HowToJoomla! Blog: Joomla!

Dear Open Source Matters,

I've noticed a lot of controversy brewing over your recent announcement that you've hired a PR firm to drive awareness of the Joomla project. This is a tough issue with excellent points on both sides. There is clearly a need for better PR for Joomla. This situation, ironically, is a perfect example of that need. There is also clearly a need for more community involvement and input in decisions like this. Jen Kramer makes some excellent points about this in her recent blog post "VOXUS's first PR problem for Joomla".

But the PR situation isn't really why I am writing this. There have been other situations like this in recent months that have caused similar outrage and upheaval in the community, and I'm afraid something gets lost in all of this. Most of us truly appreciate you and the work that you are doing to advance Joomla as a project and as a community. We may disagree with some of your decisions and actions, but we appreciate the countless hours you spend free of charge working to help make Joomla the best it can be. It is a thankless job that most of us can't or won't do for one reason or another, so thank you for taking the time to do it.

Whether we agree or disagree on matters of policy or decisions that you have made, at the end of the day we are still a community. My sincere hope is that none of us lose sight of that.

Respectfully,
Cory Webb

The Joomla! Project announced the release of Joomla! 1.5.15 today. This release contains a couple of security fixes, so be sure and upgrade as soon as possible.

Click here to see the official announcement.

On August 27 and August 31, I will be leading Joomla Training in Austin and Joomla Training in Dallas. HowToJoomla readers can get a special discount to these training classes by entering the discount code "htjaustin" for the Austin class and "htjdallas" for the Dallas class.

These training classes are for those who are new to Joomla, and we will cover an introduction to Joomla 1.0 and 1.5, sitewide settings and user management, setting up and organizing menus and navigation, managing content articles, working with Joomla components, using Joomla modules and plugins, choosing and configuring Joomla templates, and how to manage Joomla websites professionally and securely.

I look foward to seeing you there!

Joomla Training in Austin (discount code: htjaustin)

Joomla Training in Dallas (discount code: htjdallas)

I'm happy to announce that my new book, Beginning Joomla! Website Development, is now shipping if you order it from the publisher's website! It will start shipping from online retailers like Amazon later this week.

Beginning Joomla! will take the reader step-by-step through the process of building a website with Joomla! 1.5. From beginning to end, the book will explain a concept and show how that concept relates to the development of an actual sample web site the reader can access online. This book applies each concept to a real-world example every step of the way. Once a concept is explained in theory, it is then illustrated by showing how one would implement each concept in a real web site.

If you are in the Dallas area on Monday, May 11, you can come to the Dallas Joomla! User Group meeting and hear me speak about one of my favorite topics, Joomla!. We are still getting feedback from the group about specific topics to cover during the evening, but you can take this opportunity to get some free training from a Joomla! specialist (well, almost free - the group has a small fee of around $5 or $10 per meeting to cover their costs). I plan to bring a couple of copies of my upcoming Joomla! book, Beginning Joomla! Website Development to give away as door prizes, so you definitely won't want to miss it.

The Dallas Joomla! User Group is an active group that provides mentoring and training opportunities for people who are new to Joomla!, and a great community for new and veteran Joomla! users alike. Check out their Meetup.com group or their website to get more information about the group.

If you have any topic suggestions, please feel free to add them here in the comments.