Clean out the cobwebs.. Joomla for Libraries (Oct-2008)

Clean Out the Cobwebs:

Rethinking Your Web Presence with Joomla CMS

Mark A. Smith – LiSUG Conference October 2008 - SUNY IT – Utica NY

Apologies In Advance.

What I’ll Try & Cover

What is a Content Management System?

Why a CMS Might Be an Option for Your Library

What is Needed to Run Joomla?

A “Look-see” At Joomla Driven Library Sites

Basic Concepts that Form the System

Tour of Administrative Module

Time Permitting: Demos of Site & Content Creation

A Quick Peek

JoomlaOut of The Box

Joomla: Not Your Father’s Website

Content Management System (CMS)

Both Website & Repository

Database Driven

Modular – Extensible – Plug & Play

Template Design Structure

Administrative Backend Managed

Show Me What You Mean

A Couple More

Mystery Site - Made With Joomla

Scholes Library – A very modest implementation

built with sweat equity and much trial and error

Why Is Joomla An Option For You?

Open Source and Free (Active User Community)

Easy to Keep Your Content Fresh

Archives All of Your Content (text, images, links, etc)

No Programming or Coding Required .. No HTML, CSS, XML, CFM, etc.

Easy WYSIWYG & Distributable Editing

More Good’ness

Change Design Elements & Templates Instantly

Embedded Relational, Hierarchical Linking Structure for Content

Administrative Backend Organizes & Monitors Content (including Statistics)

Portable (exportable database)

… And More

Templates Do All The Work (but html/css editable from within the admin module)

Multiple Media Format Friendly

Highly Customizable at Every Level (from item to site-wide)

User Accounting (if you want to go there)

.. And more

And The Fun Part

Extensible Web Apps Plug-ins for 2.0’ness

Polls, Blogs, RSS feeds, Search, Contacts, Breadcrumbs, Popularity, Page Delivery, etc. Out of the Box

Other Functionality - Calendars, wikis, image galleries, media players, editors, forums, etc. Widely developed & easily added

In A Nutshell

The System Provides

an End-User & Content Creator

Environment that is:

Familiar, Flexible & Customizable

Look What You Could Do

Sounds Good! What Do I Need?

A minimally cooperative IT department OR your own server

MYSQL and PHP

Joomla Software: versions for Win Server and Unix

Time to Experiment (learning curve to initially customize the structure)

A Plan to Rethink Your Content & Nav. Structure

Got $6.95

A message from our sponsor (kidding):

The Evil Outsourcing Option:

Could Try Bluehost or Another Hosting Service

& You Are Up & Running Without Any IT Guys

Proof of Concept Approach

OK. How Does the Thing Work?

The Basics

1. Organizing the Information

2. Layout: Template / Module Positions

3. Functionality: Modules-Components-Extensions

4. Navigation - Menus

1. Organization

Hierarchical Organization

Sections

Categories .. may have multiple categories under a section

Articles .. may have multiple articles under a category

Departments

Borr.Policies

GettingLib. Card

Circulation

Section

Staff

Category

Article

Reference

StaffAsk A Libn

2. Layouts Ruled By Templates

Your “Look” is governed by Templates.

Templates contain a map of “module positions”that identify where you might wish to position content

Templates can be built, borrowed, purchased, stolen, etc. And they are editable (HTML,CSS)

Scholes Module Map

3. Functionality

Modules-Components-Extensions … Oh My!banners, contacts, polls, blogs, RSS feeds, breadcrumbs, popularity, page delivery, calendars, wikis, image galleries, newsflash, ratings, media players, editors, forums, stats, related items, etc.

Joomla comes with a great deal of functionality right out of the box.

Other extensions are widely available (many free)

A Limited Set For Our Library

Bluehost – Out of the Box

4. Navigation

All Done with “Menus”

A robust function within Admin

Menus utilize your Sections, Categories, & Articles structure that automates menus that are logical. (ie. a menu of all your categories)

The most powerful & frustrating concept/feature in Joomla. I initially found it difficult to wrap my head around this.

Under the Hood

A Look at Scholes Joomla Admin.

Sections / Categories / Articles

Menus

Front Page Manager

Media Manager .. etc

Joomla May Not Be For You ..

If you lack IT Support to Install and Maintian Server. (You won’t need server access or much help from

them.)

If your site design must exactly/closely match a campus design (but could build your own template)

If you are easily frustrated by a learning curve. (However, much simpler than Aleph. And once the layout is done ..its a snap to maintain).

.

What Are Other Libraries Doing With Joomla?

Joomla in LibrariesCommunity / Showcase

Do We Have Time? Demos/Tutorials

Overview

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3UgF9y2C3k

Modules

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaPcsRRULTc

Menus

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvjVkze3fTs

Materials & Resources

Presentation Materials, Links & Joomla

Resources available at

http://lisug08joomla.wordpress.com/

Demo Account: (login: lisug/sunyla) - will self-destruct 11/1/08

Questions?

Playtime

What do you want to see?

Change Templates (same content)

Add an RSS Feed

Download and add a template/module

Create a Poll

Build a Section/Category