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Clean Out the Cobwebs:

Clean Out the Cobwebs:. Rethinking Your Web Presence with Joomla CMS Mark A. Smith – LiSUG Conference October 2008 - SUNY IT – Utica NY. Apologies In Advance. What I’ll Try & Cover. What is a Content Management System? Why a CMS Might Be an Option for Your Library

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Clean Out the Cobwebs:

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  1. Clean Out the Cobwebs: Rethinking Your Web Presence with Joomla CMS Mark A. Smith – LiSUG Conference October 2008 - SUNY IT – Utica NY

  2. Apologies In Advance.

  3. What I’ll Try & Cover • What is a Content Management System? • Why a CMS Might Be an Option for Your Library • What is Needed to Run Joomla? • A “Look-see” At Joomla Driven Library Sites • Basic Concepts that Form the System • Tour of Administrative Module • Time Permitting: Demos of Site & Content Creation

  4. A Quick Peek JoomlaOut of The Box

  5. Joomla: Not Your Father’s Website • Content Management System (CMS) • Both Website & Repository • Database Driven • Modular – Extensible – Plug & Play • Template Design Structure • Administrative Backend Managed

  6. Show Me What You Mean A Couple More Mystery Site - Made With Joomla Scholes Library – A very modest implementation built with sweat equity and much trial and error

  7. Why Is Joomla An Option For You? • Open Source and Free (Active User Community) • Easy to Keep Your Content Fresh • Archives All of Your Content (text, images, links, etc) • No Programming or Coding Required .. No HTML, CSS, XML, CFM, etc. • Easy WYSIWYG & Distributable Editing

  8. More Good’ness • Change Design Elements & Templates Instantly • Embedded Relational, Hierarchical Linking Structure for Content • Administrative Backend Organizes & Monitors Content (including Statistics) • Portable (exportable database)

  9. … And More • Templates Do All The Work (but html/css editable from within the admin module) • Multiple Media Format Friendly • Highly Customizable at Every Level (from item to site-wide) • User Accounting (if you want to go there) • .. And more

  10. And The Fun Part • Extensible Web Apps Plug-ins for 2.0’ness • Polls, Blogs, RSS feeds, Search, Contacts, Breadcrumbs, Popularity, Page Delivery, etc. Out of the Box • Other Functionality - Calendars, wikis, image galleries, media players, editors, forums, etc. Widely developed & easily added

  11. In A Nutshell The System Provides an End-User & Content Creator Environment that is: Familiar, Flexible & Customizable

  12. Look What You Could Do

  13. Sounds Good! What Do I Need? • A minimally cooperative IT department OR your own server • MYSQL and PHP • Joomla Software: versions for Win Server and Unix • Time to Experiment (learning curve to initially customize the structure) • A Plan to Rethink Your Content & Nav. Structure

  14. Got $6.95 A message from our sponsor (kidding): The Evil Outsourcing Option: Could Try Bluehost or Another Hosting Service & You Are Up & Running Without Any IT Guys Proof of Concept Approach

  15. OK. How Does the Thing Work? The Basics • Organizing the Information • Layout: Template / Module Positions • Functionality: Modules-Components-Extensions • Navigation - Menus

  16. 1. Organization Hierarchical Organization Sections Categories .. may have multiple categories under a section Articles .. may have multiple articles under a category Departments Section Reference Circulation Category Borr.Policies Staff GettingLib. Card Ask A Libn Staff Article

  17. 2. Layouts Ruled By Templates Your “Look” is governed by Templates. Templates contain a map of “module positions” that identify where you might wish to position content Templates can be built, borrowed, purchased, stolen, etc. And they are editable (HTML,CSS) Scholes Module Map

  18. 3. Functionality • Modules-Components-Extensions … Oh My!banners, contacts, polls, blogs, RSS feeds, breadcrumbs, popularity, page delivery, calendars, wikis, image galleries, newsflash, ratings, media players, editors, forums, stats, related items, etc. • Joomla comes with a great deal of functionality right out of the box. • Other extensions are widely available (many free) A Limited Set For Our Library Bluehost – Out of the Box

  19. 4. Navigation All Done with “Menus” • A robust function within Admin • Menus utilize your Sections, Categories, & Articles structure that automates menus that are logical. (ie. a menu of all your categories) • The most powerful & frustrating concept/feature in Joomla. I initially found it difficult to wrap my head around this.

  20. Under the Hood A Look at Scholes Joomla Admin. • Sections / Categories / Articles • Menus • Front Page Manager • Media Manager .. etc

  21. Joomla May Not Be For You .. • If you lack IT Support to Install and Maintian Server. (You won’t need server access or much help from them.) • If your site design must exactly/closely match a campus design (but could build your own template) • If you are easily frustrated by a learning curve. (However, much simpler than Aleph. And once the layout is done ..its a snap to maintain). .

  22. What Are Other Libraries Doing With Joomla? Joomla in Libraries Community / Showcase

  23. Do We Have Time? Demos/Tutorials Overview http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3UgF9y2C3k Modules http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaPcsRRULTc Menus http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvjVkze3fTs

  24. Materials & Resources Presentation Materials, Links & Joomla Resources available at http://lisug08joomla.wordpress.com/ Demo Account: (login: lisug/sunyla) - will self-destruct 11/1/08 Questions?

  25. Playtime • What do you want to see? • Change Templates (same content) • Add an RSS Feed • Download and add a template/module • Create a Poll • Build a Section/Category

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