I have had much experience with Joomla. Take a look at eNews Park Forest for a very complex, well-developed site created to provide news for residents of Park Forest, IL, and surrounding suburbs.

One of the best selling points of Joomla is that it is Open Source, free. You pay only for hosting and a domain name. If you ask a web designer to set up your site — and perhaps your should if you don’t know PHP and MySQL — you pay for time. This could run anywhere from three hours for a simple install to eight or ten hours for installations that are more complex and require more styling.

Joomla is very robust. You can do some incredible things with it, and you can do some incredibly boneheaded things with it.

Let me explain.

A base install of Joomla is very efficient, offering minimal drag on a MySQL server and code that is web compliant out of the box. So, you will start with a good PHP site and a solid MySQL database. If you go to Joomla.com, you will see there are many components and modules to add. Some of them are good, some of them are written using horrible code. These can break a site or cause many CPU-overloads which web hosts will complain about. There’s nothing worse than trying to open your site, only to see the words, “Account Suspended for CPU-Overload.”

Never, never, under any circumstances should you add a statistics counter to your Joomla installation, e.g. Joomlastats or BSQStats. They will horribly bloat your database and may cause CPU-overloads.

If you do add components that require you to change your template, e.g. add a CSS-include or some Javascript to your template, make sure you note this somewhere. If you remove the component, you’ll want to clean up your template so you don’t end up calling files that no longer exist.

That may sound like simple advice, but it’s easy to get lost with very large installations.

For more, I’d advise you to register at the Joomla Forum, start reading, asking questions, and experimenting.
One final piece of advice, I’d recommend setting up a backup site for every live site you install. It’s too easy to make a horrible mistake in Joomla (inserting a comma in the wrong place in your .htaccess or PHP.INI files, or in one of Joomla’s many PHP includes) and finding your site gone. This is even an uglier feeling than the Microsoft Windows infamous “Blue Screen of Death.” In these situations, you will see a blank white screen in your browser with a few lines offering minimal details about your PHP error. A good host can help you repair your mistakes, but it’s better to understand and learn what you did wrong.

All in all, however, Joomla is well worth the time investment.

Welcome aboard. Joomla’s a helluva ride.

It’s easy.  To start, go to Google Maps.  You’ll need to sign up for an account with Google if you don’t have one already.  That’s free as well.  Don’t get me wrong.  If you want to advertise with Google, you’ll have to pay.  However, Google has many free services the better.

Once you have signed in to Google Maps and are on the main page, look on the left at the bottom and add your site down here:

Add or Edit your business: Learn more »

Then follow the simple steps Google sets out for you.   You can even add coupons to your listing, and you should do that too.  Give people an excuse to come to your business.

The answers to these questions are never easy, particularly regarding some who can’t view web pages correctly, and there can be a million reasons why someone’s computer may freeze when visiting certain sites in the Internet. Sometimes we misinterpret the cause when we see something happen. “This happened when I visited the New York Times. Therefore, they’re the problem!”

Not always the case. In fact, the NYTimes is a rather solid design, and this is the case with many, many other pages online.

The problem may be your browser.

The problem almost lies with the so-called 2nd class browsers: WebTV, AOL’s proprietary browser, AT&T’s proprietary browser, Comcast’s proprietary browser, and so on. 2nd class browsers are generally those built by Internet hosting companies by teams that, while competent, are simply not as good as the teams of individuals behind the major browser companies: Firefox (for Windows and Macs), Internet Explorer 7 (The version number here is important. If you’re still using Internet Explorer 6, upgrade ASAP), and Safari for Macs.

If you are using WebTV, you may be stuck. The prognosis is not good. The reality is there may be many web pages you cannot load properly. Yes, web designers should be more understanding and design for WebTV’s browser, but most do not even consider doing so.

If you are using AT&T, Comcast, or AOL, you’re in luck. You don’t have to use their browser!!! That’s right. All you have to do is establish your Internet connection, and then you can surf with any browser you wish. My personal preference for Windows or Mac is Firefox, however, you can use Internet Explorer 7 if you must, or Safari. But the point is, you are not bound to the corporate, 2nd class browser. You have a choice.

Just some simple things to consider. Why not use the best?

The Chicago Tribune

However, as with all things Microsoft, this one could get hostile:

The decision could provoke a showdown between two of the world’s most prominent technology companies with Internet search leader Google Inc. looming in the background. Leery of Microsoft expanding its turf on the Internet, Google already has offered to help Yahoo avert a takeover and urged antitrust regulators to take a hard look at the proposed deal.

If the world’s largest software maker wants Yahoo badly enough, Microsoft could try to override Yahoo’s board by taking its offer — originally valued at $31 per share — directly to the shareholders. Pursuing that risky route probably will require Microsoft to attempt to oust Yahoo’s current 10-member board.

I’m reminded of the Simpson’s episode when Homer started an Internet company (”Where’s the ‘Any Key’?”). Near the end of the episode, Bill Gates showed up and bought Homer’s company, Compu-Global-Hyper-Mega-Net.

Marge: Bill Gates is here.
Homer: Bill Gates? Billionaire computer nerd, Bill Gates? Oh, my god… oh, my god… Get out of sight, Marge. I don’t want this to look like a two-bit operation.
Marge: (grumbles)
Bill Gates: Mr. Simpson?
Homer: You don’t look so rich.
Bill Gates: Don’t let the haircut fool you. I’m exceedingly wealthy.
Homer: [quietly] Get a load of the bowl-job, Marge!
Bill Gates: Your Internet ad was brought to my attention, but I can’t figure out what, if anything, Compuglobalhypermeganet does, so rather than risk competing with you, I’ve decided simply to buy you out.
Homer: I reluctantly accept your proposal!
Bill Gates: Well everyone always does. Buy ‘em out, boys!
Bill Gates’ lackeys trash the room
Homer: Hey, what the hell’s going on!
Bill Gates: Oh, I didn’t get rich by writing a lot of checks! [insane laughter]

Pure poetry.

I’m with Yahoo on this one.

The challenge is to combine all of these ideas into one Web site.  The desire is to take advantage of the Internet to increase sales of the promotional items, and increase regular clients for the consulting business.

I don’t know how all of this well gel into a single Web site yet, but the idea has a ton of potential.

More later.

One of my most important projects is eNews Park Forest, a news site for the Park Forest, IL, area.

I use PHPList to send announcements of new issues and breaking stories. Today I simply want to showcase the email sign-up page, located here, which is the newly styled sign-up page for the site.

One can either sign up for eNewsPF.com email announcements from inside eNewsPF.com (”Get eNews Alerts” on the main menu), or by going directly to the URL listed above. When one adds an email address from inside eNewsPF.com, one still ends up on this page for verification of the email address.

It’s nice to see the two applications play so nicely together.

Finally, I added the background gradient to the whole site today. I just like that look on my web pages.

Again, just happy with the new developments.

In a way, it’s a bit regressive for the web.  Remember when AOL first started up, and AOL users couldn’t email anyone outside of AOL?  Many thought that was quaint, a very nice feature to have.  And then AOL users realized “WWW” stood for “World Wide Web,” and they wanted to break out and talk to everyone else as well.

As fascinating as Facebook is, it’s really a very simple concept, and a lot of fun sometimes.

I’m here, if you wish to “Friend” me.  Whether Facebook survives long into the future is anyone’s guess.  But the site is still growing, and, for now at least, I’m enjoying it.

Ever thought of publishing your own book?  Now you can.  We write so much on the blogs — why not publish real books with all those wonderful words?  CafePress.com allows you create and sell many things, including books.  From their site:

Pricing includes book production, order management, fulfillment and customer service. You choose the retail price and earn the difference between the retail price and our base price.

The pricing is based on the number of pages in your book plus the type of binding you wish to offer. For example, the base price for a 100-page perfect-bound book would be $10.00, and you set the retail price. Base prices are the same the same for all book sizes.

I’m not publishing quite yet.  I’m still upset about the book I started in high school about the flying car that traveled through time.   That was long before Back to the Future.  If I had only tried to sell it to someone, I would at least have a case.

Oh well.  Live and learn.

I’m publishing the next one, perhaps on CafePress.com.

State Rep. Al Riley’s official campaign site, just launched this week, ready for the masses!  I’m very happy with the way this site has turned out.  It was a bit of a “rush” order, but it turned out very nice.

Good luck on the campaign trail, Al!

Park Forest, IL–(ENEWSPF)– Shire Enterprises web creations announced the release of its newest design this week, the official web site for Illinois State Rep. Al Riley, of the 38th Legislative District. The site was designed using Adobe Dreamweaver 8.2, and images prepared and edited for the web with Adobe Fireworks 8.0.

The site can be accessed from http://www.repalriley38.com.

The site is a solid, CSS-based design with valid XHTML according to the standards dictated by the World Wide Web Consortium, an international consortium where member organizations, a full-time staff, and the public work together to develop Web standards. Valid code helps ensure that web pages will be viewable from standard browsers

The site is also accessible to people with disabilities in accordance with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. According to Section508.gov:

In 1998, Congress amended the Rehabilitation Act to require Federal agencies to make their electronic and information technology accessible to people with disabilities. Inaccessible technology interferes with an individual’s ability to obtain and use information quickly and easily. Section 508 was enacted to eliminate barriers in information technology, to make available new opportunities for people with disabilities, and to encourage development of technologies that will help achieve these goals. The law applies to all Federal agencies when they develop, procure, maintain, or use electronic and information technology.

The site also features a menu extension for Dreamweaver from Project VII, “Pop Menu Magic.” The extension interfaces seamlessly with Dreamweaver, and allows great flexibility for the web designer. The extension produces fully compliant code and menus in compliance with Section 508 standards.

Additionally, there are two photo galleries employing SimpleViewer from Airtight Interactive. The galleries reveal a fluid presentation of the photographs resulting in a striking display.

Rep. Al Riley was appointed by Democratic Committeemen to fulfill the remainder of State Rep. Robin Kelly’s term for the 38th Legislative District.

Shire Enterprises, Inc. is owned and operated by Gary Kopycinski, and is based in Park Forest, IL. Kopycinski is publisher of eNews Park Forest , the only online news magazine exclusively serving the Park Forest area.