I thought I’d have another go at checking some CMS software packages like Joomla. Joomla needs a web server, database and PHP so it’s not just a question of downloading Joomla and running an .exe. I already had Apache running OK on the Vista PC as well as MySQL but when I downloaded and installed PHP I couldn’t get a phpinfo.php page displayed.

Then I remembered the XAMPP package which includes all of the above and is supposed to work well. So I uninstalled the individually installed Apache web server, MySQL software and PHP, rebooted and installed XAMPP. Started MySQL as a service, from XAMPP, and that did show as running in both the XAMPP control panel and on the Vista Services window. Tried starting Apache and nada. I messed about trying to get that running for far too long and eventually gave up on the Vista PC and uninstalled XAMPP. I repeated the whole process on the XP PC and it all worked OK, including displaying the phpinfo.php page.

I copied the Joomla folder to the XAMPP htdocs folder and fired that up and it worked. Created a database and managed to get Joomla to create some content. I’ve been learning it via a pdf file which is so much slower than reading a book. Good point, how do I upload all of the junky contect I’ve created to a hosted server? Will I use it in anger? Dunno yet.

I’ve recently installed a statistics plug-in for this WordPress blog and it shows statistics like the search terms used for finding this blog and popular pages. The search terms included Palm Island in Dubai, not that I have ever written anything about the place though I have a picture of Palm Island, with that as the description, on one blog entry. Google Images has spidered that and hence I get many hits from some very poor misguided viewers. I’ve removed that picture so with luck after Google has done another trawl I will be removed from a search of Palm Island. I also have a lot of referrers from condominium sites in Florida. Go figure. Other search terms used have been about faking ISEB certification, for heavens sake.