Web Design Company, Hampshire UK

Currently contracting at boxChilli Media, I have been asked to create an international yacht directory. The first step was to test out various sollutions available on the market, to ensure the finished product meets boxChilli’s needs and those of their clients.

The first product that I tried was DirectoryPress which I have talked in a previous post. The second was Sobi2. Sobi is an extension for Joomla and decribes itself as being ‘one of the first components for Joomla! with content construction support.’ After tinkering with Sobi for a day, it became apparent that to really get the best from the system it would take the addition a number of a few reasonably priced extensions which I quickly purchased.

sigsiu.net

Just as I was about to jump into designing the final directory, I was introduced to Zoo 2.0 from Yoo Themes. I instantly was unsure of my inital decision. Zoo 2.0 ‘is a flexible and powerful content application builder to manage your content’, a similar claim to that of Sobi2. We immediately purchased the App Bundle which included the business directory as well as other useful apps. Again, I have tinkered with Zoo for a day and have managed to make a good looking, effective directory in just a couple of hours. The support seems good so far and the documentation appears to meet the needs of beginners and developers alike.

A few of the things that I really like about Zoo are that the CSS is already set up to look good. The modules are included with the installation, so that there is very little to research into or buy. Just turn everything on, work out what you need and style it…… Easy. I will report back in a couple of weeks when the directory is finished.

Joomla is a fantastic framework. It allows the user the flexibility to make use of and manipulate technologies which would otherwise take many months if not years to develop. The reason behind this is that it is open source.

Whilst using Joomla I have come across this nugget of information which allows greater adaptability whilst designing Joomla sites. Sometimes, Joomla extensions are only available as modules, this trick will enable you to use a module in a content position.

Step 1..

Navigate to the module menu and open the module that you would like to display. Click on the ‘position’ textbox and delete the text, now add in your position name, something like ‘mypos’ for example. Make it something memorable. Now save the module. You will now have created a new position name for your module.

Step 2..

Open the article that you would like to display the module in and paste this {loadposition mypos}. This is all you have to write, no other text is necessary. Need any help with this, please let me know.