As part of JDay USA, Watchful hosted an Ask Me Anything session focused on website maintenance. We invited a panel of Joomla and WordPress experts to help answer your questions.

The session was a great success. The questions and discussion points covered a broad range of topics well beyond simply ‘maintenance’.

If you build or maintain websites for a living, be sure to check out the full video. The main questions asked are listed below along with the time stamps.

Full video replay

JDay USA Expert Panel

We are to thankful for everyone who participated in the AMA. This is especially true of our expert panel who were so generous with their time and energy. Please do reach out to them using the links below:

Questions/topics

Here’s a guide to the questions that drove the discussions. Some of the interesting keywords are highlighted for easier scanning and links provide 1-click access to the correct place in the video.

Pro tip: large gaps in the time stamps may indicate lively discussion and/or playful banter 😉

• 04:55​ — How often does Watchful test backups?
• 05:25​ — What’s the trickiest thing about updating thousands of websites?
• 07:00​ — Do many people use automatic updates?
• 12:00​ — What is a typical backup frequency and retention policy for your website?
• 13:00​ — Do you have a recommendation for backup storage?
• 14:00​ — Do you separate the files and database when performing website backups?
• 17:30​ — What hosts are offering automatic updates for Joomla?
• 21:20​ — What hosts are “Joomla forward” or focusing on Joomla?
• 22:40​ —What PHP version is best for Joomla 3?
• 27:05​ — Can PHP 5.6 or earlier run safely on CloudFlare or similar security services?
• 29:10​ — What are your strategies for migrating sites from Joomla 3 to Joomla 4?
• 34:15​ — Will Joomla 3.10 with the migration layer be a smooth upgrade from Joomla 3.9?
• 35:35​ — What is your one wish for Joomla 4?
• 36:35​ — Should the Gutenberg editor be added to Joomla?
• 47:05​ — How important is a headless architecture for Joomla 4?
• 50:00​ — Does using CSS Grid help you move custom templates to Joomla 4?
• 51:45​ — Could Joomla become a paid or closed platform?
• 56:30​ — Is Joomla the best tool for E-commerce?
• 1:03:45​ — How easy is it to add a SasS E-commerce to your Joomla website?
• 1:06:00​ — What tools are available for migrating to Joomla 4?
• 1:07:50​ — Is Fabrik (and other extensions) ready for Joomla 3.10?
• 1:09:56​ — Should I rebuild my client site in Joomla 4 or migrate to WordPress?
• 1:17:45​ — Should you include a retainer in my site care plans?
• 1:27:10​ — What are the typical fees to charge for a site care plan?
• 1:34:30​ — What is the new SEO extension for Joomla from Weeblr?
• 1:42:14​ — What’s the latest feature launching for Watchful?
• 1:46:15​ — How do you determine the best user interface when developing software?
• 1:48:05​ — How do you use Backblaze B2 to store your website backups?

Looking for more Joomla and WordPress videos?

Check out the Watchful demo that we recorded live for Joomla User Group London.