Rhumba with Joomla! Using a CMS to Build Community

Tao Gao – IT Consultant / Web Administrator, SCSL Catherine Buck Morgan – Information Technology Director, SCSL April 16, 2007 Using a CMS to Build Community Rhumba with Joomla!

Agenda
Why Joomla?
Case Study – South Carolina State Library
Joomla in a Nutshell

Why Joomla?
What are the Benefits?
Open Source
It’s Easy to Install, Use, Manage and Reliable
Joomla vs. Drupal
Joomla vs. Blogs
Separation of Content and Form
Portable
Extendable
Strong Support Communities
Who’s Using it?
Government Agencies
SC IT Directors Asso .
Commercial Businesses
Porsche Brazil
Non-Profit Organizations
United Nations RIC

CMS Comparison
Comparison Metrics
A tool to compare up to 10 content management systems at once. http://www.cmsmatrix.org/matrix
Google Search Trend

Case Study: SCSL

Library Background
South Carolina State Library provides, advances and promotes library services and equal access to information for all South Carolinians through:
Services to Libraries
Services to State Employees
Services to Citizens with Disabilities
Services to General Public

Why a Redesign
Before:

Why a Redesign?
Issues
Static HTML
Table-based Layout
Basic Perl Scripts (i.e. Contact forms)
Outdated Content
Incoherent Navigation
Inconsistent Style and Structure
Graphically Unappealing
Lack of Interactivity
Several Hundred Scattered Pages and Growing Rapidly

Redesign Goals
What We Wanted
Standards Compliant Design (Section 508)
Intuitive Navigation
Staff Collaboration
Site-Wide Search
Online Job Submissions
Community Oriented
RSS Feeds

Redesign Process
Phase I: Plan
Redesign Proposal, Sept. 2004
Conducted Online User and In-House User Surveys
Mar. – Apr. 2005. 227 responses
Review of Current Content
Lessons Learned
Used SurveyMonkey to poll our users about the current website. Most useful feedback came from open-ended questions.
Decided to have people who were not familiar with the subject areas review key content areas. Worked well. Fresh eyes.
Needed a Well-Qualified & Dedicated Team
Project Manger, Creative Graphic Designer, Web Developer with CSS and PHP Experience, Content Developer

Redesign Process
Phase II: Design
Agency Re-Branding, Feb. 2005
Interface Design and Review
Process Stalls…
Lessons Learned
Graphic designer did not have an understanding of the business case
Result: Mock-up still presented a flat website design
Who was the Project Manager??

Redesign Process
Phase III: Development
Content Audit and Review (Summer 2005)
Explore CMS Options
Find Outside Host Server for Development (Nov. 2005)
Joomla Learning Curve
Translate Graphical Interface to Joomla Templates
Content Migration
Identify and Incorporate Desired Functionality
Continued to Maintain and Update Static Site

Redesign Process
Phase V: Deployment and Evolution
Staff to review website, June 2006
New website goes live, July 2006
Site moved to new in-house server, Aug. 2006
Evaluate
Growth and Refinement
Lessons Learned
Few staff reviewed the site
Day 1: Where? Why? BUT kudos for website from state and beyond
CMS makes it easier to evaluate depth of content
Send web administrator to China for a month 

Website Evolution
After:

Website Stakeholders
Before
Homepage Committee
PR Committee
Web Administrator
After
2 Web Managers
25 Authors
326 Registered Members; 130 Not Yet Approved
Special Invitation to CIL Attendees

It’s All About the People
I'm the IT Manager at SOLINET (a library
network in Atlanta). One of my co-workers
sent me the link to your new site as we are
currently looking at redesigning our site and
I'm always looking for ideas.
Your site looks great and you've included lots
of great features. I was impressed by your
blog posting than mentioned you were able to
do this in just 9 months. I think that's
impressive.
- IT Manager, SOLINET
I love being able to add my own content to the
website, especially parts that update frequently
such as the New Resources.
- Amanda Stone
Reference Librarian
The remarks were made earlier today by
a blind friend. She uses the Internet
heavily but uses a quite old version of
JAWS running on a 5-year-old PC with
Windows 2000 operating system. I
thought you would be pleased to know
how easy it was for her to navigate.
- Reference Librarian
Greenville County
The ease of adding news and links has
encouraged me to be more proactive in
searching for content to add to our website.
I am very happy with the new web site, and
find it easy to add content.
- Kecia Greer
TBS Reader’s Advisor
Your site was easy to access and explore
links!!!
- Library Patron

Joomla in a Nutshell

Easy Installation
Our Server Specs:
Software
PHP
MySQL
Joomla 1.02
Apache Server
XAMPP
Windows Server 2003
Hardware
CPU: Dual Xeon ® 2.8 GHz
RAM: 2GB 400MHz DDR2
Storage: 36GB x 4 (RAID 5)
Tape Backup
Download Latest Joomla!
Prepare MySQL Database
Unzip and Upload Files to Server
Browser Install

Template Design
Joomla Template Elements
Index.php
template_css.css
Images
templateDetails.xml
Joomla Template Flexibilities
Movable Boxes
Easy to Customize UI (User Interface)

Working with Content
Static Content
Assign Ownership
Instruct Staff in Adding Content (WYSIWYG)
Active Content
Sections, Categories and Content Items
User Submission Process
Review and Approval

User Contributed Content
WYSIWYG editor
Users Don’t Need to Know HTML
Pre-defined Content Formatting
Website Administration
Reinforcing Accessibility Guidelines
File Handling
Image Management

Joomla Extensions
Extensions
Templates
A templates defines the layout of your Joomla web site Front-end
Components
Components are core elements of Joomla’s functionality.
Modules
Modules are small content items that can be displayed anywhere that your template allows them to be displayed.
Administrator Control Panel In Joomla Administrator Control Panel, you can install Components, Modules and Templates easily.

Community Building Tools
Joomla and Library 2.0
Member Profiles
Discussion Forums
Calendar
RSS Feeds
Tag Clouds
Event Registration Management
Blogs
Groups
Photo Galleries
Book Reviews
More…

Community Building
Identify Targeted Groups and Interests
Listen to User Input
Offer Valuable Services That Are Easy to Use
Train Community Users
Have Fun!

Questions? For discussions, additional information and updated slides, visit Joomla in Libraries . com

Rhumba with Joomla! Using a CMS to Build Community

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