This tool is quite good, don’t hesitate to use it.
• Correction of WordPress installation problem. Done
  • My mistake, I didn’t have installed WordPress in a correct directory ( it has to be a sub-directory inside /www )
  • then I transferred of this directory to a new location
  • … and (we have reached the point, it becomes tricky !) modification of .htaccess files to have Permalinks back to work :
    “RewriteBase /vrdigital/” –> “RewriteBase /“
• WordPress system update. Done
  • Update to be launched from configuration panel, very easy
• Selection of a base WordPress theme for the blog. Done
  • I have selected Hueman
  • main selection criteria : free theme and responsibe theme, meaning website is adapting automatically to screen size (computer, tablet, smartphone, …)
  • Secondary criterias : no coding (up to now…) to change basic settings like color, font, format , I want also a leightweight theme
  • and, for sure, a theme I graphically like  !
• Work on blog aesthetic. Ongoing
  • I have chosen to select electronics as overall theme.
    This is not really new and funny, but I’m still an electronic engineer, then …
  • Graphical header creation using Gimp, still to be improved
  • Color and overall presentation configuration
  • I have not updated any line of code yet, this is good news. All the configuration have been done through configuration option of Hueman theme
  • Don’t hesitate to put some comments below about this site. I do know it can be greatly improved, but I need external opinions.
• Internationalization of website. Done
  • I have selected qTranslate extension to do so, because it is free
  • It enables menu translation on the go, select language automatically or manually
  • This plugins adds also options inside article management panel to enter different texts for the same article in different languages
  • unfortunately Hueman theme doesn’t seem to be fully compatible with qTranslate. Exemple : time and date are not correctly displayed
  • code update have to be done then 🙁
  • Refer to this post for information about modifications that have been done
• Writing of articles. Ongoing
  • A minimum of articles have to exist before spreading the news around the world
  • I have also to check that everything is working correctly
• Website transfer to a dedicated server. Futur
  • I have already missed first Kimsufi offers from OVH that were very intersting. I’m now waiting availability of the 4,77€ TTC /month server solution
  • having this one, I would like to create new services  ( vpn, virtual machine, open cloud )
  • a 500GB Harddisk is available at this price, which is far sufficient to use it as backup disk “in the cloud”, but with optimal security : no duplication of data around the world, access to the disk limited to me, …