How to Transfer your Joomla Site to a New Server

It's been my experience that sometimes it's necessary to move your website to another host. Whether you had a bad experience and just want to get out or you can't afford your current hosting provider, it can be a stressful situation if you don't know what to do. Hopefully I can make the process a little easier on you by providing you with this tutorial on how to transfer your Joomla site to another server.

It's a pretty simple process, but you must do it right or one little action will make your life very difficult.

Here's how you move a Joomla site to a new server:

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Resizing Multiple Images using iPhoto

A lot of my websites have large photo galleries. Clients will send me hundreds of photos to upload to my server. Now we all know that all that memory starts to build up. I needed to find an easy way to resize these images with just a couple clicks of the mouse. Well, I found a great way to do this using Apple’s iPhoto! Here’s how it’s done…

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Protect Yourself From The .xxx Domain Threat

As you may have heard, there will be a new domain extension coming out this fall that will attempt to distinguish adult website from normal sites. The non-profit Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) regulates website domains. They announced last year that they will be creating the .xxx domain extension as an alternative to the .com or .org extensions. Their thought is that this would clearly define adult content on the web.

“The creation of .xxx will create a clearly signposted place where adult entertainment can be accessed and allow surfers to have a clear idea of the nature of the site before they click, rather than after,” according to a statement posted on the ICM Registry website, which is the organization responsible for .xxx domain registrations.

No matter what their intent was, this opens up the door for someone to hijack your domain and use it to either create an adult website or start a bidding war over your domain.

So you’re probably thinking, well I’ll just buy .xxx version of my domain and protect myself! Well unfortunately, it might not be that easy. Continue reading

Designing A Website For A Church Or A Ministry

Designing a website for a church or a ministry

I was born and raised in church, My dad was a pastor and growing up I was in church every Sunday and Wednesday without fail. In fact, church is where I decided that I wanted to start my own web design business. My faith and relationship with God is the one constant in my career. I try to make it a part of everything I do. I believe that the world needs more businesses that stand on their principles and beliefs.

So naturally I have a lot of experience creating websites for churches and other non-profit organizations. I’m often faced with the question… How do I make a website that will effectively represent this organization and all they believe in? I usually take the time to learn about the church and organization. It’s a bad idea, especially with a church, to assume that they will like whatever you create. Most churches and organizations have a specific vision and even if they don’t properly communicate that with you, they will want to see that on their website.

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Benefits of a Content Management System (CMS)

Benefits of a Content Management System (CMS)

I started using Joomla (An open-source content management system) about 2 years ago and it has changed my life! It provides an easy solution to most complicated problems that web designers face.

Content Management Systems (CMS) have really grown in popularity over the past few years with systems such as Drupal, Mambo, Wordpress, Joomla and many more. I personally prefer Joomla but there are certainly benefits to each one. The great thing about Joomla is the online community that’s associated with it. If I’m every in need of an extension or if I ever have questions on how to do something, I can always go to Joomla’s website and find the answers I need.

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What Makes A Great Design?

What makes a great design?

Have you ever sat there staring at your computer thinking… “I want to make a great design for my client”? It’s a thought that enters my head every time I create a web site or any sort of design. After all, what good would we be as designers if we didn’t try to give it our best every time we worked on a project? So that leads me to wonder… What really makes a great design?

Great design is pretty much subjective. What you may think is the greatest thing in the world, I may think is just an average design. So basically, there isn’t a definitive answer to this question. Therefore, you must focus on a few important factors when attempting to design something “great”.

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Welcome To The Big Fish Bowl!

Welcome to the official blog of Big Fish Media, The Big Fish Bowl! I’m excited to finally start this blog and begin writing about anything and everything related to the web design and graphic design industry. Here are some of the things you can expect to see on this blog:

  • Tutorials on many topics such as graphic design, web design, databases, domain activity, and much more!
  • Latest news from the design world
  • Rating some of the top websites and designs in different categories
  • And much more!

I often search blogs for information to help me out with what I do for a living and I believe it’s time that I give back. I want to be a resource to help others as well as create an environment for others to voice their opinions about the work that Big Fish Media is doing.

For those of you that don’t know anything about Big Fish Media, please allow me the opportunity to tell you who we are and who we got started.

First of all, my name is Brett Foster and I started Big Fish Media in the fall of 2009. After 7 years working at a television station as a graphic designer, I began working at an architectural firm creating 3D renderings and animations. It was there that I began designing interactive presentations and learning about web design and development. Over the next 6 years my interest in web design became a passion for web design.

That led to me starting Big Fish Media. Over the past two years I have worked on some awesome projects and met some awesome people. It’s truly amazing to see how passionate other people are about their companies and organizations. I think that’s what makes my job so incredible… each time I create a website for a client, I get to be involved in their passion. It’s a very unique experience and I wouldn’t trade what I do for anything.