Artful will update our server database version soon as part of a necessary upgrade.

This is a major server based database update.

We cannot predict how negatively it will impact older websites.

• It is highly likely to negatively affect websites running severely outdated versions of Joomla, Wordpress and PHP.
• This will cause downtime or complete site failure and you might lose important functionality or data in the process.

Old versions of Joomla and PHP are also more vulnerable to security breaches, so moving to a newer version is a critical protection against potential hacking or data loss.

What‘s wrong with Joomla 3?

Joomla 3.x is END OF LIFE and no longer receives security updates or fixes. It is highly unstable and vulnerable.

 "No further security releases will be made - Not even security releases!" Sadly Joomla 3 website software is now marked obsolete by it's developers.

This must be updated ASAP because:

• No tech support for any issues with website or plugins
• Hacking risk as no more security updates
• Joomla 3 websites can stop working after any server software update

NB Artful must also update our server, OS and database software by May.
We can't guarantee your site will work after these major updates.

Why move your site to Joomla 4.x or 5.x are to:

• STRENGTHEN SITE SECURITY
• MAINTAIN SITE DATA

Options available to you:

• NEW SITE BUILD WITH JOOMLA 4 or 5
• CONVERT YOUR WEBSITE TO A STATIC HTML PAGE WITHOUT A BACKEND
• DO NOTHING AND TAKE THE RISK

What next?

If you would like some more information please don’t hesitate to contact us to discuss. We are here to help make the switch to a more secure and functional website as smooth as possible for you.

It is essential to maintain Wordpress plugin and theme software to keep your website functioning and secure.

Old versions of Wordpress and PHP e.g. php7.4 will become increasingly unstable.

Issues outdated Wordpress software causes:

• Outdated or retired themes installed on your Wordpress website are extremely unstable
• Increasingly vulnerable to hacking attempts
• Server level software updates may conflict with old website software resulting in your website being taken offline unexpectedly.
• Missed website performance opportunities and new Wordpress features.

Recently Artful have made changes to our processes to ensure your websites are kept up to date and secure. We endeavour to maintain the security of your site by updating all integral CMS (Joomla/Wordpress etc) core extensions at no extra charge to you, as part of your hosting agreement.  Core extensions are those that we have used on your site, usually for backup and security functionality, that are created and maintained by trusted third party developers.

• Priority access as an existing domain holder ends 19 September 2022. 
• Application fee of $35 includes 1 year registration. (if successful) 
• Just email us to confirm and we can grab your eligible .au Direct domains for you.

When we meet with clients for the first time and mention that we develop our sites using Joomla, most ask us; What is Joomla?
Joomla has always been an open source content management product which means there are thousands of free templates and extensions available which allow you to customise your website design easily and often without the need to hard code. There is also a fantastic community of developers and users out there (even right here in Melbourne!) always ready and willing to provide support and answer any questions or queries you may have. 

Pleease read on for further reasons why we choose Joomla.

We're based in Donvale, east of Melbourne. The whole team are Melbourne locals (or were*) We have a team of very experienced, local Joomla web designers, developers and programmers with a minimum! 8 years Joomla experience each. We are also a hosting company that host Joomla Websites too.  Stay local and host your Joomla Website in Australia!   Call us, meet us and get help with your Joomla website or development right here in Melbourne.

*Chrysti (10yrs Joomla exp) has since moved to Bendigo. So Melbourne and regional  lockdowns permitting she's regularly here in Melbourne to meet clients. Marguerite (8yrs Joomla exp) has moved from Melbourne back to Ireland. She now does a lot of our Joomla security hardening work overnight Melbourne time as well as Joomla design. But we can't get her back to Melbourne!

Please read on for more of our team's Joomla exerience and our involvment with the Melbourne Joomla scene from the very early days

Nick "I've been doing Joomla in Melbourne since before there was a Joomla!" 
Nick (our boss) and Artful were making websites in Melbourne with Mambo, Joomla's first name, from around late 04 to early 05. He remembers being really nervous when the Joomla community moved away from Mambo in Aug 05. "We'd done a few Mambo websites by then. It seemed like a great system and the change to Joomla made me very nervous."

 If you have email hosted with Artful below is the configuration settings you will need to set it up on your devices.

You can also use webmail to access your email from anywhere with a web browser. Use the url below to access it, remembering to change the words ‘yourdomainname’ to your actual domain name.

https://www.yourdomainname.xxx.xx/webmail

As with normal email you need to use your full email address to login and current email password.

Where are you ranking on your preferred search phrase in Google?

If you find yourself on page 3 or beyond you can consider your website dead!

These days no-one looks beyond page 3, but don't fret, all is not lost. Here are some simple tips to help your Google Search ranking.