15 What I have learned this semester

I knew HTML pretty well before 10 grade, and visually know what do to do and what not do for designing a website. But PHP is very new to me I learned NEVER leave a space between < and ? and php in your PHP code, and always remember your ; after each line of php code or your webpage will throw up all over you. I have I've made a lot of "flat" websites: a place for people to read, listen to music, and view pictures of whatever the website is about. But I've never thought about the design principles of e-commerce website, for example I would normally not have a "buy now with 1 click" button like Amazon does because I would want the visitors of my website to make sure before charging their credit card. Since a lot of websites are e-commerce websites I have to starting thinking of design that's not just good for the visitors but also for the business. In addition to that, I learned how the changing (or lack of changing) laws, regulation, and policies play huge rule into e-commerce. How the Automated Clearing House might not be needed for electronic purchases and how e-commerce hurts government funding (even though the law is on online businesses side states governments might not like e-commerce because it deprives them of their sales tax (see blog 8 Amazon vs. State Sales Tax)). This class required me to use WordPress (see blog 13 Drupal, Wordpress, & Joomla) and Microsoft Expressions. Normally, since I'm old school and can make a whole website from notepad, I hate programs that auto-code things for you because if you want something very technical done it won't let you go in and fix it the way you want it and a lot of auto-coders often add a lot of unnecessary code (Front Page was well known for that, made a table for everything). Microsoft Expressions, though annoying at first getting used to their style sheet with so many <div>s and I would often write code that pops up so I had double end tags, but has been useful and lets me go in and edit things the way I want. WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal I'm still debating with if I like them or not. They're it not just place for pre-made website layouts for people that don't have a clue how to do HTML but it does more with widgets. WordPress is for people that don't know PHP and other computer languages. I don't like how you can't go into the code and edit the layout and style at all, but at the same time it does more PHP than I can and has some neat widgets (like old school HTMLgear). It was especially interesting learning about web servers (see blog 11 Apache & Microsoft IIS web servers), because on summer a lot time ago I tried put several of my websites on an old computer because I ran out of room on Geocities and Angelfire and tired to turn it into a server. I managed to get the website up but only on my home network, I never manged to launch it to the web (probably because I didn't want to pay for anything and couldn't figure out how make a free domain name).

13 Drupal, Wordpress, & Joomla

Drupal

Drupal is a free and open-source content management system and content management framework.  It is written in PHP and distributed under the GNU General Public License. The basic program contains most features common to content management systems. These include user account registration and maintenance, menu management, RSS-feeds, page layout customization, and system administration.  Because the program is open source and his based on a plug and play framework there are also a number of add-ons available either at no or reduced costs that extend Drupal’s basic functions.  Drupal offers the basic building blocks of websites in a module-styled format where content and rules can be created quickly. The program offers a sophisticated programming interface for developers.  Supported databases include MySQL, Oracle, PostgreSQL, SQLite, and Microsoft SQL Server.  The system also has in-depth reporting generating tools for advanced administration.

Because of its flexibility Drupal is used as a back-end system for at least 1.5% of all websites worldwide ranging from personal blogs to corporate, political, and government sites including such top notch sites as: The Economist, Examiner.com, The White House, Popular Science, Harvard, MIT, Ubuntu, Sony Music and more. Drupal now displays contents in 182 languages by over 538,813 people in 228 countries.

Using the program does, however, require a tough learning curve and is considered more of a developing platform than a simple CMS tool.  Additionally, Drupal is a relatively new system and is not backwards compatible with other software so if you have other content, systems and programs in place that you have become accustomed to then Drupal might not be the system for you.

While no programming skills are technically required for basic use, the system is generally used by more advanced developers and administrators and might be overkill for smaller sites. Basic users usually go with the more basic CMS platforms including Joomla! and WordPress, although they can create basic sites simply using Drupal. While Drupal is a great CMS, for some it can be too much. Consider the advantages and disadvantages to using Drupal as your CMS.

Joomla!

Joomla! is also a free open source content management program.  Joomla! too is written in PHP and uses object-oriented programming.  It is designed for quickly creating highly interactive multi-language Web sites, online communities, media portals, blogs and eCommerce applications.  Its features include such items as page caching, RSS feeds, printable versions of pages, news flashes, blogs, polls, search, and support for language internationalization. Joomla! supports only MS SQL databases.  First introduced in 2005, it is now up to its third version which is set to be introduced in September of this year.

Joomla! is considered easy to use. Once Joomla! is installed and running, it is simple for even non-technical users to add or edit content, update images, and to manage the critical data that makes your company or organization effective. Anybody with basic word processing skills can easily learn to manage a Joomla! site.  Yet the program is still more powerful and robust than WordPress.  Additionally, there are tons of YouTube videos and other training material easily accessible on the web.

The program does have some disadvantages.  Javascript and CSS can get bulky causing slower loading time and possible additional hosting costs.  The program is not SEO friendly out of the box and development is clumsy if you want to change the layout. 

Otherwise, Joomla! is much easier to use than Drupal, has many good features and is a good fit for most users.  Additionally, if you have a group of people working on the same site, then Joomla! is a solution for you. Different authors of the site can easily upload their content instead of waiting for programmers or Designers. Uniform website templates used in Joomla! provide a consistent look to the whole site.

WordPress

WordPress is a free and open source blogging tool and a dynamic content management system (CMS) based on PHP and MySQL.  While it has many features including a plug-in architecture and a template system it is considered primarily a system used for blogs.  The program was first released in May 2003 with the current version being 3.0.

WordPress has numerous plugins and widgets, small modules that offer users drag-and-drop sidebar content placement and implementation, are available to extended the capabilities of the program. Historically WordPress supported one blog per installation.  However, later advancements allowed multiple blogs to exist within one installation that is able to be administered by a centralized maintainer.

WordPress is a very user friendly blog system. You can create pages and posts, and with plugins, you can add a lot of functionality included standard in Joomla, except that all code is web standard. Anybody can learn enough in two hours to create content with WordPress right away, including using categories and subpages. 

However, adapting the look requires some knowledge of CSS. For instance, adding or removing postdates, need to be changed in design mode and it requires knowledge of WP scripting. The navigational structure is determined by the layout template you chose. Changing that structure requires knowledge of the WP scripting language and CSS.  With Joomla, you do not run into this problem because menus are controlled via the control panel and attributes like dates, author name etc, can be turned on and off per article or for the whole site in one go. In that sense, Joomla! is much more a content management system.

Because WordPress is web standard, Google really loves it.  So, from a marketing standpoint, WordPress is hard to resist. Setup is very quick and you can be listed in Google within 2 days.  WordPress can handle tons of visitors.  It will not break down easily.

The basic difference between WordPress and Joomla! is that Joomla! is a portal- or community type site while WordPress is a blog.  Both overlap each other in several areas and can be extended beyond their original purpose thanks to the use of plugins. You can find those plugins almost everywhere on the internet.  Both have a large user base with a lively community where tips and tricks are shared.  Both are free to use and many hosting providers have them as an option in their web tools section.