The first day of fall has come and gone. With it I said good bye and best wishes to intern Eric, who has started his freshman year of college. Eric came to Danico as a high school junior with an interest in computers. He learned the basics such as HTML and CSS along with content management system Joomla! As part of my welcome address for the 2016 JoomlaDay C...

One of our favorite extensions is RSForms! Pro. We use it a lot! Awhile ago we created a form for one of our clients with textboxes, dropdown lists, etc and connected it with a RSEvents! Pro event.  Then the client asked that one of the dropdown lists be required. Ok, so change the validation from no to yes. All done, right?  Well, not quite.  Because we'd s...

The Joomla! Project and the Production Leadership Team are proud to announce the release of Joomla! 3.6.2.

​This infographic has some interesting information about the web design and development industry. A couple of things that jumped out at me where the fact that females is still low at 12% and favorite CMS, Joomla!, is one of the most popular platforms. What jumps out at you?

A long time favorite extension builder, NoNumber, has changed its name. If you are unfamiliar with NoNumber, now Regular Labs, now is a great time to get to know them.

I use many of the extensions such as Modals and Sliders when creating Joomla! sites. They have both free and paid versions.

For those already familiar, it may take a minute to get used to the new name. Take a look at the blog post link and read all about it.

On Wednesday, April 13th at Joomla User Group Chicago North (JUGCN) welcomed guest speaker, Jeff Seevers. He drove in from Ohio to speak to the group regarding Mautic, the only open source marketing automation solution. The response from the group was tremendous. We talked about using Mautic to help reach your marketing goals. The group was actively engaged discussion diff...

Having trouble finding a template to meet your needs? Just prefer creating your own design? This hands-on training class will give you the basics to get you started building your own Joomla! Template.   This class is led by instructor Alonzo Turner of Subtext Productions, a Chicago-based company specializing in custom design and programming for Joomla! CMS System. ​Ti...

If you've been following the Joomla! roadmap you may have seen that the next major release, Joomla 3.5, is coming soon.  The January session of Joomla! User Group Chicago North (JUGCN) will take a look at what is planned.  It will also be an opportunity to discuss any questions using Joomla.   Have questions about JUGCN or Joomla?  We meet the second We...

It looks like the RocketTheme design team and I have the same taste in images. Check out their new Joomla template Galatea at rockettheme.com. Did you spot the image?

​I build a LOT of forms and one of my favorite extensions to use is RSFormsPro! from RSJoomla. With all of its integration points, layouts, field types, and ability to add custom overrides, I end up using it, well...a lot. They've just released version 1.51.2, which is their best to-date. This release increases the number of responsive layouts - perfect for responsive - si...

Today, I'm excited to have Avery Cohen from Mertrist Partners at this month's Joomla User Group Chicago North (JUGCN)meeting.  Each year Avery comes and shares his insights on the upcoming year's SEO trends.  I'm looking forward to hearing what he has to say, his topic is The Evolution of Search: Find Your Tribe.   The JUGCN group meets at Durty Ne...

The saying is New Year, New You.  What about New Year, New Joomla! Site?  Dec 31st not only marked the end of 2014 but also marked the end of support for Joomla! 2.5. For those keeping up with updates, there was a reminder in the administrator panel so you would not forget. While unpleasant flashbacks of the experience migrating from 1.5 to 2.5 gripped some. Others were in denial and disbelieve that a migration is needed.  I, however, looked at it with cautious optimism.  While my experience from 1.5 to 2.5 was far from a piece of cake, I’d been following the development and thought perhaps things would be different for the migration to 3.x and you know what?  I was right.  

The geek in me thought this was pretty cool!

This year, I had the privilege of working with the volunteers for the JoomlaDay Chicago event held August 9th at the Microsoft Technology Center in the AON Center building in downtown Chicago.  It was also my first time attending.  Going into the event I didn’t know what to expect and I have to admit I was a little awestruck.  I have been using Joomla for many years and a lot of the speakers and guests were names I’ve seen over and over on whitepapers, articles, extensions, etc.  To see them in-person was a little surreal.  

If you want to know why Joomla! is a favorite Content Management System (CMS) attend JoomlaDay Chicago hosted at the Microsoft Technology Center, located in the Aon Building at the north end of Grant Park in downtown Chicago.  JoomlaDay Chicago is Saturday, August 9th, a full day of Joomla! discussion, panels and presentations from top Joomla experts and community leaders.  

It is a great why to get acquainted with what Joomla! can do and meet a great bunch of people, local and beyond.  This event is brought together by a group of passionate volunteers and brings together all levels from newbies to experts.  

Fun Fact Friday - Joomla! is the only non-corporate backed community driven CMS

Yup, it’s true!  Joomla! is the only non-corporate backed community driven content management system (CMS).  This and other fun facts about the popular CMS were shared at this month’s JoomlaChicago North User Group meeting held at Durty Nellie’s in Palatine, IL on Wednesday, July 9th.  This group of Joomla! enthusiasts, newbies, users, and experts meets on the second Wednesday of each month to share and connect with all things in and around Joomla!  The topics vary by month and are listed on the JoomlaChicago website.  Sign-up is available to join the nearly 600 subscribers who receive meeting information not only for the JoomlaChicago North group but the sister group in the Loop as well in the email newsletter.  If you have any questions, I’d be happy to answer them, as I have recently undertaken the privilege of coordinating the monthly meetings for the JoomlaChicago North User Group, with lunch generously sponsored by Aluent Group.

Today, there is no shortage of ways to create a website, it's almost like getting fries with your sandwich at your favorite restaurant it just comes on the plate. Everywhere you look there is a free website attached. The problem with that is, what you do with it once you get it. A client said to me once that they built their own site but was stuck on the content.  Looking around the web I've seen where a site is made up of several social media widgets with very little original content.  

It's like the site owner knew they needed a web presence but didn't know what to do with it or underestimated the time it takes to maintain it.  Having a web presence is great but having a good web presence is even better.  

websitemagazine.com | Peter Prestipino | November 1, 2012 | Web Experience Design for Socialists

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