Datasheet

❑ How to leverage the new Ajax client-side technology to give your Joomla site a responsive, cutting-
edge interface.
❑ The planning methods that ensure your site can be internationalized and support multi-language
content.
❑ How to fit current extensions (such as polls, classified ads, and picture galleries) into your over-
all site design for a more substantial Web presence.
❑ The ins and outs of customizing CSS to give the site a unified look-and-feel.
❑ Guidelines for ensuring your design complies with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
(WCAG) for people with disabilities.
Web designers are generally hired very early in the site-creation process, and the more they know about
Joomla before beginning, the greater the technology that Joomla offers can be leveraged. Particularly in
the arena of template construction, taking advantage of the Joomla features can produce a site that not
only excels now but is also maintainable and can be reasonably updated in the future. Web designers
can also take greatest advantage of the extensions that are developed to supplement the system.
Web Developers
Those performing Web development will find the Joomla platform to be the most flexible and yet the most
straightforward development framework of any CMS. Since the upgrade to version 1.5, the entire structure
of Joomla has been rewritten to provide a framework that is much more than just a CMS. The Joomla CMS
itself is actually an application that executes within the broader Joomla framework. That means that you
can do nearly any size of development project on top of the Joomla framework — including developing a
completely new CMS (if there were any reason to do so).
You don’t have to start at the bottom, though. Examining and modifying existing Joomla extensions
(plug-ins, components, and modules) is perhaps the best way to hone your Joomla skills. Once you
have a grasp of how existing extensions work within the system, the Joomla world is your oyster. As
you progress through this book, you will learn how to create advanced extensions and even deliver
a slick client-side Ajax interface implementation. You’ll learn how the design patterns that Joomla
embraces can be used to structure your own development.
After you’ve mastered the extensions interface, you can move on to modifying the Joomla system itself, or
to participating in group development and deployment. There is plenty of opportunity for collaboration
with the more than 45,000 registered Joomla developers. By the time you turn the last page of this book,
you’ll be at the very top of that skill pyramid. The growth of Joomla has been paralleled by the increase in
job opportunities, with an online job market filled with Joomla postings. The economic incentive to maxi-
mize your skills is certainly there.
On the development side, Professional Joomla will teach you how to do the following:
❑ Develop a plug-in with examples from the simplest Hello World plug-in to advanced reporting
e-commerce solutions.
❑ Apply the professional development techniques of design patterns to your Joomla project.
❑ Use scripting with the Ajax technology for snappy client-side interaction without having to
requery the server.
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Chapter 1: Introducing Joomla!
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