[opensuse] n00b: Using Joomla to create a website.
I'm trying to use Joomla to build a website. This may not be the right approach. But in any event, I want to get an attractive site up quickly, but as I dig around it looks like I'm going to be doing a lot more HTML and CSS stuff than I expected. I was going to use a template that uses the JA T3 framework, which I thought had an admin panel. I have gone through some of the Joomla documentation, and am just lost at this point. If i have to do CSS and such, I'll learn it through Codeacademy.com but I would like some tips, if somebody could point me to the right direction. I'm open to using another CMS if it would be easier. I just want to get a relatively simple but compelling site up for my small business. Should I use a WYSIWYG editor like Kompozer? I'm just lost, and need some pointers so I can actually understand what I need to know to get where I want. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On Tue, 22 May 2012 02:47:51 +0530, Roger Luedecke <roger.luedecke@gmail.com> wrote:
I'm trying to use Joomla to build a website. This may not be the right approach. But in any event, I want to get an attractive site up quickly, but as I dig around it looks like I'm going to be doing a lot more HTML and CSS stuff than I expected. I was going to use a template that uses the JA T3 framework, which I thought had an admin panel. I have gone through some of the Joomla documentation, and am just lost at this point. If i have to do CSS and such, I'll learn it through Codeacademy.com but I would like some tips, if somebody could point me to the right direction. I'm open to using another CMS if it would be easier. I just want to get a relatively simple but compelling site up for my small business. Should I use a WYSIWYG editor like Kompozer?
I'm just lost, and need some pointers so I can actually understand what I need to know to get where I want.
[another one of these unintended personal replies; sorry.] personally i have been using drupal pretty much exclusively for several years now, but at one point tried both, joomla and wordpress. drupal doesn't look attractive out of the box and requires a bit of getting used to in the beginning. joomla i didn't like at all, found the admin interface confusing, and don't remember what else i didn't like, but i do remember there was nothing i did like. wordpress looks better with no or very little customization and has many well-done themes available, and i don't remember feeling as bad about it as i felt about joomla/mambo (joomla fork). what i hear from others, G+ & such, is that wordpress seems a much better choice if one wants to avoid a steep learning curve before getting something useful done. i did get used to the "drupal way" in the beginning and am happy with it -- even though their latest versions seem to be getting far more complex, some say bloated, and i may have to rething my choice eventually. from what you write, i'd try wordpress. -- phani. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On 05/21/2012 11:36 PM, phanisvara das wrote:
On Tue, 22 May 2012 02:47:51 +0530, Roger Luedecke <roger.luedecke@gmail.com> wrote:
I'm trying to use Joomla to build a website. This may not be the right approach. But in any event, I want to get an attractive site up quickly, but as I dig around it looks like I'm going to be doing a lot more HTML and CSS stuff than I expected. I was going to use a template that uses the JA T3 framework, which I thought had an admin panel. I have gone through some of the Joomla documentation, and am just lost at this point. If i have to do CSS and such, I'll learn it through Codeacademy.com but I would like some tips, if somebody could point me to the right direction. I'm open to using another CMS if it would be easier. I just want to get a relatively simple but compelling site up for my small business. Should I use a WYSIWYG editor like Kompozer?
I'm just lost, and need some pointers so I can actually understand what I need to know to get where I want.
In my opinion the lines are drawn clearly. If you are looking for 1. Simple Blog site 2. Company website with a few pages 3. Basic news/magazine site for simply posting content Go with Wordpress. Warning: WP is a bit insecure as compared to Drupal so you need to keep an eye on keeping it secure. If you are looking for complex site where you are publishing different kind of content and want complete control over how it looks and are also ready to get your hands dirty go with Drupal. Drupal is extremely secure and powerful. Joomla? Tried it once and found nothing of interest. Swapnil -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On Tue, 22 May 2012 01:47:22 +0200 Swapnil Bhartiya <swapnil.bhartiya@gmail.com> wrote:
On 05/21/2012 11:36 PM, phanisvara das wrote:
On Tue, 22 May 2012 02:47:51 +0530, Roger Luedecke <roger.luedecke@gmail.com> wrote:
I'm trying to use Joomla to build a website. This may not be the right approach. But in any event, I want to get an attractive site up quickly, but as I dig around it looks like I'm going to be doing a lot more HTML and CSS stuff than I expected. I was going to use a template that uses the JA T3 framework, which I thought had an admin panel. I have gone through some of the Joomla documentation, and am just lost at this point. If i have to do CSS and such, I'll learn it through Codeacademy.com but I would like some tips, if somebody could point me to the right direction. I'm open to using another CMS if it would be easier. I just want to get a relatively simple but compelling site up for my small business. Should I use a WYSIWYG editor like Kompozer?
I'm just lost, and need some pointers so I can actually understand what I need to know to get where I want.
In my opinion the lines are drawn clearly. If you are looking for 1. Simple Blog site 2. Company website with a few pages 3. Basic news/magazine site for simply posting content
Go with Wordpress. Warning: WP is a bit insecure as compared to Drupal so you need to keep an eye on keeping it secure.
If you are looking for complex site where you are publishing different kind of content and want complete control over how it looks and are also ready to get your hands dirty go with Drupal.
Drupal is extremely secure and powerful.
Joomla? Tried it once and found nothing of interest.
Swapnil
Hi Swapnil, Thought you might have an interest in this if you haven't seen it already: http://www.waterandstone.com/book/big-3-continue-dominate-open-source-cms-ra... regards, Carl -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On Tue, 22 May 2012 05:17:22 +0530, Swapnil Bhartiya <swapnil.bhartiya@gmail.com> wrote:
Warning: WP is a bit insecure as compared to Drupal so you need to keep an eye on keeping it secure.
is this your personal opinion / experience, or is there empirical or statistical data backing this up? i don't follow wordprss security lists, but i do with drupal, and most often it's contributed modules (that don't have to pass very rigorous tests to be accepted) that fail security audits. i wouldn't be surprised if the same was the case with wordpress. -- phani. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
Swapnil Bhartiya wrote:
On 05/21/2012 11:36 PM, phanisvara das wrote:
On Tue, 22 May 2012 02:47:51 +0530, Roger Luedecke <roger.luedecke@gmail.com> wrote:
I'm trying to use Joomla to build a website. This may not be the right approach. But in any event, I want to get an attractive site up quickly, but as I dig around it looks like I'm going to be doing a lot more HTML and CSS stuff than I expected. I was going to use a template that uses the JA T3 framework, which I thought had an admin panel. I have gone through some of the Joomla documentation, and am just lost at this point. If i have to do CSS and such, I'll learn it through Codeacademy.com but I would like some tips, if somebody could point me to the right direction. I'm open to using another CMS if it would be easier. I just want to get a relatively simple but compelling site up for my small business. Should I use a WYSIWYG editor like Kompozer?
I'm just lost, and need some pointers so I can actually understand what I need to know to get where I want.
In my opinion the lines are drawn clearly. If you are looking for 1. Simple Blog site 2. Company website with a few pages 3. Basic news/magazine site for simply posting content
Go with Wordpress.
I second that.
Warning: WP is a bit insecure as compared to Drupal so you need to keep an eye on keeping it secure.
Do you have any links on that topic? (how Wordpress is insecure). -- Per Jessen, Zürich (12.8°C) -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
Roger Luedecke said the following on 05/21/2012 05:17 PM:
I'm trying to use Joomla to build a website. This may not be the right approach. But in any event, I want to get an attractive site up quickly,
I'm just lost, and need some pointers so I can actually understand what I need to know to get where I want.
When given those constraints I ended up using Radiant. That was Pre-1.0. It was very simple and easy to set up, easy to snatch one or more templates. I lived it cos it was so easy and I got satisfactory results fast and could move on and do other more interesting things that weren't so fiddly as you describe. But then some people like that fiddly stuff ... I haven't tried the post-1.0 version of Radiant and understand they have changed the architecture so YMMV. -- It is always better to have no ideas than false ones; to believe nothing, than to believe what is wrong. --Thomas Jefferson, (letter to Rev. James Madison, July 19, 1788) -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On Mon, 21 May 2012 14:17:51 -0700 Roger Luedecke <roger.luedecke@gmail.com> wrote:
I'm trying to use Joomla to build a website. This may not be the right approach. But in any event, I want to get an attractive site up quickly, but as I dig around it looks like I'm going to be doing a lot more HTML and CSS stuff than I expected. I was going to use a template that uses the JA T3 framework, which I thought had an admin panel. I have gone through some of the Joomla documentation, and am just lost at this point. If i have to do CSS and such, I'll learn it through Codeacademy.com but I would like some tips, if somebody could point me to the right direction. I'm open to using another CMS if it would be easier. I just want to get a relatively simple but compelling site up for my small business. Should I use a WYSIWYG editor like Kompozer?
I'm just lost, and need some pointers so I can actually understand what I need to know to get where I want.
Hi Roger, Don't waste your time with a WYSIWYG "editor" (actually 'code generator' is a more accurate description) because you'll be stuck creating very simple pages or spending a great deal of time fixing breakage and cleaning up code (usually *horrible* code.) The next option would be a nice static site, say, something you build by hand or by starting with a template. --> If the number of pages stays relatively constant over time and the content doesn't need to be updated frequently, this approach sort of dovetails with your ambition to learn HTML and CSS. I say "sort of" because you wrote "quickly" and this is almost impossibly difficult. There's a learning curve. You'll either progress through that curve until you're competent or you'll hire someone who already has the skills. If your small business is of a type with a lot of frequently changing items on offer (think database) and where you need to make constant additions, updates and revisions, then the obvious choice is a proper database driven CMS. --> Wordpress doesn't easily fit into this category. It's a 'blogging platform' at it's core. A "full blown" CMS would be something like Joomla or Drupal. [side hint: Any developers who are looking again at frameworks and CMS's, *do* check out 'concrete5' -- you won't be sorry!] If you're already "lost," the best advice I can give you is to hire someone with the ability to analyze your business and discern your requirements and who can then prepare a step by step plan for getting you there. hth & regards, Carl -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On Tue, 22 May 2012 04:41:01 +0530, Carl Hartung <opensuse@cehartung.com> wrote:
Don't waste your time with a WYSIWYG "editor" (actually 'code generator' is a more accurate description) because you'll be stuck creating very simple pages or spending a great deal of time fixing breakage and cleaning up code (usually *horrible* code.)
+1
The next option would be a nice static site, say, something you build by hand or by starting with a template.
that's an option often overlooked these days of instant CMSs. not everything needs a database-driven PHP application, and building a small static site from scratch may give you what you need, teaching you the very basics of web publishing in the process.
--> If the number of pages stays relatively constant over time and the content doesn't need to be updated frequently, this approach sort of dovetails with your ambition to learn HTML and CSS. I say "sort of" because you wrote "quickly" and this is almost impossibly difficult. There's a learning curve. You'll either progress through that curve until you're competent or you'll hire someone who already has the skills.
without prior knowledge of HTML & CSS, it does take time, true.
If your small business is of a type with a lot of frequently changing items on offer (think database) and where you need to make constant additions, updates and revisions, then the obvious choice is a proper database driven CMS.
--> Wordpress doesn't easily fit into this category. It's a 'blogging platform' at it's core.
while this used to be my experience many years ago, i'm not sure it still applies. i haven't used wordpress at all recently, but from what others write about it it looks as if it's matured, from a pure blogging platform to something more universally useful.
A "full blown" CMS would be something like Joomla or Drupal. [side hint: Any developers who are looking again at frameworks and CMS's, *do* check out 'concrete5' -- you won't be sorry!]
interesting, i'll look at that; thank you.
If you're already "lost," the best advice I can give you is to hire someone with the ability to analyze your business and discern your requirements and who can then prepare a step by step plan for getting you there.
particularly for a small business, and a small website to advertise it, that should remain affordable. -- phani -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On Tue, 22 May 2012 09:32:48 +0530 "phanisvara das" <listmail@phanisvara.com> wrote:
while this used to be my experience many years ago, i'm not sure it still applies. i haven't used wordpress at all recently, but from what others write about it it looks as if it's matured, from a pure blogging platform to something more universally useful.
Plug-ins and modules don't change the core and the core is purely a blogging engine. In fact, I just finished integrating WP as a "plug-in" blogging engine in a c5 based site ;-) It was much more efficient to do it this way than to try and recreate (and support) a blogging engine in c5, from scratch. Since WP resides in it's own directory under document root, and, since it has it's own database, neither core is affected with respect to applying future security updates :-) Best of all, the integration is completely transparent. It 'just works' and blends in beautifully with the remainder of the site. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On Mon, 2012-05-21 at 14:17 -0700, Roger Luedecke wrote:
I'm trying to use Joomla to build a website. This may not be the right approach. But in any event, I want to get an attractive site up quickly, but as I dig around it looks like I'm going to be doing a lot more HTML and CSS stuff than I expected. I was going to use a template that uses the JA T3 framework, which I thought had an admin panel. I have gone through some of the Joomla documentation, and am just lost at this point. If i have to do CSS and such, I'll learn it through Codeacademy.com but I would like some tips, if somebody could point me to the right direction. I'm open to using another CMS if it would be easier. I just want to get a relatively simple but compelling site up for my small business. Should I use a WYSIWYG editor like Kompozer?
I'm just lost, and need some pointers so I can actually understand what I need to know to get where I want.
When it comes to a website that _stays_ attractive, then "quickly" is something you can forget ;-) As some suggested, you can build something static, with good old fashioned HTML and stylesheets, but you need to learn how to use that. In that case, don't forget to test it with: http://validator.w3.org and various browsers - not just your favourite one. If multiple people are generating content, or need some modules or plug-ins, then joomla, drupal, wp and so-on is the way to go. It's a waste of time re-inventing the wheel. You might also want to have a look at typo3 (another db-driven opensource CMS ) Which ever you take, follow security warnings seriously, or you find yourself being defaced. Friend of mine stayed too long with an old version of joomla, and found out the hard way ;-) Any CMS is a powerful tool and if it goes wrong, it can go very wrong. Each faith has its own followers, there are even people who believe that IIS is a good product ;-) So if you go the CMS-way, read what they offer you, and compare it what you need: if one offers 10 modules and another 10,000, which modules do you need? I mean, if you need a battery, don't get a nuclear power plant. So you see, either learn html/php/css/cgi/java/etc or learn the working of any CMS. No "quick" solutions that stays decent. hw -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
2012. május 21. 23:17 napon Roger Luedecke <roger.luedecke@gmail.com> írta:
I'm trying to use Joomla to build a website. This may not be the right approach. But in any event, I want to get an attractive site up quickly, but as I dig around it looks like I'm going to be doing a lot more HTML and CSS stuff than I expected. I was going to use a template that uses the JA T3 framework, which I thought had an admin panel. I have gone through some of the Joomla documentation, and am just lost at this point. If i have to do CSS and such, I'll learn it through Codeacademy.com but I would like some tips, if somebody could point me to the right direction. I'm open to using another CMS if it would be easier. I just want to get a relatively simple but compelling site up for my small business. Should I use a WYSIWYG editor like Kompozer?
I'm just lost, and need some pointers so I can actually understand what I need to know to get where I want.
Hello: I few months ago I went through this. I tried Joomla as well and found myself in learning css and php. Eventually I gave it up because I had no time, and made a legacy html page. That is, Joomla is OK if you have a template which fits your needs exactly. But if you want to modify the template it becomes difficult, especially if you don't know css, php. I don't know other database based webpage creators, but as others also suggested, making a static page might be sufficient even for a small business. If you find a nice Joomla template and decide to go with Joomla these documents may help: http://www.webvogel.com/index.php?option=com_rokdownloads&view=file&task=download&id=3%3Ajoomla15quickstart&Itemid=93&lang=th http://alsweb.aembz.us/Learn_Joomla_Fast.pdf http://help.joomla.org/content/category/48/268/302/ Istvan -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
Am 22.05.2012 19:48, schrieb Istvan Gabor:
2012. május 21. 23:17 napon Roger Luedecke<roger.luedecke@gmail.com> írta:
I'm trying to use Joomla to build a website. This may not be the right approach. But in any event, I want to get an attractive site up quickly, but as I dig around it looks like I'm going to be doing a lot more HTML and CSS stuff than I expected. I was going to use a template that uses the JA T3 framework, which I thought had an admin panel. I have gone through some of the Joomla documentation, and am just lost at this point. If i have to do CSS and such, I'll learn it through Codeacademy.com but I would like some tips, if somebody could point me to the right direction. I'm open to using another CMS if it would be easier. I just want to get a relatively simple but compelling site up for my small business. Should I use a WYSIWYG editor like Kompozer?
I'm just lost, and need some pointers so I can actually understand what I need to know to get where I want.
Hello:
I few months ago I went through this. I tried Joomla as well and found myself in learning css and php. Eventually I gave it up because I had no time, and made a legacy html page. That is, Joomla is OK if you have a template which fits your needs exactly. But if you want to modify the template it becomes difficult, especially if you don't know css, php. I don't know other database based webpage creators, but as others also suggested, making a static page might be sufficient even for a small business.
If you find a nice Joomla template and decide to go with Joomla these documents may help:
http://alsweb.aembz.us/Learn_Joomla_Fast.pdf
http://help.joomla.org/content/category/48/268/302/
Istvan
the basics of html/css and php are quite easy to learn and for more sophisticated stuff there are always many samples and explenations in the web. Even if you use a CMS or the like you will be happy to know those basics, so it's worthwhile to invest some time on learning it. I personally prefer wordpress.org over joomla. But thats personal preference... You don't have to make a blog, you can also use it for a simple web page. However I use this kind of "CMS" only for small things. "Real" pages I like to code by hand using kwrite and browsers. Daniel -- Daniel Bauer photographer Basel Barcelona professional photography: http://www.daniel-bauer.com personal facebook: http://www.facebook.com/mars.fotografo google+: https://plus.google.com/109534388657020287386 -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
participants (9)
-
Anton Aylward -
Carl Hartung -
Daniel Bauer -
Hans Witvliet -
Istvan Gabor -
Per Jessen -
phanisvara das -
Roger Luedecke -
Swapnil Bhartiya