Use Joomla to Design a Fabulous Website!

Joomla is a Content Management System. Much like Wordpress or Drupal, Joomla is actually a software program that uses a database to store and manage content so that content can be fed up dynamically.

For example, if you have a website with news articles, if you were to build it in HTML, you would have to code in all the places you want to include links to the latest articles. When you add a new article, you have to go back to all those individual pages and change the code to update for the new content.

With Joomla, because of the database, you can set it up to dynamically update when you add new content. So when you add your news article, your latest news page will automatically update, and anywhere on the site you ask to show links to the latest news items will also update.

In addition to dynamic content generation, Joomla also offers a host of extensions which add to its functionality. For example, photo galleries, calendars, event registration programs, classified ad program, etc. If you have seen it online, you can do it in Joomla!

Joomla is the main method that Landau Design uses to build websites. It's a content management system (also known as a CMS), which means the site is managed by a database. The database stores all your contents in its tables, much like a filing cabinet stores information in drawers and folders.

Your website does not exist in pages, it exists in the database. A template, or design, is created for your site, and every time a person clicks on a link in your site, the database feeds up the data into the template and presents the page. This is known as dynamic content generation because the content is not presented as a page until somebody interacts with it. Read more about Joomla >

Another important advantage of Joomla, like any CMS, is that content is separate from design. If you are using another Web authoring tool or hand-coded web pages, you may be familiar with style sheets (CSS) as a way to standardize the format of text and graphics. Joomla utilizes CSS information by saving it in the template file. On the other hand, the text content is stored in a MySQL database. In practice, this means:

• There are fewer opportunities for simple coding errors within each html file.


• HTML files do not need to be hand-coded, but instead can be edited through the Joomla WYSIWYG interface. Icons for typical text styling, such as bold, italic, underline are standardized so easy to use.


• CSS files are the standard CSS files and can be changed by anyone familiar with CSS. As a result, even if you do not know CC yourself, there are a lot of people who do, what means it's easy to find a developer to help.


• If you are building your own website, you can use pre-built templates so you never have to dig into the code. However, if you need something very specific, you would have to bring in a template developer to help you create it.


• If you know how to use Dreamweaver, FrontPage or any other popular web authoring software, you will find a short learning curve with Joomla.

Since most sites we build are Joomla websites, we are often asked what are the benefits of a Joomla-powered-site. Here are the reasons why we feel Joomla is the best solution for our customers:

A. Sites are built faster
In fact we tried an experiment where they built a Joomla site, then built the site in HTML. The site had 28 pages with an image gallery, guestbook and static content. The HTML pages took almost twice as long to build than the Joomla version. Joomla is faster and easier to use than standard HTML.

B. You can update quickly and easily
With traditional HTML a site owner has to know HTML or Dreamweaver (or similar editor) to update their content. Often sites with HTML there is a cycle of updating, where the owner contacts the customer to request changes, so they must wait for the developer to integrate it into their production schedule. With Joomla web design, if you know Microsoft Word, you can update most of the content, making it faster and easier to keep up-to-date.

C. advanced functionality without the costs of development
There are over 5,000 extensions available for Joomla that add additional functionality to the basic Joomla installation According to what they do, these pieces of code would normally cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to develop for an HTML site. With Joomla, 85% of these additional pieces of code are 100% free. The remaining 15% are available at minimal cost (usually no more than $45).

These codes provide all types of functions. For example, some customers want an online calender to track events they participate in. We can create a calendar of events and create a display in the sidebar on the home page in an hour. In order to do this site on an HTML site it would probably 20-30 hours of development time. Joomla saves time and money!

D. Anything you can constructed in HTML you can build with Joomla
Joomla websites are generated using a combination of PHP and CSS (cascading style sheets), which means that almost any design can be converted into Joomla. If you already have a site built in HTML, it is likely that it could be converted into a Joomla site.

E. A popular platform with a strong community support
Joomla is quickly becoming the most popular CMS available. It is estimated that more than 50 million sites worldwide are built in Joomla. Developers and designers are learning more and how to use the platform, and companies are proud to announce that its website has been constructed with this open source CMS.

It has become very easy to find developers to work on your Joomla site, and popularity means that more and more extensions are developed to add functionality. The best thing is, Joomla is not a fad. It has a long history and continues to evolve as the community of support around it grows.

There is a lot of discussion about the different versions of Joomla, but the general consensus is to stick with 1.5 until 1.8 comes out. Joomla 1.6 is only going to be supported through July 2011, and Joomla 1.5 will be supported through April 2012. Read this great article to understand more about the Joomla development timeline and why it's wise to stick with 1.5: Joomla 1.6 and Beyond: Should I upgrade? Should I build my new sites in it?

1. Information Architecture
To create a Joomla site you first need to create the information architecture. This is the part that helps the user navigate your site. Your information architecture should be clear, well-organized and reflect the way the user would seek out the information. Tutorial for creating the information architecture >

2. Choose a Template
Once you know the information your site will contain, you can then choose a template for your Joomla website. The template should reflect the marketing image of your company and should also have the right number of module positions to display your information. Tutorial for choose a Joomla template >

3. Create the Framework
Creating your Joomla Framework involves installing Joomla and setting up the sections, categories and articles. The articles will eventually become the pages on your site. Once you have created the articles in Joomla, you can then build the menus for navigating your site. Tutorial for creating the Joomla framework >

4. Add your Content
Once you have created your framework, you can now go back and add specific content to each article on your site. Tutorial for adding Joomla content >

5. Install Extensions
There may be functionality you need that is not in the basic Joomla installation. If that is the case, you need to install 3rd party extensions to extend the functionality of your site. There are thousands of extensions to choose from, so dream big when choosing what you want your site to do. Tutorial for installing Joomla extensions >

6. Secure your Joomla Website
Make sure you have reviewed the Joomla Security list to make sure your site is safe from hackers. While nobody wants to believe their site can get hacked, it abssolutely can. Read the 14 Tips for Securing Your Joomla Website.

7. Launch your site!
Once your site is complete, you can make it live. This is the best part of the project! If you don't have hosting for your Joomla site, check out our recommended hosts listed below. Tutorial for making your Joomla site live! >

Company

Backups

$$ Back Guarantee

Monthly Cost

weekly

yes

$4.95-$99.95

weekly

yes

$5.95-$12.95

2x daily

yes

$8.95-$69.95

extra $

30 day

$7.33

every 6 hours

30 day

$7.95-$160

yes

anytime

$3.45-$6.95

nightly

45 day

$4.95-$350

some accounts

90 day

$3.99-$19.99

yes
yes

anytime

$6.95

yes

30 day

$5.95-$99.95

yes

anytime

$6.95

daily

30 day

$2.95-$64.95

extra $

no

$5.95-$89

weekly

30 day

$6.95-$8.95

There are many websites that provide free or paid tutorials for learning Joomla. We have found the following be some of the best:

               
               

While we all like to believe that our websites are secure from hackers, the reality is that all websites are vulnerable. Because Joomla is open source it's structure is known to hackers, so it's important to take specific measures to secure your website.

We have created a whole lens dedicated to Joomla security. Please visit 15 Ways to Secure Your Joomla Website.

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