caling all web designers joomla help needed!

[eastybeasty]

hi everyone :)

my hubby uses subsim and ive been pulling my hear out with web stuff so he told me to post here and hopefully one of you lovely peoples can help :):D


basically ive got a joomla site that i made for a dramatics company. ive used a program called kunena to provide the forum and have tweaked the colour scheme in this to fit in with the joomla colors (have tweaked the colours in joomla too)

now i have a problem. joomla needs updating. i have no idea how to do this really, ive posted on the joomla forum a while back but it managed to pickle my head! im worried bout kunena then not working right or having to tweak the colours again and i dont know what i did last time argh!

basically any help would be appreciated. i dont even know how to update joomla etc in a different place to where I currently have it online so any changes I make wont mess up my existing site!:wah:

[MothBalls]

The first question I would ask you is why does your Joomla need updating? Now would be a really bad time to do it actually.

Joomla recently went to a rapid release cycle (just like Firefox did) and the current release, Joomla 1.7.x, is an interim release. Joomla 1.5.x is the current LTS (Long Term Supported) release and it will be supported until 2013.

The next LTS release will be Joomla 1.8.x and it is scheduled for release in January. Even so, it's best to let that version 'mature' a bit before using it, let thousands of people flush out the bugs and test the security, as well as letting the hackers and script kiddies test security too.

With all of that in mind, if you update it right now, you'll find yourself doing it again in Jan - Mar time frame again. Also keep in mind there are major changes being made, the transition from 1.5 to 1.6 wasn't an upgrade, it was a migration. (Meaning the 'upgrade' involves exporting everything then importing it to the new install.)

I'd suggest you wait if you could.

[MothBalls]

basically any help would be appreciated. i dont even know how to update joomla etc in a different place to where I currently have it online so any changes I make wont mess up my existing site!:wah:

http://www.wampserver.com/en/
or
http://www.apachefriends.org/en/index.html

will let you emulate a web server on a local machine.

https://www.akeebabackup.com/software/akeeba-backup.html

the free version of this will let you make an installable version of your website, basically back it up and restore it anywhere, locally then you can tweak and play without damaging your live site.

[eastybeasty]

thanks oopsie yup daft error....i do mean migrate as my joomla is 1.5.something! I do actually have xampp somewehre but never really used it much.

to be honest i think my problem is i periodically look into joomla and modifying the site and trying to work out migration but i leave it so long in between attempts that i never actually manage to get my head round ot ir even remember what ive previously looked at! :doh:

yes it is migration i mean....i cant even get that right oops :oops: thanks for the replies :)

[eastybeasty]

i know this is a fairly old thread now, could anyone give me any other help please? even just soemwhere to start. ive tried looking on the joomla forum before but to be honest i find them a bit intimidating and not the most approachable people to ask for any help.......