The Joomla! Forum ™

Hi! 

I claimed issue 68:
http://code.google.com/p/google-highly- ... %20Summary

I am working on the brochure now. 

One question I have so far:
I would like to put a bunch of one line quotes from a bunch of different webmasters about what they think makes Joomla! so great.  Do you have recommendations for sites I should try?  I would like webmasters who have been using Joomla! long enough to know the ups and downs.

Thank you all!

_________________
Leonard Bernstein for President -
Web Development Services: www.BernsteinForPresident.com
My Software Freedom Blog: Trombonechamp.Wordpress.com

Here is draft one.  I can't for the life of me figure out what images relate to the text.  If anyone has any ideas, I'm all ears!

http://tromboneman.drivehq.com/whatisjoomla.odt
http://tromboneman.drivehq.com/whatisjoomla.pdf

Thank you!

_________________
Leonard Bernstein for President -
Web Development Services: www.BernsteinForPresident.com
My Software Freedom Blog: Trombonechamp.Wordpress.com

What is Joomla!?

I hate it when I am at a training session, or attending a large meeting where we don't all know one another, and the dude at the front of the room says "Let's go each around the room, take a moment to introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about you."

It makes me panic.  What do I tell? Will I sound interesting? Do I *want* to sound interesting? Smart? Funny? Aloof? YIKES!

Let's set aside the brochure formatting, Max, and brainstorm.

• Audience: Who are we hoping to communicate with?
• Message: What do we hope to communicate?
• Impact: What result do we hope this brochure will have?

There are no right answers, here, so, I'll shoot out my impressions and you do the same. (Others are welcome to join in.)

Audience: People who have never heard of Joomla! and need to build a website.

Message: Joomla! is worth considering because it is: a) easy to use; b) highly extensible/flexible; c) supported by a large and growing collaborative international open source community that welcomes you; d) and hot - in style - progressive - the future - standards based.

Impact: Interest peeked; curiosity for more; motivation to take another step - What step? a) Visit Joomla.org  b) look at other Joomla! sites c) take a test drive d) look at documentation.

++++

What is Joomla!?

IMO, the What is Joomla! brochure is a door that we want people to pass through. How do we get them to the door? How do we get them to open the door? How can we get them to come in?

++++

I was hoping you'd pick this task. I wanted to work with you on this because I know we will finally have a "What's Joomla!" brochure that (exists and) is very inviting!

Thanks Max,
Amy

++++

Idea sites for later - possible inclusion - for now, just putting links here that might prove interesting.

http://www.joomla.org/content/view/4417/33/

Picture from http://www.moveisestrelicia.com/

"The Joomla framework is very flexible and allows us to develop the site around the design - rather than having to adapt the design to fit the framework." Edmund Elzer

Picture from http://www.olympus.com.au/

Picture from http://www.casa-velha.com/
Casa Velha do Palheiro - Madeira, goes Joomla!

_________________
http://Twitter.com/AmyStephen
http://www.alltogetherasawhole.org/

One thing that those people need, and i don't know if this is the brochure for it or not, is to understand why you would use a CMS instead of  just making a few pages. So one thing I would say for sure is that Joomla! is a Content Management System.

_________________
So we must fix our vision not merely on the negative expulsion of war, but upon the positive affirmation of peace. MLK 1964.
http://officialjoomlabook.com Get it at http://www.joomla.org/joomla-press-official-books.html Buy a book, support Joomla!.

Okay, here is what I was thinking.

Audience: A webmaster who needs to make a website, but thinks it needs to be made from scratch. (Though we may want to focus on actual members of the organization/company to show them what is possible)
Message: Joomla! is an option you should consider.  This is more about it, and some info you need to get started.  I didn't originally intend on listing off features and reasons to use Joomla!, but instead if focused on attempting to invite this potential user into the Joomla! community, giving them a background on what they will need to know about Joomla! to get the most of it. 
Impact: See that this is a well built CMS with a bunch of features and a huge community, and go to Joomla.org to check it out. Then, since Joomla! introduced them to the CMS world, it will give them a nudge in our direction

A note about that: When I was just trying out GNU/Linux for the first time, I found there were two popular interfaces named KDE and Gnome.  The first one I tried was KDE (because...  well... the K menu was in the bottom left corner, just like the start menu...  ).  I tried Gnome shortly after that and thought I would stick with KDE for now, and maybe try Gnome later.  When I came back to try it, I had already fallen in love with QT (KDE's framework), Amarok (KDE music player) and all of the K-tools.  As a side note, KDE4 is being released tomorrow!  Anyway, this is what people will do when they try Joomla!.  They will fall in love with, say, the extension system.  Then when they try something else, they will shy away because it isn't the same as Joomla!'s.


To the door: I need a flashy cover 
Open the door The tough part: I need to convince them that Joomla! is exactly what they are looking for, and get them to go to Joomla.org.
Come into the door: Whether or not the webmaster chooses to try it out isn't in my control.

By the way, thanks for the sites!  Our class is reading Chris Crutcher novels, and the kid next to me is on his site, chriscrutcher.com.  Out of the corner of my eye, I see the Joomla! logo.  That's a nice surprise! (But why wouldn't he change the icon!?!?!)



Does anyone else have any opinions about this brochure?

_________________
Leonard Bernstein for President -
Web Development Services: www.BernsteinForPresident.com
My Software Freedom Blog: Trombonechamp.Wordpress.com

I think that is one group. Many are indeed looking for simple web development environments today, too.

100% agree. Broad brushes and flavors and appeal. Not click-this- then-that.

In a nutshell, perfect.


Well, actually, Joomla! is not exactly what anyone is looking for. I think that's important. But, because of extensions, an active third party development community, the GPL that liberates the code for their purposes, an easy development environment, they can adapt it, as needed, without any licensing concern.


Completely agree! Good. When I say "come in" I mean - let them know how - next steps.


That is AWESOME when that happens - nice site - have it in delicious now, thanks.

Good stuff. Now. LOTS of pictures. How do you plan to fill the six panels? At least topics/themes?

Opening: (Front door)
Inside panel:
1st panel - full page-
2nd panel - full page-
3rd panel - full page-
Back.

Thanks!
Amy

_________________
http://Twitter.com/AmyStephen
http://www.alltogetherasawhole.org/

This sounds great to me. I like the way it is developing.

_________________
So we must fix our vision not merely on the negative expulsion of war, but upon the positive affirmation of peace. MLK 1964.
http://officialjoomlabook.com Get it at http://www.joomla.org/joomla-press-official-books.html Buy a book, support Joomla!.

I think this is coming together very nicely indeed.

Two of the sites my company has produced have been noted as possible examples for this brochure:

http://www.casa-velha.com/ and http://www.moveisestrelicia.com/

If we can contribute in any way please let us know.

_________________
Web Design Specialists - Madeira Island, Portugal  http://www.navegabem.com

I have been playing around with it for a while.  I never realized how little space I really have! 

Do I have to include any of the following?
-Joomla!'s name origin
-The history of Joomla!
-What is a CMS
These take up a bunch of space and the message of:

and

isn't ruined by removing these.

If I don't have to include these, the panels I would be leaning toward would be:
-What can Joomla! do
-How Joomla! works the way you work
-What the community is like
-Why other people like it
I am still open to suggestions! 


Thank you!  What I could really use is a one (maybe two) short sentence quote(s) about why you use Joomla!.

Thanks everyone!

_________________
Leonard Bernstein for President -
Web Development Services: www.BernsteinForPresident.com
My Software Freedom Blog: Trombonechamp.Wordpress.com

Okay...
I tried doing the brochure without including the history of Joomla! and the definition of a CMS.  I like this one a lot better.  I tried to make it sound more fun and inviting.  Now, the images come from Open Clip Art. 

http://BernsteinForPresident.com/whatisjoomla.pdf
http://BernsteinForPresident.com/whatisjoomla.odt

I used the FreeSans font.  You can cram more on a page that way.   I'll post that as well if you want me to.

_________________
Leonard Bernstein for President -
Web Development Services: www.BernsteinForPresident.com
My Software Freedom Blog: Trombonechamp.Wordpress.com

I just took a look at your brochure out of curiosity. Good work!

This sentence seem kind of odd to me, however. I guess the "Other webmasters and Joomla! who" part needs to be rephrased.


-Shantanu

_________________
http://joomlacode.org/gf/project/jkids/ Joomla! Kids - the Project aimed at making Joomla! more kid friendly!

@shantanubala
Fixed, thanks!

http://BernsteinForPresident.com/whatisjoomla.pdf
http://BernsteinForPresident.com/whatisjoomla.odt

_________________
Leonard Bernstein for President -
Web Development Services: www.BernsteinForPresident.com
My Software Freedom Blog: Trombonechamp.Wordpress.com

Here a couple of quotes as requested:

Project Manager Lisete Gonçalves pointed out that "Once we had been commissioned to do the project - it was clear that this would only be viable using Joomla as the site framework. Our experience has repeatedly shown that we can craft the Joomla framework around a unique design and deliver to the client a functional site that looks exactly the way it did in our Photoshop layout."


Edmund Elzer, the chief programmer explained "The Joomla framework is very flexible and allows us to develop the site around the design - rather than having to adapt the design to fit the framework."

Palheiro Golf director Jonathan Fletcher explained “Today more than ever it is critical to keep site information as up to date as is possible and Palheiro Golf is now able to do that with its new CMS website. In the past we found it was difficult to get news items and images onto the site quickly. Now with our CMS based site we actually control the complete content of the site ourselves and can add new information and publish it within just a few minutes. Furthermore, the site is very easy to maintain by my staff none of whom have experience with programming or HTML."

Peter Russell, Joomla’s PR guru and core team member says “Palheiro Golf website demonstrates the maturity of open source solutions for complex multi-lingual delivery. Less than five years ago a content management system such as Palheiro Golf has implemented would have cost many tens of thousands of euros … Joomla! delivers (with the assistance of professional developers) for a fraction of that.”

Lisete Gonçalves reported "we have had a lot of fun constructing the site together with the staff from Casa Velha. Even though we regularly opted to make changes and add extra functionalty to the site, Joomla! was flexible enough to allow these changes and didn't slow us down at all".would have cost many tens of thousands of euros … Joomla! delivers (with the assistance of professional developers) for a fraction of that.”

_________________
Web Design Specialists - Madeira Island, Portugal  http://www.navegabem.com

Yay!    Thanks for the quotes!


http://BernsteinForPresident.com/whatisjoomla.pdf
http://BernsteinForPresident.com/whatisjoomla.odt

The cover still looks awful, though.  It looks like it was drawn in KidPix or TuxPaint!  Does anyone have any ideas as to what I could do with it? 

_________________
Leonard Bernstein for President -
Web Development Services: www.BernsteinForPresident.com
My Software Freedom Blog: Trombonechamp.Wordpress.com

Hi mate,

You're doing a wonderful job!! Keep it up

Just a suggestion, on the right hand side of the second page, your first quote is:

“Joomla! was flexible
enough to allow [our]
changes and didn't slow
us down at all.

But unfortunately you've missed the " at the end.. simple mistake, just thought I'd point it out. Love the idea of the question mark on the front page!

Can I suggest you include some screenshots of some joomla sites? That might also help get people's interest

_________________
MiCCAS.net Free PC Services

The question mark kinda sticks out like a sore thumb.

Perhaps if it were styled exactly the same as the Joomla! logo.

_________________
Web Design Specialists - Madeira Island, Portugal  http://www.navegabem.com

Updated!
@MiCCAS: Oops!  Thanks.  Added some screenshots of sites, too.  They look a little small, though.

@aqualuso: Wow!    I wish I could do cool effects like that...
I used it, if that is okay with you.  Thanks a lot!

I also made corrected some sentence flow, and added a copyright notice.

http://BernsteinForPresident.com/whatisjoomla.pdf
http://BernsteinForPresident.com/whatisjoomla.odt

_________________
Leonard Bernstein for President -
Web Development Services: www.BernsteinForPresident.com
My Software Freedom Blog: Trombonechamp.Wordpress.com

Nice!

One thing: Try not to use the same word twice in the same sentence, like power in the central panel of the first page of the pdf. There are a couple of other places as well.

Also I wouldn't say "oodles." 

_________________
So we must fix our vision not merely on the negative expulsion of war, but upon the positive affirmation of peace. MLK 1964.
http://officialjoomlabook.com Get it at http://www.joomla.org/joomla-press-official-books.html Buy a book, support Joomla!.

Sorry it took so long. 

I think I got all of the repeats.

http://BernsteinForPresident.com/whatisjoomla.pdf
http://BernsteinForPresident.com/whatisjoomla.odt

_________________
Leonard Bernstein for President -
Web Development Services: www.BernsteinForPresident.com
My Software Freedom Blog: Trombonechamp.Wordpress.com

I made a bunch of changes.  If you think these are awful, I will revert back to the old one.
Mainly, I removed unnecessary text, added a small amount of text, and added/changed pictures.  I changed the "resources" section on the back, too.

http://BernsteinForPresident.com/whatisjoomla2.pdf
http://BernsteinForPresident.com/whatisjoomla2.odt

Also, I used the FreeSans font.  I will upload it if requested.  It is great for limited-space brochures!

_________________
Leonard Bernstein for President -
Web Development Services: www.BernsteinForPresident.com
My Software Freedom Blog: Trombonechamp.Wordpress.com

Max, the links are not working.

Elin

_________________
So we must fix our vision not merely on the negative expulsion of war, but upon the positive affirmation of peace. MLK 1964.
http://officialjoomlabook.com Get it at http://www.joomla.org/joomla-press-official-books.html Buy a book, support Joomla!.

Sorry!!! 

They work now. 


http://BernsteinForPresident.com/whatisjoomla2.pdf
http://BernsteinForPresident.com/whatisjoomla2.odt

_________________
Leonard Bernstein for President -
Web Development Services: www.BernsteinForPresident.com
My Software Freedom Blog: Trombonechamp.Wordpress.com

That is looking much better!

The What is Joomla!? section is really well done. It is so simple and easy and inviting and unintimidating - and, yet, still informative. I really do like that piece.

Open source is not always free of charge. This little piece:


Could be slightly reworded:


You should remove the JoomlaPlace.org reference - that's not official Joomla! and we are trying to be careful to avoid that.

Will I have help?

I think this suggests we are here waiting for them to come (us separated from them; us serving them.)


It's not that way, at all. This is a better "feel" for me  (too late for word choice )


The rest is really very, very good. I like the easy simple approach, as I said.

Hopefully, we can get this closed tomorrow and get that last task for you. You have been and are a wonderful part of the GHOP group, which is simply a new subsection of our broader community.

Thanks for all you do, Max,
Amy

_________________
http://Twitter.com/AmyStephen
http://www.alltogetherasawhole.org/

Max,

I'm accepting! Go ahead and upload your work at google.

Elin

_________________
So we must fix our vision not merely on the negative expulsion of war, but upon the positive affirmation of peace. MLK 1964.
http://officialjoomlabook.com Get it at http://www.joomla.org/joomla-press-official-books.html Buy a book, support Joomla!.

I changed the community section, and reworded the "Open Source" part.  Please let me know what you think.

http://BernsteinForPresident.com/whatisjoomla2.pdf
http://BernsteinForPresident.com/whatisjoomla2.odt

_________________
Leonard Bernstein for President -
Web Development Services: www.BernsteinForPresident.com
My Software Freedom Blog: Trombonechamp.Wordpress.com

YEA!!!!! 

This is FABULOUS, Max, thank you so much. It has a great, easy feel to it and should invite people in for a closer look. Thank you very much!

Since files cannot be uploaded, I copied it to JoomlaPlace and linked to the files; closing the task.

http://JoomlaPlace.org/GHOP/068Whatisjoomla.odt
http://JoomlaPlace.org/GHOP/068Whatisjoomla.pdf

Also, I did have to reopen an art task.  I think you indicated interest. First come, first serve, of course.

Amy

_________________
http://Twitter.com/AmyStephen
http://www.alltogetherasawhole.org/

Claimed it, thanks!!!

_________________
Leonard Bernstein for President -
Web Development Services: www.BernsteinForPresident.com
My Software Freedom Blog: Trombonechamp.Wordpress.com

_________________
http://Twitter.com/AmyStephen
http://www.alltogetherasawhole.org/

I guess I am done with this task, then.

Thanks Amy and Aqualuso for your help, as well as Shantanu and MiCCAS for looking it over!

I have never made a brochure before, so this was a lot of fun!

_________________
Leonard Bernstein for President -
Web Development Services: www.BernsteinForPresident.com
My Software Freedom Blog: Trombonechamp.Wordpress.com