Blog entries tagged information architecture

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

Jen Kramer — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:12:18 +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 th...

Working on a book!

Jen Kramer — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 12:02:55 +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 challengi...

Certificate in Open Source Web Development, featuring Joomla

Jen Kramer — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 05:00:00 +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:

...

Five Fashion NOs for Joomla 1.5

Jen Kramer — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 05:00:00 +0100

You've got your first Joomla site running! It's fabulous! It's amazing! And now how do we start taking it to the next level?

Just like you should never wear white shoes after Labor Day, and visible panty lines are never cool, there are a few fashion NOs that you should stay away from doing on your Joomla site.

1. Why does it need to say "Main Menu"?

I am a big usability buff. But if you have surfed the web for more than 5 minutes, you can generally recognize a navi...

Best. Dilbert. Ever.

Jen Kramer — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 05:00:00 +0100

Joomla 1.0 to 1.5 migrations: Should I? And why?

Jen Kramer — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 06:00:00 +0100

To migrate from Joomla 1.0 to Joomla 1.5: That is the question

One of the big questions we get asked these days is whether it's worthwhile to upgrade from Joomla 1.0 to Joomla 1.5. As with all web design and development questions, the correct answer is: It Depends.

There are generally two schools of thought on this.

The "If It Ain't Broke Don't Fix It" school says that if you're site is working in Joomla 1.0, then why bother to migrate? It's doing what you want, so you...

Front Page Blog Layout

Jen Kramer — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 06:00:00 +0100

Now that we've discussed section and category blogs, let's look at front page blog layouts.

Functionally, they're very similar to the section and category blog layouts. The major difference here is that instead of choosing a section or section/category to display on the front page (home page), you assign individual articles to appear on the front page.

In the Article Manager (column labeled "front page"), or within an individual article, you can choose to display an it...

Configuring Section and Category Blog Layouts

Jen Kramer — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 06:00:00 +0100

Category and section blog layouts are essentially the same thing. For a given section, or for a given section/category, all content items will show up on the page in "blog" format.

Obviously, the blog format can be used for... well, blogging. But think bigger than that when applying this to your website. Blog, in this case, is a functionality, not a technology. We routinely use the blog format for press releases, for example. The format works for anything where a client ne...

Sections, Categories, Articles, Menus: It's all a SCAM

Jen Kramer — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 06:00:00 +0100

Sections, categories, articles, menu items. See how it's a SCAM? Remember you do need to create them in this order, as menu items for articles can't exist without the article, the article can't exist without section/category, the category can't exist without section.

Then there's this thing called "uncategorized" associated with an article. So you CAN have an article that exists without section and category! Well, sort of. Think of "uncategorized" as the default section and...

The web is NOT like having a TV playing in your tri-fold brochure.

Jen Kramer — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 06:00:00 +0100

I am not a graphic designer. I can't draw stick figures well, and I always wear jeans, khakis, or black pants because I've been told they match everything.

But I've worked with enough graphic designers through the years to know that there are rules to working in a given medium, and there are limitations to that medium as well. For example, if you're making a rack card, those are a certain fixed dimension. You may want to make a bigger design, but you have to work within the limitations ...

If Architects Had To Work Like Web Designers…

Jen Kramer — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 06:00:00 +0100

I received this as an email years ago and sent it to everyone I knew. It still holds true in 2009.

Dear Mr. Architect:

Please design and build me a house. I am not quite sure of what I need, so you should use your discretion. My house should have somewhere between two and forty-five bedrooms. Just make sure the plans are such that the bedrooms can be easily added or deleted. When you bring the blueprints to me, I will make the final decision of what I want. Also, bri...

Communicating your site's message through extensions

Jen Kramer — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 06:00:00 +0100

Brian Teeman, one of the Joomla founders, wrote an interesting post on the three types of extensions for a website. He's set aside the technical differences between modules, plugins, and components, and instead focused on how they add functionality to your website.

He defines these as eye candy (banners, blinking spinning stuff), additional functionality (forms, galleries, calendars), and applications (event registration, shopping carts, etc).

You can take these same divisio...

Your Online Reputation

Samantha Bovat — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 05:00:00 +0100

As they say, reputation is everything. And while there's an opportunity to make a great impression with a beautiful website, there are plenty of things you can do that will turn off your visitors.

Sites should be quick to load, easy to use, get your visitor in to the information they require and get them out. It's that simple. Sites like this let visitors know that the organization respects their time. The organization wants to help the visitor get great customer service — even i...

Launched! WineMaker Magazine!

Jen Kramer — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 05:00:00 +0100

We are thrilled to announce that we've launched a HUGE site we've been working on for the last few months, WineMaker Magazine.

WineMaker Magazine started in 1998, and it's about how to make wine at home, whether you start with fresh grapes, or whether you start with a kit. The main goal for the website is to push subscriptions and sell back issues of the magazine. The content surrounding that supports those goals.

Because the site supports a magazine, it should contain...

Signs of a well-developed mobile phone site

Jen Kramer — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 05:00:00 +0100

While on vacation, I used my phone for surfing the web. Each morning I check the weather, the news, stuff like that. While away, I used my phone to do this.

So let's compare two news sites: The Washington Post and CNN, regular formats, and the Post and CNN, mobile formats.

NOTE: Yes, the Post is a newspaper while CNN is a cable news channel, so the comparison isn't absolutely perfect. But it's pretty good.

Point #1: The URLs

CNN has a short URL to start with, whi...

Joomla! Magazine article coming soon

Jen Kramer — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 05:00:00 +0100

We've been asked by the Joomla! Magazine people to write an article about our MassAcorn website. It features all layouts done with a single template, among other cool features. We also used some great free extensions which we'll also discuss. We're pretty excited! It will be out in the August issue.

Dropdown/flyout menus: A Rant

Jen Kramer — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 05:00:00 +0100

Crossposted from my Joomla class discussion:

Some of you have been very interested to discuss dropdown menus (also called flyout menus) on your websites.

By "dropdown menus", we're talking about the list of links that show up as subnavigation for a given piece of your website. Roll over the link for "about", for example, and you see a list of links for Mission, Vision, Board, Senior Management, History, etc.

In general, these menus are technologically d...