Lately, we have been getting some questions from clients wanting assistance with their Joomla site. There have been a few questions that are kind of specific to a certain situation but overall, a lot of them apply across the board on many Joomla web site designs. Here are 5 simple tips / points to keep in mind when using your Joomla web site:

1. The "pages" on your site are referred to as articles, the main content for each page. One of the first things you always want to do when creating a new page on your Joomla website is create a new article. Content Management Systems work by controlling how your site handles information, so it is natural that this should be your first step.
2. When working with menu (navigation) items, remember that these are just links that tell your site which article it is pointing to. The other thing menu items help you do, is assign modules to specific pages, rather than having to show them on every page or none at all.
3. "Modules" can be anything from text to pictures, forms or any kind of information you would need contained in a box that can be moved around to different sections of your site. A module lets you share more information on your pages without having to put everything in the main content (article) area.
4. When you want to work on new content on your site, but don't want everyone to see the content, there are a few things you can do. First, you can assign an "access level" to that page temporarily so that only registered users can see certain pages. Then when you are ready to show the world your new information, you can set the access level to "public" so everyone can see. You can do this in the menu item manager.
5. Sometimes, if you have multiple people working on the site, you can get locked out of a certain article or module because the web site thinks someone else is still editing that item. This is common and it isn't a big deal. Just go in the administrative side of your site and hover over the "Tools" menu item and select "Global Check In." Think about checking in books at a library. Now Joomla knows exactly what is being edited and if that article or section was locking you out before, but not really being modified, Joomla will unlock it so you can get back to business.

So there you have it -- 5 Simple Joomla How To tips to help familiarize yourself with your new web site. Our clients can always email us with any questions or troubleshooting needs. If you aren't one of our clients, we can still offer support packages and assistance at an affordable rate. Feel free to use our quick contact form to shoot us a message!

While a lot of non web designers probably don't know about HTML5 or why it's important, web designers have been discussing this topic for months now. There are plenty of positives that this 'new' (revamped) language gives us for web design and web development.

• Offline Support — There are certain features that come along with HTML5 that allow you to store more offline information (more so than cookies / cache) which is a huge plus for mobile application developers. This will allow useful applications to continue to function even when there is no available internet connection.
• Canvas and Video — These features make it easier than ever before to add images (not really too big of an issue before) and video (big issue before) to a web page and make it cross browser and mobile compatible.
• GeoLocation API — It isn't really part of HTML5 but since HTML5 is associated mainly with mobile device use, GeoLocation goes along with this discussion quite nicely. Developers can now more easily integrate user-specific location based information into an app and do things like that 'cool' augmented reality stuff people have been talking about. That's how it's possible to point your iPhone or Android device at a street and have it tell you where the closest coffee shop is (ever wondered why your iPhone asks to use your 'Current Location'?).
• Advanced Forms — Now your mobile browser can handle some of the background stuff that is required to make sure information that you enter in an online form is accurate (form validators) instead of having to run additional scripts to do it. This really will speed up load times and increase that user experience stuff.

That being said, HTML5 sounds great and all developers should stop what they are doing right now and start using it shouldn't they? That's not necessarily the case. HTML5 is not yet supported by Internet Explorer (I know, shocking right?) and in addition to that, there are few other 'deal breakers' that will hold HTML5 up from being completely integrated into all platforms right away.

• The biggest issue is the acceptance (or lack thereof) of microformats across multiple browsers. HTML5 uses a slew of new tags that add new 'semantic richness' to a web document but does not fully utilize microformats (class attributes, etc.) which makes HTML5's backwards compatibility non-existent. Being a graphic designer on the web, this is a bad thing.

Most of the other negative points start to get sort of complicated and difficult to explain so for now, I'll leave it at that. It is important to know that HTML5 is still a good thing -- it's just going to be a bit before it is completely integrated into every developer's day to day routine. As mobile internet browsing continues to grow, however, it will very soon have its place.

Used to be, back when I started out as a young web developer, I would hear words like “flow and pop” used in reference to website design and I would literally cringe. But over the years and multiple projects later I have come to understand the native language of the average netizen and prospective website owner. As a Project Manager, I have to understand that the dreaded "flow and pop" lingo is not going anywhere and that translated properly it can reveal many valuable insights into my clients' expectations. But essentially, understanding and creating pop and flow is the difference between having your uncle that “knows how to make websites” make your site for you and going to an experienced web design and development company. Here are some translations to better explain…

Can you make my website pop?

Translation: When used in this general context a client is most likely referring to the broader fundamental layout of the site -- appropriate alignment and spacing. And if not thats a good place to start, using proper typographical techniques like using CSS style sheets and applying Anti-Aliasing to text to minimize distortion can give that polished look commonly associated with pop. Another commonly overlooked but very important consideration is site width. Containing the site properly can have a lot to do with how it will appear to pop. Sites are commonly developed at 1024px now a days to accommodate newer wide screen monitors. See my other article here concerning site width.

Can you make the images/graphics pop?

Translation: When in reference to images or graphics “popping” we use subtle drop shadows usually in combination with gradients and stroked borders. Something that really makes a difference in making a website pop is the use of 1 pixel stroked borders and lines. Using a stroked border can really add that extra crispness to a design as it gives some extra contrast to the surrounding elements and gives the design needed depth. Another huge factor in web design is the quality of your icons, images and photos. They are usually quite prominent so proper care should be taken to assure they are of the best quality. The amount  of color balance, sharpness and contrast should be in harmony with the rest of the site.

Can you make our website flow?

Translation: When used in this general context clients are usually referring to a broader human interaction factor. The GUI or graphical user interface should be prominent, intuitive and easy to read. Many Web Developers have adopted the tabbed navigation approach for their main navigation menu. Tabbed navigation is a menu that looks like each item is a tab on a file folder, with the active tab connected to the body of the page. Tabbed navigation isn’t just eye candy, it provides a usability benefit. Also, to communicate navigation options in a more effective way, designers often make use of appealing icons. In such cases it’s important to make sure that the icon is easily recognizable, clearly conveys the message, corresponds to the link it stands for and isn’t too small or ambiguous.

My content just doesn’t flow right. Can you help?

Translation: When used in this manner clients are usually referring to what we call hierarchy and call to action. What’s the first thing someone does when they visit your site? Is there a clear hierarchy of what to do first? Is the purpose of the website clearly evident? A call to action would be a like a “Buy Here” button or “Click Here For Pricing” that creates an appeal to further action from the site visitor. Proper consideration and thought should be put into color, size and position of calls to action. This combined with a clear navigatin flow and hierarchy will drastically increase the flow of your site's information. When in doubt, remember less is always more. 

So, the next time you set out to design a website or have a website designed for you,  ask these questions:

• Are the basic fundamentals in place?
• Can I make improvements in my alignment or spacing?
• Has the appropriate anti-aliasing been used?
• Have I sharpened my images or text with strokes or borders?
• Can I create extra depth to my page by using gradients or drop shadows?
• Is there a clear hierarchy with an appropriate call to action?
• Are all image colors corrected, balanced and sharpened?
• Are there any elements you can remove, fix, replace, move, change or edit?
• Does any one element draw too much attention?
• Are there too many colors in general?
• Is there aesthetic consistency?
• Am I effectively using the white space?

And last of all, ask yourself this…Does my website flow and pop?

There is a lot of talk about whether proprietary software is more secure than open source software. Often, the proponents of proprietary software suggest that if the programming code is open, then any malicious hacker can figure out what makes the software tick and interfere with, or even steal sensitive data.

This is a surface analysis used by those who are still stuck in the shrink wrapped software days that made companies such as Microsoft wildly successful. Those days are quite possibly over or at the least, not at all what they were.

Open source and social community upsets advocates of closed and proprietary code because not unlike the issues typically presented by mass social availability (imagine the reduced size of Twitter and Facebook if they were NOT free) immediate profits of proprietary code developers are reduced.

Well Now That You Put It That Way…

Consider:

1. Though Microsoft operating systems, software suites and website development language have been the most widely used in the world and "closed source," they are by no means less vulnerable to attack as we well know. In fact, because this software is proprietary, problems are harder to resolve since only Microsoft can read the source code, resolve a problem or release a patch while we wait for the solution.

2. Credit card numbers have been stolen from the very clearing houses businesses depend on to protect them. I bet Heartland was not using out of the box open source solutions when it announced that personal data of up to 600 million cardholders was being sniffed by hackers.

3. The cost of custom database programming from Oracle has a reputation. Remortgage your house to pay for it unless you’re Fortune 500. Still in 2008 well known researcher David Litchfield published a white paper on just how to hack the then latest release of the Oracle database with “lateral SQL injection.” One guy – just like that. Though the problem was no doubt addressed, Oracle still has to release security patches quarterly. So does the high price make their solution more secure or less prone to being hacked? Apparently not.

4. Even that innocent little pdf by Adobe attached to so many of your emails is vulnerable and hopefully you have downloaded the fix to the latest threat. In mid December Adobe admitted that it had confirmed earlier reports of a flaw in Reader and Acrobat that allows a malicious PDF to execute code even on fully-patched versions of Adobe's software. Adobe classified the security flaw as "critical" but still decided to delay release of the security patch until mid January 2010. What’s notable is that though the security hole was previously known (personal proof: one of my assistants opened the FedEx email pdf attachment months ago and we lost that computer real quick), Adobe essentially was in no hurry.

But What Else Is There If Not Microsoft Windows, Office and ASP.net?

A. Linux is not just for website servers. It is now getting popular on PCs and laptops and being heavily used in corporate applications (even Apple!). So how many websites are on Linux vs. Windows servers? A lot. The Linux community is by some estimates over 30,000,000 strong. For web servers CentOS is a community-supported, free and open source enterprise class operating system based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (which is not free). What’s interesting to note though is that both Red Hat and CentOS are based on the open source Linux.

B. Here’s one you may not know. Apple (closed proprietary and the “haute couture” of tech companies) uses open source as part of the core of Mac OS X – BSD Unix. “Apple believes that using Open Source methodology makes Mac OS X a more robust, secure operating system, as its core components have been subjected to the crucible of peer review for decades,” says Apple.

C. Selling products online? You guessed it. The very large and powerful osCommerce shopping cart solution is free (and comes with over 228,400 store owners and developers for a powerful support community).

D. Finally, try Google Docs and GDrive which now gives you 1GB of storage free and now accepts any file type. Combine that with OpenOffice for an open source (read: completely free) version of Microsoft Office and you will be an advocate of open source real soon (Note: In April of 2009 Oracle bought Sun Microsystems and their open source MySQL database solution and OpenOffice).

Open source has brought the Internet community huge benefits and allowed it to expand astronomically. Use it properly by starting with an established solution. We have all heard of Joomla and Wordpress for content management systems. They have strong communities to assist and are again, free. Customization is where you’ll spend any money.

Security Is A Process, Not A Program

In the end security means more than just sound programming. Common sense and constant vigilance are in order. Is your site unusually slow or is part of it not functioning? Are your site stats out of whack or band width spiking? Each website should be monitored for these and similar issues.

There is no "unhackable" code, open or closed. “It’s not if, it’s when.”

So then what are the real differences here? There are two really. Closed source proprietary solutions are less flexible and more expensive. The code is not open so you must continue to rely on one company to make future customizations to your code. And support, fixes and patches that you rely on the same company for are paid for with the higher cost charged for the closed source solution. That seems like a circular make work project especially considering that for popular open source solutions such as CentOS, osCommerce, Joomla and Wordpress, you get release updates and fixes from 1000s of the brightest minds around the world for free.

So we come back to process not program. Look for a good technology partner if you don't have one in house and start leveraging open source technologies for speed, flexibility and cost advantages.