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Why the move to WordPress (self-hosted)?

After working with the DotNetNuke Content Management System (CMS) for over two years on my personal and several other websites, I finally made the decision to move to something a little less daunting.

Do not get me wrong, DNN is a very powerful system, but with the power comes complexity.

I needed something that did not require as much time to work with, so I started to look into WordPress.

I also realize, that the two systems are entirely different, and have two different audiences in mind.

DotNetNuke can be managed by one person, but that one person needs to be aware of several different underlying architectural environments. Having a programming background is also very desirable when tweaking in needed.

WordPress on the other hand, seems to be geared more for the casual user. Once set up, management of the software appears to be far easier than DotNetNuke.

In the following, I will attempt to do some illustrations in regards to the pros and cons DotNetNuke and WordPress.

By no means is this list comprehensive, but is based on over two years of working with DotNetNuke, and new installation of WordPress, as my new website environment. (I did run a WordPress.com (Free) site for approximately same amount of time… and I have a couple alter ego sites on WordPress…)

DotNetNuke

Pros

  • Free/Open Source
  • Very Powerful and Scalable
  • Supports many Microsoft development languages
  • SEO Friendly (w/Plug-Ins)

Cons

  • Complex
  • Windows Only
  • Requires Hosting Server
  • Simple Back-ups can be done w/Additional “Paid” Software
    – Depending on your Hosting company, Database backups may require additional purchased software.

DotNetNuke it is definitely geared towards an environment where there is someone or some folks that are willing to administer an environment where multiple technologies may be involved.

DotNetNuke is infinitely expandable with the various programming languages that are available to create modules and enhancements within this Content Management System (CMS).

When looking at the DotNetNuke homepage, you can see that many large corporations throughout the world use this CMS for their websites.

There is also a large development and support environment available for those that wish to use DotNetNuke, including SnowCovered.com, DNNCreative.com and the forums on the Main DotNetNuke website.

One of the things that I found very depressing about the DotNetNuke environment, was that every time I wanted to have additional functionality and something, it is it was either a great deal of work, or I had to pay for it.

I always felt that I was getting “Nickel and Dimed” for everything I wanted to do, including documentation and training.

A prime example of this would be the DotNetNuke blog module. Based in this day and age of blogs seems to be the quintessential format for all many websites.

WordPress.com (Free)

Pros

  • Free/Open Source
  • Very Powerful
  • No Hosted Needed
  • SEO Friendly

Cons

  • Limited Enhancement options
  • No Google Analytics
  • No Google AdSense
  • Might be Block by Firewalls

WordPress.com by far is the simplest of these three options presented, but what do you want?

There is no need to find a host, installation is nearly instantaneous, with a few clicks you can have your theme for your website, and you’re off and running.

With the free hosting version of WordPress, there is no advertising “things” that must be placed on your website, which I find very interesting, because I wonder how WordPress pays for itself.

Another Post, another time….

WordPress (Self Hosted)

Pros

  • Free/Open Source
  • Very Powerful
  • Google AdSense & Analytics
  • Very Powerful and Scalable
  • Multiple Platforms ( Wintel & Linux)
  • Very Low Hosting Fees
  • SEO Friendly (w/Plug-Ins)
  • Basic Back-up of the MySQL can be done with Free Plug-ins

Cons

  • Need a Hosting Server (Hosting Fees)

Because WordPress is open source, there are no cost associated with the base software, which does lower costs as one looks around at various hosting options.

I did research one vendor, that does have very low price, but what I found out was, the Advertised price was based upon an upfront one year obligation of hosting.

Once again the law of averages, for the hidden truth.

The ULTIMATE hosting environment would be comprised of Linux as a server operating system, Apache as your Web server, and MySQL doing the database backend, and the ability to use PHP scripts/language. Also known as, LAMP (or Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP)…

There are thousands of Hosting Vendors that could fit this description… that is beyond scope of this post to really get into that issue…

Many of these Vendors also offer one-button installation of WordPress which for those that do not enjoy the fun of installation, one can just click… sit back and wait…

I did not do this so I cannot comment on the validity of these installs, but if there were an issue there would be far more complaints than what I was able to see in various forums.

Install – WordPress

I did a fair amount of reading to make sure, that I was moving in the right direction of a WordPress install..

I did my necessary backups of my DotNetNuke website…

I even converted many of the aspx pages to HTML, and then integrated them to my temporary WordPress.com blog site.

My WordPress.com site was my secondary backup, and served as my template for my new website.

Having been a Wintel System Administrator for 10+ years, I knew I needed to back up everything…

Several times over…

I confirmed with my hosting company, CrystalTech.com, that my hosting environment was able to accommodate WordPress…

I also confirmed the default structure of my hosting environment.

This was going to be a “Bare metal” / “Fresh” install.

I downloaded and unzipped the official WordPress installation package, and uploaded it to my webspace, and ran the installation script.

The installation ran extremely quickly… I was VERY surprised!

I was able to launch my website install the database etc. etc. etc. without issue…

Now it was time to customize.

Note – Another thing that struck me, was the fact that the administrator interface for WordPress is far easier to understand, then what one would face with DotNetNuke.

I am not going to get to each and every detail of the various ‘things’ that one can add to their web press environment, but needless to say there are thousands of different combinations that one could create to fit their personal taste.

Conclusion

WordPress (Self Hosted), in my opinion, is the most flexible of the three environments presented, but this is dependent on how much you want to be involved financially or through development.

For a Single User with some General knowledge, but not willing to deal with the test technical aspects, WordPress.com (Free), would be your best bet.

For a User with some Advance knowledge, but not willing to deal with the test technical aspects, WordPress (Self Hosted), might be a consideration, but be aware, the technical aspect, might become addicting…

For accompany willing to invest the time and finances, DotNetNuke can be an excellent platform to build from, they can easily grow as your requirements do.

Additional References

Because I installed into a mixed environment, Microsoft IIS (WinTel) and MySQL (Linux), I was confronted with several unique issues with my host that were easily resolved with numerous pre-published documents.

As part of my website reconfiguration plan, I set up on a aseymour.com, with a HTML page, that included a metadata redirect to my WordPress.com site, so I was never really “down”, my content was always available.

But in doing so, I choose to install into a sub-directory of my main website…

At first, when one went to aseymour.com, there would be a quick redirect page, then to the new Main.

I had to get around this pause…

The Crystal Tech support folks were able to point me to the following document, which also used to redirect but at a domain level, which I hope to use, later as I look into Drupla and Joomla.

http://codex.wordpress.org/Giving_WordPress_Its_Own_Directory

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Categories
Announcements Blogging Website WordPress.com

Blog Crashed… Again!

To say that I am upset, would be an understatement…

I was trying to publish something for my Facebook group “Chester County (PA) Photography“…

Wanted to add a New series of Categories using the DNN Blogger module, and bang…

No more Blog!

I was able to recover most of my Blog Posts, and now, slowly converting them by hand over to WordPress.

It is going to take some time, but I have far more confidence in WordPress, than I do with the DNN Blog module.

November 15th 2010 was the last time frame when this happened…

and I was doing the same thing…

What is the old idiom…

‘Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me’…

So, at the moment, I am recovering my DNN Blog entries, and moving them to WordPress…

I’ve had enough…

Pardon me for my Blogs brevity in the mean time…

Thanks in advance,

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Categories
Chester County Downingtown Nature Photography

The Rite of Passage (Uwchlan Trail)

Snow Creek (2011)
Snow Creek (2011)
Walking into the unknown...
Walking into the unknown…

I had just dropped off my daughter at a birthday party for one of her classmates.

Now I had two hours free!

Before I had left the house, I said to Logan, that when I got back, he needed to be dressed to go for a walk in the woods.

When I got home, he was ready, so I grabbed my camera bag and tripod, hopped back in the car, and drove over to the Jones Pond area of the Uwchlan Township Park on Dowlin Forge Road.

We parked in the little lot next to the pond, and as soon as he was out of the car, he was off toward the trail. Nothing was going to stop him. I only had time to get my camera out before he was beginning to cross the small bridge.

At 4 1/2, Logan loves to go for walks, and it is always fun to go with him.

While I followed him, I began to take hand-held shots of the general area, which still had a lot of snow still stuck on the trees.

As you can see in the above picture, there was  still soft unpacked snow on the trail, and had already been split into two lanes. One for the walkers and the other for cross-county skiers.

I explained to Logan the reason for the two trails, and asked him if he wanted to learn, to which he said yes.  (If you are a skier, the conditions were great.)

The last of the leaves...
The last of the leaves…

When we got to the top of the hill, I stopped to put my camera on my tripod, and start doing some HDR captures.

Looking back down the trail, I was setting up a shoot, when I heard a small little voice from behind me saying – “Daddy, I have to go to the bathroom!”

Thinking the worst, I asked him to be more specific, and was happy to learn, it was going to be an easy remedy.

I proceed to carry him a few feet off the main trail, helped him get prepared, and began his first lesson in snow scripting.

Giggles and laughter were all I heard for the few seconds of the lesson.

When he finished, I got him in order and he was back up the trail.

I continued shooting, concentrating on the long shadows and contrasting sun colored leaves still to hanging to the trees.

Several minutes later, I hear – “Daddy, I have to go to the bathroom!”

“Do you need help??

“No!”

and then endless giggling…

Some late afternoon colors
Some late afternoon colors

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Categories
Camera How to(s)? Information Photography Reference Tips Travel Weather

Cold Weather and Your Camera

Snow Stream hdr 13 (2011)
Snow Stream hdr 13 (2011)

As Chester County was getting its first real snow fall of the New Year on Thursday and Friday, I was very anxious about getting out and getting some photography in, but was thwarted with the regular activities of life: Clients, Family, Plowing, Roads, etc.

But I was finally able to get out late yesterday afternoon, to shoot the little stream along Norwood Road heading into Downingtown, which was fairly untouched, except for a single set of tracks left by a dog and it’s owner.

As I trudged through the snow with my camera bag and tripod, I was reminded of an earlier series of comments I made on “cold weather camera tips“, and I thought I would revisited the post to single the content and to add additional thoughts and information.

Heading Out – Things that can slow down

Most people when faced with shooting in cold conditions, generally only think about what cloths and boots they are going to wear to keep them warm during their photographic adventure, which is very important, but it does not stop there.

Your camera also has moving parts that need to be included in your thinking.

The Camera Body

Before the advent of Digital Cameras, Traditional Film based cameras had many more moving parts that one had to be concerned with when working in cold weather.

On Traditional Film Cameras, the Film Transport mechanism and Rollers where usually the most vulnerable as the lubricants became more viscous and in extreme case, freezing altogether.

One also had to be careful with the film itself, because it to could be brittle, and break when being thread into the camera body.

There was also the increase in static electrical charges, that could cause little lighting patterns on the film, especially during the rewinding process.

With Digital Cameras, obviously there is no need to move film, so issues associated with the moving and winding film became less relevant.

In both Film and Digital cameras, the mirror mechanism that allows one to look in to the eyepiece and then see through the lens also has the potential of slowing down as the temperature falls.

Lens

The blades that make up the iris diaphragm or aperture of the lens and the mechanics uses for auto focusing can also be sensitive to the cold. These features may slow down, stick together or freeze, there by not allowing the correct exposure or focus quality.

Batteries

As the temperature falls, the chemicals inside the batteries used to produce a current, will begin to diminish, and at some point, the camera will stop working at all.

Ever have problems starting your Car in the winter?

Needless to say, I keep my batteries as warm as possible, and carry an extra set.

What to do?

The most obvious answer is to keep your camera gear warm by simply keep it near your body for warmth, and do NOT breath heavily on the camera in an attempt to warm it up!

This can cause condensation which is the biggest evil!

Condensation

As mentioned earlier, condensation, which is caused by the sudden changes in temperature, can damage your camera’s electronics.

This usually is a cumulative issue, meaning, it might not happen on the first time, but after many sessions.

What needs to occur, is the gradual transition of temperatures between indoors and outdoors on your camera.

Use your camera bag as a place to help in the transition. The bag’s cushions and partitions will help to absorb the temperature extremes.

It is also good practice to place your equipment into plastic bags as part of the transition and condensation control.

There does seem to be a debate about keeping the camera inside your coat.

Here you have to be sensible, and coordinate with you environment.

Remember:

  1. You body heat is going to make for a larger extreme when you take it out
  2. Your body sweats, adding moisture to the situation

If you have to keep your camera next to you body, use caution and common sense.

When traveling to your destination, keep your gear in the coldest section of your car, like the back and maybe even the trunk. That way, the camera can slowly cool down. Use the reverse when heading home.

In our house, we have a “mud room” area, that is not as warm as the rest of the house, but it is where I can acclimate the camera, before it reaches my office, which also happens to be a colder part of the house!

Other Cold Weather Tips

  • Carry an Extra Set of Batteries
  • Remove the Batteries until needed – Warm Batteries
  • Turn off the LCD screen until needed – Battery Drain
  • Turn off the Auto Focus feature until needed – Battery Drain

I hope you have found this posting useful, so go out an enjoy the cold weather with you camera!

References

– Andrew
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Categories
astronomy Chester County Downingtown Flickr Nature Photo Journal Photography Photostream Science space

2010 Winter Solstice – Lunar Eclipse

Winter Solstice - Lunar Eclipse - Composit 01
Winter Solstice-Lunar Eclipse - Composit 01

It was a cold early morning with a steady wind blowing across the area, but the night sky was crisp and cloud free!

While waiting for the event to start, I was reading various Facebook posts from friends talking about how the clouds in their area where making in nearly impossible to see the moon.

I was also using “The Photographer’s Ephemeris (TPE)” software program to figure out a particular capture I had in my mind.

Finally, at about 1am, I packed up my car with my camera bag, tripod and extra clothing, and set off to my secret location.

Driving to my location was very easy, and I was surprised not to see many people out looking into the sky.

After getting to “my” location, and setting up, I realized, “my shoot” was not going to happen with the event occurring nearly straight over head.

Oh well, I was going to get some picture no matter what.

What really surprised me was how bright the moon was!

I did take a few early shoots from “my secret location”, but then packed up and headed back home because the wind was cutting right through me.

At home, I setup again, but used the garage to block some of the wind, and I was able to go inside to warm up a little between captures, and have a beer!

Initially, I was able to shoot at ISO100 at 1/15-1/80 in the ƒ8-11 range, but by the full eclipse, I had to push the CCD sensory speed up to ISO1600, and focusing was becoming very difficult.

By 3am, I packed up for the morning, and went inside.

I was too tired to download my images, and went to bed.

After a night to recover, I finally transferred my 150+ images my computer, and used Adobe Lightroom to sort though all of them.

Even with a tripod, I was able to notice, the wind moved the camera just enough to cause many rejects.

I ended up shooting a 50:1 ratio, which is not very good, but if I had been using traditional film, I would have gone broke with processing charges!

Yeah Digital!

I did spend some time looking on Flickr to see what others had captured before I created my final composite, and finally posted everything to my “2010 Winter Solstice – Lunar Eclipse” Flickr set.

References

NASA – “Eclipses During 2010”

Flickr group – Lunar Eclipse December 21 2010

– Andrew
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