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JOOMTORIAL.COM - for all your Joomla questions

Recently, I've found myself developing several websites using the open source content management system (CMS) called Joomla. This CMS is quite robust and fully capable to handle large scale websites with ease.

The one catch with using Joomla is that it is similar to drinking from a fire hydrant when learning how to navigate its many features. LOTS OF INFO to digest.

But never fear! JOOMTORIAL.COM is here! Here's what they say about themselves:

At Joomtorial.com you will find Joomla Video Tutorials for beginners, intermediate and professional Joomla users.

Joomla is a highly usable content management system and can be used for personal use as well as for business use. Websites made with Joomla can be found in many sizes varying from a few pages up to entire community websites with 10.000+ pages. When starting with Joomla the versatility of Joomla can become quite overwhelming. It's more or less like a Dutch saying; "You can't see the forest because of all the trees in front of it."

Our purpose is to offer useful and most of all, understandable Joomla Video Tutorials that will help you in creating your Joomla website. Visit our Shop to purchase our tutorials.

In our 10+ years of experience in web-development and 5+ years of experience in Joomla, we decided to share our knowledge-base. You will find usefull Joomla information in our Forum and you can purchase Joomla Video tutorials in our Shop.

Through the use of DMs on Twitter and posts on the Joomtorial Forum, Joomtorial.com has been a tremendous help to me, and I look forward to continued communication with them in the future.

Sincerely,
Rob McBryde
President | Web Developer
IVM Web Solutions
www.ivmwebsolutions.com

Web Design: New Staley, Inc. website to launch this weekend!

THE OLD SITE:


THE NEW SITE:




New Site Features:
Fast loading CSS
Flash navigation
Employee login redirects
Professional photography


If your current website needs an Extreme Makeover, contact rob@ivmcommunications.com or 501.690.5628 to schedule a free consultation.

Sincerely,

Rob McBryde
President | Web Developer
IVM Communications
www.ivmcommunications.com

Priced for your size. Designed for your growth.

Ping.fm for all you status updating/blogging junkies...

Ping.fm is a simple service that makes updating your social networks a snap.

The set up was simple and now I don't have to visit six different websites to post status updates or blogs.

Check it out and make your life simpler. :)

Sincerely,

Rob

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Rob McBryde
President | Web Developer
IVM Communications
www.ivmcommunications.com

If you must send a fax, do it for free!

They say that necessity is the mother of invention.

Here are some inventions fit for small business owners who don't want or need to plop down a large sum of money for antiquated fax machines.

Out of necessity, I have to occasionally receive faxes. For this, I use the free service from eFax.com. This provides me with a dedicated fax number and e-mails me digital copies of any faxes that I receive. Pretty handy!

To send faxes from eFax.com requires a hefty monthly fee so I googled "send fax online" and stumbled across faxzero.com. It's really simple to use and perfect for those of us who only fax once every election year or so. Did I mention it is FREE?

Faxzero features:

• Free!
• Ad on the cover page
• Fax 1 document—maximum 3 pages
• Maximum 2 free faxes per day

That's all, folks!

Rob McBryde
President | Web Developer
IVM Communications
www.ivmcommunications.com

My new favorite free thing from Google Docs!

Create forms in a jiffy
Choose New > Form to create new forms straight from Docs Home. We've also improved form editing, starting with drag-and-drop to reorder questions.

Features: Creating forms

You can create a form from the Docs list or from any spreadsheet.

Creating a form from your Docs list:

1. Click New > Form
2. In the form template that opens, you can add any questions and options you'd like.
3. Click Email this from once you've finished adding your questions.
4. Add email addresses for your desired recipients.
5. Click Send.

Creating a form from a spreadsheet:

1. Click on the Form tab and click on Create a form.
2. In the form template that opens, you can add any questions and options you'd like.
3. Click Email this from once you've finished adding your questions.
4. Add email addresses for your desired recipients.
5. Click Send.

How do I...

...edit a question?

To edit an existing question, just click the Edit button on the right hand side of the question you want to edit.

...delete a question?

To delete a question, just click the Delete button on the right hand side of the question you want to delete.

...duplicate a question?

To quickly duplicate a question, just click the Duplicate button on the right hand side of the question you want to duplicate.

...embed a form?

If you'd like to embed your form in a website or on a blog, after you create your form and save it, click the More Actions button at the top of the editor, and select the Embed option in the menu that drops down.

...create multiple choice questions?

Click the Add Question button at the top of the editor, and then select the Multiple Choice option in the menu that drops down.

More things you can do with forms:

• Insert columns to contain your own content - like for calculated content, notes or lookups
• Insert Rows of information at the top - below the column headers (questions) and ABOVE the area where data is collected. The form responses will always get inserted in the first available/blank row.
• Insert new sheets - before or after the sheet which contans the form responses.
• Move the form response sheet to any position amongst other sheets
• Edit the confirmation message that the person filling out your form will see after submitting their response. Click the More Actions button at the top of the editor, and then select the Edit confirmation option in the menu that drops down.

More things you can do with the results spreadsheet:

• Insert columns to contain your own content next to form responses, such as for calculations, notes, or lookups.
• Insert new sheets or move sheets. Responses will continue to be automatically entered in the same sheet.

Additional tips:

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Rob McBryde
President | Web Developer
IVM Communications
www.ivmcommunications.com

3 Ways to Sink Your E-mail Newsletter

(a recent post from Church Marketing Sucks)

That's it. I tried to let it roll off my back, but no more. I'm sick of stupid mistakes in e-mail newsletters. If you want your e-mail newsletter to be effective, you've got to do it right. I've seen three e-mail newsletter mistakes in the last week alone:

Where Do I Click?
Offender number one is my VOIP-provider Vonage. They sent me an e-mail pitching their annual payment plan. Save $60/year. What a deal--where do I sign up? Turns out you can't sign up anywhere in the e-mail. There wasn't a single link in the e-mail, aside from privacy policy and unsubscribe (hmm ... tempting) links. I felt like a web rookie, clicking all over the e-mail trying to figure out who was stupider, me or Vonage.

Give me the Details
Next came an announcement about Outreach magazine's 2008 National Outreach Convention. Hey, that sounds interesting! Wonder if it's been added to our Events Lab yet? No? OK, let's add it. Wait--when and where is it? The e-mail didn't include the date and location. So it's not such an egregious error as not including the link--clicking just about anywhere in the e-mail would give me the answer--but c'mon, it's an event. The most important thing you need to tell me is when and where. Don't make me click for that. (To save you a click, it's Nov. 5-7 in San Diego)

Make Sure it Works
With a wad of birthday money in my pocket I'm in the market for a new digital camera. I love my Canon Powershot, so I'm thinking of just upgrading to the latest model. And lo, one of Canon's regular e-mails that I usually ignore showed up in my inbox. So I opened it up and clicked through to see what deals they were offering. And I got an error. Which prompted this rant. In the interest of fairness I just tried Canon's links again and they did work. Maybe their site was down, who knows? But in most cases you're not going to get that second chance. Make sure it works the first time.

I hate to single out organizations like this, but sometimes you need the nitty-gritty real world examples. Most people don't even open your e-mail newsletter, but for the ones who do you've got to do everything right if you want it to be effective. And most church e-mail newsletters don't have the resources of Canon or Vonage, so it's all the more reason to get the little things right:

• What am I supposed to do?
• What's the basic information?
• Does it even work?

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Rob McBryde
President | Project Manager
IVM Communications
www.ivmcommunications.com