Is it possible...

[Baddco53]

At one time I ran a site for over 20 years, www.thenightsky.org It was fairly popular, but I went through kidney failure and lost it, I got sick as the site was due, Thank You Very Much GoDaddy.

Anyway, I'm better after 3 months, and am planning on bringing the site back. My question is:

Is it possible to load Joomla, create/edit pages and view them without uploading it for hosting? The original site was strictly HTML, old school, and I could view/edit and check my work with my HTML editor before uploading.

I'm still looking for a decent hosting company, it will never be GoDaddy again, they left a nasty taste in my mouth. The site was about 2100 pages, So I have lots of rework to do, but nothing but time. And a huge hospital bill.

Anyway, I hope I made my request clear, and didn't confuse any of ya too much. Is it possible though to do everything locally, rather than uploading? And any suggestions for a good hosting company are very welcome.

Thank-You

[sozzled]

Thank you for a very good question.

The short answer to your question is yes. As you say, with nothing but time on your hands, it will take time to reassemble the old gear and integrate the content into Joomla. As we're unable to view the old website, I couldn't estimate how long this might take.

Yes, you can create a testbed website on your PC and play with it to your heart's content. There will probably be a learning curve to overcome—to configure the PC-based webserver "app"—and there are a few choices as to what might be the most suitable for you.

I have my own views about PC-hosted websites; you're welcome to disagree. viewtopic.php?t=925348

No further comment is needed about "No Daddy". There are several discussion topics about how to go about selecting a good hosting company on this forum. For example, viewtopic.php?t=947828&start=30#p3465365

I hope that you find, as millions of others have found, Joomla will be a good fit for your needs. Best regards and we wish you a speedy recovery (website restoration and health-wise).

[Baddco53]

Thank You

I'm going to like it here, Quick responses & Quick Wit. I do appreciate both.

I may be picking your brain from time to time, The meds really messed me up. I'm just happy I have a good woman who hasn't yet kicked me to the curb. Very Understanding.

[AMurray]

For server software running on PC, it's often recommended XAMPP or WAMPServer. As stated there's a learning curve, but it's OK once you get the hang of it, and a good learning opportunity too.

https://www.apachefriends.org/index.html
http://www.wampserver.com/

Personally my recommendation is WAMPServer; it's easy to install (like any Windows program) and you can upgrade easily the server functions such as upgrades to PHP versions (or have available several versions that you can easily swap for testing your site), and utilities like phpMyAdmin for database admin if required.

[Baddco53]

Thank You,

Now another dumb question on my part, The WAMPServer, as I see it, is not available in English, Only French, unless I'm missing something in big block letters like our Hollywood sign. Any help here will really be appreciated. My Dorkness is really shining through huh?

Thanks,
Larry

[gws]

Definitely available in English. http://www.wampserver.com/en/

[Baddco53]

Okay, I got it in English, Thank You.

Now though, after I download it, and run it, I get no results. I'm following these instructions: https://www.ostraining.com/books/je/pc/ I get to step 3, but can't see anywhere after clicking WAMP, www.directory.

Your assistance is greatly appreciated. Hopefully, I'll muddle through it.

Thank You

[Baddco53]

The instructions say I should see: Hopefully you'll see a white screen with the Wampserver logo in the top-left corner.

Instead, It says page cannot be displayed

[sozzled]

Hmmm ... it seems those "instructions" were written at the time when J! 1.5 was around (that's about 10 years ago) and I can't vouch for the accuracy of the instruction that states

Click on the WAMP icon in your taskbar again and now click "www directory"

Generally, however, WAMPserver involves starting three services (you should see the WAMP icon turn green in the PC taskbar).

To test that WAMPserver is running correctly, enter as the URL in your browser: localhost (or 127.0.0.0)

If a WAMPserver page is displayed then you've setup WAMPserver. As I wrote before

There will probably be a learning curve to overcome—to configure the PC-based webserver "app" ...

[bruno28]

Hello baddco53

try this : https://web.archive.org/web/20190330211 ... htsky.org/

At least you can copy/paste some of your text

[Baddco53]

Just my luck eh? It did switch to green, but doing the local host isn't connecting at all

[sozzled]

local host or localhost? Did you also try 127.0.0.0

CORRECTION: 127.0.0.1 (in my case). I was writing from memory.

[Baddco53]

localhost/127.0.0.0 I tried both.

I'm going to uninstall WAMPServer, and any instances of Joomla, Clean the cache & registry and start over, Maybe there is a conflict somewhere?

[magicdude]

I my case it's always 127.0.0.1 is your routher open?

[sozzled]

FWIW, I can use these PC-hosted platforms (such as XAMPP and WAMPserver). It's not something I particularly enjoy doing. For the reasons I outlined in that "article" I mentioned earlier, I prefer to operate in the environment where the "product" will be used. Sometimes people find that their PC-hosted website does not transfer nicely into a real-world use.

Others can debate the pros and cons as they wish.

Also, FWIW, I may have picked up some "bad habits" in setting up my various PC-hosted website development environments over the years and I wouldn't want to pass those along to someone else without putting that disclaimer out there.

[Baddco53]

Not a problem with the bad habits, I have my own. The worst being that I rarely read instructions. I always feel, and always get in trouble, by thinking it's a Windows program..just click and run.

This one has me stumped so far. Reason everything is being uninstalled and starting fresh. It might help. I might end up looking dumber than a box of hair.

Thank You though for all your help, it is appreciated.

[Baddco53]

I am really baffled by things I've read though, do I install WAMP first, and Joomla into that, or the other way around? Or am I just totally messed up?

[ribo]

Do you use skype? If you use it change port 80 of skype as wamp server uses port 80 too.

[sozzled]

@Baddco53: @ribo makes a good comment.

If you think I may be able to help you, perhaps it's something we can workshop via videoconference over a cup of coffee. If that idea appeals to you (and you'll accept we may fumble around a bit), you may contact me via PM or email (whichever works best for you) and we can make arrangements to see what we can do together. I'm not promising anything more than about a half-hour of our time. Back to you.

Yes, you install WAMPserver, configure it, make sure that Windows Firewall doesn't get in the way, and then you install Joomla after that.

[Baddco53]

I do use Skype, but got no clue as to where to change port numbers. Will that affect my contacts?

[ribo]

Will that affect my contacts?

No will not affect your contacts

[sozzled]

I use Skype, too (that's how I videoconference). I can't recall if I changed the port number to remove the conflict. Just saying.

[ribo]

I do use Skype, but got no clue as to where to change port numbers.

Please check how to do it https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/sky ... a9f7daa0ab

[ribo]

I use Skype, too (that's how I videoconference). I can't recall if I changed the port number to remove the conflict. Just saying.

If skype uses port 80 then it conflict wamp server. Tested many years before.

[Baddco53]

I just may contact you, thought of it earlier, but my schedule sucks right now.

Working on this, my brother-in-law picked up a couple cats, they keep jumping through the screen porch trying to get birds/squirrels. I told him the quickest fix is lead poisoning..shoot it. He didn't appreciate the idea. I wish I lived in Australia like you, isn't there a bounty on them? I could get rich fast.

[sozzled]

@Baddco53: As you wish. It's your time after all.

[Baddco53]

I truly appreciate the offer, but right now I'm just totally confused. Give me a week to regroup.
I uninstalled everything, cleared cache, cleaned registry, and didn't get as far as I did yesterday. When I attempt to run Joomla, absolutely nothing shows. I can't even go to uninstall it. It's like nothing is there
Could it be because I'm running Windows 7, not Windows 10?
Would I be better off doing the launch mode rather than downloading it?

Baffled In Floriduh

[sozzled]

As I wrote before, we can go back and forth over this on the forum or we could probably clear it up over a cup of coffee.

• Has nothing to do with what flavour of Windows you may be running.
• There are pluses and minuses about developing a website locally on a PC.
• I don't know what you've done.
• We all learn in different ways.

[Baddco53]

Point made, I'll go back to my corner.
Thank You for all your help & time though. It is very much appreciated.