Blog entries

Come see me at CMS Expo!

Jen Kramer — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 21:48:50 +0100

I'm the Joomla Track Leader at the CMS Expo conference, happening May 3-5, 2010, in Evanston, IL (outside of Chicago). I am so excited to be back for my 3rd Expo conference!

This time, I'll be presenting the Joomla SiteBuilder sessions, where you'll learn secrets about putting Joomla sites together and styling them.

ExRead More...

On the importance of excellent web hosting for Joomla

Jen Kramer — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 16:58:07 +0100

This is a topic covered in my recent book, but the question comes up all the time.

In the early static days of the web, there was really little difference between one host and another. You uploaded a bunch of HTML pages and images (and later a CSS file or two) and the web host just worked. There wasn't a lot of analysis to do for the average small business site. One host was pretty much as good as another.

Now we're working with Joomla. And now, when it comes to hosting, everythRead More...

Chapter 15: Site Maintenance and Training

Jen Kramer — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 15:52:25 +0100

Chapter 15 of my new book is available for you to explore! It covers all of the usual post-launch issues, including ongoing site maintenance, upgrades, backups, and training your client how to use Joomla.

Download Chapter 15 here (PDF)

Preparing CMS Web Graphics Using Open Source Tools

Jen Kramer — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 18:22:40 +0100

My video is now available at Lynda.com. Check out this free clip at YouTube!

Why are web professionals SO expensive?

Jen Kramer — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 17:29:12 +0100

What's your rate? Everyone asks that question. The typical going rate for a web developer in my area -- the professionals, the ones who make their living doing this stuff -- generally ranges from $70 to $125 per hour, depending on skillset. Most seem to lie in the $75 to $100/hr range.

WOW, you say. WOW is that expensive! Perhaps even excessive! Man, you must live the lifestyle of the rich and famous. You must never worry about money. You're too expensive to hire. I know this guy, the Read More...

Using the menu alias function in Joomla

Jen Kramer — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 23:04:55 +0100

Sometimes you want to create more than one link to a given item in your Joomla site. Let's say you have an article that you want to show up as subnavigation under Item A and Item B on your menu.

You could create two identical articles, linking one to Item A and the other to Item B. We used to do that in the static HTML days. Unfortunately, that generally meant that you had a maintenance nightmare, since when the page's content changed, you had to change it in two places.

With JoRead More...

Creating hidden menus in Joomla

Jen Kramer — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 23:01:24 +0100

Every once in a while, you might want to create links on your website that aren't directly linked to one of the menus displayed on your website.

A great way to accomplish this is to use a hidden menu. Here's how to do it.

1. Go to the back end of Joomla and log in. Under Menus, pick Menu Manager. Click New to create a new menu. Call it hiddenmenu (all one word). Fill in "hiddenmenu" for the 4 blanks presented.

2. When a new menu is created, a module to go with the menu isRead More...

Finding the top menu

Bill Tomczak — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 05:07:42 +0100

I was recently asked if there was a way to get the topmost menu item in which a page sits. Let's say you have a menu like this:

Item 1
--Item 1.1
--Item 1.2
----Item 1.2.1
Item 2
--Item 2.1
--Item 2.2

Let's say you wanted to do something special with all the menus in the 'Item 1' tree and something slightly different for all the items in the 'Item 2' tree. You'd want to know which tree you were on. Here is a bit of simple php code you can use Read More...

Two new titles for Lynda.com in the can, and other news

Jen Kramer — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:12:18 +0100

I just got back from a great week at Lynda.com, recording two more titles, hopefully out soon.

The first title is "CMS Website Strategy and Planning", and it covers all of the things you should think about and talk about with your client before building your website.

The second title is "Preparing CMS Web Graphics Using Open Source Tools". It covers how to think about a good design for a CMS as well as create an HTML page using GIMP for graphics and KompoZer for writing thRead More...

What's your problem?

Bill Tomczak — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:35:04 +0100

We've been working on a rather largish site recently and over the course of recent weeks, I have been reminded of a lesson learned way back in my dark ages when I was designing desktop database applications.

When developing any application but especially a customized application designed for a specific person or company, it can be easy to confuse problems with solutions. In that database I designed so many years ago, the client had been doing things largely on paper for a very long timRead More...

Usability is everywhere

Jen Kramer — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 13:22:47 +0100

Everywhere you look, usability problems exist everywhere.

Sometimes those usability problems are a direct result of branding.

Let's take this example. Health insurance! Now, there's plenty of usability problems in the health insurance industry, but I want to focus on one tiny little problem, a direct result of branding conflicting with usability.

In the US, if you have health insurance, you get a card that describes your health insurance plan, account numbers, group numbeRead More...

Jon Stewart Critiques GOP.com

Jen Kramer — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 11:30:07 +0100

Know your target audience! And do a little testing before you launch.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

You've Got Fail

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show
Full Episodes

I have seen the light (suphp)

Bill Tomczak — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 22:43:38 +0100

Recently, based on recommendations from Jen and myself, another web designer of note moved her hosting to Liquidweb. I'm sorry to say she had an agonizing period of adjustment. It was all about the dreaded file permissions and ownership.

In Mambo and J10, it was often necessary to set certain files and directories to be writable by anyone. Due to the way web servers have traditionally been set up, the only way a system like Joomla could upload files and modify the website's directory sRead More...

Fast, Cheap, Good: Pick Two

Jen Kramer — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 17:07:36 +0100

Those of you who freelance or work for a firm have heard this story before.

The client needs it now! The Joomla site is 90% done and the developer has disappeared and there's just a few more buttons to click and the site will be totally done. The client thinks you can finish this in just a few hours. Plus, of course, you don't have anything else to do, so you can drop everything to get this job done.

Then they find out the price. And they're shocked, shocked!!! at how much it coRead More...

Cool Joomla Tip of the Day: Back-end Welcome Screen

Jen Kramer — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 11:26:10 +0100

If you ever installed the sample data in Joomla, you've seen that little "welcome" message over on the right side of the screen, right in the control panel.

Ever wondered how to get rid of it? Ever wondered if you could make your own, so that it was actually useful to your client and not just you?

It's easy to do!

1. Log into the back end of Joomla and go to Extensions - Module Manager.

2. Switch over to the Administrator modules. By default, you're looking at the Read More...

Working on a book!

Jen Kramer — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 11:02:55 +0100

It's been way too long since I've posted, but that's because I'm spending many hours each day writing a book. Joomla! Start to Finish: How to Plan, Execute, and Maintain Your Web Site is due to be published in January next year by Wrox Press.

Writing a book has definitely been the most challengiRead More...

Joomla makes the top 10 hottest freelance skills

Jen Kramer — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 14:04:51 +0100

Great news for Joomla developers! Elance, a site putting clients in touch with freelancers, says that the 8th most popular freelance skill out there is Joomla. PHP came in at #1, MySQL at #4, and WordPress and #10.

I can certainly confirm this based on how many calls for help we've gotten lately here at 4Web. We're taking projects with a September start right now -- in this economy!

Certificate in Open Source Web Development, featuring Joomla

Jen Kramer — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 04:00:00 +0100

The Marlboro College Graduate Center in Brattleboro, Vermont, just released its Open Source Web Development certificate in a wholly online format.

If you've been working with Joomla, but you want to know a lot more about it, this is the certificate program for you. The certificate introduces students to Joomla, as well as planning a website, understanding the code that runs it, and developing and executing an online marketing plan.

The certificate consists of 12 credits:

Is your Website Getting Stale?

Samantha Bovat — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 04:00:00 +0100

Try the One Week Spruce Up Plan

There is nothing worse than knowing that your website is getting stale and not knowing how to give it new life. It is time to freshen up your content already! You don't always need to throw out the baby with the bathwater, but you can take a few minutes each day to get the job done.

Baby steps.... It's all about baby steps because tackling the whole site can be overwhelming. So take things one at a time. Every day- gather your team for 15 minutesRead More...

Joomla 1.6 alpha is here!

Jen Kramer — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 04:00:00 +0100

Joomla 1.6 alpha is ready to download. Please remember it's NOT for production sites!!! And yes, there are a TON of bugs and problems and issues. That's why it's called an alpha.

Like it? Hate it? Have comments on it? Be sure you get involved with the Joomla Project, either on the Bug Squad or helping out in the forums. There's plenty of work to go around for everyone.

Also, remember there is a tech requirement of PHP 5.2+ and MySQL 5.0.4+ in order to run Joomla 1.6. TRead More...