Wow! eBook – Blog

Book Description

The book will show people that they can build and manage a Joomla! 1.6 or 1.7 website without a technical background. Starting with an introduction to Joomla and how to install it, the book will detail how to add content, control users, make links and then add extra features to a Joomla! site. The book simplifies things to avoid difficult tasks that are unnecessary for beginners to understand. Written in plain English, the tutorial offers clear instructions, simple explanations, real-life examples, plenty of screenshots and humor. The book is aimed at busy people who want to understand Joomla in a fun, readable and straightforward way.

From the Back Cover
Master Joomla! hands-on, step-by-step, through easy, practical examples!

Joomla! now powers tens of millions of websites of every size and type. But many beginners find it confusing, and most Joomla! books are too complex to help. Joomla! Explained is the solution. Top Joomla! trainer Stephen Burge teaches everything beginners need to know–and nothing they don’t need to know!

Joomla! Explained requires absolutely no experience with Joomla! content management, website construction, programming, scripting, or even HTML. Stephen Burge has taught thousands of beginners–and thousands more who’ve experimented with Joomla! but haven’t mastered it yet. Nobody knows more about guiding Joomla! users up the learning curve–from confusion to results! Download Now »

Book Description

Building on the first edition of Joomla!: Visual QuickStart Guide, this task-based guide is the perfect tool for those just starting with Joomla, as well as, seasoned professionals who want to know how to use the latest version of the software to its fullest. It shows how to create, customize, and maintain a dynamic Joomla 1.6 website starting with fundamental concepts for using Joomla and then walks the user through every function of the system. It details the requirements for operating a secure and efficient Joomla website, including server configuration and website planning. The reader learns not only the functions of Joomla, such as adding content and structure, creating menus, using components, modules, plug-ins, and templates, but also how each function integrates as a whole. Each chapter ends with increasingly advanced topics, such as installation and configuration of the administrative back end, using 3rd-party extensions to create a portfolio, a blog, an e-commerce site, magazine, or news portal, as well as, how to use content construction kits, create custom templates, and integrate social media.

New features covered in this edition include: how to use the redesigned admin interface; new menu systems, including advanced functions for developers; how to use the category-article structure of content; the ability for users to create their own groups and assign access control levels; and control and customization of templates.

About the Author
Marni Derr is a writer, developer, designer, trainer, and consultant helping people build successful Joomla websites over the past 4 years. A technical writer for over 16 years, Marni currently writes and blogs about Joomla daily. Download Now »

Book Description

VirtueMart is the best shopping cart solution around for the Joomla! CMS. A VirtueMart template is a Joomla! template that is designed to create the overall look of a store. It puts in things such as a shopping cart bar, more shop-like graphics, more readable colors, and so on. A VirtueMart theme only impacts the area of the site actually controlled by the VirtueMart component. Themes work inside the overall framework. Applying custom templates and themes to give a unique look and feel to your VirtueMart web store will really attract customers! This book will guide you to build VirtueMart custom themes and templates.

Joomla! VirtueMart 1.1 Theme and Template Design explains how the VirtueMart theme and template system works and points out ways to configure the default theme. It then goes on to look at each of the major templates with an emphasis on how to customize them. It then discusses individual page groups such as product list, product details, shopping cart, checkout, and invoice e-mails in the order they appear to your customer. After-sale services like invoice e-mail, account management, and order list are also discussed.

The book also discusses the different components of a VirtueMart theme and will teach you how to build a theme from scratch. You will also learn advanced features like child products, advanced attributes, custom attributes, and product types. Topics like integration with Joomla! plugins and AJAX functions are also included. An Appendix provides a comprehensive template reference of the use and available fields of every template. Download Now »

Book Description

Drupal is an award winning open source Content Management System (CMS). Based on PHP and MySQL, its power and flexibility combined with its exceptional design mean it is one of the most popular choices for creating a CMS website.

Drupal employs a specialized templating system and supports themes, which allow you to change the look and feel of your system’s front and back-end interfaces.

Drupal 7 Themes is an ideal introduction to theming with Drupal 7. If you want to create a striking new look for your Drupal 7 website, this book is for you. This book is a revised, updated and expanded edition of Drupal 6 Themes, rewritten specifically for Drupal 7.

This book will show you techniques and tools to help you improve the look and feel of any Drupal 7-powered website. Starting from the basics of theme setup and configuration, you will learn about the Drupal theming architecture and the PHPTemplate engine, and then move on to modifying existing themes and building new themes from scratch. You will find out about tools to make your theme development easier.

A practical guide showing you how to create themes for your Drupal 7 site

What you will learn from this book :

• Learn about the Drupal 7 Theming Architecture
• Find and install new themes Download Now »

Book Description

How to develop powerful mobile Web sites using popular content management systems (CMS)

Mobile is the hottest thing going—and developing content for mobile devices and browsers is even hotter than that.  This book is your guide to it all—how to design, build, and deploy sites, blogs and services that will work brilliantly for mobile users. You’ll learn about the state-of-the-art of mobile web development, the tools available to use, and the best practices for creating compelling mobile user interfaces. Then, using the most popular content management systems, WordPress, Joomla!, and Drupal, you’ll learn how to building world-class mobile web sites from existing platforms and content..  The book walks you through each platform, including how to use third-party plug-ins and themes, explains the strategies for writing your own logic, how to switch between mobile and desktop, and much more.

• Provides a technical review of the mobile landscape and acquaints you with  a range of mobile devices and networks
• Covers topics common to all platforms, including site topologies, switching between mobile and desktop, common user interface patterns, and more
• Walks you through each content management platform—WordPress, Joomla!, and Drupal—first focusing on standard plug-ins and themes and then exploring advanced techniques for writing your own themes or logic
• Explains the best practices for testing, deploying, and integrating a mobile web site
• Also explores analytics, m-commerce, and SEO techniques for mobile Download Now »

Book Description

HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, databases, frameworks, CMS, and many other fast-evolving technologies make up modern web-development. How can you effectively create stunning results without being limited by the ease of your tools? That’s where SilverStripe CMS comes into play.

SilverStripe, with its simple and intuitive design, is easy to work with and offers numerous customization opportunities. But understanding the options available and getting hands-on with the development techniques is not a piece of cake and certainly not a delightful experience if you’re relying on tutorials and documentation available online.

Silverstripe 2.4 Module Extension, Themes, and Widgets: Beginner’s Guide takes you through designing catchy and flexible templates, adding powerful features effortlessly, integrating everything into an intuitive backend for easy administration in a simple way, and implementing nifty features with minimal effort. From the most basic to complex forms, from simple to sophisticated pages, you’ll learn how to get the most out of your SilverStripe application. SilverStripe keeps everything nice and simple, but if you need to, you can extend and customize every part of it. Graphic examples illustrate the general principle of operation, gradually introducing the finer details needed to get professional results. Common requirements such as image galleries, site search, and more can be reused or extended to fulfill your needs.

The author’s experience in designing and developing SilverStripe projects enables him to share insights on creating professional web applications in a clear and friendly way. Download Now »