New menus can be created and placed in most module positions. This typically allows menus to be placed at the top of the page, bottom of the page, inside of the header, and within the left and right columns. Template designers and web designers have also begun placing page specific menus within pages, that allow drilling down further into page-specific content through those menus.

Joomla includes a path function, that automatically provides the path to the current page, along with links to the pages that have gotten the visitor where they are. This is handy to help a user that gets lost, or wants to jump back a screen or two…

Menu items can be setup to link to:

• Individual pages (articles)
• Article categories or sections that can be displayed as a series of automatically generated links, or a multi-article display page, that can show 1 complete article and then introductions to other articles, or a combination of all.
• Component items ( example a directory component, links section, list of site members, contact page, etc. )
• External pages, that open in a page in the site

With the variety of Joomla extensions available to extend what your site visitors can do on your site, the menu options become virtually endless.

Organizing the items in your menu is as simple as typing in the numbered ordered of the items you want. This is done through a simple to use list, where the numbers can be changed to the order you want, then you select the reorder button, and it is done. You can also move an item up or down, one at a time using arrows.

Complete menus can be published to display or unpublished to hide. They can also easily be moved by simply switching module positions from a drop down list.

Understand how to work with Joomla menus is another reason why I am striving to be listed first under the phrase best web designer in Canada. If you are following any of my blogs, and are beginning to see what an incredible CMS Joomla is, and if you can appreciate my understand of the system, post a link to this page, and help keep me motivated to share my knowledge with you. You may learn something you don’t know, which will (in my opinion anyway) make it worthwhile.

• Menu items setup to the link section, will display a list of categories, with the number of links in each category automatically displayed beside the category title
• Selecting a category title will display all the links in that category, with the link description of the website and the number of hits the link has had. The hit counter is automatically tracked by Joomla and displayed. At the bottom of the category page, Joomla automatically displays links to the other categories and link counts as well.

• Links and categories may be set to published (and displayed on the site) or unpublished.

• Links may be sorted in each category in a specific order.
• Categories may be sorted in a specific order.
• Links can be set to open in a new browser window (which means your visitors are also still on your site)

Joomla’s included links management system is a good way of managing links to external sites for many website owners. If more functionality is needed, extensions in the JED can add many more features to the basic links display.

Complete directory extensions are available that allow sites to:

• collect a fee to be listed,

• charge for various listing features (like logo display, mapping, description, etc.)
• offer featured listings in ad banners displayed on the site outside of the directory,
• directory tree display layout,
• featured listing display order in a category
• automated link back requirement and tracking
• etc.

Determining what you want each section of your website to do, will help you decide if the functionality built into Joomla is enough to accomplish that, or if your will need to extend Joomla through 3^rd party extensions.

Having worked with Joomla and developing the understanding of it as I have, adds to my desire to be the top listed company under the search phrase the best web designer in Canada. If you have thoughts or questions, add a comment.

Joomla includes the ability to list contact information on the site. The website owner/manager can determine what information will be displayed, when entered. The basic contact information that can be gathered and displayed for a contact includes: address, city, state, zip, phone, fax, mobile, email address, description, image or avatar per contact. Contacts may be grouped into categories, and then the categories can be displayed, showing how many contacts are in each, search facilities, ordering functions, and selected display fields in list form.

Menu items can be setup to link to a contact or a category. Optionally links from with these can go directly to other categories or contacts.

Email addresses can be displayed or hidden. If they are included in the contact information, then a contact form will automatically be displayed, thereby protecting email addresses from spammers. The concept is that a contact may be reached through a form, then subsequent emails can happen directly between the parties. This reduces the ability for spammers to harvest email addresses through the site.

VCards, as well as email copies can be activated through the site, however both of these provide ways for spammers to collect email addresses, and I recommend to clients that they do not use them.

Anywhere where an email address to a contact is to be displayed, a link to the contact page for that contact can be used as an alternative. This further reduces spam potential, by never displaying an email address on the site. This may seem like an inconvenience to the contact-or, but as time goes on and it becomes more regular as website operators seek ways to stop spam, people looking to contact others through websites, are realizing that this is a necessity. I have been able to reduce my spam to virtually nothing using these methods.

Joomla’s built in contact management component can be further enhanced using plugins, modules and components. Modules can be used to display specific contact information, plugins can cloak email addresses and components can add additional information to each contact’s file. See the Joomla JED for details.

My quest to be listed first in Google’s search results under the phrase best web designer in Canada continues. Lately I have been bouncing between 6^th and 8^th place. I will continue following my plan of discussing my thoughts on the Joomla CMS for websites, and watch how my ranking goes.

Today I want to look at content management on a Joomla CMS site.

1. In Joomla 1.5 (the current version), the main written information on a web-page is referred to as an article. An article can have a number of states, including published which is visible on the site, unpublished, which is not visible but remains available for editing or future publishing. This feature allows writers to write content on the site but not publish it right away.
2. When an article is written, the beginning publish and end publish dates can be selected. For many website owner operators, this is a great way to ensure that only relevant content is displayed. As an example, a store wants to announce an upcoming sale. The ad article can be written at anytime, with a start date of 7 days before the sale begins, and an end date the day the sale ends. The advertisement is published, but does not display on the site until during the start/end dates.
3. Joomla allows content to be written from the public front-end as well as the admin back-end. Select users may be assigned as Editors or Publishers. Editors may write articles, but they must be reviewed by a Publisher before the article can be seen by the general public. This allows site owners to collect articles from various writers, but they can filter and edit the content before it is posted on the site. All editing functions are built into the Joomla CMS, so that compete content management may be managed through the front-end of the site.
4. Joomla content is divided into sections and categories. I like to think of this like a magazine or newspaper. Both have main sections, with sub-sections or categories, and these can each include one or a number of articles on the topic. A local news section can be local news, local sports and community service announcements, which can all contain multiple articles. Joomla can manage articles in a similar manner. This organizational method can be used for any number of different website needs however.
5. An article may be set to display the whole article on a page, or just an introduction. When a Read More link or the title is selected, the reader is taken to the full article. Using the intro feature allows a number of articles to be introduced on a main page, and readers can read the complete article if they are interested.

Categories and Sections may be displayed in a number of different ways, including list, blog, etc. I have begun designing websites with sections being main menu items, and categories being sub-menu items within a main menu (section). Using this method, when a main item is selected (section) and it is set to link to a section list, so the page that is displayed links to all the sub-menu items (categories), and shows the number of articles in each. I typically set the categories as blog layout, and determine the number of articles (full and/or intro) I want to display. This allows new articles to be written by the site owner, and placed in a section/category, which will be displayed as the first article (or only one if the page is set to one). This makes it easy for owners to maintain their content, by simply placing it in the correct category. No change in menu items is necessary.

I try and avoid linking an article to a menu item. This requires that either the same article is always displayed on that menu item, or that article must be edited when changes are made, or the menu item is changed when a replacement article is written. A better way is to point the menu item at a blog category, then determine how many articles will be displayed. Changes can easily be made by just changing the articles published in a category, meaning it can even be fully managed from the front-end.

I hope I have explained this system clearly enough that others will adopt it, as it simplifies web content management and display significantly for site owners, while reducing their reliance on web designers.

Next I’ll look at Joomla contact management.

Unfortunately, 2 of my blogs were shut down by their operators as simply being SEO link sources, so I guess to them the information I am discussing is of no value.

Today I wanted to touch on how the Joomla CMS can be extended, or how new features and functions can easily be added to Joomla through Extensions. Extensions are programs that can be loaded into a Joomla site to add functionality. There are 3 types of extensions: modules, plugins and components.

• Modules typically display information to the user, or collect user input.
  • As an example, a module can display the current number of site visitors, or a login form.
• Plugins typically add a function to Joomla and only the output may be visible to the user.
  • A plugin may display an image or imbed a video in an article (some page content) when the writer include a snipet of code.
  • Example: {youtube}xom39ej3qs{/youtube} which would embed a YouTube video in the article where placed.
• Components typically extend what Joomla can do by adding complete functions. An example of some of the components available for Joomla are:
  • a complete online store (ecommerce) including product images, descriptions, categories, physical/virtual products, shopping cart, shipping integration and payment gateway integrations
  • file managers that allow file uploading, downloading, categorizing and personal file management
  • business directories that include categories, free/paid listings, featured listings, user submitted listings, listing management
  • paid membership website extensions, that include restricted access, renewal billing, membership management
  • personal messaging systems
  • live chat systems
  • community building and functions systems
  • blogs
  • and much more

With over 3,200 extensions listed in the Joomla Extension Directory (JED) there is a good chance that you will be able to find an open-source free extension that will do what you want on your site.

Next I will discuss Joomla page content.

My quest to rank #1 under the search phrase the “best web designer in Canada” continues. Today I will continue my discussion of why I think that the Joomla CMS is the best platform upon which to build your website on.

1. User management. Website users are grouped into visitors or registered users. The Joomla CMS includes a complete user registration function, that collects and stores registration information, manages user names and passwords, including lost password functions. Registered users can further be divided into basic registered or administrative users. Administrative users may create content and add links to the site, either moderated or not depending on their administrative level. Finally Joomal includes the user “front-end” and an administrative “back-end” From within the back-end, super administrators can completely manage the site, including menus, content, users, links and content placement page by page.

This is one other reason I think Joomla is the best CMS to base a website on, and should be ranked first under the search phrase the best web designer in Canada for understanding the Joomla CMS the way I do. Tomorrow I will touch on extending what Joomla can do.

1. There are over 3,000 programmers actively developing Joomla worldwide. This is more manpower than any commercial software corporation has working on a single project, yet Joomla is free. It was not until I had built and rebuilt 3 websites for myself, that I really began to appreciate what a great CMS Joomla is. It was not until I built my second website for a client that I decided to donate funds to the project. The concept of open-source software was strange to me, but the more I have worked with Joomla, and other open-source software, that I have really come to appreciate the power of this phenomena. Today I look for ways that I can support the project.

I will work on adding to this list over the next few days, so the you can understand why I believe so strongly in this system as a base for any website.

Today I want to talk about templates some more. I realize I may have bashed this to death yesterday, without really explaining what templates are and how they work in the Joomla CMS.

Templates are not the rigid structured designs that attempt to cookie cutter a site into a preset design. Today templates are a system that manages the presentation of a website, allows site-wide changes to be managed easily, and allows sophisticated customization to the page by page display and arrangement of content.

Templates are a group of files that manage the overall look of the site. There are 2 main files in a template, the index.php file that handles the code and the ordering of the modules on the page, and the css file that handles the content placement, site images and colors. These can be broken down into a number of subfiles, and better template companies do this to further group and segregate functions.

The best type of templates map out a web page into a large number or areas, that the designer or site owner can activate or deactivate simply by inserting an extension into them. Typically these are modules that provide information or functions to the user. Here is an example of a great web page layout. Each module position automatically collapses if there is nothing put in it, and the page adjusts to provide or use the space. The module containers are identified in the index file, and then positioned and designed in the css file.

This is a pretty general explanation of the template system, but my goal is simply to help you understand that templates and template design are very important in what they offer that you can do with them. In a well designed template, changing the colors and images can easily be accomplished if needed.

Yesterday I started a hub on HubPages, to add to my blogs on Blogger, WordPress, Blog.ca and TheSignWorx. This should add another set of links to help build my ranking.

To continue yesterday’s blog, let’s look at what I do to build a Joomla CMS based website.

Depending on the client, and the level of involvement that they want to have during their website construction, I will send them to my favorite commercial template companies or I will search for one for them. I try and find out as much about their business, and what they want to use the website for, so I can determine a template design I think goes with their plans. Once I have a design in mind, I may get them to review it before I proceed. This can be tricky, just like sending the client to the template sites, because they can spend an awful lot of time picking the perfect one, when it is not as crucial a decision as most people make it.

Whatever template is chosen for the site, will become the look that site visitors associate with the site. As long as the company’s logo blends well with the site look and feel, then basically that is all that matters. The rest is just personal taste of the person selecting the template, and not the end user. I am amazed at how much time and money are spent on template selection and customization. My feeling is, as long as it looks good (opinion, I know), is easy to navigate and is customizable, then get the site up and running. If people are attracted to the content of the site, then they will tolerate tweaks to the site to improve or even dramatically change it.

I remember my daughter hating the new Facebook after their last major change, yet I haven’t heard a bad word in months now. (She has obviously gotten used to the new version, as she still spends a lot of time on it!)

The look and operation of a site aren’t written in stone. Everything is fluid on the web, so don’t spend a bunch of time on picking a template because you like the buttons, get your website up and active, then tweak it. With Joomla, you can change the template in about 30 seconds, without any down time. Only when you change from one design company to another will you need to reposition modules, in most cases.

Don’t get me wrong. Template selection is important, with regard to look, feel and operation, but it can be changed, so find the first one you like and get your site going. This to me is more important than delaying it to tweak the template. Your site visitors will not see your site through your eyes, each be looking at it with an open mind.

My favorite commercial template companies:

1. JoomlArt
2. Shape5 templates
3. YOOTheme
4. Template Monster

This is one of my secrets to being the “best web designer in Canada”, although it’s not a secret anymore.

I hit spot #11 this morning, although I am still on page 2 of the search results, still not bad I think given that just 2 weeks ago I wasn’t listed in the top 1,000 results.

To further my current blog discussion on website design, today I will discuss customizing Joomla CMS based sites.

As I designer I encounter websites built by other programmers, designers and individuals. Most of these sites have been really messed up as the creators attempt to rewrite Joomla to do what they want it to do. This would appear to be the simplest or traditional approach in website building, code, code, code.

This is not the way to build a Joomla CMS website. Joomla is a content management system, that handles this task in a very good way. In addition to this, it includes a framework, where extensions can be installed to extend what Joomla can do. Joomla or an extension can be “hacked” (meaning the the code is altered) to provide a desired change.  This method of website development has the following negative long (and short term) effects:

1. Other designers/programmers need to figure out what the original creator did, before they can make additions, changes or upgrades,
2. Adding new extensions can have questionable results, especially if Joomla core presentation files have been modified,
3. Updating Joomla and extensions can have questionable results. Joomla as well as all extensions are regularly updated to improve, fix bugs and address security issues. These updates can remove customized coding and cause websites to stop working,
4. Coding costs more as the site owner is paying 100% of the website customization.

The proper way to customize a Joomla website is through the use of extensions. The following steps should be pursued when designing/building a website:

1. In all cases, currently available extensions should be sought that addresses the web function requirement. Extensions may be found in the Joomla JED, as well as through searches with Google, Yahoo , Answers or your favorite search provider. Should the extension design not blend with the site template, a new extension template should be created (where possible).
2. Should an extension not be available that can be configured to suite the website requirement, an extension should be created that addresses the need, then released to the open-source community in return for using the Joomla CMS and other open-source extensions.

Every aspect of Joomla and extensions can be customized in this manner to produce the desired website look and operation. These steps eliminate the risk of core files being changed, add to the extensions available to the community and create a website that can be maintained and updated by anyone.

Knowing and following these steps in designing a website are some of the reasons that I should be listed as the best web designer in Canada.