joomla overview via catchy snaps

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What is Joomla?Joomla! is a:

Content Management System Application Framework A website Swiss-Army knife Available under the GNU/GPL License

What's Joomla's History?

Joomla forked from Mambo due to licensing and oversight concerns in 2005. Joomla is today overseen by Open Source Matters, Inc. OSM is a US-incorporated non-profit organization.

OSM's website is at opensourcematters.org.

The entire award-winning development team behind Mambo moved to Joomla, and is today led by Johan Janssens.

Joomla! System Requirements:

* PHP 4.2.x or above * MySQL 3.23.x or above * Apache 1.3.x or above

What does this mean?

Joomla is compatible with a wide variety of LAMP-equipped servers.

Joomla! Releases

Joomla 1.0.13 (Sunglow)“Legacy” version; still compatible with Mambo.Maximum compatibility with 3rd Party Ext.

Joomla 1.5 RC 2Refactored code base, numerous core upgrades, including SEO, account security, and more.Not yet 1.5 Final.1.0.X “Legacy” mode for compatibility.

Official Joomla Websites:

Main Site: www.joomla.orgSupport Forums: forum.joomla.orgExtensions Directory: extensions.joomla.org

Joomla! Community By The Numbers:1,000,000+ Support Forum Posts199,000+ Support Forum Topics133,000+ Forum Members2,100+ Third-Party Extensions

Joomla Nomenclature:

Add-ons are differentiated by function. They can be organized into three broad categories:

Components: Components are extensions that extend the capability of the system beyond content management. They generally have administrative options particular to their operation that can be edited under the “Components” menu. Output from components is generally displayed in the website's main body.

Joomla Nomenclature: (continued)

Modules generally control the “blocks” available as “sidebar” content; they can display limited aspects of the output from components.Plug-ins (aka Mambots): These extensions make alterations to system functions to attain specific goals.

Simple Installation

Requires valid mySQL username/password.

Untar archive, copy/FTP to appropriate docroot.

Run through installer routine by visiting your site.

Templating with Joomla!

Joomla's templating system simply wraps HTML and CSS around the internal PHP calls that pull in the dynamic content.

What have we learned so far?

Joomla History and NomenclatureJoomla system requirementsJoomla installation procedureJoomla Administrator Panel organizationJoomla Templating

What's left to cover?

Joomla Extensions for Content-oriented sitesJoomla Extensions for E-Commerce sitesGeneral Purpose Joomla ExtensionsReal World Joomla installsSponsor Thanks & AcknowledgementsOne more thing

Adapting Joomla to specific needs

Content-driven sitesE-commerce driven sites

Content-driven Communities with Joomla!

Let's define some traits common to online communities:

User Profiles and detailed account informationForums/Message BoardsUser subscriptionsDiffering subscription levels (up-sell from free membership to paid membership)

User Profiles and Account Information

Extension: Community Builder

Adds additional information fields to user accounts.Allows membership listings with complete profiles (a la MySpace)Integrates with a wide variety of other third party extensions, including forums, newsletter components, private messenging, and more.Highly customizable

Forums and Message Boards

Several forum solutions exist for Joomla, both native extensions, and “bridge” components integrating Joomla with other popular packages, such as phpBB, SMF, and vBulletin.

One popular Joomla-native forum solution is Fireboard.

Offering Subscription-based access to content

Account Expiration component JACL (Joomla Access Control Level)

Account Expiration allows you to offer subscriptions, and accept payments for such via PayPal, WorldPay, 2CO, Merchant Gateway, and more.

Subscription solutions (continued)

Joomla Access Control Level (JACL) allows for the creation of additional user groups, thus allowing either multiple subscription tiers, or “free” and “members-only” access.

Subscription solutions (continued)

Both Account Expiration and JACL integrate with Community Builder.

JACL-style functionality is due to be included in the forthcoming Joomla 1.5.

Monetizing Content

A multitude of Joomla extensions exist for:

Image-based banner adsText-based ads, such as Google AdSenseAffiliate MarketingAmazon.comDonations/Tip JarsSubscription Podcasting

Sponsor Thanks