faq
Questions
- What does Collabowrite do?
- Where is Collabowrite located?
- What is open source software?
- Why should non-profits use open source software?
- What is a content management system?
- What is Joomla!?
- What are Joomla!'s features?
- What does Collabowrite do with Joomla!?
- What hosting plans does Collabowrite offer?
- How do I obtain Collabowrite Hosting?
- Who operates Collabowrite's hosting servers?
- Why should I go through Collabowrite instead of Rochen?
- What steps do we take to display our website?
- What is a domain name?
- How do I get a domain name?
- What do domain names and hosting have to do with each other?
- How do I connect the host server to my domain name?
- How long after I change my nameservers will my website appear on my domain?
Questions & Answers
- What does Collabowrite do?
Collabowrite primarily helps organizations develop and deliver their message and raise funds through both web and print media. See our Services section for details.
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- Where is Collabowrite located?
Technically, we are physically based out of New York City. However, our clients are located all over the country, so we have gotten pretty good at telecommuting.
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- What is open source software?
According to Wikipedia and the Free Software Foundation, free software (aka OSS), "is software which can be used, copied, studied, modified and redistributed without restriction. Freedom from such restrictions is central to the concept of "free software", such that the opposite of free software is proprietary software, and not software which is sold for profit, such as commercial software. Free software may sometimes be known as libre software, FLOSS, or open source software. The usual way for software to be distributed as free software is for the software to be accompanied by a free software license, and the source code of the software to be made available."
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- Why should non-profits use open source software?
OSS and non-profit organizations are a natural combination. A group of people create OSS for the benefit of both the group and the general public. OSS is about sharing knowledge and skills in a transparent and egalitarian manner. Furthermore, OSS generally has no licensing fees and because some applications have such large user communities, their customization is less complex and more widely available at a low-cost than with proprietary systems.
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- What is a content management system?
According to wikipedia, "a content management system (CMS) is a computer software system for organizing and facilitating collaborative creation of documents and other content. A content management system is frequently a web application used for managing websites and web content."
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- What is Joomla!?
Joomla! is an open-source CMS that is based on the original Mambo CMS but has a different development team based in the open-source community (as opposed to the proprietary software company, Miro, that funds the Mambo team) and tends to offer security/maintenance releases more frequently.
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- What are Joomla!'s features?
- Static and dynamic content updates
- Support for advanced WYSIWYG (Word-like) content editors
- FAQ creation
- Weblinks creation
- Contact management
- External newsfeed display
- Internal mail
- Trash and archive manager
- Advertising management
- Media (images, documents) management
- Content display scheduling
- Content syndication (RSS)
- Search engine friendly (SEF) URL's
- Internationalisation
- Content macro language
- Separate administrative and front-end systems
- Heirarchial user access groups and workflow
- Basic visitor statistics
- Simple polls
- Third party plug-ins include: e-Commerce; forums; job opportunities; photo galleries; document managers; events calendar; many more!
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- What does Collabowrite do with Joomla!?
Joomla! is a complex system that requires technical expertise to:
- create the look and feel of your site which requires both web design skills as with any site as well as knowledge of the Joomla! system and an understanding of php
- setup the navigation and information architecture
- install and customize third party components
- correct errors with the system; maintain and install frequent security patches and upgrades
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- What hosting plans does Collabowrite offer?
Collabowrite offers 2 hosting plans to its development clients:
- Basic > for clients who do not need help with page, application, or server maintenance -
- Comprehensive > for clients with some HTML, email, and server maintenance needs We also offer an maintenance retainer plan for clients with database application and other advanced maintenance requirements.
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- How do I obtain Collabowrite Hosting?
Collabowrite hosting is only available to clients; please feel free to contact us for more information.
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- Who operates Collabowrite's hosting servers?
Rochen operates the actual servers. However, Collabowrite provides all technical support for our hosting clients.
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- Why should I go through Collabowrite instead of Rochen?
Rochen provides a lot of great features. However, they do not include site maintenance or phone support. Most hosting services will not assist you in the setup of email, resolution of internal problems, or make even the most simple design and content changes on your site. Collabowrite established this service solely to assist our clients who were tired of dealing with the headaches of basic website maintenance. As experienced website administrators, we can often fix website problems quickly ourselves or can interact efficiently with Rochen support if necessary. We make every effort to enable you to make changes yourself when it is convenient for you as well as assist you when it is not.
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- What steps do we take to display our website?
- register an available domain name
- obtain a hosting account for that domain name
- connect your domain to the host's domain name servers
- load web pages (generally via FTP) to your host servers
- create email accounts on your host servers
- announce the site to contacts and register with search engines
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- What is a domain name?
A domain name represents a website and maps that website to a computer's IP address (physical location on the internet). A typical domain name contains 2 components: the organizational name (ie - collabowrite) and the top-level domain extension (ie-.net). There is a finite set of top-level domain extensions for US-based sites: .com; .org; .net; .edu; .gov; .us; .info; .biz; .us; .ws
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- How do I get a domain name?
Collabowrite uses GoDaddy to register new and renew existing domain names (except in the case of .edu which must go through a special registrar). In order to register a new domain name, you must first check the availability of the name with ICANN, which is a government organization that keeps a centralized database of all registered domain names so that there are no conflicts of ownership. Do not use the popular registration sites for name checking - go directly to the WHOIS database. Make sure to use contact information with your registration that will remain stable for your organization (for instance, create an email at gmail like "organization @ gmail.com") or use your organization's domain email if your domain's email mx record is kept separate from the website mx record.
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- What do domain names and hosting have to do with each other?
In order to associate web pages with your website, you need to obtain a hosting server. A web host is a server (generally provided by a hosting services company) that functions as the physical residence of your site. Hosts generally have fast, reliable internet connections and operate on web-ready hardware/software that is difficult or too expensive for individuals or small organizations to maintain.
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- How do I connect the host server to my domain name?
You must alter the Nameserver setting with your domain registrar (see domain registration above). This setting should not be confused with a DNS setting which is where one assigns an IP to a Nameserver. The entries for your nameservers on your domain account will be something like "ns1.hostingservice.com" and "ns2.hostingservice.com."
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- How long after I change my nameservers will my website appear on my domain?
Once you have set the nameservers on your domain name registration to your hosting servers, your domain registrar will electronically notify the "Root Web Servers" of the new settings. The process of propagation - or sending out the domain settings to all other nameservers on the internet - takes anywhere from 24 to 72 hours. Depending on where you are in the chain of propagation, you may see the changes before or after others.
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