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"Wish that were so", you say? Well, fear not, I mean what I say. Things have changed in the Web World, as you're about to learn...
A web designer / developer friend in California asked me to check out his latest site. "Super", I said, then noticed he sort of hemmed and hawed when I asked some questions. Finally, he confessed - "It's Joomla!".
I've been a programmer / database guy / developer for nearly three decades and a web developer ever since there was a Web (and before most people had heard about it), so I understood his embarassment and even felt just a little bit superior that I was still hand-coding all my web apps.
I'd read lots about CMS (content management systems) and even worked on some commercial ones, writing new modules and components and a couple time even converting them back into "regular" web applications, but I had only heard little slices here and there about Joomla. Knowing that my friend was no dummy, I was curious as to why he'd even consider using this Joomla CMS system instead of relying on his own code.
Well, I've spend a few weeks satisfying that curiosity now and have even created nearly a dozen Joomla websites - including converting WeddingVideoDoneRight.com to Joomla. I am "sold"! I've recommended all my web clients convert to Joomla on their next major site update. Before I get into the "why", let me lay out the benefits of Joomla -
- Joomla! is a proven, tested, completely expandible, flexible system
- Joomla! is FREE!! (as are most expansion modules, templates, etc.)
- To change design / layout just choose a template from thousands of free ones and a couple mose-clicks.
- You can create your own custom designs too
- To change content, no HTML, FTP, etc. needed - just use your Administrator page.
- To add features not already included, just download (mostly free) components and click "install"
- You can setup or convert a large website in under a day. Small one in an hour (content and all!)
- Despite what some say, Joomla! is optimizable for search engines (if you know how)
It takes four to six weeks to get listed in the search engines and we're already into "booking time", so this is coming a bit late - but better late than never. In March, there will still be procrastinators looking to book June and many will still be booking later months, so it really isn't too late to get rolling.
How do you get started? (Shameless advertisement follows) Checkout SmBizHosting.com they offer free Joomla! setup (with sample data) and the best set of free templates I've seen yet. SmBizHosting.com will move your current site for free (including your database) and charges no setup fees and does not lock you in with a contract. Also, SmBizHosting.com gives you not just their support phone number, but their cell phone number - they can't run nor hide! For those who don't want to be bothered with doing their own updates, there is WebsByTheMonth.com where they do all the work for you for one, pre-set, monthly fee.
But whether you host with one of our sister companies or not, do look into Joomla! You'll have a great website without spending all your time on it. Now, how to set it up..
On our server, a click of the button installs Joomla with all the server settings preset and you even get an htaccess.txt file to rename to .htaccess if you decide to set the SEO (search engine optimiztion) on. (It would be a dumb idea to not do this!)
Joomla (I'm going to start leaving off that silly "!" of "Joomla!") comes installed with sample data, to give us a quick idea of what our template will look like. The "template" is what sets the design and layout of your website. I'm not going to get into the details of how to create or customize a template (perhaps a later article), but there are thousands of choices and most people will readily find one pre-made to their liking.
Joomla comes with two default templates, but installing another is as simple as downloading it to your computer, then going into the Administrator section and choose "Install template".
Joomla Administrator Menu
Chances are, that template has a logo image that you'll want to change (that or you have to change the name of your company!). Unzip the template into a temporary folder on your computer and use Explorer (set View to thumbnails) to look at the images. Find the one you need to change and load it into your favorite graphics program probably Photoshop, Fireworks or GIMP.
What's that? You don't know what GIMP is? Nearly as good as Photoshop but with a better pricetag (free). No room in this article, but Google it up and check it out.
Once you've edited the logo graphic, use an FTP program to upload it into the /templates/name-of-your-template/images/ folder where you'll see one with the same name you're over writing. If you don't do FTP, on many hosting control panels (including the one at SmBizHosting.com) there is a menu-driven, simple method of uploading files from your computer to your website. Just be aware that your root folder is usually something like /public_html/ So, to upload into /templates/thistemplate/images/ you'd really upload to /public_html/templates/thistemplate/images/ - got it?
(Subsequent pages of this article have been lost. If you would like to see this rewritten and updated, please let us know.)
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