Goodbye Tazzu

Today I saw on Facebook that Tazzu, Vancouver’s Business and Technology Community, closed it’s virtual doors. I was part of that wonderful community since it started in September 2006 as a phpBB Forum. Many great people joined Tazzu over the years and step by step it became a very important platform to exchange information. But Tazzu wasn’t just a Forum. Tazzu organized as well many network events, WordPress and Joomla Camps as well as the first Joomla day in Canada in 2008, the “Joomla Day Vancouver” where I won a book about Joomla Templates.

Joomla!® 1.6 Has Arrived!

As a big Joomla fan this is great news for me. I tested the Beta last year and was impressed. I think that Joomla 1.6 is more powerful and easier to handle. The content structure is so much better and with the more flexible way to enable or disable certain modules with parts of your site it became so much easier to build a great navigation structure.

My Webproject, What do I have to know?

For many clients the most important question about an online presents is of course the price. But how can we as web developer answer that question? How can we masseur such thing? I saw once an interesting article in the web from a web developer who had, in my opinion, a very good way to response to that question. He simply answered with another question, he asks his client “How much does a car cost?” The answer he gets is of course obvious “Well that would depend on the car” I personally found that is a brilliant way to get right to the point, because the cost of a website would depend as well.

Is it just one entrance page? Do you want to have a forum integrated? Do you need an online shopping system? Do you want to use a CMS?

In my opinion much more important for you as a client should be if you have a good feeling with the person you are talking about your online presents. Just think about it.  As soon as you have a website you will have to update that site, have to make changes. Maybe want to add something new to your site.

One very important fact is that a good website is never finished. You always have to update your site. Regardless what kind of business you may have. If you see your website as an ongoing project you definitely want to have someone who is taking care of your online presents in a way you feel comfortable.

A good and professional web developer knows what is possible and what not for the money you can or want to spend. Just talk about how much you are willing to spend and see what the web designer can offer. I always tell my clients to start small, to keep the costs in a normal price range. Help them to get familiar with the site that presents their business, help them to identify with the site.

Starting small helps as well to understand the mechanism in the web. I had once a client who came to me and said, very proud, that his clients saw his site and where very pleased to got all the information he provides on his site. That made him doing even more for the site and we start building a very healthy relationship.
A good partner who is taking care of your online marketing tool, your website, is in my opinion more important as to safe some Dollars in the beginning and pay more at the end.

I hope my post today was helpful. If you like you can of course subscribe to my newsletter at www.kaebe.net
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Joomla

In my post today I would like to talk a bit about Joomla, an open source content management system (CMS). Joomla is available in the version 1.0.x, 1.5.x and since a while in the 1.6.x Alpha version. I heard the first time about Joomla in 2006, so almost 3 years ago.

I created many websites since I started 1997 and used many different tools to made some great sites such as the online magazine for the Berlinale’99. I used to work with programs such as NetObjects Fusion, Dreamwaver, FrontPage from Microsoft and some others. But since I found Joomla I primarily create my web projects with that tool.

My first professional Joomla project started in December 2006 and was a site for an Energy Consultant in Germany. I created the entire site with Joomla 1.0.x and was impressed how easy and fast it was to get the results I wanted.

One big plus I discovered was that it was easy to change the face of the website by changing the template. Sure you had to make some adjustments, but it locked great. Another thing was that I wanted to integrate an event calendar, so I went to the Joomla website (http://www.joomla.org) and there you found tons of so called Components, Plugins and Modules for your site.

Many of this tools are for free and the ones you have to pay for are often more than worse the little money you spend.

Since I started making websites with Joomla I created some great web sites. One for example was for a non profit organization, a Kindergarden. Another for an internship and work experience placement agency in Vancouver BC. My latest projects are for a insurance company and a new online school. Both projects will go online probably in December 2009 / January 2010.

I will keep you posted.

Bottom line is that if you are a developer and have to realize a project with a small budget, Joomla is definitely an option.

If you are a business owner and want or even need to have a website that you can easily update yourself you should take a look at Joomla. Even if you have to hire a Joomla specialist you will be able to get a professional site even for a small budget.

A good developer will stay on your site and help you to let your site grow when you want and need to.

If you want to get more information please visit my website (www.kaebe.net) and sign up for my newsletter.

CU soon