Web Design and Web Development Blog from Webilicious in Tasmania

New Joomla 2.5 Website

Ramsay Constructions wanted an online presence and trusted us to do the honours.

As usual we chose Joomla as the best solution.

Allan Ramsay is a quality home builder based in Midland in Perth.

Web Design and Development

The "Enigma" template from RocketTheme has been installed and customised for the web design.

As with most website projects we complete, the website code is W3C compliant. If we can't find suitable extensions that are W3C compliant, we often fix the code ourselves and provide the amended code to the extension developer to incorporate into the next release. This is our way of giving something back to the web development community, especially for free extensions.

Other features include:

• social networking "share" buttons
• JoomPlace Testimonials for clients to leave feedback
• gallery (see image on the left) using SigPlus Image Gallery

Nibbler Test Score

The website scored 7.1 in the Nibbler test tool at launch time which is good for a brand new website.

Update: This has since been improved to 7.9.

Feedback is welcome!

New Joomla 2.5 Website

We recently launched a website for Mundaring Ecostay strawbale chalets. Online bookings using Rentalot Plus has since been added.

Web Design and Development

For the web design, the awesome "Momentum" template from RocketTheme has been installed and customised for this particular client with a seamless strawbale background image and a background image of the cottage itself. The main body and modules have been made transparent so that the cottage is visible in the background.

C6 Media Solutions created the logo.

Other features include:

• location map using GMapFP also includes surrounding facilities and activities
• social networking "share" and "follow" buttons
• JoomPlace Testimonials for clients to leave feedback
• the local weather
• galleries using "SigPlus" image gallery which is fast becoming one of my favourite Joomla extensions

Nibbler Test Score

Out of the box, this website is already achieving a Nibbler test score of 8.0 which is excellent for a brand new website.

The strawbale chalet is very peaceful and is a great place to stay if you are looking for accommodation for yourself, friends or family or business in the local area. Contact Ross or Jenny Mars for details or to make a booking. Contact details are on the website.

Feedback is welcome!

Joomla 2.5.0 was released on schedule on January 24th and since then has been updated to Joomla 2.5.1. Initial teething issues have been addressed and the new version is very appealing with several new features and time savers.

Akeeba Admin Tools to the Rescue

Updates from Joomla 1.7.4 to 2.5.0 that I tried using the built-in Joomla update utility failed but these issues were anticipated by Nicholas Dionysopoulos and addressed in his excellent Akeeba Admin Tools. Even the free version handles the upgrades flawlessly. Nicholas has offered to help incorporate his code into the core of the next Joomla 2.5 release so let's hope that his offer is accepted.

Update: As of Joomla 2.5.4, Nicholas's code has now been incorporated into the Joomla core update feature.

It's Safe to Migrate or Upgrade to Joomla 2.5 Now

Assuming all your favourite extensions are Joomla 2.5 ready, now seems to be a good time to upgrade from Joomla 1.7 or migrate from Joomla 1.5.

I have been busy updating my personal and business websites to Joomla 2.5 and have completed my first client migration from Joomla 1.5. It was easier than I thought.

ChronoForms Even Better Now

The trickiest part has been relearning all the cool tricks I had learnt in ChronoForms v3 as ChronoForms v4 has been completely rewritten and is even better than before!

Joomla 1.5 Security Updates

Remember that Joomla 1.5 security updates will only continue to September 2012 so Joomla 1.5 website owners should be thinking about migrating at some point this year. Joomla 1.5 websites will, of course, still operate after September but may be more vulnerable to hackers.

Happy updating / migrating!