Content Management

I love starting new projects, listening to client worries, ideas and dreams, researching options, proposing solutions and devoloping websites that mesh with their needs. I am not so keen on website maintenance.

I have been a web designer for 10 years.
In year 1 -3 I updated client websites for them. Always.
In year 4 - 6 I would install a cgi script to allow them to go in and edit text on any of their webpages.
In year 7 I discovered Macromedia (now Adobe) Contribute. I would design sites in Dreamweaver so that all aspects except the main look and navigation could be edited by the client - yay this was a big step.
In year 8 I discovered WebAssist.com and started creating database driven websites with online control panels whereby clients could login and add pages, products, images and more using the programming language asp and an online database.... but... Access databases break so I switched to MySql and went through a new learning curve... and.... asp stopped being popular so I switched to PHP.... and if a new feature needed to be added, I often had to get into custom programming from scratch.

Last year I started using Joomla! http://www.joomla.org/
I am in love.

I took over an existing website for a new client. Instead of having to dive into code and figure out what the original designer had been thinking, this site was created using Joomla!
I was able to login, make their edits and have their site current in under an hour - this after they had been neglecting it for almost a year.
Later I was able to add a Blog and Event registration in just a couple of hours.
http://www.cnhr.ca/


Did I mention Joomla is free?

Did I mention that any time you want to add a new feature you can browse through over 4000 "extensions" to find that add-on feature? http://extensions.joomla.org/ Many of these extensions are free as well.

Why else do I love Joomla?

• I can create my own graphic design and use it for the site.
• Site managers can add new navigation items - not just edit existing pages
• It can be used to create an online community, social networking, e-commerce, calendar, newsletter, magazine, polls and surveys, blog, discussion board, document repository, education.....
• I can develop my own extensions that work with the existing structure.

So in this blog, I want to turn others into Joomla fans by sharing my discoveries, ideas and sites.

Visit my very first full Joomla site http://penetanguishenecurlingclub.com/