Joomla Final Project

The final project was a great experience for learning Content management systems.  I found the best way for me to learn Joomla was through playing with the options.  One of the components that really went well with my website was the picture gallery using Slimbox.  Slimbox was great for creating a simple and easy to use photo gallery.  There was a little code, but it was easy enough to understand.  Another aspect that went well was the Community Builder module.  This scared me at first because it looked really complex, but once I got it installed and running I found it pretty easy.  I didn’t go too deep into the advanced options, but the basics were simple enough to navigate through myself. 

One of the things that didn’t end up working so well was my logo.  I had made a logo in Adobe Illustrator for my website and I had hoped to implement it into the banner.  I asked my roommate to help and he tried for about 30 minutes, but every attempt resulted in failure.  I hardly know anything about code, so if he couldn’t do it, I knew I couldn’t do it.  It was a minor addition that I ended up putting in the content on the home page anyway. 

In the Future if I have a website I will definitely try to use Joomla because it was really easy to use.  I thought the extensions and support online was outstanding.  I wouldn’t really do much differently, but I would try more with extensions and plug-ins.  Overall Joomla is a remarkable system for someone who knows very little about coding and making a website.

Uploading Images and pdfs to your Joomla Site

Earlier this week while I was working on my Joomla website I was trying to upload a couple of projects I had done that were in .pdf format.  For some unknown reason I couldn’t get some of them uploaded.  They were a couple of graphic design projects I had done.  In my major the majority of our projects are paper based, meaning we work in cmyk when using programs like photoshop, illustrator, and inDesign.  Little did I know that caused a problem for me.  When I went into photoshop with some of my .pdf documents I saw that they were saved in cmyk and not RGB.  When I saved the files in RGB and tried to upload them it actually worked.  So as strange as it sounds I’m pretty sure the files/images only work if they are in RGB.  At least that’s the conclusion I came to after spending a lot of time on it.

Slimbox is Awesome

In my WDMD 346 class we have to make a website for our final project, which is actually really interesting because we are using the CMS Joomla to make it.  As I use Joomla more and more I enjoy it more and more.  There are tons of extensions for Joomla including calendars, forum creators, security enforcers, and photo gallerys.  Which brings me to my main reason for posting:  the Slimbox extension.  Slimbox is a photo gallery extension that is really easy to use and also looks really sleek on a website.  The best part about slimbox is that it shows little thumbnails of pictures on the website which expand to full size images when you click on them.  Once you click on them the background turns black and the only thing lit up is your image, which creates a focus and a really neat experience.  One of the coolest things about it is that once your in the viewer you can click next to stay in the viewer and rotate pictures.  It’s not difficult to install or setup and it’s free.  You can get Slimbox here.  You can see an example of slimbox in use below (that’s my actual website I’m making).

Drupal Review

Drupal is a CMS similar to Joomla!, but I personally found Drupal almost easier to navigate.  The one aspect I enjoyed the most was how every option is to the left in a sidebar and depending on which category you are in the options expand or compress.  I really liked that because it keeps things organized.  Also having the large categories break down into smaller categories helps narrow your search with each click.  I found posting articles or stories was especially simple.  Within a couple seconds I had found the article maker and posted my first article.  The themes were really easy to change as well.  Everything is right where you would expect to find it.  It’s possible someone who is an expert at using Content Management Systems would find Drupal flawed, but as someone who knows very little I found Drupal’s learning curve really low.  Creating a poll was extremely easy as well and changing the name of any of the editors was really simple and quick.  The advanced options displayed at the bottom of every content manager was really simple and even nicer than Joomla in my opinion.  I liked the ease and organization of the drop down arrows and how easy it was to change the appearance or author of a post.  I have few problems with Drupal, but one was updating my installation.  Getting into the finer details like changing the position of the polls or blogs seemed a little more difficult than the initial setup, but with more practice and familiarity I figured it out.  Drupal had a great first impression and part of me enjoyed using it more than Joomla.  If you haven’t tried Drupal yet I recommend going to opensourcecms.com and trying out the free demo.

Choosing a Web Host and CMS

For my WDMD 346 Winterim class we have to choose a web host for our final project.  I narrowed my choices down to 1and1 or GoDaddy.  I looked online for reviews to see which one was better.  What I realized was that GoDaddy was really slow because of how many people use it and 1and1 was slightly less slow, but still slow.  I also checked out prices and the two are pretty similar.  When I checked out forums that compared the two hosts I found the majority of people thought that 1and1 had terrible support and GoDaddy had decent support.  I’m not sure which one I will choose for my final project quite yet.

As far as choosing a CMS I have decided to go with Joomla! because Drupal is more confusing and I’m very new to working with Content management systems.  I think I will have a lot more support with Joomla! than Drupal and at the end I’m sure that’s what I’ll need.  It should be an interesting and challenging experience.

Evaluation of Xoops CMS

In WDMD 346 today we had to evaluate a Content Management System.  I was assigned Xoops, which was a pretty confusing system overall.  Thanks to opensourcecms.com I was able to actually demo Xoops firsthand.  Our group divided up the categories of the evaluation chart and split the grading into three colors:  red (poor or non-existant), orange (moderate), or green (great).  As we went down the list of categories we all realized that Xoops wasn’t amazing.  We found a lot of complexities with otherwise simple things.  For example, WordPress has themes that you can pick and activate in a second, but Xoops requires a download followed by actually implementing it into the site.  The core functionality of Xoops was fairly good, but it rates poorly for blogging and content scheduling due to its confusing navigation.  WYSIWYG editing in Xoops leaves you wanting more because it is limited and not all that well put together.  Many of the categories listed in the attached pdf below recieved an orange (moderate) rank because they were features that were not implemented in the original Xoops.  Instead you had to go to websites and download them or insert certain pieces of code to get what you wanted.  On the other end, the availability of 3rd party components for Xoops is high.  It’s a toss up on which you would prefer, because one allows a bit more customization but also has a larger learning curve.  The multi-site support for Xoops is high because there is a very easy and quick download for multi-site support that is rated well by Xoops users.   

The learning curve of Xoops is not simple in my opinion.  Upon first glance it looked really easy, but once you get into the categories and realize you have no idea how to do a simple thing like post a comment you quickly change your mind.  The initial admin page looks really easy to use and I was hoping it would be, but once you choose one of the broad categories you are thrown into many different options that you aren’t familiar with.  I have barely any experience with Content Management Systems, so Xoops was not a system I would recommend for people like me who are new.  That being said there is alot of forum support as well as commercial support for Xoops.  If you end up choosing Xoops, like all CMS you will likely rely heavily on others who have already gone through your difficulties and presented solutions to the problems.

Directly below is the comparison chart for Drupal, Joomla, WordPress, and Xoops.

 Xoops Evaluation Matrix

Word Press

Navigating through the wordpress dashboard is pretty easy.  It’s all in the left sidebar and has convenient drop down menus.

WDMD 346

This is the first time I have ever had a blog, so it is all new to me.  WDMD 346 Web Content Management Systems is a big change for me, but it is interesting.  I’m eager to find out more.