Several years ago, I wrote an extensive article on creating a WIMP development stack (Windows, IIS, MySQL, PHP) and it’s been quite popular here on the site. I’ve meant to do an update for awhile now and finally got around to it this week! This time around, I decided to do a video demonstration on…
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Five WordPress Plugins That Will Enhance Your Website
WordPress is the most popular Content Management System, powering approximately a third of the world’s websites in September 2019 according to W3Techs.com. One of its advantages is the ability to quickly add almost any necessary features through the installation of plugins. The WordPress marketplace includes over 50,000 plugins, many of which are free to download…
Managing Your Organization’s Contacts with CiviCRM
(Previously published on OcalaITPros.com) Whether you’re selling products, managing a non-profit or running a political campaign, one of the most important things you do is to manage relationships with other people. Your ability to maintain your organization’s contact database, whether it contains potential customers or donors, is essential to your operations. Many organizations use various…
Things I Learned About CiviCRM This Week
I was introduced to CiviCRM a few years ago when a new customer needed a replacement for an old poorly designed database solution and needed it quickly. After getting quotes starting at $10,000 for systems supposedly designed for non-profits, I stumbled on CiviCRM which was free, open source and seemed to have a good community…
Coming in 2019 – CodeScholar Software Development Training!
A simple Google search turns up hundreds of options for learning programming, many free, but where do you start? There are many excellent reference sites and YouTube channels out there but many focus on the mechanics of a single language without explaining the broader concepts and best practices. Many are written by developers for (aspiring) developers and might leave…
How To Create a Local WordPress site with XAMPP
XAMPP is one of many AMP software stacks (Apache – MySQL – PHP) that can be used to create a local web development environment for design and testing. It automatically installs and configures Apache as a web server so that you can view your pages through http://localhost, MySQL as a database server for website data…
Screen Rapidly Flashes On and Off After Windows 7 Update
Problem After installing updates in Windows 7, I found that my primary display flashed on and off rapidly and I was unable to activate any menus on the screen. My extended display, powered by a StarTech USB to VGA Adapter, remained off even though the drivers were properly installed and everything had been working prior…
Installing MySQL on Mac OS X El Capitan
A few months ago, I wrote about how to install MySQL on Windows with IIS. Now I want to show you how to create an AMP web programming stack (Apache, MySQL & PHP) on Mac OS X. As with Windows, you could just go with a ready-made development environment like MAMP but, if you’re going to be…
On the Importance of Backups and Storage Decisions
I admit it’s a little bit of a geek thing but I’m in the habit of wiping and reloading my computer systems at least once a year to keep everything working right. I find that, even as careful as I am about what I install, I still work with some major software and Windows systems…
Creating Virtual Machines with Oracle VM VirtualBox
What is Virtualization? Several years ago, I wrote an article for this site about Microsoft Virtual PC, Microsoft’s implementation of virtualization technology for the Windows desktop. Virtualization software enables a computer to act as a host, running multiple computer sessions with different operating systems for the purpose of testing software, isolating specific programs from the rest of…