Joomla

I've put this video together to showcase some of the newest and greatest features of K2, a popular extension for Joomla CMS.  If you already have a Joomla site, watch this video to see how easy the K2 framework can make it for you to work with images, galleries, videos, custom fields, and attachments.

If you don't already have a Joomla site, you're really missing out! :-)

I recently built a "Make a Payment" form for my clients using the RSForm Joomla extension and a little custom scripting.

I've used both JoomlaPack (AkeebaBackup it's now called) and Xcloner.  JoomlaPack (Akeeba) is free, so you can't knock the price.  It also has the ability to include an installer for loading the site onto the destination server, nice.  I've used it many times.

However, my preference is Xcloner.  It's a little more "programmer oriented," so its interface is s a little simpler and quicker, in my opinion.  (Maybe that's just because I started with Xcloner.)  Also, instead of a clunky installer package, Xcloner gives you a "restore" feature consisting of 2 files:

xcloner.php
tar.php

To restore, just include your Xcloner backup file alongside these "restore" files in your public directory, and point the browser to the "xcloner.php" file.  It will ask you for database / ftp information, unzip the file, import the database, and adjust configuration.php accordingly.  It also gives you the ability to extract the files directly (via PHP), or via FTP, depending on your server's particulars.

This is a base install of the infamous Joomla K2 component (http://www.getk2.org) with a few customizations already set up.  I found myself repeating the same hacks, so I figured others might be facing similar issues:

• Enabled K2 comment auto-notification (patched for v2.2) - I'm not sure why this wasn't included with K2 from the start...
• Patched for sh404sef: multi-word tags work; download links fixed an intermittent SQL error

Installation: Install this component via the standard Joomla Extension Installer.
Upgrading: This will override your existing K2 templates and settings.  Be careful.

Enjoy!  Comments / questions / requests welcome.

[Edit: Updated for K2 v2.3 - new download added!]

Just got done applying a new "skin" to this site... after building dozens of custom Joomla templates for client projects, I decided it was time to treat my own site to that same custom treatment! Below is a before & after mock-up - what do you think? Thanks for visiting!!

When it comes to building your company's web site, there are two basic ways to build it.  The first method is to use a program like Dreamweaver to build the template, menu, and pages using HTML.  Each page becomes a separate HTML file, and all of the HTML files are interconnected.  For basic sites, this method is fine.

Update August 18, 2022: Editing a site by hand in HTML is no longer acceptable!

Note: The software demonstrated below can be adapted to power any existing Web site or customized to specification. For more information, contact us.

I just made a bunch of these nifty tutorial videos to show how easy it can be to update your own web site without any programming skills.