Quoting Andy Smith <andy(a)bitfolk.com>om>: I use SiteGround for Joomla hosting. They do automatic upgrades, take automatic backups and they also have an extension that should help reduce potential security flaws. So far I am happy with them, it is the cheapest one I found that comes close to real managed Joomla hosting: http://www.siteground.com/joomla-hosting.htm -- Kind regards Vriendelijke groeten Jeroen

Quoting Andy Smith <andy(a)bitfolk.com>om>: There is no VAT (they are not based out of Europe (even though there site changes currency and location based on yours). And it is indeed only the first month. I paid for the entire year so I got the deal for one year. Also, if you click on signup, start choosing some options and then click away from the signup form you will get an additional discount ;-) -- Kind regards Vriendelijke groeten Jeroen

Hmmm an interesting point of view Matt. One man's meat and so on. But as the guy has a brief to use Joomla, Wordpress is not really an option. If you alter key files - Joomla or WP - then upgrading is a mare. WP is much much easier for someone, like Andy's friend, to use, but Joomla is easier to customise IMHO. One WP site that I have inherited is taking a lot of work at the moment. Its functionality depends on 2 or 3 plugins which it is very difficult to upgrade. But having learnt from a previous experience I now put multiple layers of security around each site so both systems are really quite safe - I hope . Anyway I'm no real guru. On 19 February 2014 09:17, Matthew Moore <matt(a)smtl.co.uk> wrote: -- Keith Williams Keith's Place www.keiths-place.co.uk Tailor Made English www.tmenglish.org West Norfolk RSPCA www.westnorfolkrspca.org.uk

On Wed, Feb 19, 2014 at 11:56:22AM +0000, Ian wrote: These sites shouldn't need any third party plugins and to be honest if it wasn't for the fact that he'd have no idea how to later edit or add pages, they could be static HTML. Most appealing I have found so far is: http://www.rochenhost.co.uk/joomla-hosting which although doesn't keep the Joomla core up to date for you, does at least purport to have "one click upgrade", so if I drum it into him not to use third party plugins and to hit the upgrade button every time it is available, he may be okay… Cheers, Andy

On Wed, Feb 19, 2014, at 12:04 PM, Andy Smith wrote: And if he's not ok, it's not one of your servers that's been compromised of course :) It's not clear at a quick glance what the backup mechanism is on that site (eg can you restore it to another provider), but the one third-party extension I'd recommend is a good backup system. When I used to run a couple of Joomla sites, I used the following, which is nice and easy both to back up but also to restore (and it survived every upgrade I did without a problem): https://www.akeebabackup.com/products/akeeba-backup.html I used to quite like Joomla as a system, but there's no doubt about its willingness to be compromised.

Hi Matthew, On Wed, Feb 19, 2014 at 12:24:08PM +0000, Matthew Moore wrote: Ahh. In that case it would almost be worth me hosting it for him, since £10+VAT a month for an install of Joomla with no added extras aside from hardware support seems rather steep. *Almost* - I've no interest in doing the constant vigilance that PHP web app hosting requires, that this host won't be doing either… Worrying. I shall tell him to ask his designer if it really has to be Joomla. Just bear in mind that this is someone who needs some simple web sites for his (non-Internet) hobby businesses just to have a web presence; he doesn't need anything fancy and has no real interest in the web side of things. He knows he needs some web sites and he knows someone who will make them for him (in Joomla). If he hits barriers then he will give up and just spend his time on something else. So, in terms of actually getting his sites out there, he may still be better off getting the guy he knows now to put some imperfect Joomla sites up, as opposed to losing the guy he has, having to start from scratch and giving up for another year. Not my user. Just someone asking me for advice. :) Cheers, Andy -- http://bitfolk.com/ -- No-nonsense VPS hosting "The electric guitar - like making love - is much improved by a little feedback, completely ruined by too much." — The League Against Tedium

Andy said: In that case, I am really wondering why he's using Joomla. Is it that there's a theme he likes or has someone told him people will laugh if he uses anything else? Ian

On 19 Feb 2014, at 12:54, Andy Smith <andy(a)bitfolk.com> wrote: Good point, Andy. It seems to me that the best way forward would be for it to be hosted on a VPS and managed by someone with the smarts to do it. The “management” will cost him somewhat, but that is a tradeoff he will have to make to keep his designer. If the site is really as simple as you’ve been lead to believe, it is always possible that Joomla could manage the content, but the site be served from snapshots. That would at least mitigate the security concerns somewhat. Cheers B -- Ben Chad, t: +44 (0) 1235 355 509, m: + 44 (0) 7854 424 144, s: benchbyte BenchByte Limited is a company incorporated in England and Wales with registration number 8091832. Our registered office is at 91a Newtown Road, Newbury, RG14 7DD. We trade from 17 Stockey End, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, OX14 2NF.

On Wed, Feb 19, 2014, at 12:37 PM, Keith Williams wrote: And that's the point surely - are you volunteering to be that kind person to do it all for him? :) Sometimes simple dedicated hosting really is the best way forward.

Hi Keith, On Wed, Feb 19, 2014 at 12:37:29PM +0000, Keith Williams wrote: I think that managing a VPS with an installed PHP app, keeping it secure and up to date costs more than £120 a year of anyone's time, unless they already know how to do that and are doing it for themselves out of their own interest. Cheers, Andy -- http://bitfolk.com/ -- No-nonsense VPS hosting