Build your Joomla site locally and faster.
Develop your Joomla site on your own network. You will be amazed how much faster you will get things done.
I am pretty stubborn sometimes. When I am creating a new Joomla site I will typically upload it to my webspace and edit things around to my liking. I have to wait on the occasional page refresh and FTP up and down constantly. Recently I tried out some of the more popular standalone server programs and was really impressed with how far they came along. I was able to install most of them in under 5 minutes with no complications. Editing sites was lightning fast and there is no FTP upload/download wait time.
Depending on what operating system you use, you will have two options I would suggest. MAMP
I use a Mac, so the clear option for me was MAMP. MAMP sets up Apache, MySql and PHP4/5 for you in a matter of seconds. MAMP is not a Joomla specific product so you will have to manually install Joomla, but it is a very polished product with lots of features and it is free for the basic version. The pro version allows you to have multiple sites and integrates with a dynamic DNS service so you can host sites right from your computer. Great for showing your client progress on a site temporarily.
JOOMLA STANDALONE SERVER
I also have a PC that I use for diagnosing IE issues. I wanted the same feature for the PC but MAMP was a Mac only application. Enter JSAS.
JSAS is a standalone server similar to MAMP, but it’s roots are with Joomla. When you install JSAS it automatically installs Joomla 1.0.xx for you. This solution took as long to install as it took to download. Maybe 5 minutes? Do you want a Joomla 1.5 install? Not a problem, JSAS lets you install multiple websites as well. According to the website, there is also a Mac version on it’s way.
So, by using either of these programs you will find yourself building websites considerably faster and more efficiently. Don’t be stubborn like me, try something new out. With the time you saved you can get out of your office that much sooner.
Tags: development, hosting, Joomla, tools of the trade, useful tips
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I agree, MAMP is definitely the way to go when developing a new site in Joomla. It really is a great time saver!
Just a quick question, because I almost always have trouble with this – what is the easiest way to move an entire J! installation from one server to another?
Hi Don
“easy” is pretty relative depending upon your experience level. In a nut shell you copy the entire Joomla folder from the old site to the new site via FTP/SFT/SSH however you like. Dump the database using phpmyadmin/SSH/your favorite tool, then reimport it to the new sites database. Make sure to look over the Joomla configuration.php and edit anything that might have changed, and thats it.
There are a gig-a-bajillion guides online. I might do this as a blog post eventually if there is a interest.
http://www.google.com/search?q=move+a+joomla+site+&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a
I have to say, SSH was the best thing they ever came out with. You can’t beat its security nor its reliabilty.