Content Management Systems
Joomla! Sample
Melissa Schubert Design Services
For a web trend project, I choose to undertake learning Content Management Systems using Joomla. I had a very small knowledge base prior to the start of this, but after watching the tutorials from Lynda.com I was able to apply the skills learned. I feel this trend is takes the WYSIWYG factor to the next level. It is very organized in the way it handles the articles and menus as well as other components. I couldn't believe after watching the tutorials how easily everything looked. Once I understood how the content was organized, things got easier.
The only problem I had in the site development is that the site didn't always respond quickly to let me access the various features or to to a preview, and I do have a high-speed internet. I would get the error message that the server the site was on wasn't responding. It made it very frustrating.
Skills Learned:
- Create the content
- Add content to the front page
- Use "read more"
- Create individual pages of content
- Add page breaks to divide long articles
- Add style to the articles
- Insert graphics
- Insert external links
- Delete content
- Organize content by category and section
- Use blog and list layout options
- Add section and category details and descriptions
- Create the menus
- Create parent menu
- Set menu item details
- Use modules
- Create custom module
- Create breadcrumb module
- Use components
- Use poll feature
- Use contact component
- Use content component
- Managing Users
- Use Global Tools
- Use the Mass Mail feature
- Use media manager
- Use templates
- Change the template
It may seem like an extensive list of features learned as I was building the site. I may not have implemented them all but at least tried them out.
Testing Environment:
The testing done on this site was done a Macintosh platform using Safari 4.0.2 and Firefox 3.0.10 as well as the Preview mode in Joomla! I also had a co-worker test it on her PC using Google Chrome. After saving any articles and making alterations, I would save and refresh the site to make sure the changes were done. As for web standards and design, I chose a Joomla! template from www.joomla24.com. I maintained the simple usability factor to ensure the visitor would understand what was available and any call to actions.
When I ran the site through Validome it came up as not validated. I tried to go into the code to fix, but it was unwritable. The HTML code looked encrypted. It came up with 2 errors and several warnings. Also when viewed on my Mac at home and my Mac at work the Headings were different - serif and sans-serif, respectively.
Reflection Statement:
I was happy I chose this web trend to do. It showed me how easy it can be to use other WYSIWYG editors other than Dreamweaver. I tried using content from my portfolio site to help with adding additional content to view for testing the site. By using a new template, I was able to see how many free templates there are out there to use.
Dominic wanted me to use Joomla this summer because I wanted to implement a login page for my portfolio site but the login for Joomla wasn't the type I needed. I needed it for clients to view their web designs in progress. I wanted to implement PHP (since I had just learned it), and I did eventually find some code to use that works for my site. He kept recommending me to learn it and I'm glad I did.
The only thing is it is almost too easy for the average person to want to do his/her own site instead of hiring a web developer :) Just like everyone who owns a computer is now a graphic artist.