CMS design & development in Marin

Okay, so what's riding the vortex?  --Suffice it to say, I sense the limits of bravery butt right up to the vast vast pools of stupidity.

Therefore, for today, I make a list of stuff I need to do to make this site work and only make it work.  So here's the list:

• Resolve file permissions problems.
• Fix graphic header.
• Modify font sizes and font families.
• Figure out pre-formatted styles.

So what was easy? fixing the header to say three waves.  As for the rest, there were a few extra steps involved.

I looked at the template, and thought, this just won't do.  Too much size and color contrast.  Fixed all that  in the name of the reader.   It's the least I can do as a web developer.

“If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am not for others, what am I? And if not now, when?” , so said Rabbi Hillel back around King Herod.   Of course these words are more seemly in the context of mans' inhumanity against man.  In this case I apply it from my small seat on the web, to my very small space on the web.

Then:

Having a cup of coffee and thinking about it...

So, as a developer this is what I recommend: Figure out exactly which functionality is required by the project.  Implement that first: like mootools stuff, etc.  Consider how much you're willing to track versions., etc.  Then once you get that tool installed, consider the nice-to-haves, and research the forums of that tool, as well as the Joomla extensions boards, and find out if there are any issues.  You might see a lot of messages about mis-behaving javascript, which has to do with javascript library conflicts.  If you do, like me, you can just move on, and try to find another solution.

Or, as Bill Peet once wrote "So far, so bad..." 

Form Review...   HiQFM.php script!

Fill Out Your Forms!

That's right... What do we like about this form?  Very easy to use.  Good html test form included.  Easy to verify whether or not it's working.  Decent ability to redirect to confirmation page, send confirmation email, and also to set up required fields.  Instead of Javascript required fields, it gives you a php error page.  Good forum.  Well-commented script.  What more can you asck for

Also tried RSForm, which is great because it allows you to save to a database.  However, there were potential conflicts with other components, so I opted out.

WOW.  Here was the problem I set out to solve: I needed to find a photo gallery tool for my customers who actually need to display their products. Most galleries seem to be gorged with mind-flipping rotations, skewing, fading etc, or stripped to nothing.  I found something in the middle, which is HighSlide (http://vikjavev.no/highslide/ ).  According to the website, the developer, Torstein Hønsi is a mudlogger on the oil rigs in the North Sea, and does web work on the side.  So he actually has time to answer the occasional question!  And he has a devoted following.  WOW and double WOW. 

  The UI for these slides is fantastic.  On the designer/developer side it has many many degrees of adjustability in color and in motion, transparency, position, while on the user side it is absolutely simple and elegant to look at.   The documentation is great, and the comments inside the script are clear, and the examples, (which are included in the download) simplify the whole matter.  In fact, you'll know right away if this is what you're looking for if you just click on the examples: http://vikjavev.no/highslide/#examples.

Got an emailed response after 3 days.  The icon menu shows up when you use the quickstart installation. Rummaged about in the quickstart installation and no obvious answers. Went instead to the JoomlArt template demo page for JA Olyra, viewed source, and looked at what was supposed to be loading where. 

Currently using the JA Olyra template from JoomlArt.  This is a paid subscription, which you can pay as 3-month or yearly. I purchased JA Olyra for Joomla 1.5, last fall, 3-month subscription: $59.  The typography, once you activate it, is fantastic.  You can see samples on the site, although the sample page does NOT come with the installation, so if you want to figure out the typography, you'll have to either import it from the site, or keep referring to the JoomlArt site.

 We just completed three projects: two iWeb projects, and one WordPress project.  They all went marvelously well, except for, of course the occasional hitches.  So here we are today to talk about the hitches 'n fixes.

WordPress project:  this framework is like Jello -- goes down easy, but missing substance.  Talk about your global settings... NOT.  On the other hand, let's say it's totally plastic, can be formatted into any shape you want.