Joomla
Everyman’s Content Management System
Randy Robertshaw
Tyngsborough Public Library
rrobertshaw@tynglib.org

2. The Difficulty of Managing a Website
3. The Distribution of the “Work”
4. The Issue of Currency
5. The Issue of Dynamic Content
6. Integration of Library 2.0 Tools
7. The Creation of a Electronic Branch

Tyngsborough’s Transformation
Started in 2005
Changes and additions took about 2 years
Joomla in particular has allowed us to have a
BETA site continually.
The question of the fork (Mambo vs. Joomla)
Commercial Support for Software Development

1. User Management
2. Media Management
3. Language Management
4. Banner Management
5. Content Management
6. Search, Polls, Web Links
7. Syndication (RSS)
8. Template Management
9. Extensibility

Third Party Vendors
JoomlaArt
www.joomlart.com
RocketTheme
http://www.rockettheme.com
Compass Designs
www.compassdesigns.net
$35-$55 for 1 domain license.
Knowledge of CSS, HTML, and PHP is helpful
Theme/Design vendors are moving into the module/extension
side

Components, Modules, and Plug-ins
• Joomla Extension Directory
http://extensions.joomla.org/
• JoomlaCode
http://joomlacode.org/
• Look at Third-Party Commercial Vendors
Prices vary depending on the complexity and nature of program $5-$100

Calenders:
gCalendar
JCalPro
EventList
Photo Galleries:
Flickr Slideshow in a “Wrapper” (like HTML iframe)
Other options like Rokin, bridge applications to
Gallery2 or Coppermine

Document Management
RS Files – Joomla 1.0, not 1.5
VFM
DocMan
Remository
Rubber Doc
RokDownloads

Tab/Slide Navigation
2Tab
Directories
SOBI2
AlphaContent2
MosetsTree
Other Extensions to Consider:
eXtplorer RS Forms (any product)
JomComment

I Love GOOGLE!
GOOGLE TRANSLATION – BabelFish is better.
GOOGLE CALENDAR – Clean and Simple.
GOOGLE MAPS
 Get API Key
 Latitude/Longitude is the most exact. (Google
Earth or “link HTML usually can get you this
information quickly.)
 My preference is the Google Maps plugin
http://joomlacode.org/gf/project/mambot_google1/
 Lots of patience…Mapping is about precision

• Remove Copyrights for programs—if you can. You
leave yourself more exposed.
• Review the reviews of extensions/themes. Don’t give
a hack a backdoor into your site.
• Stay away from beta software and “legacy” or
Joomla 1.0 themes/applications.
• The question of caching your site and modules.
• How to make the CMS SEO (Search Engine Optimized)
• Stay distributed in content and in the contribution.
• Joomla works now; like any CMS or open source
product, the world will change.
• The security and backup of your CMS.

Where to Begin?
Joomla in Libraries
http://www.joomlainlibrary.com/
Joomla Forum
http://forum.joomla.org/
Any book by Dan Rahmeal
Packt Publishing – AJAX, PHP/MYSQL, etc.
Learning Joomla 1.5 Extension Development by LeBlanc
Just do it! Playing around and starting small is fine.