Redesigning and relaunching a website

2020Media relaunched it’s website today – www.2020media.com

If there’s one thing that doesn’t change about the internet, it’s that it is constantly changing. As a web host founded 15 years ago, we’ve seen a lot of technologies develop and unfold across the ‘net, especially in the last couple of years. The hand-coded HTML website from the early days of the web are now a rarity, and developers, designers and end-users have embraced the CMS [Content Management System].

We’ve refocused our website and promote and inform our customers that 2020Media provides quality CMS hosting, with a special emphasis on open source. The open source stable of CMS software have taken a leading role across the web – over 60% of websites 1 now use a CMS of some kind or another. Blogging systems like WordPress have become full blown website development platforms, and specialist developer platforms like Drupal have become user friendly and widely adopted. There are also open source e-commerce and non-profit specialised systems that are equally prominent2.

Original Mini
Original Mini
New MINI
New MINI

Another reason to refresh a website is linked again to the fast pace of change on the internet. The Mini cars of 2014 still are recognisable progeny of the 1960 originals. However I’d challange anyone to compare a modern website with a 1996 example. So every few years it’s necessary to give a website a fresh look, taking account of modern fashions and fads, whether you like them or not!

With this in mind, and not wantingto end up on “Ancient and Abandoned Website that Still Work” we decided our own website was overdue a fresh look using an up to date CMS and the content needed editing and rewriting.

Like your neighbour the builder who’s own house looks like a explosion in a brick factory, our own build has taken weeks months years longer than planned! However there comes a moment when one can delay no longer and it’s time to publish (and be damned!).

newsite1There’s still a lot of work behind the scenes to update old links, complete certain sections (we do still offer broadband and servers!), and apply the various changes needed to get the best from search engines like Google and Bing.

Notes

1:http://w3techs.com/technologies/overview/content_management/all

2:http://www.2020media.com/shared-hosting/civcrm-hosting

CMS Updates

Updates for Joomla and WordPress users.

Today, WordPress 3.9 was released.

New features include:

  • Drag and drop images right into the editor.
  • Images formatted as galleries now show up in the editor.
  • Audio and Video Playlists.
  • Improvements to Widget editor and Themes with previews

wp-newThe built in updater will NOT upgrade your WordPress site automatically, this only works within the same point release. Contact 2020Media if you’d like us to backup, upgrade and test your site, or for just £12 let us do this for you for an entire year. See www.2020media.com/managedwp for details.

Joomla 3.3 is just around the corner.

An important change is that the minimum supported version of PHP will be PHP 5.3.10. Users who are unable to update to 3.3 due to the new PHP requirements are able to use the one click-click update, once they can update to PHP 5.3.10. You can quickly check this from your Joomla System – System information menu – last PHP Information tab.

The main features/changes of Joomla 3.3 are:

  • PHP 5.3.10 and above is now required
  • stronger password hashing storage
  • microdata implementation for Joomla content opens the door to better search engine experience
  • Replaces MooTools based JavaScript with jQuery equivalents
  • new cloud storage API

Read more on the changes at the Joomla Community site.

The Top 25 New Domains

TLD Domains Daily Change
1. .guru 50,039 10.39%
2. .berlin 45,772 9.50%
3. .photography 32,060 6.65%
4. .email 22,111 4.59%
5. .tips 19,784 4.11%
6. .today 19,745 4.10%
7. .company 14,587 3.03%
8. .technology 13,322 2.77%
9. .directory 12,287 2.55%
10. .center 12,260 2.54%
11. .solutions 10,834 2.25%
12. .land 10,347 2.15%
13. .clothing 10,283 2.13%
14. .bike 10,168 2.11%
15. .gallery 9,862 2.05%
16. .photos 9,327 1.94%
17. .estate 9,002 1.87%
18. .equipment 7,095 1.47%
19. .sexy 6,894 1.43%
20. .academy 6,606 1.37%
21. .singles 6,561 1.36%
22. .systems 6,552 1.36%
23. .training 6,069 1.26%
24. .support 5,887 1.22%
25. .ventures 5,472 1.14%

*Statistics are taken on April 14th 2014.

Up to date statistics can be found at http://ntldstats.com/