If you, like us here at Wohill, run your blog or web site on an environment with PHP and MySQL, there might also be a chance that your admin interface is built with phpMyAdmin, which is a MySQL database administration tool. It is available in 55 languages with GPL License which basically means that anybody can use it, but read more about it to be sure.

On the web hotel where our blog is hosted there is such an environment and I must say that it is very easy to use and also powerful. You can easily create, modify and delete tables within a database and add, modify and delete fields for the tables in an intuitive way.

Backup or Export the data:

If your data is on a web hotel there is a big chance that there are already backup routines. However if it isn't or just to be really safe you can make backups yourself once in a while in case you for some reason would loose it all. Someone might get into your site via some interface and delete it all or you might be a victim of SQL-injection for example. There could be numerous of reasons.

So except for the obvious security precautions like changing your password once in a while etc. you could also export all of your data in the MySQL-database to a simple text file or a so-called .sql-file. The picture below shows the first page where you can see the option 'Export' which is the one to choose if you want to backup.



The picture below shows the page with the settings for the export. As you can see you can choose to export the data to different destinations like a pdf, cvs, excel or sql-file. I choose to export it as an sql-file since it later on can be used to import the data in case of any loss. You can pretty much leave the default settings as is but be sure to mark the checkbox for 'Save as file'. Below this setting you can also choose the filename and decide if the file should be zipped as well or not.



So in case of data loss you only need to run this file and all data will be restored again (the way it was when you last created the sql-file that is). And the way you will run it with the phpMyAdmin interface is via the import functionality in the equivalent way as for the export functionality.



What really happens is that the SQL-code runs, which looks something like this:

CREATE DATABASE `theDatabaseName` DEFAULT CHARACTER SET latin1 COLLATE latin1_swedish_ci; USE `theDatabaseName`; CREATE TABLE `theTableName` ( `id` int(4) unsigned NOT NULL auto_increment, `name` varchar(45) NOT NULL, PRIMARY KEY (`id`) ) ENGINE=MyISAM DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1 AUTO_INCREMENT=9 ; INSERT INTO `theTableName` VALUES (6, 'Text text text'); INSERT INTO `theTableName` VALUES (7, 'Text text text'); INSERT INTO `theTableName` VALUES (8, 'Text text text'); etc. etc. for all tables and values...

This house would be set on a hillside or slope over-looking a valley or town. It’s an open house with several large panes of glass. This is not just to enjoy the view, but mostly to let the light in and enable you to see and feel the weather from inside - even like the rain hitting the windows or a snowfall whizzing by, or perhaps even ice formations against the sky-windows - but not forgetting the lovely sun and clouds giving a wonderful atmosphere. Maybe one could be lying in bed watching the stars and the dark skies. The house is made for a hillside and therefore also leaning over the edge wanting to grasp the beautiful view and surrounding terrain. Indoors - I let the rock and sediments come up as part of walls and flooring. This is to give even more knowledge and appreciation of the environment you are living in.

Huge terraces surrounding the house give you the possibility to walk round and feel the angles and outside panels of the house - so you can enjoy this exclusive living - nature vs leaning shapes. One could easily add more rooms in this style, enabling you to work with the terrain you have chosen for your new home.

I have made an example of wallpaper for you to see the sketch a bit more clearly. To see it click here.

Your home is your sanctuary. You can have several homes if you are fortunate. Or at least you can feel at home in several places in the world or just in your neighbourhood. I have been very fortunate to have travelled to lots of different places in the world. I can say that there are several that have made tremendous impact on me. Many places can give lots of inspiration – give lots of ideas and get you really eager to get back to your drawing-board or sketch-book.

The nice thing about enjoying the environment you live in – it gives you good karma. I myself enjoy looking out of the window and looking at the view - even if it is a brick-wall or facade. One would probably long for a big ocean or mountains in the distance… but somehow even a house on the other side of the street can be an enjoyable view - just looking at the architecture or the colours or maybe some trees.

The house I chose to design today is more of an organic shape and you see the entrance on the above picture. It has big and soft shapes to give a warm opening feeling when you come home or for a visit. The house should be in several planes and hopefully have a beautiful view that inspires its resident. I might give more details in the future – and also some more design-sketches.

Inside I felt that the rooms should have a lot of glass ceilings. So even if the rain falls you will see lovely formations of water running outside the glass-windows. If the weather is good you can slide the ceiling aside and get the sky right above. Big windows out onto the top terrace too - so you can go out and still be within your own sanctuary. The sky and surroundings will stand for the rest.