How we create • together at interGen
From social media to measuring performance to simply managing your website, there are a lot of details to cover. InterGen operates on the idea that your website, your social media, and your data are yours. Our job is to make sure that you are getting the most out of your digital resources in the easiest, most convenient way possible. Helping people, businesses, organizations, and communities move forward together is an exciting endeavor that fuels us. Beyond just programming your website, our passion can move your business forward.
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- By: Kristin Bird
- Category: Joomla 4 Migration FAQs
Migration can be a complicated process that almost always requires significant web developer expertise. Most extensions have a well-defined process for migrating the content and functionality of your current site to Joomla 4.
If you want to try to do the migration on your own, we can set up a development version of your site on the server where you can work on trying to migrate yourself. The cost for that dev site is $25/month (or $250/year). If you need interGen’s assistance once you get started, we would be happy to help at our hourly development rate of $150/hour.
We provide this information for transparency - we STRONGLY recommend you not attempt the migration without an experienced developer.
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- By: Kristin Bird
- Category: Joomla 4 Migration FAQs
The terms migration, upgrade, and update are commonly used interchangeably, but they are different processes.
An Update is when you install the newest stable version of a program or extension over the top of the older version (all data and settings are retained). Updates include bug fixes, security fixes, and can include several patches. They increment update releases (sometimes called bug or patch releases) by the third digit (3.10.9 to 3.10.10) and happen ad hoc whenever needed. For example, in June, Joomla 3.10.10 was released that included a few very minor bug fixes.
We include updates as part of the weekly maintenance we do on your site.
An Upgrade is similar to an update, but will often include new features in addition to simple fixes and patches. An upgrade is when an application is moved from one minor point release to another. They increment the releases by the second digit (3.9 to 3.10) and are scheduled to happen every six months. For example, in August of 2021, Joomla 3.10.0 was released. The key new feature provided in this upgrade, was a compatibility checker that helps make the migration to Joomla 4 easier.
Upgrades are also included in the weekly maintenance we do on your site.
A Migration is the most complex as it involves “migrating” data from an old system to a new system. Migrations often include major software overhauls, and they increment releases by the first digit (Joomla 3 to Joomla 4).
Migrations involve creating a staged or sandbox version of your site (not accessible to the public) and working through the process to export all your content, extensions, templates, and data from the old software and importing it into the new software. Because of the significant software overhaul involved in migrations, the import process often causes major site errors that have to be identified and resolved. Sometimes, if sites are significantly out of date they have to be completely rebuilt in the new software version. Migrations happen years apart and have historically gotten less complicated (and less costly) with each major release of Joomla. There have only been 4 major releases (3 migrations) since Joomla was created 17 years ago.
Due to the infrequency, expertise, and time required to do migrations, these are not included in regular site maintenance. We work with our clients to plan for migrations for both Joomla and other extensions in a way that allows you to budget for the costs and causes little to no downtime for your website.
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- By: Kristin Bird
- Category: Joomla 4 Migration FAQs
Joomla 4 was released in August 2021. Any site that we either built or redesigned after August 2021 was built in Joomla 4. If you have questions about the timeline of your website’s build and how it impacts your need for migration, please contact us.
- Details
- By: Kristin Bird
- Category: Joomla 4 Migration FAQs
If you have already approved Joomla 4 migration with our interGen team
We will continue to provide all necessary security support for your Joomla 3 site until we are able to complete the migration process. Your website will continue to work until we are able to complete the migration just as it does now.
If you have not yet approved Joomla 4 migration with our interGen team
Your current Joomla version (3.10) no longer receives support, which could lead to security risks or functionality issues as server updates occur. We’ll continue to host and support your site, but updates may be limited without Joomla 4. If your site stops functioning properly prior to migration approval and you require a rush on fixing your site, there will be additional costs.
Contact us to learn more about how to approve migration
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- By: Kristin Bird
- Category: Joomla 4 Migration FAQs
Your Website Is Vulnerable
Joomla! updates are essential to make sure your website is safe, up to date with Joomla!’s new features, security fixes, improvements, and bug fixes. When a CMS (Content Management System) changes its structure, the old version is no longer supported. This creates potential problems with security as security patches are discontinued, and older versions of Joomla! are not maintained. After August 2023, security updates are no longer guaranteed, which may put websites at an increased risk of breaking and/or having other issues.
Your Website Might Break
We keep all your website software up to date as part of the hosting and subscription packages for our clients. After August 2023, when we run other critical updates to our servers (or to the extensions and components working behind the scenes on your site), websites not yet migrated to Joomla 4 might stop working and require custom development work not included in your subscription to accommodate older code.
Your Website Performance Might Suffer
Having the latest version of Joomla! and updated extensions and components is important for your site speed. In each newly released version, there are multiple code improvements that translate into better site performance - which also improves your placement in Search Engine results!
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- By: Kristin Bird
- Category: Joomla 4 Migration FAQs
Now that Joomla 5 has been released, we are moving all migrations straight to Joomla 5. Both Joomla 4 & 5 provide a number of technical improvements, new features and significant performance upgrades. Below are the benefits that will most matter to our clients.
New Back End Control Panel
For our Gold subscription clients, the redesigned backend administrator control panel speeds up your content creation and content management. In addition, with new article templates, Joomla 4 & 5 can help you and your co-workers keep the page design in mind.
Easier Web Accessibility
Web Accessibility means making your website usable to all users regardless of their abilities. Joomla 4 & 5 offer a variety of new web accessibility features to remove any barriers so that people with disabilities can use your site including those with vision problems or people with physical disabilities, color blindness, and hearing impairment.
In some cases, businesses and organizations may be required by law to make web content accessible to people with disabilities. Learn more how the Americans with Disabilities Act applies to web accessibility here.
Improved Site Speed & Security
Even if you don’t use any of the new features of Joomla 4 you will see an improvement in the speed of your website for visitors. The security upgrades in Joomla 4 & 5 are designed to maximize safety, keep hackers away, and provide even more protection for your & your user’s data.
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- By: Brian Mitchell • Production Team Lead and President
- Category: Blog
Disruption by its very nature hits inconsistently. Covid is still a thing, but people seem ready to acknowledge the lasting changes to our world and to move on as best we can. Some lost loved ones. Others lost their livelihoods. The dignity of a good job is essential to anyone trying to pay rent, raise a family, or put food on the table. In the aftermath of industry shutdowns we are learning again that cooperation is perhaps the best competitive advantage.
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- By: Brian Mitchell • Production Team Lead and President
- Category: Blog
What does it mean to “be there”?
interGen Web Solutions holds “Places” as one of our core values, and we focus on care for the environment and care for the people and communities that we serve. We do this every day, bt it usually happens from behind our screens, within a teleconference or virtual meeting, or over the phone call.
Is digital connection enough?
Many times yes, but there is nothing like being there. A great website is like a map of the organization that it represents, but the map is not the terrain. We help our clients create online experiences that invite people to engage, to connect, to be there - in person, online, and over the phone. Your website should welcome visitors into a greater appreciation of the real you.
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- By: Brian Mitchell • Production Team Lead and President
- Category: Blog
Resiliency is what happens when the environment changes. Just in Time seems like a lifetime ago. Inflation, labor shortages, and supply chain are the challenges of the moment. The key is to anticipate what the future storms might be and how weather them and even thrive when circumstances change.
I always smile a little when a new client asks about website security and backups early in our conversations. It is a nice clue that we have found a kindred spirit that is thinking long term and about how to be resilient.
Change can be devastating or it can present incredible opportunity. The difference is in how you have prepared for what is next. Let's prepare together
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- By: Kristin Bird
- Category: interGen Website Standard Performance Tools
In 2018, Google announced algorithm updates that place far more emphasis on page speed and loading response times than ever before. In addition, 53% of users will leave a website that takes longer than 3 seconds to load. We enable gzip compression on all our clients' websites to save bandwidth and speed up your site.
What is GZIP Compression?
GZip is a form of data compression - it takes a chunk of data and makes it smaller. It's a hidden process that happens as a website is loading. The end user should be completely unaware that it is happening; the browser takes care of it completely behind the scenes.