What is a CMS?

What is a CMS (Content Management System)?

A CMS also known as a Content Management System is a piece of computer software that runs on a web server and allows content editors to manage their website content. A content editor is anyone who will make changes on a website whether it’s the secretary or the owner of a company. There are different types of CMSs for different uses IMHO (In my humble opinion) although some designers and developers have one CMS that they feel is good for all of their projects. This is often related to the size and complexity of the project. Some of the best CMSs are WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, Expression Engine, and Text Pattern. Alpha Omega Design has used WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla in past projects but, we almost exclusively use WordPress now as it is able to handle very large and complex projects.

So, what is it? A CMS gives the content editor an easy to use interface for editing content often without any need to know HTML, CSS, or JavaScript. Although you don’t necessarily need it I recommend that content editors have a basic understanding of at least HTML. You may hear someone say “Does your website have a WYSIWYG (Pronounced wisiwig) editor?” WYSIWYG editors are a common part of all CMSs and this is the area where you add text, images, and videos. If you have used Microsoft Word you can likely use a WSIWYG editor in one of the CMSs mentioned here. In addition to giving the editors an easy interface to use, the CMS also provides the designers and developers a more efficient way to mange the websites design and development. The CMS will often allow parts of the website to be duplicated with one management point. This helps the site maintain more consistent design and features. There is a lot more that CMSs do but I have covered the most important here to give you a more informed decision making process.

I hope this is helpful for your ministry, non-profit, or business. Thanks and God Bless!

What is a Network?

What is a network?

A network or computer network is a group of devices that allow computers and other devices to transfer data to each other. Sounds vague right? Well, there is a lot of technology that can go into a network. For the sake of this blog I will discuss a simple network like your home or small business network. A network typically has a ISP or Internet Service Provider that manages on a high level the connection of the network to the rest of the available networks. In a residential sense your ISP may be Charter Communications, AT&T, Direct TV, or other ISP. this is the company that you pay your internet bill to. The next thing on a network that you will have is some kind of network switch or router or both in some cases. In your home you probably have a network switch. This makes sure that you get the data that you are requesting from websites or other devices on your network. Then you have a computer, Smart TV, Roku, Apple TV, or internet connected devices that you may have in your home “Network.” This same basic model is what networks around the world are based on albeit on a larger scale. Networks not only contain routers, switches, and computer but they also include servers which we discussed in a previous blog. I hope this helps you understand a little more about the technology around you. If you have a comment or question post in the comments section below.

Nature Photography

Our #FunFriday Nature Photography winner for the week of April 10 is a beautiful image of a bird. This image has nice composition with the bird being placed near the center of the image. The contrast of the bird against the background helps it pop out among the other objects in the image. This image has a deep depth of field. What that means is that more objects in the image are in focus. When an image has a foreground object like the bird in focus and everything directly behind it is out of focus this is called shallow depth of field. Depth of field can be used to hide objects that may distract from the object that the photographer wants the viewer to focus on. This is common in macro photography. You can take images like this with decent camera and the right opportunity. Go out into nature and see what you can find. Have questions or tips? Post them in the comments below.

What is Hosting?

Today I am going to discuss what hosting is and how it is used. Hosting is a service that a company provides that allows you to store website and other files on a server that they have and manage. Most websites on the internet use some sort of hosting provider (A company or person that provides hosting) to host their websites files. Hosting, in most cases, involves a monthly or yearly fee for the service. Hosting providers often have different levels of hosting that you can buy. The different levels of hosting are often tied to how well the server performs and how much space the company will allow you to take up on the server. Most hosting providers are using cloud servers now to provide hosting that is faster and more efficient the subsequent side effect is lower cost to you the customer. If you have questions about hosting please let us know in the comments below.

Some Common Hosting Providers

Dreamhost
GoDaddy
Rackspace
MediaTemple
BlueHost
Amazon Web Services (Advanced Cloud Hosting)
Many more….

I hope this helps you understand a little more about hosting and how it works. Be sure to share this on social media so others like you can get their questions answered also. Thanks and God Bless!

Candid Dog Photo

Fun Friday – Candid Photography Winner 04-03-2015

Fun Friday winner SueEllen Ainsley’s candid picture of her dog pinky wins this weeks challenge. We chose this image because it depicts a great example of candid photography. The dog in this photo is just chillin’ and watching something in the distance. There is almost a sense of wonder if the eyes of the dog as she stares into the distance. This photo was taken with a cell phone on a summer afternoon.

Candid photography can capture emotion, feeling, and action without the subject even knowing that it is happening. This is what makes this type of photography so powerful. Like the images seen in the days following 911. Images of great men and women committing courageous acts without regard to their own safety. With the advancement of cell phone imaging technology almost everyone can snap a picture or shoot a video in a instant. So, go out take some photos and have fun! You may capture the next viral photo or video.

What Is A Server?

What is a server?

In short, a server is software that runs on a computer used to serve data to clients (other computers). Servers come in a lot of different models and use different operating systems just like PC’s that you would see at Best Buy. Most servers look different than your average PC, they are often not very tall about 19″ wide and fairly deep. This is because servers are typically used in equipment racks so the small form factor allows data centers to put a lot of servers in smaller spaces. The graphic above is an illustration of three servers and this is commonly how they are stacked in an equipment rack. Servers are typically very focused in the tasks that they accomplish. For instance, this website is running on a web server. This type of server is built for running websites. There are other types of servers other than web servers, in fact, there are a lot more. Some of the other types of servers include application servers, database servers, file servers, media servers, and mail servers to name a few. It takes a lot of “behind the scenes” action to make the technologically advanced world that we live in work. Servers are part of the core of many services and technologies.

Server Operating Systems

Some of the most common server operating systems are :

Common Server Applications

Some Common Server Applications are:

I hope that this gives you enough to handle those “techies” at the coffee shop. If you have questions please leave them in the comments.

What is the “Cloud?”

What is the “Cloud” or “Cloud Computing?”

This question is asked by millions of Americans daily. All of us in the technology industry throw these terms around like our audience is supposed to know what this means because it is the latest and greatest workflow for IT. I have been guilty of this myself and within our company when talking to clients. I can sometimes tell that when I say things like “We can setup a server in the cloud to serve your website images.”, that my client has no clue what I am talking about and thus I explain. Other times the client may have a good poker face and not reveal their confusion to me. Either way I want to start out by apologizing to all of you that have experienced this with Alpha Omega Design or another company. So lets jump right in…

There are three main points in understanding what the cloud is and I am going to talk about them here.

The “Cloud” is not some unknown, far off place where data (Internet content) goes to live in a special world. The cloud is data centers, and lots of them. One of the main ideas behind the “Cloud” is that data can be stored in multiple (Redundant) locations and be accessible in multiple other locations. These “Clouds” can more efficiently store and deliver your content to the services you love. Some services that you probably already use that utilize cloud technologies are Apple, Google, Amazon, Roku, Netflix, Dropbox, Facebook, Twitter, and Alpha Omega Design.
The “Cloud” is not only data centers but, it is also made up of compute, storage, and networking infrastructure. To you the average person this may not mean a lot but, it greatly affects those services that you love to use. By it’s very architecture the “Cloud” is more efficient at doing the tasks that typical infrastructure handles. For example, lets says that everyone is tweeting #AODesign in response to an Award that our company has won. All of the tweets cause our website traffic to triple or quadruple. Our site starts to become unreachable because of all of the traffic coming to it. Instead of starting up another computer (“Server Instance” to us Nerds) to split the load, if we are utilizing the cloud, it scales up the computers automatically based on preset traffic guidelines. Now that’s cool! It’s better for you and it’s better for us. This same principles applies to storage, computations, applications, and many other tasks that are handled by the “Cloud.”
The “Cloud” is a safe place. In recent years there have been some breaches in specific applications that are cloud based but, these breaches were not a result of the architecture of the cloud but, of the applications. Just like any other web based service available, cloud services are as safe as the security policies of the companies that provide them. As with any product you should do your part as the consumer and ask questions about the service either to the service provider themselves or other people that have used the service. There is one thing to keep in mind is that things on the internet should always be assumed as public. If you don’t not want things you place on the internet to become public, don’t upload them to the internet.

I hope that this brief overview of the mysterious “Cloud” will help you to understand on a basic level what the cloud is. In future blogs we will discuss how the cloud works in more detail. Alpha Omega Design uses a mixture of Cloud based and standard services to provide for the needs of our clients. If you are thinking about utilizing a cloud service either personally or for your ministry or business we would love to talk to you. You can leave us a comment below and we will respond as soon as possible.