Tutorials
Monday, 12 July 2010 20:25

How do I get started with a website?

Written by Vanessa Pike-Russell

The Web Development Process

 

Stage 1: Identifying Your Needs

Before we start you need to spend at least a week thinking about what you want in your site. Get out the paper and pens and do a list of content that is most important. Next create a site tree with branches from the main focuses and how the user will navigate around the site  Our Quote Request form helps you  through the options and possibilities that exist for your site. I will sit down with you once you have this initial plan and work on extending it and assessing your company or organization’s website needs.

a. Site Map - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sitemap

twenty4 web design basic tree diagram

While I don’t expect clients to have a full working diagram of how the site will operate (that’s my job!), the more information you can give that is displayed in a simplified way, the easier it is for me to assess your needs and develop the site you want.

 

Pen and Paper

I always find the best way is to draw it up on paper first, its quick and easy, and without the inevitable annoyances of drawing on a computer. Once your mock-up is made there’s a host of tools available for drawing up diagrams on your pc (or mac) – some free, some super expensive!

Drawing a diagram- tools to use

The top diagram in this post was drawn up using Google Docs drawing program which is free for users with a google account. There are various online tools for diagram drawing and a great post detailing some of them can be viewed here.

Stage 2: The Design

Once we have received your specifications, we will create one or more sample designs for you to look through. It is typical to work through several versions of the layout before a final decision is made. Only after you are completely satisfied with the design will we continue on in the process.

Stage 3: Programming Your Website

Depending on the content of the website, we can do all the programming in as little as a week. Included in every web design package are coupons that can be used for future service on your website as needed. If interested, we can also install a function on your website that enables you to personally update the site’s content whenever you want.

Stage 4:  Email me when you're ready to get the process started.

Monday, 12 July 2010 19:43

Joomla Core Features

Written by Vanessa Pike-Russell

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

JOOMLA! Core Features

 

1 Components

  • banner
  • contacts
  • news feeds
  • polls
  • search
  • weblinks
  •  

2 Core Modules

  • A Archived Content
  • B Banners & Feed
  • C Custom HTML
  • D Breadcrumbs
  • E Footer
  • F Login
  • G Menu
  • H Most Read & Latest News
  • I News Flash
  • J Polls
  • K Random Image
  • L Related Items
  • M Search
  • N Sections
  • O Statistics
  • P Syndicate
  • Q Who's Online
  • R Wrapper

3 Plugins

  • A Authentication (Joomla!, LDAP, OpenID, GMail)
  • B Cache
  • C Code Highlighter (GeSHi)
  • D Email Cloaking
  • E Editors (TinyMCE 2.1 & Xstandard Lite for Joomla!)
  • F Editors-XTD (Image, Page Break, Readmore)
  • G Legacy
  • H Rating
  • I Search (Categories, Newsfeeds, Sections, Contacts, Content, Weblinks)
  • J SEF
  • K XML-RPC (Blogger API, Joomla! API)

4 Templates

  •  Choose a template to customise OR
  • Create a new template based on mock-up designs

(Read more)

What is Joomla?

Joomla is a Content Manangement system.

 

What's a content management system (CMS)?

A content management system is software that keeps track of every piece of content on your Web site, much like your local public library keeps track of books and stores them. Content can be simple text, photos, music, video, documents, or just about anything you can think of. A major advantage of using a CMS is that it requires almost no technical skill or knowledge to manage. Since the CMS manages all your content, you don't have to.

 

What are some real world examples of what Joomla! can do?

Joomla is used all over the world to power Web sites of all shapes and sizes. For example:

  • Corporate Web sites or portals
  • Corporate intranets and extranets
  • Online magazines, newspapers, and publications
  • E-commerce and online reservations
  • Government applications
  • Small business Web sites
  • Non-profit and organizational Web sites
  • Community-based portals
  • School and church Web sites
  • Personal or family homepages

 

Who uses Joomla?

MTV Quizilla

Here are just a few examples of Web sites that use Joomla:

More examples of companies using Joomla can be found in the Joomla Community Site Showcase.

 

How can I be sure there will be Joomla! support in the future?

Winner - Best CMS

Joomla is the most popular open source CMS currently available as evidenced by a vibrant and growing community of friendly users and talented developers. Joomla's roots go back to 2000 and, with over 200,000 community users and contributors, the future looks bright for the award-winning Joomla Project.

 

 

 

 

Monday, 12 July 2010 17:17

Joomla: Minimum System Requirements

Written by Vanessa Pike-Russell

What are the Minimum System Requirements?

To successfully install and use Joomla! you must have a fully operational web server (Apache or IIS), a database (MySQL is the optimum) and the server side scripting language PHP together with specific modules that are activated within PHP for MySQL, XML, and Zlib functionality amongst others.
Whilst the community will always do its best to help you resolve issues that you may experience, Joomla! is not a web server in its own right and depends on you having a fully functioning & compatible Web server. 

Joomla! is developed and tested primarily on the Apache web server versions 1.3.x + and 2.x +.
As of Joomla! 1.5.16 Microsoft IIS is also supported. It will also run on many other servers. 
For database MySQL is the principle choice but other types of database may work with the necessary configuration but are less well supported at the present time. This is a situation that it is hoped will be turned around with time but for this to happen the community requires people with the appropriate skills to step forward and assist.

The minimum versions of the various constituent parts of these server components that are required are as follows:


Software Min Requirement Recommended Latest Options Web Site
PHP 4.3.10 4.4.7 5.x series http//php.net
MySQL 3.23.x or above   5.x series http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/mysql/5.0.html
Apache 1.3 or above   2.2 series http://httpd.apache.org
IIS  6  7  7.5 http://www.iis.net/
mod_mysql        
mod_xml        
mod_zlib        

You must ensure that you have the MySQL, XML, and Zlib functionality enabled within your PHP installation. This is controlled within the php.ini file. Do not use PHP 4.3.9, PHP 4.4.2 or PHP 5.0.4; these releases have known bugs that will interfere with the installation of Joomla! There was also an issue with the Zend Optimizer Version 2.5.10 for PHP 4.4.x. You should ask your host to upgrade to a later release as soon as possible where applicable. If you experience problems with Joomla! on other versions of these source server programs please take the time to check out the changelogs for your particular version, as there are often good indicators of the likely cause of issues. If there is a particular problem identified you need to notify your Host provider and encourage them to update the affected program. MySQL 6.x is not yet supported. 

There are currently ongoing discussions as to whether there are additional issues with the whole 4.3.x. series of releases of PHP. It has been found that the best and most consistent results are achieved with the PHP 5.x series.  Joomla! has been successfully tested on many variants within the main three OS for Windows, Linux, Apple Mac OSX. It may well work on other platforms but this is less well documented. Joomla! is also regularly used and tested through the main web browsers available such as IE6 +, Firefox 1.5 +, Safari, and Opera but it may also work with others. There have been known issues with IE6 and certain CSS display settings in template presentation and this should be borne in mind.

Saturday, 10 July 2010 21:52

Joomla: sh404SEF

Written by Vanessa Pike-Russell
sh404SEF - SEO and security for Joomla sh404SEF - search engine optimomization and security for Joomla

sh404SEF - over 80% of the SEF market for JoomlaEver wished you could customize the URLs on your Joomla web site? Tired of duplicate URLs killing your search engine rankings? Need a simple way to prevent common attacks on your web site?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, sh404SEF is just what you are looking for. As the most popular Joomla extension for URL management with more than 80% of the market share, and an 'Editors Pick' on the Joomla Extensions Directory, sh404SEF is the most reliable and most trusted tool for maximizing the potential of your Joomla site.

With sh404SEF you can:

  • Improve your search engine ranking and get more traffic to your site

  • Protect your site from common exploits including:

    • cross-site scripting attacks (XSS)
    • malicious page requests
    • flooding attacks
    • robots spamming input forms such as the contact page (using Project Honey Pot)
    • site access from suspicious domains (using IP address white listing and black listing)
    • identification of site software using the 'meta generator' tag 
  • Improve site navigation and HTML best-practices

    • turn error pages into articles containing popular links and/or other relevant content 
    • automatically indicate the links on your site that lead to external sites with a small icon 
    • automatically convert table-based ouput of core Joomla extensions to the preferred tableless HTML

Put simply, sh404SEF it is the first extension you should install on all your Joomla1.5 web sites. Get your copy today! 

Take the tour!

Thursday, 08 July 2010 14:20

EventList Module for Gig Guide

Written by Vanessa Pike-Russell

 

schlu.net Eventlist
 

EventList Overview

EventList is just that what the name would lead you to expect. It's not a calendar but an easy way to manage and present your Events for your group, company or community. EventList offers a lot features and possibilities which makes your work easier, like the Venue database, Picture resizing and much more. But also for your site visitors EventList has some additional features to offer, like a simple registration system, map service links, or the submission of new events and venues from the frontend. Additional modules are available and plugins for popular extensions like Community Builder and Joomap.

Incomplete feature list:

  • Multiday Events
  • Recurring Events
  • Automatic archiving / removing of Events
  • Flyer-thumbnail functionality
  • Venue database
  • Simple registration system
  • Frontend submission / editing of Events and Venues
  • Event ownership for editing
  • Groupsystem to restrict submission of Events into special Categories to defined Usergroup
Benefits:
  • easy to update
  • tables automatically generated
  • information is stored in a database which can be subscribed to
  • RSS feeds generated 
  • easy to create a page that is iPhone and iPad friendly based on the RSS
  • import the feed into your Facebook Fan Page which will display upcoming events
  • easy to display gigs by venue, date or type of event

Install screen:

Navigate to it within Joomla:

 

Start by creating a Category; then a Venue; and then an Event
(select Category and Venue from the drop-down list)

  1.  Add a category. Click on the 'Add Category' button. Type in the category of event. Eg. live music, exhibition, birthday party, etc.

     
  2. Add a Venue. Type in the name of the Venue and then the address and an image (optional)

  3. Add an Event and select the Venue and Category from the drop-down list. If you haven't created a category that fits with the event go back to Add Category and then add the Event after it.

 

Eventlist options

Most popular method of displaying EventList is the Simple View option which displays a table with the events with Date, Event, Category and Address.

Below you can see a screen capture of the EventList module in Simple View mode as provided on Belinda's Site

 (Click on the screen capture to enlarge)

 

And in Venue event mode

 

Wednesday, 30 June 2010 00:34

Joomla

Written by Vanessa Pike-Russell

Joomla template and theme modification | Joomla module customisation | Joomla SEO Optimisation | Joomla custom modules

 

 

Joomla template and theme modification

  • Start with a free template and incorporating your branding or graphics with stylesheet modification
  • Customising a paid template with your site name and content
  • Converting a current static site to a dynamic joomla site using your stylesheet and images
  • media-rich site with slideshow and music or video uploads

Joomla module customisation

  • editing the stylesheet and php files to customise a joomla module or component so that it is compatible with your theme or requirements
  • replacing joomla standard formatting of Contact form to meet your needs
  • adding graphics, text and features to joomla modules to implement features currently not supported

Joomla SEO Optimisation

  • keywords and descriptions added to each page via Articles Manager or K2 means better search engine optimisation
  • short urls based on categories and page title helps create SEO friendly site entry pages and helps with ranking 
  • metadata information easily edited via K2 or Articles Manager by end-user and updated on the fly
  • Site map using Xmap joomla add-on and Google sitemap file for search engine optimisation

Joomla custom modules

  • custom html and flash content via custom html module
  • embed existing content within iframe wrapper
  • Social networking imodules including flickr sets, flickr slideshows, twitter feed and facebook content

Joomla tutorials

 

 

 

Saturday, 13 March 2010 11:24

Tutorials: Merging photo elements

Written by Vanessa Pike-Russell
Tutorial : Merging photos
How I created my 'valentines day gerbera with a heart of chocolate' image. If you don't have Adobe Photoshop you can download it and try it for free for 30 days.

I photographed the gerbera I purchased yesterday against the black armchair. I merged a photo of the chocolate heart (red) into the centre of the gerbera daisy and added a black background.

merging photos

gerbera heart

gerbera merge

Adding texture and drama to your images using textures and layers

You've seen them in explore, online and in magazines but just how are they created? One of the wonderful thing about Adobe Photoshop (and clones) is that you can add layers of textures over the image you are editing and adjust the opacity and blend mode to create wonderful textures, mood and story to your image.
  1. First convert the images that you wish to use as texture layers to Adobe Photoshop Files (.psd) either by using ‘File: Save As” and saving to your Program Files>Adobe>Adobe Photoshop CS3>Presets>Textures
  2. Next open the image you wish to add texture layers to.
 

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Before and after


 

Next we will work on the blend mode and opacity. Make sure that the texture layer is above your image in the layers pallet and that it is selected.

The first layer option on the left is is blend mode. Click to select a mode from the drop-down list. My favourite is Overlay but it is best to try more than one blend mode to find the one that is most fitting to your image and texture layer blending. Now you will click on the second layer option of opacity.  It is important that the opacity (or transparent nature) of the texture is adjusted for your image. You might wish for your image to be dominant and have just a hint of the texture layer or make it the feature - it depends on your image and layer and personal preferences. 

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Some samples of my work edited with layers of textures by ghostbones

 As you can see it gives a lovely sepia, moody image result and is easier than it looks. 

Resources

TEXTURES 

  
 
"Light Charcoal paper (Free Texture)" by borealnz [?]
Light Charcoal paper (Free Texture)
 
 

 


 

FAKE TTV TEXTURES

 "I am a texture" by kittykatfish [?]
I am a texture

"frame" by telzey [?]
frame
 

 

SCRAPBOOKING TEXTURES

 

"Texture: Real Old Lace w Scrapbook Paper" by playingwithpsp [?]
Texture: Real Old Lace w Scrapbook Paper
Friday, 12 September 2008 10:02

Colour pop from SOOC

Written by Vanessa Pike-Russell

SOOC is short for Straight Out Of Camera

When you download the images from your camera they are like a digital negative that can be perfected in the Digital Darkroom.

Most of the time a bit of contrast and curves adjustment is all you need for the colours to pop and foryour image to really stand out from the crowd.

Download my photoshop actions and try adding some pop to your colours today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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