You would think that working on websites all the time i would have an up to date site myself, the problem is, that by the time I've finished working on everyone else's stuff, i don't really feel like working on my own.  Contrary to popular belief, there is actually a life outside of the internet (it's true :D ), and whilst it can be really hard to drag myself away from the monitor, I make a point of doing other (real and tangible) stuff wherever I can. This is especially true since having children. The upshot of this is that time is at a premium and my own sites suffer, nothing gets updated.

So with new abandon, I'm setting out to update DeeEmm.com. It's been long overdue, but the time has come to give the site a bit of a spruce up. i did take a bit of a look at this some time back, but as the site is still running from the old 1.5 version, the main reason for wanting to update was to upgrade to the newer 1.7 code. Unfortunately the jUpgrade code prescribed by Joomla for migrating to 1.7 did not seem to want to work, however, there is now a new version, and the test migration I performed last night worked flawlessly.

At this time I'm planning to migrate the info over, spruce up the template a little, and maybe (maybe), add a few new features in.

One component that I've been using quite a bit on other sites is EasyBlog from StackIdeas. This will probably see it's way into the update as it's much easier to use than publishing these posts via the Joomla interface. Plus, it comes with all of the bells and whistles that you would expect from an up to date blogging platform.

In the past i've advocated the use of Wordpress for Joomla by corephp for blogging needs on the Joomla patform. I even used this in my Dolphin to Joomla migrator. But whilst WordPress for Joomla is a great way to integrate the familiar blogging platform into your site, EasyBlog is actually more feature rich and believe it or not, much easier for a novice to use, which in my opinion is the right thing to have when trying to get your non tech savvy site members to start blogging.

StackIdeas also have a couple of other great products, namely SectionX - a great (free) component for organising articles - perfect for the tutorials section here ;) and EasyDiscuss, a Yahoo answers type of Q&A plugin, which may, or may not make an appearance. I'm keen to replace the forums with it, but at the moment I'm not 100% decided.

So as you can see, there's things afoot here at the DeeEmm office, things that you will hopefully be seeing on the very near future.

Watch this space.

/DM

The DeeEmm Dolphin 7 Sitemap generator has just been updated. The update addresses an issue where multiple URLS are included within the sitemap.

Some configuration parameters have also been added to make it easier to customise the output.

Links from each module can now be easily enabled / disabled from appearing in the sitemap.

Updating is simply a case of overwriting your old sitemap.php file.

You can download the sitemap generator for free from our store - http://www.deeemm.com/store.html?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage_no_button.tpl&product_id=20&category_id=5

/DM

The DeeEmm Dolphin Tiny MCE Browser modification has now been updated to work with the new Dolphin 7.0.1 release.

This release is a compatibility update, There are no additional features or bugfixes included.

If you have previously purchased the 7.0.0 version, you will be pleased to know that you are entitled to a free update. If you would like a copy of the updated files, please email me and i will send a copy out to you.

As usual, support for purchasers of our premium modifications are all entitled to access to the help-desk for priority 1-on-1 support. General support, bug reports, and feature requests can be posted to the forums.

/DM

Just had a bit of a chat with James Tadeo, who has recently updated his successful Boonex support site BoonexNerd.net to run from the latest Dolphin version - 7.0.0. James blogged about the migration which he said went fairly smoothly using the migration tool that comes with D7, great news to hear for those of us who have still yet to update.

This got me thinking about the update to my own Dolphin site. I started to have a look at this a little while back - i set up a fresh D7 installation, which had a few issues as I had to reconfigure the server setup to suit D7. then I made a start with the data migration tool. I got as far as transferring the user-base over, but have been pretty busy since, and so have never progressed any further.This is something that I really need to make some time to go and sort out.

My main concern was that my D6 site is fairly modified, and whilst D7 does have greatly improved functionality, it does lack some of the mods that my members have come to expect. These mods are a mixture of purchased mods and mods that I have developed myself. There are also a large number of minor enhancements and bug-fixes that are hopefully now covered by the new D7 feature-set. the site has been developed over the past year, which is a nice and comfortable time frame to have developed a site this modded. Unfortunately with the upgrade, time is not that plentiful.

At present I think I will wait for the D 7.0.1. update to be released before revisiting the upgrade. I will have a look into rewriting the current mods for D7 and see how much work is involved, maybe I can temporarily drop a few of the mods to buy a bit of time.

Will keep you posted.

/DM

Welcome to the new look DeeEmm website. The site has been re-developed to match a change in focus for our core business, by redirecting web based enquiries made at our main company to the DeeEmm site. The promotion of DeeEmm as a sales brand is to both provide a location for the promotion of our web services division, and also putting an existing resource to better use. What was once just my tech blog, will now become an online resource for providing web services and products. Along with the change in focus for the site, the business aspect of the change will also follow, with DeeEmm will now be run as a subsidiary of my main company. The split setup will allow a focus on web based products and services to be maintained as a separate entity from the main company endeavors, and will encompass a variety of products and services ranging from basic web design, and website management, to more technical solutions, such as remote PLC monitoring, and embedded web based control and monitoring systems.

The new site includes features specifically geared toward the online supply and support of products in a digital medium, for both providing and supporting web based sales of software modifications, plugins and extensions, and allowing instant access to purchased products. The online store provides a convenient method by which customers can purchase and download products and the trouble ticket system provides support for installation and usage issues that may occur. We also offer a full knowledge-base of past issues for users to search.

We will also offer design for other mediums, such as print, packaging and photography, as well as other electronic and non-electronic formats.

The forums have now been reinstated, and subscribers also have access to private forums where dedicated support can be given.

DM