Making the Most of the Web with Doctor Joomla!

Content Management Systems

2009-11-21T14:21:00.000+02:00

Content Management Systems
by Sean Grant
www.slingshot.co.za | +27 35 772 4555 | +27 82 5777 340 | sean@slingshot.co.za

"A content management system (CMS) is a collection of procedures used to manage work flow in a collaborative environment." - Wikipedia, accessed on 19 Nov 2009 at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Content_management_system

The first web CMS that I encountered, SiteBuildIT, turned out to be a pyramid marketing scheme, encouraging customers to re-sell it's "newest" features, enlisting their own customers to maximise profits. Fortunately, I continued to search for my dream solution - a web CMS that would speed up the production of websites, and enable a number of interactive features that clients were asking for, such as a restricted area for private documents, or a Guest Book feature where visitors could share their opinion.

Soon I found what I was looking for, and it was called Mambo. It had just been release by a team of 'coders' (web programmers) and it was FREE and you could CHANGE the code to suit your purposes! This is a now a common phenomenon, and is referred to as Free, Libre & Open Source Software (FLOSS) and you have probably used one of the many web applications to emerge from this hot spot for technology innovation, such as Mozilla Firefox, Open Office or one of the social networking sites that harness the power of the similar technologies, such asFaceBook, YouTube, or Twitter.

When it comes to website publishing, the industry has really evolved quickly and dramatically over the last five years of which I have been actively consuming and producing websites built on a growing number of web CMS applications - WordPress, Joomla!, Drupal, Plone, Yola and many others.

The basic premise of a web content management system is that users can register an account and add, edit & publish content (images, text, videos, files etc) in a controlled, safe manner. This type of web publishing was previously only possible after learning some complex programming languages, however it is now simple enough to register a new account on a website built using a CMS, and copy and paste your text from a text editor like MS Word and click the Send or Save botton, and your thoughts can be shared with the world wide web.

CMS's can cater for simple brochure ware sites like www.hilltonmanor.co.za, an SMME website that handles online event registration like www.vastratech.com, a large municipality with all of it's information demands like www.johburg.gov.za or an international travel site with online reservation and payment facilities like www.proteahotels.com.

Fortunately the setup cost for such a CMS ranging from R5,000 to R500,000 so that most businesses, organisations or individuals can find a budget to ensure that they get online quickly and effectively. If you do not have a budget, get started with Google's Blogger

Here is a comment from one such client, who is listed on on of our Joomla! CMS driven travel sites, www.sodwana-accommodation.co.za;

"Thanks for putting our info on the web - since day one we had regular response and on a daily basis there are enquiries for accomodation. We also appreciate your immediate assistance when we make changes. Suggestions that you have made when we asked for your help, seem to work very well! Thanks again!" Sarel Marais

This info can be put onto a website the same day that it is received from a client, because there is a content management in place, that allows for a rapid response time.

Introducing WebXchange, for safe web services.

2009-10-19T09:23:00.000+02:00

I went to the mm conference last month. The mmc09 website was one of the most buggy websites I have every visited. This does not inspire any confidence in Joomla at all.

I would like to respond to this comment, as I am seeing a growing trend in poor, unprofessional Joomla! services in the market, especially within South Africa.

One of the benefits of the Open Source Software model is that you can choose whoever to work with. You are not obligated to purchase your products and services from a single country partner, like the Moodle or Microsoft model.

This however also creates one of the detriments of Open Source Software, in that you do not really know whom you are getting into bed with, until you are already financially and time committed, sometimes even after months or years of decent services from your chosen service provider.

As an experiences, professional Joomla! service provider, I am receiving more and more requests to "Fix my broken website" or "Repair my Joomla! template" or "Restart my web project". Of course this is proving to be a rather useful new income stream, but rather costly for the disgruntled, frustrated client, who sometimes has had not just one, but two or even three negative experiences with so-called "Joomla! experts".

Last week, someone approached me to quote on a website project that has been running for six months with a Gauteng based Joomla! web developer, who has failed to come up with the goods, despite a R40k investment on the client's part. He was willing to give all of that up, and to restart his web development project, since the developer is now avoiding his calls, and not returning emails etc.

In an effort to bring some regulation and quality control to the website services market, I have started yet another Joomla! initiative, that I am calling "WebXchange".

20 May 2009 4:03 PM

This is how the WebXchange works;

1. We have created a set of web forms that will survey prospective clients for their website development project, website training needs, web hosting request or internet related requirements.

2. This survey enters a closed, controlled area (thanks to the Salesforce CRM) that is monitored by a few hand chosen Joomla! professionals, who can deliver a project on time, within budget and with the utmost attention to detail.

3. A WebXchange administrator (that's me for now) qualifies the lead, requesting any additional information that is needed (site map / Graphics / navigation), conducting a website review / scoping exercise. At this stage the Lead becomes an Opportunity.

3. WebXchange members who are interested / able / willing to submit a proposal contact the client and find out any other specific details that are needed.

4. Within the week, a client should receive one or more proposals that they can choose from. Whoever they choose, they are not at risk of dodgy service, that is unfortunately common place in the web industry, where everyone and their uncle is a website developer.

5. A WebXchange administrator will follow the progress of the project, and act as an intermediary, only by invitation, ensuring that services are provided to meet the original request.

We are already seeing a rapid growth in this service, and entered the 75th lead into the system last week, and currently have five number of South Africa's best web developers, trainers, search engine marketers, hosts and project managers signed up and using the system.

In the future, we plan to extend the reach of this service, and to increase the number and quality of service providers, so that anyone who needs something done on the web can post a service request, including WebXchange members who have more than enough work on their books.

Take a look at the WebXchange here: http://www.joomla.org.za/joomla-exchange.html

Please contact Sean should you have any ideas, questions, comments etc.

And remember, we want to hear about any positive or negative experiences that you have had related to your recent website relates services. Post a comment on www.joomla.org.za under your service providers listing in the Service Providers Directory. If your supplier is not listed there, add them, and post your comment once they are published.

Hope that this new initiative saves people lots of pain and suffering, and makes for a happier and healthier Joomla! community here in Africa.

PS: Here is a very good reason for foreign clients to do business with South African service providers: 1 GBP:11.95 ZAR & 1 USD:7.34 ZAR & 1 Euro:10.96 ZAR

~ For more information visit www.learnjoomla.co.za ~

Joomla! into Africa

2009-05-09T21:15:00.000+02:00

Johan, aka Namib Coder, one of our past Learn Joomla! trainees send me links to a few of his recent Joomla! website releases, which led me to review a few other countries on the continent.

Check out these African websites that are running the Joomla! Content Management System under the hood....

From Botswana;

www.gov.bw - the official Government of Botswana website

From Kenya;

www.kenya-adventures.com

From Namibia;

www.iway.na - Namibia's leading wireless internet service provider
www.telkom.na - Namibia's main network operator
www.iipingep.iway.na - self-care website service package

From Republic of Congo;

www.hotelresidencemarina.com

From South Africa;

www.mmc09.co.za

From Swaziland;

www.swasa.co.sz

From Uganda;

www.iccu.or.ug

From Zimbabwe;

www.mczmethodist.org

As you can see, Joomla! is quickly becoming the CMS of choice in Africa. Personally I think that the openness and accessibility of the web to all Africans has the potential to solve many of the challenges that we face, so we should see an increasing number of Joomla! and other free content management systems being adopted in the continent.

While the quality and completeness of these sites varies greatly, and I still see many sites that convey a lack of understanding about how the CMS works, there is certainly a noticeable uptake in the uptake of Joomla! across the continent.

Well, Joomla! just works, doesn't it?

Keep it Joomla!

~ For more information visit www.learnjoomla.co.za ~

New Year ... new Blog ... new Business mmmmmmmm?

2009-01-05T13:04:00.009+02:00

Now that the New Year has kicked in, if you are in business like me, the 5th of the month means that you have 20 days to make the most of your time to get those invoices out before the month end debit orders, mortgage payments etc.

Hang on! Don't tell me I have lost you already... unless you are one of the lesser privileged, pressurised employees who is reading this on 19 Jan 2009 after your month off from The Corporation, in which case there is not much that you can do about the end of the month financials anyway, except work harder, smarter and impress your boss, whose job you secretly are aiming to take over.

We wouldn't be human if we did not at the very least set some goals and those infamously challenging New Year's resolutions, so here goes...

Besides buying mountain bikes for my wife and I, and kitting the family out with helmets and finally getting the last two training wheels off of my youngest son's new birthday bike, I have decided that 2009 will be the year of blogging our web consulting business and non profit organisation into the limelight.

Although I have dabbled in blogging for the last few years, truthfully I have never really given myself to regular online publishing. This does seem rather amiss, considering that my trusty Google Mail Contacts "suggested" 2628 contacts who should be in My Address Book (...and who said that artificial intelligence was still way off?).

Not blogging seems even further amiss since our main business these days is Joomla! project management & Joomla! training and supporting ordinary folks in the skill of developing and managing their own website, using the new media that are available, like Joomla! content management systems, or for the less complex website; Google's Blogger, or Moodle learning management systems, for the increasing need for educational content to be available online - lots of online stuff, as you can tell from the previous, less than comprehensive list.

They say that if you aim at nothing you will surely hit it. So, in light of the fact that 2009 is here.. and that we DO want to achieve growth in business, develop new and maintain and enhance our existing customer's service experience by empowering them - by all means - to assist them to make the most of the goodies that we sell to you, a blog presents the ideal, user friendly, neutral, non-threatening medium of communication, that you can read on your own terms, at your convenience, in your office. The same, of course, goes for your customers.

A Blog is a "personal web log" or an informal conversation that you have with others. Rather than a formal website, which is expected to answer the 4WH questions (What? /Where? /When? /Who? /How?) a blog gives one the liberty to shoot the breeze, as you would with your mates in the clubhouse.

A common mistake that we often make is that we write for the web instead of writing for our customer who is really the one whom we need to convince to share their hard won money with us. Try this tactic that I often recommend to our trainees - rather than typing your article, speak it out onto a dicta phone, then type it as you listen to the playback. You may be surprised at the difference!

Now, you may be thinking that you need to be an expert before you can start blogging. NOT true! As the saying goes, there is always someone who knows less than you do, and as far as many are concerned you may just be the "expert" in your local area for your service or product offering.

For example, while I may be able to tell you much about the web, I would gladly take the advice of a handyman, like Alan of ADS Renovations, who was at my place today, to put together a quote for some alteration work that we are planning. Left to me, the alterations would not only be hazardous, messy and unattractive, but in Alan's care we expect that the job will be well done. Now if Alan had to blog about how to contract a reliable handyman, or how to do the alteration, or how to check work done before making final payment, then people like me would be quick to listen.

Or Andries from AT Air, who responded to a call out within one hour on one of the hottest days in Zululand and only charged us R150/hour for the service, and helped us to decide to spend another R600 to move a poorly placed airconditioning unit that has given us problems from day one, due to the wrong placement. Having been in the industry for 30 years, he could tell the other "professionals" in town a few things about airconditions... using a blog of course!

Or how about sports, which I last played in school (that's about 15 years ago, as I matriculated in 1992) - people would much rather hear Willem Swanepoel from Zululand Sports telling them how to choose that next mountain bike, than me who last worked on a decent bike back in the 90's, so I have suggested to Willem that he start a sport advice and commentary blog, which we registered today during a web promotion strategy for his new website by the same name.

You see, we all know something that someone else does not, and we generally like to make decisions based on recommendations, suggestions and confirmations, even if they do not always work out, in general the best advertising is word of mouth, and when that happens online, we begin blogging our way to better business, better opportunities and better bottom lines in business, greater visibility in the community and develop a sense of sincerity and integrity, when what we blog about adds real value to those around us.

For an easy entry into blogging, check out www.blogger.com and within 5 minutes you will be publishing your "expert" advice online. Most blogs allow for comments so be warned that if you publish nonsense, you may have to face the firing line, but if you share meaningful, useful information, be prepared for praise and grateful appreciation from your clients.

Happy New Year and Happy New Blogging!

Dr Joomla!
Making the Most of the Web

~ for more information see www.learnjoomla.co.za ~

The state of Open Source & Joomla! in Southern Africa

2008-05-25T22:04:00.000+02:00

Further to my blog post earlier this month about the Open Source in ICT Conference [http://joomlajournal.blogspot.com/2008/05/joomla-day-south-africa-joomla-open.html]...

I have returned from the event, which was professionally organised by Business Zone, with mixed feelings about the state of open source software in the Southern African internet landscape.

The conference was attended by about 45 delegates from a variety of government departments [Defence, Education, Intelligence, Social Development] corporate banking [FNB], internet research specialists [Arthur Goldstuck], web related smme's [Slingshot], corporate consultants [VOX], open source developers [UWC] and NGO's [Joomla! Southern African Portal, FLOSS Portal, NetDay] amongst others. All in all a hetrogenous, almost eclectic mix of clients, service providers, producers and consultants.

Highlights of the event for me were the networking opportunities that happened on the fringes, in the form of business card exchanges, with the possibility of follow on business relationships, collaborative ideas that seemed right to both parties who had not previously heard of one another and exposure to a healthy range of ways that open source software is being used and employed in innovative, traditional and unconventional ways through a number of Case Studies delivered by experts in their respective professions.

Lowlights of the two day affair were the apparent lack of accredited / approved service providers, incidents of poor project management, failed implementations and impersonations by under-qualified and inexperienced consultants, coupled with a general lack of awareness of industry trends and conditions that surfaced during the stimulating and challenging debates and question and answer interactive times following some of the presentations.

The way forward is not necessarily clearer to me, however most of the delegates indicated that they had benefitted from the Open source in ICT conference, and we have undertaken to maintain communication by means of another wonderful tool in the Google Box, which I have setup and cordially invite anyone interested in developing, using, changing, deploying, migrating to or managing open source technologies in their industry / organisation / company / community.

You can find and join the Open Source in ICT user group here: http://groups.google.com/group/open-source-in-ict

Relating this to Joomla! is the next challenge, as the demand for Joomla! powered websites increases at an alarmingly exciting rate, with requests for training and project work coming through my inbox on a daily, sometimes hourly basis, sometimes with the unfortunate reason that the first service provider has under-performed or in some cases simply abandoned the project, leaving clients high and dry with incomplete websites, that should by now be fully functioning content management systems.

This paints an opportunistic picture for those who do deliver on time and over and above expectation (like the Joomla! developers whom we refer our project requests to), however for clients it may mean paying dearly for school fees before they find a development partner whom they can rely on and trust to produce the Joomla! powered goods they are willing to pay for.

I would be interested in comments from clients and developers alike, who may be able to shed more light on this rapidly expanding industry of website content management, not only using Joomla! but also Plone, Drupal, Mambo, Zope and a whole directory of smaller, less well known open source systems.

That's all folks.

Sean

All 4 Joomla!
& Joomla! 4 all

Joomla! Day South Africa, Joomla! @ Open Source in ICT Conference, Learn Joomla! Club

2008-05-07T20:08:00.009+02:00

I do not normally blog, being either too busy or too lazy to spend my limited time rambling on about my humble opinnion about things. It normally takes some doing for me to get up close and personal with a rather uninspiring blank editor window and pretend that this is actually a two way conversation.

However when notable events come along, it seems right and honourable to share them with all of you - whoever you happens to be - so here are just a few of the journalisticaly justified happenings that I feel to share with you.

This week sees the first Joomla! Day South Africa event to grace the beautiful shores of Durban, and we are trusting for a healthy interest and turnout for the event, which I am helping to organise in my capacity within the Joomla! Portal of South Africa, along with Mat of Raramuridesign and Brendon of Brilliant Web. We even managed to get a press release onto www.joomla.org here: Joomla! Day South Africa - Durban

So hurry along to www.joomla.co.za and get registered...because it is just a day away.

Next week sees me fly off to the Open Source in ICT Conference in Johannesburg - Jozi, as it is fondly called by all who have a twinkle of gold in their eyesight - where I am to present a talk entitled 'Joomla!: Building an Open Source Community in South Africa' which you can checkout on the previous link (unless you are going to be at the conference, in which case i would wait to avoid knowing exactly where I am going with the discussion.

I have also been asked to Chair the Conference, which I am looking forward to, although the open source crew are generally a rather loose bunch of cannons, so it will probably come with it's challenges. It does cause one to wonder, what is really pressing in ICT related to Open Source, I mean given the opportunity to steer a conference, what would really benefit the open source community at this point in time. I would love to hear your thoughts, so please feel free to post them as comments on this article.

For anyone interested in attending the conference, or at least seeing what all the fuss is about, I have posted the Conference Brochure here...

Well, just remember that I will be delivering another popular Learn Joomla! workshop in Midrand, JHB following the conference, so if you need to get your head around Joomla! fast, check out the event registration here: Learn Joomla! in Midrand, JHB [15-16 May ]

Lastly, I found a great pressentation that answers the question: What is Joomla! although I do not know who created it... It offers a super Overview of the Joomla! CMS for anyone who may have heard about Joomla! but does not really know what it can do, or even whether it is safe to deploy mission critical information that way.

Stay in touch, and remember that we now offer desktop sharing and skypecall support,

Support Resource

Get Support Now

Sean

This is free for anyone who has attended one of our "great", "mind blowing", "amazing" workshops - Hey, I didn't say so, it came through Feedback from Trainees.

If you have not managed to get one of our workshops, but would like to benefit from our Site Enabler Guide, watch out for our forthcoming Learn Joomla! Club, which will enable you to subscribe to a suitable package including various other goodiess like the latest Joomla! 1.5 E-Book, and the Joomla! Junkie's templates, along with our dedicated training and support, which is also delivered online in manageable two hour sessions.

We really have been blessed to train some key clients lately, including Consumer Goods Council of South Africa, The Work Force Group, Ten 2 One Media & Design, Virtual Networks, Omega Red, Scraper Board Art, SitePro and Global Power Generators this past month or so.

Thank you too to our faithful clientelle amongst others Tasima, Walk Through the Bible, World Health Organisation, Department of Agriculture, Protea Hotels North Coast and many others...

May you Joomla! happily...

South Africa ~ courtesy of www.joomla.org.za ~

Joomla! Day South Africa - Durban

2008-05-07T20:03:00.001+02:00

The South African Joomla! community is pleased to invite you to the first Joomla! Day South Africa - Durban, an event to be held May 9 and 10, 2008, at the Varsity College, Durban North. Durban is the third largest city in South Africa, a popular destination for tourists, and considered to be the busiest port in the African continent. It is an ideal location for those interested in Joomla! to gather.

Joomla! Days offer an excellent opportunity to learn, network with other Joomla! users and developers, and discover ways to contribute to the Joomla! project. The South African Joomla! community has been hard at work to ensure that this year's Joomla! Day events are at least as informative and fun as the three successful South African events held during 2007.

The Joomla! Day South Africa - Durban Agenda calls for two complete days of activities:

Day 1: Business Community Friday, May 9, is designed around the needs of the business community. Those who have roles like Web master, business decision maker, and marketing manager, will find helpful, relevant topics. The Business Community Day is a non-technical event focused on helping make the business case for using Joomla. If you want to determine whether or not Joomla is suitable for your business site, this is the session for you.

Day 2: User Community The agenda for Saturday, May 10, focuses on the Joomla! user community. This is a technical and business session, covering topics of interest for those who install and manage Web sites for themselves or for clients. Topics on this day will cover Web site security, migration, templating, extensions, hosting, and business strategies for Web site developers.

Joomla! Day South Africa events are run by the Joomla! Southern African Portal , a non-profit organisation. If you are interested and able to attend, register online. Your registration includes refreshments, a Joomla! T-shirt and an information packet.

Joomla! Days are well attended worldwide. A key benefit of attendance is the opportunity to connect with hundreds of members of the Joomla! community, including speakers, designers, site builders, and developers. We wish the very best to our South African community members and hope all who attend enjoy Joomla! Day South Africa - Durban.

~ courtesy of www.joomla.org ~

[Reminder] Search Engine Optimization Workshop - Durban @ Wed Feb 6 9am - 3pm (Joomla JournalEmail-to-Blog)

2008-02-05T09:00:00.001+02:00

Joomla JournalEmail-to-Blog, this is a reminder for

Search Engine Optimization Workshop - Durban

Wed Feb 6 9am – 3pm
(Harare)
Durban, South Africa (map)
Calendar: Joomla JournalEmail-to-Blog

Search Engine Optimization Workshop

This course is relevant for website owners, designers, business owners and company marketers.

Time: 9:00 to 16:00pm

Included are :

* refreshments on arrival and a midmorning tea/coffee break with snacks
* lunch
* mid-afternoon tea/coffee/juice break
* Notes for the course

COURSE CONTENT:

Introduction:
What are search engines?
How does Google Work?
Why is it so important to succeed online?
Competitor Analysis
Target Audience Analysis
Techniques of raising your Page Rank & Popularity
internal links
external links
quality content and copy writing
submitting your sites to search engines
blogs
site maps
meta tags
meta descriptions
keyword research
email newsletters
images and alt tags
Misspellings
Brief overview of content management systems
How they can save you money and keep your site “alive”

Cost: R2,500 pp
* Plus Travel Expenses where necessary.
10% discount if more than one person attending the course from the same organisation OR
20% discount for registered charities

Phone: (035) 7724-555 / (035) 7722-712

International requests are welcome as travel costs are minimal if the group is a sufficient size.

For more information about our other training courses see http://www.sling-shot.co.za
More event details»

You are receiving this courtesy email at the account slingshotsean.j00ml1j0urn1l@blogger.com because you are an attendee of this event.

To stop receiving future notifications for this event, decline this event. Alternatively you can sign up for a Google Calendar account at http://www.google.com/calendar/ and control your notification settings for your entire calendar.

[Updated Invitation] Search Engine Optimization Workshop - Durban @ Wed Feb 6 9am - 3pm (Joomla JournalEmail-to-Blog)

2008-01-29T11:55:00.001+02:00

Details for the following event have changed:

Search Engine Optimization Workshop - Durban

Wed Feb 6 9am – 3pm
(Harare)
Durban, South Africa (map)
Calendar: Joomla JournalEmail-to-Blog

Search Engine Optimization Workshop

This course is relevant for website owners, designers, business owners and company marketers.

Time: 9:00 to 16:00pm

Included are :

* refreshments on arrival and a midmorning tea/coffee break with snacks
* lunch
* mid-afternoon tea/coffee/juice break
* Notes for the course

COURSE CONTENT:

Cost: R2,500 pp
* Plus Travel Expenses where necessary.
10% discount if more than one person attending the course from the same organisation OR
20% discount for registered charities

Phone: (035) 7724-555 / (035) 7722-712

Will you attend?

Yes |No |Maybe

You are receiving this courtesy email at the account slingshotsean.j00ml1j0urn1l@blogger.com because you are an attendee of this event.

[Updated Invitation] Search Engine Optimization Workshop - Durban @ Wed Feb 13 9am - 3pm (Joomla JournalEmail-to-Blog)

2008-01-29T10:44:00.003+02:00

Details for the following event have changed:

Search Engine Optimization Workshop - Durban

Wed Feb 13 9am – 3pm
(Harare)
Durban, South Africa (map)
Calendar: Joomla JournalEmail-to-Blog

Search Engine Optimization Workshop

This course is relevant for website owners, designers, business owners and company marketers.

Time: 9:00 to 16:00pm

Included are :

* refreshments on arrival and a midmorning tea/coffee break with snacks
* lunch
* mid-afternoon tea/coffee/juice break
* Notes for the course

COURSE CONTENT:

Cost: R2,500 pp
* Plus Travel Expenses where necessary.
10% discount if more than one person attending the course from the same organisation OR
20% discount for registered charities

Phone: (035) 7724-555 / (035) 7722-712

Will you attend?

Yes |No |Maybe

You are receiving this courtesy email at the account slingshotsean.j00ml1j0urn1l@blogger.com because you are an attendee of this event.

[Invitation] Search Engine Optimization Workshop - Durban @ Wed Feb 13 9am - 3pm (Joomla JournalEmail-to-Blog)

2008-01-29T10:44:00.001+02:00

Joomla JournalEmail-to-Blog, you are invited to

Search Engine Optimization Workshop - Durban

Wed Feb 13 9am – 3pm
(Harare)
Durban, South Africa (map)
Calendar: Joomla JournalEmail-to-Blog

Search Engine Optimization Workshop

This course is relevant for website owners, designers, business owners and company marketers.

Time: 9:00 to 16:00pm

Included are :

* refreshments on arrival and a midmorning tea/coffee break with snacks
* lunch
* mid-afternoon tea/coffee/juice break
* Notes for the course

COURSE CONTENT:

Cost: R2,500 pp
* Plus Travel Expenses where necessary.
10% discount if more than one person attending the course from the same organisation OR
20% discount for registered charities

Phone: (035) 7724-555 / (035) 7722-712

Will you attend?

Yes |No |Maybe

You are receiving this courtesy email at the account slingshotsean.j00ml1j0urn1l@blogger.com because you are an attendee of this event.

Invitation to join Sean Grant's network on WiZiQ

2008-01-11T23:34:00.000+02:00

Invitation To Join WiZiQ

Hi Joomla JournalEmail-to-Blog ,

I am a member of this educational platform, WiZiQ. Please join my network on WiZiQ; we can then have live, online sessions and share educational content.

Joining WiZiQ is free and takes a few seconds.

Simply click on this link http://www.wiziq.com/Register/Default.aspx?K0uf8slD72gaHJE3c1w0VU%2fnGDWy%2fKXL7Xg2G8BiIk%2bg997BH1fzzw%2f8Q4DeliNIi7eFMtfzFg8%3d to join.

Regards,
Sean Grant

Update on Project

2008-01-11T11:22:00.000+02:00

Welcome to Friday - Weekend!. I hope that all our supporters enjoy a wonderful weekend of rest and family.

Our latest newsletter can be found here for those of you who missed out on the great things that have been happening at iKhaya LikaBaba. Also don't forget to keep an eye on the blog for daily updates and comments from our volunteers.

Further exciting news is that we have created a Facebook group: so come on and join. It's a great place to ask questions and connect with us on a personal level. To join the iKhaya LikaBaba group on Facebook click here.
(You will only be able to join the group if you already belong to Facebook.)

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Copyright 2007
iKhaya LikaBaba - House of the Father for Abandoned Babies.
EMAIL | WEBSITE
+27(0)35 772 4557 / +27(0)82 5777 340 / +27(0)79-893-8665
PO Box 3884, Empangeni, 3880
~

Project Progress and Plans

2008-01-11T09:10:00.000+02:00

(If you are receiving this newsletter for the second time, my apologies.)

As some of you have been keeping up on the blog you would have seen that Rebecca has been in Ngwelezane Hospital who have been looking after her with a chest infection but the good news is that she is due home tomorrow. Not having her here has left the house very quiet and empty and so we are looking forward to fetching our little girl.

We have really enjoyed getting feedback on both the blog and the website . If you have any ideas or thoughts on iKhaya LikaBaba, feel free to email or call us. We know that there are many caring individuals out there. We would love to hear from you. Whether you have an idea on how to fundraise, or a contact that you may have or how to do things better or more effectively - let us know!

One of the ways that you could assist us is to forward our newsletter to your mailing lists and encourage your friends/ collegues/ business partners/ clients to sign up for our newsletter . The more people who know about what we are doing the more we can grow this project. The need is great. Even today on the news there was an article about how abandonment is on the increase on a local as well as international level. The value of these little lives seemingly have become nullified. At iKhaya LIkaBaba, we believe every child deserves to be loved and cared for.

Are you considering volunteering at iKhaya LikaBaba?

Well don't hesitate, we need you! We especially need volunteers for the following:
* spending time with the babies especially for weekend visits
* international volunteers who want to spend some time here, helping with the babies, staying with local families and becoming part of the family of iKhaya LikaBaba.
If you would like to get involved in any one of these areas please contact us . We would love to have you on board.
You may feel like you have little to offer, or that you are inexperienced or unqualified. We need caring individuals who are prepared to sacrifice of their time and energy and offer a child a hand, a smile, a hug and friendship.

For those of you who like shopping:

Our most pressing needs at the moment are: an intercom system (as we have a constant stream of visitors at the gate who are always having to hoot or shout to get our attention if we are inside), camper cots, prams, baby products.

Upcoming Plans

1. Our next phase of growth is to increase the size of the babies' room as we do not intend to live like sardines in a tin. This extended room will allow ample space for the volunteers as well as space for a sleeper couch for the night mother that we will eventually employ in the future.
2. Employ a full time house keeper. A young couple in Empangeni have volunteered to pay her salary for the first year which is fantastic.
3. Employ a night mother. Having only Rebecca at the moment and her needs of feeding every two hours has made us realise that we cannot manage 6 babies at night as well as during the day. For this reason we want to eventually employ someone who will take responsibility for all the night wake ups. (Currently the only reason we aren't doing so is due to funding, so if you're wanting to sow financially into this area, please contact us )

Wall of Fame

Companies or individuals who have made a contribution to iKhaya LikaBaba this week. No gift, service or donation is too small and we appreciate each one of these individuals:

Rene and Cobus Nel, Lythan and Justin Emslie, Trish and Luke Harel, Vanessa and George Patterson, Debbie Roberts, Megan and Mike Mills, Debbie Davidson, Anne Henderson, Hans-Christoph Neumann, Ann Dilon, Mark and Cindy Neumann, Arlene Robertson, Paul and Niki Scherzer, Wendy and Andrew Oxley, Belinda and Brett Poupard, Empangeni Child Welfare, Janet Harris, Dr Lizzie Thirsk, Ngwelezane Hospital Ward B, Dr Andre Naude

If you have missed any of the previous newsletters, you will find the list of all our previous communications here .

In our last newsletter we were asked to include the bank details as some readers have a very slow connection. So here are our bank details, should you want to make a contribution to what we are involved in.

Account Name: Ikhaya LikaBaba
Bank: Nedbank
Account No: 1303124955
Branch/ Sort Code: 13033040
Swift Code: NEDSZAJJ

Once again thank you to everyone who has taken time to read this newsletter and I hope that you will find your purpose and role in iKhaya LikaBaba.

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Copyright 2007
iKhaya LikaBaba - House of the Father for Abandoned Babies.
EMAIL | WEBSITE
+27(0)35 772 2712 / +27(0)82 5777 340 / +27(0)79-893-8665
PO Box 3884, Empangeni, 3880
~

New Year, New Hope for Abandoned Babies

2007-12-28T00:55:00.001+02:00

Thank you to all of you who gave us feedback. We were so encouraged. Its wonderful to know that there are so many people who care. First off however, let me apologize on behalf of my husband Sean. He wrote the last email and it seems his first paragraph offended a few people. He was unfortunately trying to do the impossible (type an email at one in the morning after having virtually no sleep the night before). So for those who did give us feedback and for those who didn't but thought "how rude" - apologies all round.

We had a number of requests asking for photographs of Hamilton and Rebecca. We don't have many as we are using my rather complicated phone (all phones are complicated if they do anything other than an sms or call) and so downloading pictures has not been the easiest thing especially as our computer doesn't seem to be speaking to the phone. Sounds a little like an alien invasion if you ask me.

As for being technical and keeping up with the times we have added some little video clips onto the blog , as well as the website so that you can see the children and their visitors live!

We potentially can care for 6 children at a time per home. It's only a few in the bigger scope of things but we are hopeful that adoptions and foster care will happen quickly thereby allowing us to accommodate more. Our plan in the long term is set up more homes like ours and help others to do the same.

Also for those of you who would like to find out what happens at iKhaya on a day to day basis (well almost), we have created a blog . Sounds rather technical doesn't it, by now you must be impressed, but it gives you a more in depth look into the days of our lives (sounds like a soapie I know). It includes little snippets of what the children do

We were also very excited after our last newsletter, to get some interested parties who are considering adoption and foster care . Please contact us if at any time this is something you would like to consider. We are happy to answer your questions. As much as we love having these little ones, our aim is to place them into forever families through adoption and foster care.

There are so many ways to get involved with this project. We really have tried to accommodate everyone, so that you can get involved in very different ways. Some of the ways that you can get involved include the following: financially , monthly debit order , go shopping , adopting, foster care , volunteering your skills and talents , invite us as a guest speaker , pray for a baby , sponsor a child and more. As you can see there is ample space for your creativity and situation . We would love each one of you to be part of this. We have realized that though these children are part of our family, we are hoping to get a wider community involved.

Wall of Fame

Companies or individuals who have made a contribution to iKhaya LikaBaba this week. No gift, service or donation is too small and we appreciate each one of these individuals:

Dr Lizzie Thirsk, Rene and Cobus Nel, Lythan and Justin Emslie, Kerry and Wyett Benade, Christi Smith, Yvonne van den Bergh, Dr Andre Naude, Rene and Cobus van der Rheeder, Michelle and Vince Reid, Thandaza Covenant Church, Kate and Chad Bain, Niki and Paul Scherzer, Anne Fourie, Janet Harris, Arlene Robertson, Abigail and Ryan Smith, Yolandi Joubert, Elinor Olivier, Mel and Jakes Olivier, Medipark Pharmacy, Slingshot, Haloweb, Sue and Erik Bernon, Debbie Robertson

Remember there is an opportunity for each one of you to get involved. Even if you are remotely situated there are ways that you too can make a difference in the lives of these babies. For a list of ways in which you can get involved click here .

http://www.orphan.org.za
We are currently in the process of setting up an Orphan Network where we can share ideas, exchange resources and generally work together in influencing communities. We would like to use it as a platform to give a number of organizations exposure and profile and harness this collective knowledge mass to draw attention to the good work that often goes unnoticed because it may happen off the beaten track or the workers are remotely isolated and generally under capacitated which means that we often don't have the energy to communicate and publicize our many success stories, challenges and pressing needs. We believe in the philosophy of TEAM (Together Everyone Achieves More) and invite you join us and particpate in creating a highly visible and dramatically impacting Orphan Network throughout Southern Africa.

We wish you all a very special 2008 and look forward to meeting with each one of you whether through email, phone or visits.

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Copyright 2007
iKhaya LikaBaba - House of the Father for Abandoned Babies.
EMAIL | WEBSITE
+27(0)35 772 2712 / +27(0)82 5777 340 / +27(0)79-893-8665
PO Box 3884, Empangeni, 3880
~

Joomla!Day South Africa - East London

2007-10-06T10:54:00.000+02:00

JOOMLA! DAY IN EAST LONDON is just around the corner! Scheduled for the 13 October 2007, starts at 9:00 am at Clarendons High School for Girls. With successful Joomla! Days having taken place in Johannesburg and Cape Town earlier this year, we are hoping for a good run in East London as well. We hope you will stretch your Joomla-legs in the Eastern Cape Province with us on the day!

The aim of the day is once again to build relationships with participants and Joomla! Users, to exchange ideas, build for the future together and blow wind in one anothers sails. All are welcome, the Joomla! amateur, the Joomla! fundi and developer... we are calling Joomlarians of all breeds to attend and participate.

The cost for the day is R250 per person. Interested people are urged to register online before the day, at www.joomladay.co.za, where you can make payment and receive confirmation of your booked seat as well. Please note that your seat will only be confirmed once confirmation of payment has been received.

DETAILS OF THE EVENT:

When: Saturday, 13 October, 09:00 - 16:00
Where: East London, South Africa (download map)
Cost: R250.00 pp
Registration & Payment: www.joomladay.co.za

Joomla!Day South Africa - East London
A gathering of all Joomla! users in South Africa - end users, managers, administrators, developers and service providers to the Joomla community. A day of networking, presentations, discussions and fun - all around the Joomla content Management System. Registration is essential as seats are limited. Cost: R250 pp incl. T-shirt, CD, refreshments etc.

JOOMLA! TRAINING IN EAST LONDON:
Joomla! Training is also happening before the event, the details follow.

Read more...
~ courtesy of www.joomla.org.za ~

Joomla! Training Courses - October 2007: JHB, CT, EL

2007-09-17T11:39:00.001+02:00

Hi Folks

Here are the dates, course outlines and booking form for the upcoming Joomla! events.

The courses are progressive, so one would need to work through users > admin > developer. Courses are run on separate and if possible consecutive days.

For JHB / CT courses only
Please return the attached booking form to Kathy at PandP Content to book a place on the next course, who will follow through on the registration process with you.

For EL Course / Event - please contact Slingshot directly (training@sling-shot.co.za / 035-7722-712 / 082-5777-340)

Course Schedule

Tuesday, October 2

9:00am

Joomla! Training for End Users - Cape Town, South Africa

Wednesday, October 3

9:00am

Joomla! Administrator Training - Cape Town, South Africa

Thursday, October 4

9:00am

Joomla! Training for End Users - Johannesburg, South Africa

Friday, October 5

9:00am

Joomla! Administrator Training - Johannesburg, South Africa

Thursday, October 11

9:00am

Joomla! Training for End-Users - East London

Friday, October 12

9:00am

Joomla! Administrator Training - East London, South Africa

Saturday, October 13

9:00am

Joomla!Day South Africa - East London

Course Overview

Joomla Training for End Users

This course is designed for anyone with basic computer skills who want to get a dynamic web site up and running fast.

At the end of the day you will have started your own Joomla! web site, be able to add news, events, documents, links, users, content pages, media and understand how to make the most of your Joomla! powered website. (minimum of 3, maximum 10 per class).

The course will cover the following topics;

    * Introduction to Open Source Software and Joomla!
    * Intro to Joomla! site structure & Google search
    * How To: Edit content using various WYSIWYG editor
    * How To: Load media and insert it into content
    * How To: Plan content with your visitors in mind
    * How To: Set keywords & descriptions
    * How To: Create image galleries
    * How To: Share documents for download
    * How To: Create events to attract visitors
    * Tips: Harnessing the power of collaboration
    * Tips: Search Engine Strategies to ensure a first page ranking
    * Q & A Session - come prepared to ask all your questions about Joomla! website management
    * Suggest a topic that you would like to know more about

Cost: R1,600.00 pp* excl. VAT
* Price is subject to change without prior notice
10% discount if more than one person attending the course
20% discount for registered charities

Joomla! Training for Administrators

Learn the intermediate principles needed to administer your own Joomla! website(s). By the end of the day you will have installed, managed & extended your own Joomla! website including an extended features such as a newsletter, members directory, discussion forum or a document repository (maximum 5 per class).

The course will cover the following topics;

    * How To: Set up a stand alone server for testing offline
    * How To: Populate transfer content from an existing website(s) / word/excell documents
    * How To: Find, select and install a template
    * How To: Find, select & install extensions (modules, components & mambots)
    * How To: Backup & Restore your Joomla! website
    * How To: Promote a newly developed website to your market

    * Tips: Securing your Joomla! website against malicious hackers
    * Tips: Communication Strategies to sustain site interaction amongst colleagues
    * Tips: Capitalising on commercial extensions

    * Q & A Session - come prepared to ask all your questions about Joomla! Development and Management

Bonus Features
    * An introduction to Google Applications.
    * Suggest a topic that you would like to know more about...

Cost: R2,600.00 pp* excl. VAT
* Plus Travel expenses where necessary
10% discount if more than one person attending the course
20% discount for registered charities

Joomla! Training for Developers - POA and courses run on request

Take a look at these other useful sites..

2. Joomla! Demo Site - test drive the system to see for yourself.

3. Joomla! Southern African Portal - a space for community participation

4. Learn Joomla! - a resource site to complement the courses

Feel free to get acquainted with some of the FREE support resources that we provide online.

Joomla SA Portal

Joomla! Visual Tutorials

Joomla! Animated Tutorials

Learn Joomla! Online II (beta)

Please return the attached booking form to Kathy at PandP Content to book a place on the next course.

Notes:

Estate Agent Sites - see Real Estate (0/23)
Script Lance
PHP Coder

--
-
Regards

Sean Grant
Slingshot Content Management Systems

Joomla! Southern African Portal
Joomla! Day South Africa
Moodle Southern African Portal

Blog: www.seangrant.blogspot.com
Web : www.sling-shot.co.za | www.joomladay.co.za
Portals : www.joomla.org.za | www.moodler.co.za

Skype /G-Talk : slingshotsean
Tel:   +27 (0)35-772-2712
Fax:  +27 (0)35-772-4555
Cell:   +27 (0)82-5777-340

[Reminder] Joomla SA Portal @ Software Freedom Day, Pretoria, South ... @ Sat Sep 15, 2007 (Joomla JournalEmail-to-Blog)

2007-09-13T17:01:00.001+02:00

Joomla JournalEmail-to-Blog, this is a reminder for

Joomla SA Portal @ Software Freedom Day, Pretoria, South Africa

Sat Sep 15, 2007
(Harare)
CSIR Campus, Pretoria, South Africa (map)
Calendar: Joomla JournalEmail-to-Blog

See http://softwarefreedomday.org/teams/africa/SouthAfrica/Pretoria

Department of Science and Technology, Building 53, South Gate.

Please let me know if you can come along to help to promote Joomla! (free Joomla t-shirt for community members who pitch in!)
More event details»

You are receiving this courtesy email at the account slingshotsean.j00ml1j0urn1l@blogger.com because you are an attendee of this event.

[Updated Invitation] Joomla SA Portal @ Software Freedom Day, Pretoria, South ... @ Sat Sep 15, 2007 (Joomla JournalEmail-to-Blog)

2007-09-10T09:48:00.002+02:00

Details for the following event have changed:

Joomla SA Portal @ Software Freedom Day, Pretoria, South Africa

Sat Sep 15, 2007
(Harare)
CSIR Campus, Pretoria, South Africa (map)
Calendar: Joomla JournalEmail-to-Blog

See http://softwarefreedomday.org/teams/africa/SouthAfrica/Pretoria

Department of Science and Technology, Building 53, South Gate.

Please let me know if you can come along to help to promote Joomla! (free Joomla t-shirt for community members who pitch in!)
More event details»

Will you attend?

Yes |No |Maybe

You are receiving this courtesy email at the account slingshotsean.j00ml1j0urn1l@blogger.com because you are an attendee of this event.

[Invitation] Joomla SA Portal @ Software Freedom Day, Pretoria, South ... @ Sat Sep 15, 2007 (Joomla JournalEmail-to-Blog)

2007-09-10T09:48:00.001+02:00

Joomla JournalEmail-to-Blog, you are invited to

Joomla SA Portal @ Software Freedom Day, Pretoria, South Africa

Sat Sep 15, 2007
(Harare)
CSIR Campus, Pretoria, South Africa (map)
Calendar: Joomla JournalEmail-to-Blog

See http://softwarefreedomday.org/teams/africa/SouthAfrica/Pretoria

Department of Science and Technology, Building 53, South Gate.

Please let me know if you can come along to help to promote Joomla! (free Joomla t-shirt for community members who pitch in!)
More event details»

Will you attend?

Yes |No |Maybe

You are receiving this courtesy email at the account slingshotsean.j00ml1j0urn1l@blogger.com because you are an attendee of this event.

Joomla Training -East London - 10 & 11 Aug 2007

2007-08-07T14:27:00.001+02:00

Hi Everybody

We have had a call for Joomla! Training in East London, amongst other
places.

So, at risk of short notice, we are inviting interested participants
to attend the following courses;

Joomla! Users Training Course, East London | 10th Aug 2007 | Cost
R1,500

This course is designed for anyone with basic computer skills who want
to get a dynamic web site up and running fast. At the end of the day
you will have your own Joomla! web site well underway, be able to add
news, events, links, users, content pages, media and understand how to
make the most of your Joomla! powered website. (minimum of 3, maximum
10 per class).

The course will cover the following topics;

* Introduction to Open Source Software and Joomla!
* Intro to Joomla! site structure & control panel
* How To: Edit content using various WYSIWYG editor
* How To: Load media and insert it into content
* How To: Add content & components to menus incl. copy, move &
order
* How To: Set parameters on menu items
* How To: Layout your website incl. positioning modules, assign
them to pages & templates
* How To: Select & install extensions (modules, components &
mambots)
* Tips: Securing your Joomla website against malicious hackers
* Tips: Search Engine Strategies to ensure a first page ranking
* Q & A Session - come prepared to ask all your questions about
Joomla Development and Management

Suggest a topic that you would like to know more about...

Cost: R1,500.00 pp*
* Plus Travel Expenses where necessary.
10% discount if more than one person attending the course
20% discount for registered charities

Joomla! Administrators Training Course - East London | 11th Aug 2007 |
Cost R2,500

Learn the basic and intermediate principles needed to administer your
own Joomla! websites. By the end of the day you will have installed,
managed & extended your own Joomla website including extended features
such as a newsletter, members directory, discussion forum, document
downloads and more. (maximum 5 per class).

The course will cover the following topics;

* Setting up a stand alone server for offline Joomla development
* How To: Populate transfer content from an existing website(s)
* How To: Find and customize templates incl. an actual
customisation
* How To: Select & install extensions (modules, components &
mambots)
* How To: Backup & Recover your Joomla website
* How To: Promote a newly developed website to your colleagues
* Tips: Securing your Joomla website against malicious hackers
* Tips: Communication Strategies to sustain site interaction
amongst colleagues
* Tips: Capitalising on custom joomla components
* Q & A Session - come prepared to ask all your questions about
Joomla Development and Management
* An introduction to Google Applications.
* Suggest a topic that you would like to know more about...

Cost: R2,500pp
* Plus travel expenses where necessary
10% discount if more than one person attending the course
20% discount for registered charities

For more information send an e-mail to training@joomla.org.za
OR
Phone/Fax: (035) 7724-555 / (035) 7722-712
OR
Visit http://www.joomla.org.za/content/view/106/75/ for more
information.

-
Regards

Sean Grant
Slingshot Content Management Systems

Joomla! Southern African Portal
Joomla! Day South Africa
Moodle Southern African Portal

Blog: www.seangrant.blogspot.com
Web : www.sling-shot.co.za | www.joomladay.co.za
Portals : www.joomla.org.za | www.moodler.co.za

Skype /G-Talk : slingshotsean
Tel: +27 (0)35-772-2712
Fax: +27 (0)35-772-4555
Cell: +27 (0)82-5777-340

Joomla! is alive and well in South Africa!

2007-07-26T02:26:00.000+02:00

Well, what can we say... but Joomla! is alive, well and prospering in South Africa. The Johannesburg event in the Joomla!Day South Africa series was well attended by about 50 individuals, some new to the Joomla! CMS, others well versed in the open source content management system.

On arrival each delegate was presented with a package containing a CD filled with Joomla CMS extensions, core package files, manuals and other resources - all of the GPL stuff collected to date, an Ubuntu CD, some presentation notes and a freshly finalised programme for the day, which offered some all inclusive sessions and some split sessions to cater for elementary and advanced users.

Represented at the event were users from Pretoria, Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town and Empangeni. One delegate from Bloemfontein arrived later in the day.

A number of very interesting and informative presentations were given on a range of subjects;

An overview of the Joomla SA Portal and the South African Joomla! User Group by Sean Grant [Joomla SA Portal ]

Internet marketing and Search Engine Optimisation using Joomla! by Christine Anderssen [ TM4Y]

A Joomla! payment gateway solution for South African market by Glenn Ross [ MyGate]

A developers perspective on Joomla! was given by Craig Smith, co-developer of the Fireboard Forum [ ECD Designs]

An introduction to Joomla! by Brendon Hatcher [Brilliant Web]

A community/ membership site case study was shared by our resident Joomla! Hero, Brendon Hatcher - a moderator in the official Joomla! Forum

The localisation of third party extensions for the South African market / country by Clive Primrose [Organic Fusion]

A highly entertaining "Joomla! off the cuff" presentation by Rodin van der Laan [ Massive Advertising]

A case study of a site application development by Matthew Philogene [RaraMuri Design]

The Vendor exhibition featured the sponsors, MyGate and Tailormade4you

A Question and Answer session was facilitated by Brendon Hatcher [Joomla Forum]

The Learn Joomla! initiative, an open courseware resource for Joomla! Training by Sean Grant [Slingshot]

A perspective on Joomla! Content and Copy development and sharing was given by Max Pichulik [PandP]

A discussion about Issues facing the Joomla! CMS was facilitated by Brendon and Matthew [Joomla SA Portal]

The presentations are available on the http://www.joomladay.co.za/website. Audio files, which are yet to be edited and shared, will be available in due course.

View some images from the day here...

Aside from the opportunities that became clearer to me on the day, such as the use of collective bargaining power to address issues confronting Joomla! Users, such as exorbitant hosting costs, internet access and isolated cases of non-delivery by individuals, I came away from the Joomla!Day event in South Africa with a renewed passion, invigoration and respect for the community of Joomla! Users, who are a formidable force that are unleashing and realising their full potential.

We also had a number of funding, training and media partnerships offered to us as a portal, which should see the uptake of Joomla! be rapidly advanced, as well as offers of inexpensive training venues, media coverage and the like.

Of course the event would not have been possible without the generous funding of MyGate, Tailor Made 4 You and Rochen.

Next up - Joomla!Day South Africa - the Durban event , due to take place late in August, so please register your expression of interest by registering on the site at http://www.joomladay.co.za/

Thank you to all of you who attended and supported the JHB event, held at The Peech Hotel on 14 July 2007.

See you in Durban...

Sean Grant

Team Leader

Joomla SA Portal

~ courtesy of www.joomla.org.za ~

[Reminder] Joomla!Day South Africa, Johannesburg @ Sat Jul 14 9am - 4pm ()

2007-07-13T09:00:00.001+02:00

slingshotsean.joomlajournal@blogger.com, this is a reminder for

Joomla!Day South Africa, Johannesburg

Sat Jul 14 9am - 4pm
(Harare)
Johannesburg, South Africa (map)
Calendar:

The Joomla! Southern African Portal are hosting a Joomla! Day South Africa event in Johannesburg What is Joomla! Day South Africa? A gathering of all Joomla! users in South Africa - end users, managers, administrators, developers and service providers to the Joomla! community. A day of networking, presentations, discussions and fun - all around the Joomla! content Management System. Registration is essential as seats are limited. Most Recent Event We held the first such event in Cape Town recently, at the Bandwidth Barn, which was highly successful and well attended. Cost We are only charging a R100 event registration fee, which is partly required to cover travel costs for presenters from Cape Town, Empangeni and Durban. Registration Register for Joomla! Day South Africa, Johannesburg here... Venue At this stage the venue is still to be confirmed. Please watch www.joomladay.co.za for more information. We are open to pay for the venue and refreshments for the day (am, lunch, pm), however the event itself is not-for-profit so if there is anyone who could sponsor a venue and/or the refreshments that would help to reduce costs. Sponsors would be allowed to present a slot on the day, on condition that the topic is related to Joomla! Event News Alerts If you would like to keep in touch, please make a point to Register on the Joomla! Day website. Please also subscribe to the event newsletter to stay informed about the event. Enquiries Tel: +27(0)35-772-2712 /4555 Mobile: +27(0)82-5777-340 Fax: +27(0)35-772-4555 Information: Please let us know if you would like to partner with us in your city to host and arrange an event. Organisors of the Joomla! Day South Africa - Johannesburg event are: Sling Shot P&P Communications Raramuri Design
More event details »

You are receiving this courtesy email at the account slingshotsean.joomlajournal@blogger.com because you are an attendee of this event.

[Reminder] Joomla! Administrator Training - Johannesburg, South Africa @ Fri Jul 13 9am - 4pm ()

2007-07-12T09:00:00.001+02:00

slingshotsean.joomlajournal@blogger.com, this is a reminder for

Joomla! Administrator Training - Johannesburg, South Africa

Fri Jul 13 9am - 4pm
(Harare)
Johannesburg, South Africa (map)
Calendar:

Learn the principles needed to administer your own Joomla! websites. By the end of the day you will have installed, managed & extended your own Joomla! website including extended features such as a newsletter, members directory, discussion forum, document downloads and more. (maximum 5 per class). The course will cover the following topics; * Setting up a stand alone server for offline Joomla development * How To: Populate transfer content from an existing website(s) * How To: Find and customize templates incl. an actual customisation * How To: Select & install extensions (modules, components & mambots) * How To: Backup & Recover your Joomla website * How To: Promote a newly developed website to your colleagues * Tips: Securing your Joomla website against malicious hackers * Tips: Communication Strategies to sustain site interaction amongst colleagues * Tips: Capitalising on custom joomla components * Q & A Session - come prepared to ask all your questions about Joomla Development and Management * An introduction to Google Applications. * Suggest a topic that you would like to know more about... * Plus Travel Expenses where necessary 10% discount if more than one person attending the course 20% discount for registered charities For more information send an e-mail to training@joomla.org.za Phone: (035) 7724-555 / (035) 7722-712 Fax: 0866157800 OR Click here to Sign up for a course here: http://joomla.org.za/component/option,com_contact/catid,33/Itemid,166/
More event details »

You are receiving this courtesy email at the account slingshotsean.joomlajournal@blogger.com because you are an attendee of this event.

[Reminder] Joomla! Developers Training Course - Cape Town, South Africa @ Sat Jul 7 9am - 4pm ("slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com")

2007-07-06T09:00:00.001+02:00

"slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com", this is a reminder for

Joomla! Developers Training Course - Cape Town, South Africa

Sat Jul 7 9am - 4pm
(Harare)
Cape Town, South Africa (map)
Calendar: "slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com"

Learn the basic principles needed to create your own Joomla! websites. By the end of the day you will have installed, created & extended your own Joomla website including extended features such as a newsletter, members directory, discussion forum, document downloads and more. (maximum 5 per class). The course will cover the following topics; * Setting up a stand alone server for offline Joomla development * How To: Install Joomla onto a server incl. an actual installation * How To: Find and customize templates incl. an actual customisation * How To: Select & install extensions (modules, components & mambots) * How To: Backup & Recover your Joomla website * How To: Handover a newly developed website to the end user * Tips: Securing your Joomla website against malicious hackers * Tips: Search Engine Strategies to ensure a first page ranking * Tips: Capitalising on custom joomla components * Q & A Session - come prepared to ask all your questions about Joomla Development and Management * An introduction to Google Applications. Suggest a topic that you would like to know more about... Cost R3,500.00 pp * Plus Travel Expenses where necessary 10% discount if more than one person attending the course 20% discount for registered charities For more information send an e-mail to training@joomla.org.za Phone: (035) 7724-555 / (035) 7722-712 Fax: 0866157800 Visit www.joomla.org.za for more about Joomla Training South Africa
More event details »

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[Reminder] Joomla Administrator Training - Cape Town, South Africa @ Fri Jul 6 9am - 4pm ()

2007-07-05T09:00:00.001+02:00

slingshotsean.joomlajournal@blogger.com, this is a reminder for

Joomla Administrator Training - Cape Town, South Africa

Fri Jul 6 9am - 4pm
(Harare)
Cape Town, South Africa (map)
Calendar:

Learn the principles needed to administer your own Joomla! websites. By the end of the day you will have installed, managed & extended your own Joomla website including extended features such as a newsletter, members directory, discussion forum, document downloads and more. (maximum 5 per class). The course will cover the following topics; * Setting up a stand alone server for offline Joomla development * How To: Populate transfer content from an existing website(s) * How To: Find and customize templates incl. an actual customisation * How To: Select & install extensions (modules, components & mambots) * How To: Backup & Recover your Joomla website * How To: Promote a newly developed website to your colleagues * Tips: Securing your Joomla website against malicious hackers * Tips: Communication Strategies to sustain site interaction amongst colleagues * Tips: Capitalising on custom joomla components * Q & A Session - come prepared to ask all your questions about Joomla Development and Management * An introduction to Google Applications. * Suggest a topic that you would like to know more about... * Plus Travel Expenses where necessary 10% discount if more than one person attending the course 20% discount for registered charities For more information send an e-mail to training@joomla.org.za Phone: (035) 7724-555 / (035) 7722-712 Fax: 0866157800 OR Click here to Sign up for a course here: http://joomla.org.za/component/option,com_contact/catid,33/Itemid,166/
More event details »

You are receiving this courtesy email at the account slingshotsean.joomlajournal@blogger.com because you are an attendee of this event.

[Reminder] Joomla Training for End Users - Cape Town, South Africa @ Thu Jul 5 9am - 4pm ("slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com")

2007-07-04T09:00:00.001+02:00

"slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com", this is a reminder for

Joomla Training for End Users - Cape Town, South Africa

Thu Jul 5 9am - 4pm
(Harare)
Cape Town, South Africa (map)
Calendar: "slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com"

This course is designed for anyone with basic computer skills who want to get a dynamic web site up and running fast. At the end of the day you will have your own Joomla! web site well in development, be able to add news, events, links, users, content pages, media and understand how to make the most of your Joomla! powered website. (minimum of 3, maximum 10 per class). The course will cover the following topics; * Introduction to Open Source Software and Joomla! * Intro to Joomla! site structure & control panel * How To: Edit content using various WYSIWYG editor * How To: Load media and insert it into content * How To: Add content & components to menus incl. copy, move & order * How To: Set parameters on menu items * How To: Layout your website incl. positioning modules, assign them to pages & templates * How To: Select & install extensions (modules, components & mambots) * Tips: Securing your Joomla website against malicious hackers * Tips: Search Engine Strategies to ensure a first page ranking * Q & A Session - come prepared to ask all your questions about Joomla Development and Management * Suggest a topic that you would like to know more about Cost: R1500.00 pp* * Plus Travel Expenses where necessary. 10% discount if more than one person attending the course 20% discount for registered charities For more information send an e-mail to training@joomla.org.za Phone: (035) 7724-555 / (035) 7722-712 Fax: 0866157800 Visit www.joomla.org.za for more about Joomla Training South Africa
More event details »

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[Updated Invitation] Joomla!Day South Africa, Johannesburg @ Sat Jul 14 9am - 4pm ()

2007-06-29T12:35:00.003+02:00

Details for the following event have changed:

Joomla!Day South Africa, Johannesburg

Sat Jul 14 9am - 4pm
(Harare)
Johannesburg, South Africa (map)
Calendar:

Will you attend?

Yes | No | Maybe

You are receiving this courtesy email at the account slingshotsean.joomlajournal@blogger.com because you are an attendee of this event.

[Invitation] Joomla!Day South Africa, Johannesburg @ Sat Jul 14 9am - 4pm ()

2007-06-29T12:35:00.001+02:00

slingshotsean.joomlajournal@blogger.com, you are invited to

Joomla!Day South Africa, Johannesburg

Sat Jul 14 9am - 4pm
(Harare)
Johannesburg, South Africa (map)
Calendar:

Will you attend?

Yes | No | Maybe

You are receiving this courtesy email at the account slingshotsean.joomlajournal@blogger.com because you are an attendee of this event.

[Invitation] Joomla! Administrator Training - Johannesburg, South Africa @ Fri Jul 13 9am - 4pm ()

2007-06-29T12:31:00.001+02:00

slingshotsean.joomlajournal@blogger.com, you are invited to

Joomla! Administrator Training - Johannesburg, South Africa

Fri Jul 13 9am - 4pm
(Harare)
Johannesburg, South Africa (map)
Calendar:

Will you attend?

Yes | No | Maybe

You are receiving this courtesy email at the account slingshotsean.joomlajournal@blogger.com because you are an attendee of this event.

[Invitation] Joomla Administrator Training - Cape Town, South Africa @ Fri Jul 6 9am - 4pm ()

2007-06-29T12:28:00.001+02:00

slingshotsean.joomlajournal@blogger.com, you are invited to

Joomla Administrator Training - Cape Town, South Africa

Fri Jul 6 9am - 4pm
(Harare)
Cape Town, South Africa (map)
Calendar:

Will you attend?

Yes | No | Maybe

You are receiving this courtesy email at the account slingshotsean.joomlajournal@blogger.com because you are an attendee of this event.

[Invitation] Joomla Training for End Users - Cape Town, South Africa @ Thu Jul 5 9am - 4pm ("slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com")

2007-06-29T12:24:00.001+02:00

"slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com", you are invited to

Joomla Training for End Users - Cape Town, South Africa

Thu Jul 5 9am - 4pm
(Harare)
Cape Town, South Africa (map)
Calendar: "slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com"

Will you attend?

Yes | No | Maybe

You are receiving this courtesy email at the account slingshotsean.joomlajournal@blogger.com because you are an attendee of this event.

[Invitation] Joomla! Developers Training Course - Cape Town, South Africa @ Sat Jul 7 9am - 4pm ("slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com")

2007-06-29T12:22:00.001+02:00

"slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com", you are invited to

Joomla! Developers Training Course - Cape Town, South Africa

Sat Jul 7 9am - 4pm
(Harare)
Cape Town, South Africa (map)
Calendar: "slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com"

Learn the basic principles needed to create your own Joomla! websites. By the end of the day you will have installed, created & extended your own Joomla website including extended features such as a newsletter, members directory, discussion forum, document downloads and more. (maximum 5 per class). The course will cover the following topics; * Setting up a stand alone server for offline Joomla development * How To: Install Joomla onto a server incl. an actual installation * How To: Find and customize templates incl. an actual customisation * How To: Select & install extensions (modules, components & mambots) * How To: Backup & Recover your Joomla website * How To: Handover a newly developed website to the end user * Tips: Securing your Joomla website against malicious hackers * Tips: Search Engine Strategies to ensure a first page ranking * Tips: Capitalising on custom joomla components * Q & A Session - come prepared to ask all your questions about Joomla Development and Management * An introduction to Google Applications. Suggest a topic that you would like to know more about... Cost R3,500.00 pp * Plus Travel Expenses 10% discount if more than one person attending the course 20% discount for registered charities For more information send an e-mail to training@joomla.org.za Phone: (035) 7724-555 / (035) 7722-712 Fax: 0866157800 Visit www.joomla.org.za for more about Joomla Training South Africa
More event details »

Will you attend?

Yes | No | Maybe

You are receiving this courtesy email at the account slingshotsean.joomlajournal@blogger.com because you are an attendee of this event.

[Updated Invitation] Joomla Developers Training Course - Johannesburg, South A... @ Fri Jul 13 9am - 4pm (slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com)

2007-06-25T14:09:00.000+02:00

Details for the following event have changed:

Joomla Developers Training Course - Johannesburg, South Africa

Fri Jul 13 9am - 4pm
(Harare)
Johannesburg, South Africa (map)
Calendar: slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com

Learn the basic principles needed to create your own Joomla! websites. By the end of the day you will have installed, created & extended your own Joomla website including extended features such as a newsletter, members directory, discussion forum, document downloads and more. (maximum 5 per class). The course will cover the following topics; * Setting up a stand alone server for offline Joomla development * How To: Install Joomla onto a server incl. an actual installation * How To: Find and customize templates incl. an actual customisation * How To: Select & install extensions (modules, components & mambots) * How To: Backup & Recover your Joomla website * How To: Handover a newly developed website to the end user * Tips: Securing your Joomla website against malicious hackers * Tips: Search Engine Strategies to ensure a first page ranking * Tips: Capitalising on custom joomla components * Q & A Session - come prepared to ask all your questions about Joomla Development and Management * An introduction to Google Applications. Suggest a topic that you would like to know more about... Cost R3,500.00 pp * Plus Travel Expenses 10% discount if more than one person attending the course 20% discount for registered charities For more information send an e-mail to training@joomla.org.za This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Phone: (035) 7724-555 / (035) 7722-712 Fax: 0866157800 Visit www.joomla.org.za for more about Joomla Training South Africa
More event details »

Will you attend?

Yes | No | Maybe

You are receiving this courtesy email at the account slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com because you are an attendee of this event.

Lets Learn Joomla!

2007-06-23T00:09:00.000+02:00

JOOMLA! TRAINING

Now that Joomla! is becoming the content management system of choice world wide, there is a growing need for training courses and trainers. In South Africa, an initiative is taking shape,called Learn Joomla! Due to an overwhelming interest in Joomla! training, a webdesign company with roots in education noticed that a lot of designers prefer to outsource or subcontract training. The same could be said for support, however without anyone to refer clients to, they are normally left with no alternative but to train and support Joomla! users themselves.

In response to this opportunity, members of the Joomla! Southern African Portal set out to develop an introductory course that would help people who are new to Joomla! and/or content management in general. It soon became clear that the Joomla! Users Manual is not ideally suited for training purposes. A great find was the Joomla! Admin Manual from Compass Designs, which is much easier to work through with a group of learners, however in a one day course, something much more focused is actually required.

The solution to these and other challenges is an online learning system called Moodle, which provides the space within which a crash course in Joomla! can be delivered, either at a distance, with regular moderation, or in person, referring to the resources provided in the Joomla End Users Course (J101) classroom. These include the awesome Visual and Animated Tutorials developed by Brad Baker, the Joomla! Manuals, links to the best template repositories and a number of locally grown tutorials, notes, audio tracks and so on - all of which is in constant review and ongoing development. The course is aimed to empower the end user of Joomla!, who would typically do most of their content management on the front end of their Joomla! website, with a few minor forays into the Administration Backend, to manage users, pages and contacts.

A Joomla! 301 course aimed to empower Developers is currently in, well.. development. This course is geared towards tooling and recognising the ability to develop a website using the Joomla! CMS, by borrowing an idea from Full Code Press, the course developers, Slingshot, are piloting a way to train and equip would be Joomla! Users and Developers. It works something like this...

Non-profit organisations who are in need of a professional website are invited to apply for an opportunity to have their website developed by one of the students in the Learn Joomla! course. Given the NGO's specifications, preferences and materials, the student is required to build a website in one day, within the course framework, under supervision of a skilled trainer, who may be standing in front of them (one day crash course) or may be available in the discussion forum (online moderation). Working with the NGO and the Trainer, the learner is able to focus on a specific website during the course, solve real problems and hopefully produce a Joomla! powered website that can be published, used and managed by the NGO.

The Joomla!'nGO pilot is currently running it's first learner through the course, and should produce a website for the NGO, HopeSA, within the month of July. Please Contact Us should you want to undergo some Joomla!'nGO training.

For those wondering, the Joomla! 201 course will follow after the developers course is stable. This would be an administrator focused course for those users who need to do some work with extensions, such as running an electronic newsletter on their site, managing various menu systems and handling collaborative updates on larger sites. This is a bit of a gray area between users and developers, so the course developers are starting on the ends and working their way into the middle, like eating a hot dog, or a melting ice-cream.

Training options and details can be found at Joomla! Training. Course formats are flexible and they can easily tailor make a training session for you, your staff and /or your clients which can be based on a couple of hours, the whole day or even a number of days if necessary. The Joomla! trainers are highly mobile and are happy to arrange trips to various parts of South Africa as the need arises. They usually advertise the proposed training ahead of time to enlist others, which helps to make the most of every trip. Training events are often linked to the Joomla!Day events which are fast becoming a must-do in the Joomla! circles.

Their next scheduled training dates are as follows:

23 June 2007 Durban
30 June 2007 Johannesburg
7 July 2007 Cape Town
11-13/16-17 July 2007 Johannesburg

Contact Joomla.org.za who will be able to refer you to a suitably skilled and available Joomla! trainer if you are interested in doing a course, tailoring a training session or participating in the Joomla'nGo programme. Check our Learn Joomla ! for a course outline, notes and other training resources (first time visitors should create an account or login as a guest)

Let's Learn Joomla!

--
--
Regards

Sean Grant
Blog: www.seangrant.blogspot.com
Web : www.sling-shot.co.za | www.joomladay.co.za
Portals : www.joomla.org.za | www.moodler.co.za

Skype /G-Talk : slingshotsean
Tel:   +27 (0)35-902-6482
Fax:  +27 (0)866-345-901
Cell:   +27 (0)82-5777-340

First Joomla!Day South Africa event a roaring success

2007-06-22T22:35:00.001+02:00

The Joomla! Day South Africa Organizing Team would like to thank everyone who participation, especially the generous sponsorship received from MyGate and Vanilla.

Without you and your generous contributions, the Joomla!Day South Africa would not have been the same, or possible! The organisers want to say a genuine, big heart-felt "Thank You!". They thank you for not only the financial support, but also for the mental support and for fueling the vision.

The success of the first Joomla!Day in South Africa - and in all likelihood Africa - is attributed to the fantastic team who were firmly on board, with a common Joomlarious passion, special people who helped to make things happen! Like catalysts, who fuel the project and help to materialize the vision.

People traveled from all over the country, Christine Taylor (TM4Y) from Johannesburg, Ryan Demmer (JCE Editor) from Pietermaritzburg, Brendon Hatcher (Brilliant Web) from Durban and Sean & Mel Grant (Slingshot) from Empangeni, Gideon Seal (Gamtoos Group) from Humansdor.

Others from Cape Town like Matthew Philogene (Raramuri Design) and Chris and Andrew (Joomla Junkie) were quick to enlist for the inaugural South African Joomla!Day.

The event was held in a shared conference room of the Bandwidth Barn, which is part of the Cape Innovation and Technology Initiative, a development project which houses over 100 emerging technology service providers. With wireless internet, first class furnishings and a room full of Joomla enthusiasts, we were set for a full day of Joomla!

Despite an electricity failure for about two hours, we managed to showcase a variety of Joomla! topics, including templating, security, a local payment gateway solution that is being customised for Joomla!, the ever popular JCE Editor extension, presented by the author himself, the Learn Joomla! initiative and Joomla Multimedia Tutorials developed in South Africa. WOW - South Africa doing it for Joomla!

Pre- and post-event Joomla training courses were conducted by Slingshot, who introduced Joomla to another five Joomla enthusiasts, who are now all students in a moderated Joomla end users course that others are free to join if they want to Learn Joomla!

Plans are already in motion for the second Joomla! Day South Africa, to be held in Johannesburg on 14 July 2007. Interested people should keep their eyes peeled on www.joomladay.co.za

Participants are welcome to discuss the event here..

MUGSHOTS!

Well of course there were lots of these! Have a look. Early mornings are clearly not everyone's best time of day. Of course the ladies looked beautiful as usual but boy did some of the guys need some help! :) Have a look at the gallery here.

DOWNLOADS

Presentations from Joomla! Day South Africa, held in Cape Town have been loaded onto the site and everybody is free to make use of these resources as they are excellent tools which allow all Joomla! users to develop and grow skills. Audio files from the sessions should also be available in time.

NEXT JOOMLA! DAY SOUTH AFRICA, JOHANNESBURG

Just when you thought it was over.... Yes, that's right - THE NEXT JOOMLA! DAY SOUTH AFRICA- this time in Johannesburg. Registration details will follow so stay alert.

However make sure you diarize the date in the meantime...14 July 2007

[Reminder] Cape Town Joomla! Day @ Sat Jun 16 8am - 5pm (slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com)

2007-06-15T08:00:00.000+02:00

slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com, this is a reminder for

Cape Town Joomla! Day

Sat Jun 16 8am - 5pm
(Harare)
Cape Town, South Africa (map)
Calendar: slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com

It is time for all Cape Town Joomla users, designers, developers, administrators, trainers, webhosts and other related service providers to meet and talk Joomla! Sponsors: You are welcome to contribute in the following areas; Venue with Hot Spot for 100 participants Refreshments / Cash Catering AV equipment for recording/podcasting Presenters: You are welcome to suggest a topic that you would like to share on the day More details to be announced via CLUG, SAJUG and www.JOOMLA.ORG.ZA in due course. Contact Sean|at|JOOMLA|dot|org|dot|za or +27(0)82-5777-340 for more information.
More event details »

You are receiving this courtesy email at the account slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com because you are an attendee of this event.

[Reminder] Joomla Training for End Users - Cape Town, South Africa @ Fri Jun 15 2pm - 5pm (slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com)

2007-06-14T14:00:00.000+02:00

slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com, this is a reminder for

Joomla Training for End Users - Cape Town, South Africa

Fri Jun 15 2pm - 5pm
(Harare)
Bandwidth Barn, Cape Town, South Africa (map)
Calendar: slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com

This course is designed for anyone with basic computer skills who want to get a dynamic web site up and running fast. At the end of the day you will have your own Joomla! web site online, be able to add news, events, links, users, content pages, media and understand how to make the most of your Joomla! powered website. (minimum of 3, maximum 10 per class). The course will cover the following topics; * Introduction to Open Source Software and Joomla! * Intro to Joomla! site structure & control panel * How To: Edit content using various WYSIWYG editor * How To: Load media and insert it into content * How To: Add content & components to menus incl. copy, move & order * How To: Set parameters on menu items * How To: Layout your website incl. positioning modules, assign them to pages & templates * How To: Select & install extensions (modules, components & mambots) * Tips: Securing your Joomla website against malicious hackers * Tips: Search Engine Strategies to ensure a first page ranking * Q & A Session - come prepared to ask all your questions about Joomla Development and Management * Suggest a topic that you would like to know more about Cost: R1500.00 pp* * Plus Travel Expenses where necessary. 10% discount if more than one person attending the course 20% discount for registered charities For more information send an e-mail to training@joomla.org.za This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it. Phone: (035) 7724-555 / (035) 7722-712 Fax: 0866157800 Visit www.joomla.org.za for more about Joomla Training South Africa
More event details »

You are receiving this courtesy email at the account slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com because you are an attendee of this event.

[Reminder] Search Engine Optimization Course - Cape Town, South Africa @ Fri Jun 15 9am - 4pm (slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com)

2007-06-14T09:00:00.000+02:00

slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com, this is a reminder for

Search Engine Optimization Course - Cape Town, South Africa

Fri Jun 15 9am - 4pm
(Johannesburg)
Cape Town, South Africa (map)
Calendar: slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com

Full Day Course in Search Engine Optimization This course is relevant for website owners, designers, business owners and company marketers. Time: 9:00 to 16:00pm Included are : * refreshments on arrival and a midmorning tea/coffee break with snacks * lunch * mid-afternoon tea/coffee/juice break * Notes for the course COURSE CONTENT: Introduction: What are search engines? How does Google Work? Why is it so important to succeed online? Competitor Analysis Target Audience Analysis Techniques of raising your Page Rank & Popularity internal links external links quality content and copy writing submitting your sites to search engines blogs site maps meta tags meta descriptions keyword research email newsletters images and alt tags Misspellings Brief overview of content management systems How they can save you money and keep your site "alive" Cost: R1000 Email to book your group training workshop now. Call me should you want to find out more (035) 772 4555 International requests are welcome as travel costs are minimal if the group is a sufficient size. For more information about our other training courses see http://www.joomla.org.za
More event details »

You are receiving this courtesy email at the account slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com because you are an attendee of this event.

[Reminder] Joomla Training for End Users - Cape Town, South Africa @ Thu Jun 14 2pm - 5pm (slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com)

2007-06-13T14:00:00.000+02:00

slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com, this is a reminder for

Joomla Training for End Users - Cape Town, South Africa

Thu Jun 14 2pm - 5pm
(Harare)
Bandwidth Barn, Cape Town, South Africa (map)
Calendar: slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com

You are receiving this courtesy email at the account slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com because you are an attendee of this event.

Joomla! Day South Africa - The Final Countdown

2007-06-13T13:24:00.001+02:00

With little less than a week to go, we are finalizing the Joomla! Day in Cape Town and the program is impressive. We are hoping to build relationships with many of the participants, swop ideas and plan our way into the future. Its exciting times and hints of potential. The Joomla! Day website is up an running and we will endevour to keep the general Joomla! community posted on further Open Days. Our plan is to have a Joomla! Day in all nine provinces once a year as we have secured the rights to Joomla! Days in South Africa. Its a big vision but we are going to do our best to grow the use of and interest in Joomla! nationwide. We have already been approached to partner with various Joomla! experts in Johannesburg and East London. If you are keen to partner with us to arrange a Joomla! Day in your province - contact us.

For those of you who have registered, don't forget to make your R100 deposit as your seat can only be confirmed on payment. Refreshments and lunch have been sponsored by My Gate, who will also be doing a presentation on the day. VANILLA have kindly made the venue available to us, without which we would not be able to host the day.

Have a look at our list of participants who have signed up for the day.
If your name is not on the list and you want to attend, please ensure that you email us at support@ joomla.org.za as soon as possible.

OUR OWN FORUM!
Finally, we have our own Southern African Joomla Forum the site - so come on and make some noise. The race is on to see who makes the first comment or starting a topic. We would love to see you online sometime and look forward to chatting to you.

JOOMLA! WORKSHOPS

We have had an excellent response to our Joomla! training courses, and lots of requests to keep the Joomla! community informed well in advance so that they can send their clients or staff on the courses - so here is the calendar for the next month. However, please realise that many of these are run on demand, so our calendar is fairly flexible.

14-15 June 2007
Joomla User's Course
Cape Town, South Africa

18th June 2007
Joomla Administratiors / Developers Course
Cape Tow, South Africa

22 June 2007
Joomla Administrators Course
Durban, South Africa

14 July 2007
Developer and User's Course
Bloemfontein

For more information on these courses:
Contact Person: Sean Grant
T: 035 - 772 4555
C: 082 5777 340
Email: sean@joomla.org.za

NOTICES
Is anyone going through George before coming to the Joomla! Day in Cape Town. Charl needs a lift there and back and is willing to pay towards petrol costs. If you can help him please email him ( charlvn@charlvn.za.net)

ANYTHING TO BRAG ABOUT?
If you have recently created a new site, adapted or modified a component or just want to show off, why not keep us informed and we can post it on the newsletter for all to see.

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[Updated Invitation] Cape Town Joomla! Day @ Sat Jun 16 8am - 5pm (slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com)

2007-06-13T11:39:00.000+02:00

Details for the following event have changed:

Cape Town Joomla! Day

Sat Jun 16 8am - 5pm
(Harare)
Cape Town, South Africa (map)
Calendar: slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com

Will you attend?

Yes | No | Maybe

You are receiving this courtesy email at the account slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com because you are an attendee of this event.

[Reminder] Joomla Developer Training - JHB @ Sat Jun 9 9am - 4pm (slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com)

2007-06-08T09:00:00.000+02:00

slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com, this is a reminder for

Joomla Developer Training - JHB

Sat Jun 9 9am - 4pm
(Harare)
Johannesburg, South Africa (map)
Calendar: slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com

Joomla Training for Website Developers R3500.00 pp* Learn the basic principles needed to create your own Joomla! websites. By the end of the day you will have installed, created & extended your own Joomla website including extended features such as a newsletter, members directory, discussion forum, document downloads and more. (maximum 5 per class). The course will cover the following topics; * Setting up a stand alone server for offline Joomla development * How To: Install Joomla onto a server incl. an actual installation * How To: Find and customize templates incl. an actual customisation * How To: Select & install extensions (modules, components & mambots) * How To: Backup & Recover your Joomla website * How To: Handover a newly developed website to the end user * Tips: Securing your Joomla website against malicious hackers * Tips: Search Engine Strategies to ensure a first page ranking * Tips: Capitalising on custom joomla components * Q & A Session - come prepared to ask all your questions about Joomla Development and Management * An introduction to Google Applications. * Suggest a topic that you would like to know more about... * Plus Travel Expenses 10% discount if more than one person attending the course 20% discount for registered charities For more information send an e-mail to training@joomla.org.zaThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Phone: (035) 7724-555 / (035) 7722-712 Fax: 0866157800 OR Click here to Sign up for a course : http://joomla.org.za/content/view/115/96/
More event details »

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[Reminder] Joomla Administrator Training - JHB @ Fri Jun 8 9am - 4pm (slingshotsean.joomlajournal@blogger.com)

2007-06-07T09:00:00.001+02:00

slingshotsean.joomlajournal@blogger.com, this is a reminder for

Joomla Administrator Training - JHB

Fri Jun 8 9am - 4pm
(Harare)
Johannesburg, South Africa (map)
Calendar: slingshotsean.joomlajournal@blogger.com

Learn the principles needed to administer your own Joomla! websites. By the end of the day you will have installed, managed & extended your own Joomla website including extended features such as a newsletter, members directory, discussion forum, document downloads and more. (maximum 5 per class). The course will cover the following topics; * Setting up a stand alone server for offline Joomla development * How To: Populate transfer content from an existing website(s) * How To: Find and customize templates incl. an actual customisation * How To: Select & install extensions (modules, components & mambots) * How To: Backup & Recover your Joomla website * How To: Promote a newly developed website to your colleagues * Tips: Securing your Joomla website against malicious hackers * Tips: Communication Strategies to sustain site interaction amongst colleagues * Tips: Capitalising on custom joomla components * Q & A Session - come prepared to ask all your questions about Joomla Development and Management * An introduction to Google Applications. * Suggest a topic that you would like to know more about... * Plus Travel Expenses 10% discount if more than one person attending the course 20% discount for registered charities For more information send an e-mail to training@joomla.org.zaThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Phone: (035) 7724-555 / (035) 7722-712 Fax: 0866157800 OR Click here to Sign up for a course : http://joomla.org.za/content/view/117/107/
More event details »

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Joomla Project Management Extension - Project Fork

2007-06-04T08:59:00.000+02:00

For those of you interested in a Joomla Extension that has been developed to manage projects, please check out Project Fork;

What can I do with Project Fork ?

Although Project Fork is a very young Project and far away from being completed, it already has some outstanding Features.

Read more to find out what Project Fork can do and how it may serve your Needs!

Manage Projects
- Create Projects and related Tasks
- Assign Projects to Groups
- Assign Tasks to Users
- Setup Start and End date
- Compact Progress Management and Statistics

Maintain Files and Documents
- Database driven Filebrowser
- Share Files and Documents with other Users
- Create Hydra-Documents on the Fly
- Restrict/Assign Files and Documents to Projects or Users

Calendar
- Create Events
- Share Events with other Users

Create and Maintain Users and Usergroups
- Hydra has his own User-Permission System, independant from Joomla!
- Import Joomla-Users to Hydra
- Create Individual Usergroups
- Choose from 4 different User-Types
- Distribute more than 40 different Permissions to Usergroups

Create individual User-Profiles
- Everyone can choose his prefered Language and Time zone
- Individual Theme Support

[Cancelled Event] Joomla Developers Training Course - Cape Town, South Africa @ Fri Jun 15 9am - 4pm (slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com)

2007-06-01T11:24:00.000+02:00

Sean Grant cancelled the following event:

Joomla Developers Training Course - Cape Town, South Africa

Fri Jun 15 9am - 4pm
(Harare)
Cape Town, South Africa (map)
Calendar: slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com

Learn the basic principles needed to create your own Joomla! websites. By the end of the day you will have installed, created & extended your own Joomla website including extended features such as a newsletter, members directory, discussion forum, document downloads and more. (maximum 5 per class). The course will cover the following topics; * Setting up a stand alone server for offline Joomla development * How To: Install Joomla onto a server incl. an actual installation * How To: Find and customize templates incl. an actual customisation * How To: Select & install extensions (modules, components & mambots) * How To: Backup & Recover your Joomla website * How To: Handover a newly developed website to the end user * Tips: Securing your Joomla website against malicious hackers * Tips: Search Engine Strategies to ensure a first page ranking * Tips: Capitalising on custom joomla components * Q & A Session - come prepared to ask all your questions about Joomla Development and Management * An introduction to Google Applications. Suggest a topic that you would like to know more about... Cost R3,500.00 pp * Plus Travel Expenses 10% discount if more than one person attending the course 20% discount for registered charities For more information send an e-mail to training@joomla.org.za This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Phone: (035) 7724-555 / (035) 7722-712 Fax: 0866157800 Visit www.joomla.org.za for more about Joomla Training South Africa

This event was removed from your calendar.

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[Updated Invitation] Joomla Training for End Users - Cape Town, South Africa @ Daily at 2pm until Fri Jun 15 2pm (slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com)

2007-06-01T11:08:00.000+02:00

Details for the following event have changed:

Joomla Training for End Users - Cape Town, South Africa

Daily at 2pm until Fri Jun 15 2pm
(Harare)
Bandwidth Barn, Cape Town, South Africa (map)
Calendar: slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com

Will you attend?

Yes | No | Maybe

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[Updated Invitation] Joomla Training for End Users - Cape Town, South Africa @ Thu Jun 14 9am - 4pm (slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com)

2007-06-01T11:07:00.001+02:00

Details for the following event have changed:

Joomla Training for End Users - Cape Town, South Africa

Thu Jun 14 9am - 4pm
(Harare)
Bandwidth Barn, Cape Town, South Africa (map)
Calendar: slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com

Will you attend?

Yes | No | Maybe

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[Invitation] Joomla Training for End Users - Cape Town, South Africa @ Daily at 9am until Fri Jun 15 2pm (slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com)

2007-06-01T11:07:00.000+02:00

slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com, you are invited to

Joomla Training for End Users - Cape Town, South Africa

Daily at 9am until Fri Jun 15 2pm
(Harare)
Bandwidth Barn, Cape Town, South Africa (map)
Calendar: slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com

Will you attend?

Yes | No | Maybe

You are receiving this courtesy email at the account slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com because you are an attendee of this event.

[Reminder] Joomla Developers Training Course - Richards Bay, South A... @ Sat Jun 2 9am - 4pm (slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com)

2007-06-01T09:00:00.002+02:00

slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com, this is a reminder for

Joomla Developers Training Course - Richards Bay, South Africa

Sat Jun 2 9am - 4pm
(Johannesburg)
Richards Bay, South Africa (map)
Calendar: slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com

Learn the basic principles needed to create your own Joomla! websites. By the end of the day you will have installed, created & extended your own Joomla website including extended features such as a newsletter, members directory, discussion forum, document downloads and more. (maximum 5 per class). The course will cover the following topics; * Setting up a stand alone server for offline Joomla development * How To: Install Joomla onto a server incl. an actual installation * How To: Find and customize templates incl. an actual customisation * How To: Select & install extensions (modules, components & mambots) * How To: Backup & Recover your Joomla website * How To: Handover a newly developed website to the end user * Tips: Securing your Joomla website against malicious hackers * Tips: Search Engine Strategies to ensure a first page ranking * Tips: Capitalising on custom joomla components * Q & A Session - come prepared to ask all your questions about Joomla Development and Management * An introduction to Google Applications. Suggest a topic that you would like to know more about... Cost R3,500.00 pp * Plus Travel Expenses 10% discount if more than one person attending the course 20% discount for registered charities For more information send an e-mail to training@joomla.org.za This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Phone: (035) 7724-555 / (035) 7722-712 Fax: 0866157800 Visit www.joomla.org.za for more about Joomla Training South Africa
More event details »

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[Reminder] Joomla Training for End Users - Richards Bay South Africa @ Sat Jun 2 9am - 4pm (slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com)

2007-06-01T09:00:00.001+02:00

slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com, this is a reminder for

Joomla Training for End Users - Richards Bay South Africa

Sat Jun 2 9am - 4pm
(Harare)
Richards Bay, South Africa (map)
Calendar: slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com

This course is designed for anyone with basic computer skills who want to get a dynamic web site up and running fast. At the end of the day you will have your own Joomla! web site online, be able to add news, events, links, users, content pages, media and understand how to make the most of your Joomla! powered website. (minimum of 3, maximum 10 per class). The course will cover the following topics; * Introduction to Open Source Software and Joomla! * Intro to Joomla! site structure & control panel * How To: Edit content using various WYSIWYG editor * How To: Load media and insert it into content * How To: Add content & components to menus incl. copy, move & order * How To: Set parameters on menu items * How To: Layout your website incl. positioning modules, assign them to pages & templates * How To: Select & install extensions (modules, components & mambots) * Tips: Securing your Joomla website against malicious hackers * Tips: Search Engine Strategies to ensure a first page ranking * Q & A Session - come prepared to ask all your questions about Joomla Development and Management * Suggest a topic that you would like to know more about Cost: R1500 per person The course includes: - Morning Tea - Lunch - Afternoon Tea - Notes * Plus Travel Expenses 20% discount for registered charities, non-profit org's, churches etc. Please reserve your place as seats are limited. Visit : www.joomla.org.za
More event details »

You are receiving this courtesy email at the account slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com because you are an attendee of this event.

[Reminder] Search Engine Optimization Course - Richards Bay, South A... @ Sat Jun 2 9am - 4pm (slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com)

2007-06-01T09:00:00.000+02:00

slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com, this is a reminder for

Search Engine Optimization Course - Richards Bay, South Africa

Sat Jun 2 9am - 4pm
(Johannesburg)
Richards Bay, South Africa (map)
Calendar: slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com

You are receiving this courtesy email at the account slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com because you are an attendee of this event.

[Updated Invitation] Joomla Administrator Training - JHB @ Fri Jun 8 9am - 4pm (slingshotsean.joomlajournal@blogger.com)

2007-05-30T10:42:00.003+02:00

Details for the following event have changed:

Joomla Administrator Training - JHB

Fri Jun 8 9am - 4pm
(Harare)
Johannesburg, South Africa (map)
Calendar: slingshotsean.joomlajournal@blogger.com

Learn the principles needed to administer your own Joomla! websites. By the end of the day you will have installed, managed & extended your own Joomla website including extended features such as a newsletter, members directory, discussion forum, document downloads and more. (maximum 5 per class). The course will cover the following topics; * Setting up a stand alone server for offline Joomla development * How To: Populate transfer content from an existing website(s) * How To: Find and customize templates incl. an actual customisation * How To: Select & install extensions (modules, components & mambots) * How To: Backup & Recover your Joomla website * How To: Promote a newly developed website to your colleagues * Tips: Securing your Joomla website against malicious hackers * Tips: Communication Strategies to sustain site interaction amongst colleagues * Tips: Capitalising on custom joomla components * Q & A Session - come prepared to ask all your questions about Joomla Development and Management * An introduction to Google Applications. * Suggest a topic that you would like to know more about... * Plus Travel Expenses 10% discount if more than one person attending the course 20% discount for registered charities For more information send an e-mail to training@joomla.org.zaThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Phone: (035) 7724-555 / (035) 7722-712 Fax: 0866157800 OR Click here to Sign up for a course : http://joomla.org.za/content/view/117/107/
More event details »

Will you attend?

Yes | No | Maybe

You are receiving this courtesy email at the account slingshotsean.joomlajournal@blogger.com because you are an attendee of this event.

[Invitation] Joomla Administrator Training - JHB @ Fri Jun 8 9am - 4pm (slingshotsean.joomlajournal@blogger.com)

2007-05-30T10:42:00.001+02:00

slingshotsean.joomlajournal@blogger.com, you are invited to

Joomla Administrator Training - JHB

Fri Jun 8 9am - 4pm
(Harare)
Johannesburg, South Africa (map)
Calendar: slingshotsean.joomlajournal@blogger.com

Learn the principles needed to administer your own Joomla! websites. By the end of the day you will have installed, managed & extended your own Joomla website including extended features such as a newsletter, members directory, discussion forum, document downloads and more. (maximum 5 per class). The course will cover the following topics; * Setting up a stand alone server for offline Joomla development * How To: Populate transfer content from an existing website(s) * How To: Find and customize templates incl. an actual customisation * How To: Select & install extensions (modules, components & mambots) * How To: Backup & Recover your Joomla website * How To: Promote a newly developed website to your colleagues * Tips: Securing your Joomla website against malicious hackers * Tips: Communication Strategies to sustain site interaction amongst colleagues * Tips: Capitalising on custom joomla components * Q & A Session - come prepared to ask all your questions about Joomla Development and Management * An introduction to Google Applications. * Suggest a topic that you would like to know more about... * Plus Travel Expenses 10% discount if more than one person attending the course 20% discount for registered charities For more information send an e-mail to training@joomla.org.zaThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Phone: (035) 7724-555 / (035) 7722-712 Fax: 0866157800 OR Click here to Sign up for a course : http://joomla.org.za/content/view/117/107/
More event details »

Will you attend?

Yes | No | Maybe

You are receiving this courtesy email at the account slingshotsean.joomlajournal@blogger.com because you are an attendee of this event.

[Invitation] Joomla Developer Training - JHB @ Sat Jun 9 9am - 4pm (slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com)

2007-05-30T10:41:00.000+02:00

slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com, you are invited to

Joomla Developer Training - JHB

Sat Jun 9 9am - 4pm
(Harare)
Johannesburg, South Africa (map)
Calendar: slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com

Will you attend?

Yes | No | Maybe

You are receiving this courtesy email at the account slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com because you are an attendee of this event.

Fwd: [TECTONIC] PCLinuxOS, Sun on patents - First Joomla Day South African Event

2007-05-29T09:16:00.001+02:00

Hi Folks

In case you don't know yet, here is an issue of Tectonic with the announcement of the First Joomla Day South Africa, which we have been awarded the rights to arrange and steward, for the next year, with options on the following year.

What this means is that you should be seeing Joomla! Day South Africa events across Southern Africa.

We have registered the domain www.joomladay.co.za, and there should be a Joomla site up and running, once we stop running getting the inaugural Cape Town event together.

Should you be interested in partnering with us in your City / Town, please contact us with your expression of interest.

There is always some room for a sponsor or two, who wants to promote Joomla related products or services on the day.

Presenters are also welcome to suggest topics of interest that they would like to present, so do let us know if you are keen to present a topic.

We are also open to requests for topics that you need to know more about, so do suggest a topic that you would like to hear about from a Joomla expert.

Joomla is set to explode in Southern Africa and beyond...

Cheers, Sean

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: news@tectonic.co.za <news@tectonic.co.za>
Date: 28-May-2007 01:00
Subject: [TECTONIC] PCLinuxOS, Sun on patents
To: sgrant@pan.uzulu.ac.za

TECTONIC NEWS - 27 May, 2007
Tracking the shifts in technology
www.tectonic.co.za

------------
SUN PLEDGES PATENTS TO DEFEND LINUX
http://www.tectonic.co.za/view.php?id=1540&s=news
Sun Microsystems CEO Jonathan Schwartz says he is ready to use the
company's extensive patent portfolio to help defend Red Hat and Ubuntu
Linux against Microsoft's patent offensive.

SHUTTLEWORTH SAYS MICROSOFT NOT THE REAL THREAT
http://www.tectonic.co.za/view.php?id=1535&s=news
Mark Shuttleworth yesterday posted a blog entitled 'Microsoft is not
the real threat'. In it he stated that he believed that Microsoft and
the Linux community, as software producers, would ultimately find
themselves on the same side, fighting against the current software
patent system and those who seek to abuse it.

PCLINUXOS 2007 FINAL RELEASED
http://www.tectonic.co.za/view.php?id=1536&s=news
This week the PCLinuxOS community have proudly brought out the final
release of PCLinuxOS 2007 which comes with all the latest versions of
several popular open source programs.

SUPERCOMPUTING FOR SA RESEARCHERS
http://www.tectonic.co.za/view.php?id=1542&s=news
Do you need the processing power of several thousand desktops to
carry out your research? If so, look no further. The Centre for High
Performance Computing has been established to allow researchers access
to supercomputer level processing.

'SUE ME FIRST!' OSS USERS TELL MICROSOFT
http://www.tectonic.co.za/view.php?id=1538&s=news
Taking a new approach to Microsoft's patent threats, a wiki has been
set up to allow users of free and open source software to invite
Microsoft to sue them first. A local company, CompUnite has joined,
mustering support to take Microsoft to court.

NOVELL AND EFF TACKLE PATENT REFORM
http://www.tectonic.co.za/view.php?id=1541&s=news
Novell and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) have joined
forces to take on patent reform by lobbying governments and
international organisations. The partnership will also add impetus to
the EFF's Patent Busting project, which attacks patents that overly
restrict software developers and Internet users.

TELKOM CUTS INTERNATIONAL BANDWIDTH COSTS
http://www.tectonic.co.za/view.php?id=1537&s=news
Fixed-line operator Telkom has cut its retail price of international
bandwidth to all destinations by 30 percent retrospectively from May
1.

FIRST OPENOFFICE.ORG VIRUS?
http://www.tectonic.co.za/view.php?id=1539&s=news
Virus company Sophos says it has possession of the first-ever
OpenOffice.org virus able to run on Microsoft, MacOS X and Linux. The
chance of it being spread, though, is fairly remote.

SPEED UP SURFING WITH SPLIT BROWSER
http://www.tectonic.co.za/view.php?id=1534&s=news
Split Browser is a Firefox extension that lets you take the
versatility of tabbed browsing even further than usual.

STILL MANY CHALLENGES FOR COMPUTERS IN SCHOOLS
http://www.tectonic.co.za/view.php?id=1530&s=news
Thirty percent of South Africa's schools use computers as teaching
aids but only two percent have access to the Internet.

FIRST SOUTH AFRICAN JOOMLA! DAY
http://www.tectonic.co.za/view.php?id=1531&s=news
All users and developers of Joomla!, the open source content
management system, will have an opportunity to meet in Cape Town on
June 16.

TEXT FREEDOM WITH RED HAT'S LIBERATION FONTS
http://www.tectonic.co.za/view.php?id=1532&s=news
Linux company Red Hat has released the Liberation font set which can
be used to replace the Microsoft core truetype fonts installed on most
PCs.

MYGATE EASES SHOPPING CART INTEGRATION
http://www.tectonic.co.za/view.php?id=1533&s=news
South African payment gateway company, MyGate, have released snippets
of code that make for easier integration between the shopping cart and
the payment gateway.

----------------------------------------
Contact Tectonic:
Editor
Alastair Otter
alastair@tectonic.co.za
083-267-7657
--
Tectonic's newsletter is sent out weekly to subscribers and delivers
the best of open source news from around the continent direct to their
desktop. To subscribe visit
http://phplist.tectonic.co.za/lists/?p=subscribe or send your email
address to news@tectonic.co.za.

To advertise in Tectonic's weekly newsletter email
info@tectonic.co.za or phone 083-267-7657.

For more information on the newsletter visit
http://www.tectonic.co.za/default.php?action=m_d

Visit http://www.tectonic.co.za for the latest news and most up to
date resources on open source software on the continent of Africa.

All material copyright Free Speech Publishing. You are free to
distribute copies of this newsletter on the condition that credit is
given to www.tectonic.co.za. For permission to re-print articles that
appear in this newsletter or on the www.tectonic.co.za website email
news@tectonic.co.za

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--
Regards

Sean Grant
Blog: www.seangrant.blogspot.com
Skype /G-Talk : slingshotsean
Tel:   +27 (0)35-902-6482
Fax:  +27 (0)35-772-4555 / Fax-to-email :  +27 (0)866-345-901
Cell:  +27 (0)82-5777-340

[Reminder] Joomla Developers Training Course - Durban, South Africa @ Sat May 26 9am - 4pm (slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com)

2007-05-25T09:00:00.002+02:00

slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com, this is a reminder for

Joomla Developers Training Course - Durban, South Africa

Sat May 26 9am - 4pm
(Johannesburg)
Durban, South Africa (map)
Calendar: slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com

Learn the basic principles needed to create your own Joomla! websites. By the end of the day you will have installed, created & extended your own Joomla website including extended features such as a newsletter, members directory, discussion forum, document downloads and more. (maximum 5 per class). The course will cover the following topics; * Setting up a stand alone server for offline Joomla development * How To: Install Joomla onto a server incl. an actual installation * How To: Find and customize templates incl. an actual customisation * How To: Select & install extensions (modules, components & mambots) * How To: Backup & Recover your Joomla website * How To: Handover a newly developed website to the end user * Tips: Securing your Joomla website against malicious hackers * Tips: Search Engine Strategies to ensure a first page ranking * Tips: Capitalising on custom joomla components * Q & A Session - come prepared to ask all your questions about Joomla Development and Management * An introduction to Google Applications. Suggest a topic that you would like to know more about... Cost R3,500.00 pp * Plus Travel Expenses 10% discount if more than one person attending the course 20% discount for registered charities For more information send an e-mail to training@joomla.org.za This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Phone: (035) 7724-555 / (035) 7722-712 Fax: 0866157800 Visit www.joomla.org.za for more about Joomla Training South Africa
More event details »

You are receiving this courtesy email at the account slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com because you are an attendee of this event.

[Reminder] Joomla Training for End Users - Durban South Africa @ Sat May 26 9am - 4pm (slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com)

2007-05-25T09:00:00.001+02:00

slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com, this is a reminder for

Joomla Training for End Users - Durban South Africa

Sat May 26 9am - 4pm
(Harare)
Durban, South Africa (map)
Calendar: slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com

This course is designed for anyone with basic computer skills who want to get a dynamic web site up and running fast. At the end of the day you will have your own Joomla! web site online, be able to add news, events, links, users, content pages, media and understand how to make the most of your Joomla! powered website. (minimum of 3, maximum 10 per class). The course will cover the following topics; * Introduction to Open Source Software and Joomla! * Intro to Joomla! site structure & control panel * How To: Edit content using various WYSIWYG editor * How To: Load media and insert it into content * How To: Add content & components to menus incl. copy, move & order * How To: Set parameters on menu items * How To: Layout your website incl. positioning modules, assign them to pages & templates * How To: Select & install extensions (modules, components & mambots) * Tips: Securing your Joomla website against malicious hackers * Tips: Search Engine Strategies to ensure a first page ranking * Q & A Session - come prepared to ask all your questions about Joomla Development and Management * Suggest a topic that you would like to know more about * Plus Travel Expenses 20% discount for registered charities, non-profit org's, churches etc. Please reserve your place as seats are limited. Visit : www.joomla.org.za
More event details »

You are receiving this courtesy email at the account slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com because you are an attendee of this event.

[Reminder] Joomla Search Engine Optimisation Course - Durban @ Sat May 26 9am - 4pm (slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com)

2007-05-25T09:00:00.000+02:00

slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com, this is a reminder for

Joomla Search Engine Optimisation Course - Durban

Sat May 26 9am - 4pm
(Harare)
Durban, South Africa (map)
Calendar: slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com

Search Engine Optimisation Full Day Course in Search Engine Optimization This course is relevant for website owners, designers, business owners and company marketers. Time: 9:00 to 16:00pm Included are : * refreshments on arrival and a midmorning tea/coffee break with snacks * lunch * mid-afternoon tea/coffee/juice break * Notes for the course COURSE CONTENT: Introduction: What are search engines? How does Google Work? Why is it so important to succeed online? Competitor Analysis Target Audience Analysis ServicesTechniques of raising your Page Rank & Popularity internal links external links quality content and copy writing submitting your sites to search engines blogs site maps meta tags meta descriptions keyword research email newsletters images and alt tags Misspellings Brief overview of content management systems How they can save you money and keep your site "alive" Cost: R1000 Email to book your group training workshop now. Call me should you want to find out more (035) 772 4555 International requests are welcome as travel costs are minimal if the group is a sufficient size. For more information about our other training courses see http://www.joomla.org.za
More event details »

You are receiving this courtesy email at the account slingshotsean.joomlasouthernafrica@blogger.com because you are an attendee of this event.

[Reminder] Joomla Training for End Users - Durban South Africa @ Fri May 25 9am - 4pm (slingshotsean.joomlajournal@blogger.com)

2007-05-24T09:00:00.001+02:00

slingshotsean.joomlajournal@blogger.com, this is a reminder for

Joomla Training for End Users - Durban South Africa

Fri May 25 9am - 4pm
(Harare)
Durban, South Africa (map)
Calendar: slingshotsean.joomlajournal@blogger.com

This course is designed for anyone with basic computer skills who want to get a dynamic web site up and running fast. At the end of the day you will have your own Joomla! web site online, be able to add news, events, links, users, content pages, media and understand how to make the most of your Joomla! powered website. (minimum of 3, maximum 10 per class). The course will cover the following topics; * Introduction to Open Source Software and Joomla! * Intro to Joomla! site structure & control panel * How To: Edit content using various WYSIWYG editor * How To: Load media and insert it into content * How To: Add content & components to menus incl. copy, move & order * How To: Set parameters on menu items * How To: Layout your website incl. positioning modules, assign them to pages & templates * How To: Select & install extensions (modules, components & mambots) * Tips: Securing your Joomla website against malicious hackers * Tips: Search Engine Strategies to ensure a first page ranking * Q & A Session - come prepared to ask all your questions about Joomla Development and Management * Suggest a topic that you would like to know more about * Plus Travel Expenses 20% discount for registered charities, non-profit org's, churches etc. Please reserve your place as seats are limited. Visit : www.joomla.org.za
More event details »

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Fwd: LEAD Digest, Vol 44, Issue 15 - Transferring html / php pages into Joomla

2007-05-23T09:54:00.000+02:00

crossposted from LEAD..

Hi Stefan

I am aware of an extension, called StaticXT, that was featured in this a recent Joomla Weekly News that enabled a static content site to be imported into a Joomla site.

There also seems to be a number of other Custom Code extensions which offer the inclusion of Static / html pages into a site, so do check them out.

Once the content is in the system, one could create sections, categories manually, and use the Content Items Manager to move numerous items into each respective category and section.

Still somewhat manual, but it should save lots of time and effort. There may be easier and better ways.

Does anyone else know of a better way?

Cheers, Sean

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: lead-request@lists.lead.org.za <lead-request@lists.lead.org.za>
Date: 22-May-2007 19:00
Subject: LEAD Digest, Vol 44, Issue 15
To: lead@lists.lead.org.za

Send LEAD mailing list submissions to
        lead@lists.lead.org.za

To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
        http://lists.lead.org.za/mailman/listinfo/lead
or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
         lead-request@lists.lead.org.za

You can reach the person managing the list at
        lead-owner@lists.lead.org.za

When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
than "Re: Contents of LEAD digest..."

Today's Topics:

   1. CMS (Stefan Scriba)
   2. Re: CMS (Johan Kohler)
   3. Widescreen resolution problem with Xorg (Mark Theunissen)
   4. Mandriva 2007? (Leon Pelser)
   5. Re: Mandriva 2007? (Colin Alston)
   6. Re: Mandriva 2007? (miggie)
   7. Re: Mandriva 2007? (miggie)
   8. Re: Mandriva 2007? (Leon Pelser)
   9. Re: Mandriva 2007? (Grant Brooks)
  10. Re: Mandriva 2007? (Leon Pelser)
  11. Re: Mandriva 2007? (Grant Brooks)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Tue, 22 May 2007 10:00:18 +0200
From: "Stefan Scriba" < scribas@gmail.com>
Subject: [LEAD] CMS
To: lead@lists.lead.org.za
Message-ID:
        < f3cfabde0705220100g380422efpc8ab458293365c77@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

Hi

I have googled and forumed myself silly, without any results. I have written
a script that produces html content for my webpage. I would like to know
whether anyone is aware of a command-line interface in Joomla, to
automatically add new sections, categories and articles to my website. I
honestly do not want to sit and add hundreds of articles by hand...

If Joomla does not have this functionality, is Drupal, phpNuke, ... any
better?

Stefan

------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Tue, 22 May 2007 10:16:35 +0200
From: "Johan Kohler" <johan.kohler@gmail.com >
Subject: Re: [LEAD] CMS
To: "Stefan Scriba" < scribas@gmail.com>
Cc: lead@lists.lead.org.za
Message-ID:
        < d5d4e2c40705220116n5cb66fe7ia6d8a3cd9f20db27@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed

Hi,

On 5/22/07, Stefan Scriba < scribas@gmail.com > wrote:
> I have googled and forumed myself silly, without any results. I have written
> a script that produces html content for my webpage. I would like to know
> whether anyone is aware of a command-line interface in Joomla, to
> automatically add new sections, categories and articles to my website. I
> honestly do not want to sit and add hundreds of articles by hand...

There is no "command line interface".  You can accomplish this by
writing/ modifying a database script, because that's where all the
content goes.  For example, in Drupal you would write something that
adds "nodes".  I'm sure there are plenty of Drupal examples available
(using the Drupal API it should be a breeze).  I don't know about
Joomla.

Let me know if you need help with Drupal.

Johan
--
http://voyager42.livejournal.com

--
Regards

Sean Grant
Blog: www.seangrant.blogspot.com
Skype /G-Talk : slingshotsean
Tel:   +27 (0)35-902-6482
Fax:  +27 (0)35-772-4555 / Fax-to-email :  +27 (0)866-345-901
Cell:  +27 (0)82-5777-340

Experienced php programmer required - Elbquip.co.za

2007-05-22T15:02:00.000+02:00

Hi Folks

Please contact Craig if you can be of assistance.

Thanks, Sean

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Craig G Smith < Craig@elbquip.co.za>
Date: 22-May-2007 14:39
Subject:
To: support@joomla.org.za

Sean

As discussed I am looking for some assistance with some joomla based
projects, these will all involve coding and assistance, I have a couple
of projects running at the moment with more coming in regularly mostly
from overseas (uk, states & germany mostly)

At the moment I require the assistance of an experienced php programmer
(joomla exp not really required but good with php) to help with a
project I am busy with, the scope of the work required there is to code
functionality into pre-existing xml documents, these functions must be
able to do the following:

1) read the xml form base and determine from the xml what input fields,
database querys must be executed
2) also read whether or not the section based in the xml form is
required and handle the collection of data posted from said forms
3) must also have a view xml interface system to allow xml pages to be
dynamically altered based on predefinded forms and existing data.

The xml pages do exist and can be changed if required, preferably kept
in original spec to handle the migration of the script.

Also I am running some opensource projects that require the assistance
of testers, developers etc, the main part of the program is free, but
there are commercially viable additions to it that can be done,

Pls contact me on my cell to get further information
A sample xml page can be given as an example, (all have the same
structure)
Unf some of the xml pages I do not have as there is privacy issues and
client will not supply, so only a few are available, but client assures
that all have the exact same structure.

Craig G Smith
011 306 0794
082 878 4682

--
Regards

Sean Grant
Blog: www.seangrant.blogspot.com
Skype /G-Talk : slingshotsean
Tel:   +27 (0)35-902-6482
Fax:  +27 (0)35-772-4555 / Fax-to-email :  +27 (0)866-345-901
Cell:  +27 (0)82-5777-340

Re: Installing joomla - Locally - Joomla Stand Alone Server

2007-05-16T15:04:00.000+02:00

Hi Eric

Apologies for the delayed response - we have had some teething problems with this email address.

For a local version of Joomla, download and install the Joomla Stand Alone Server , and that should be much easier to work with. It also allows you to transfer the site onto a webserver once you done.

For more Jooomla! tutorials visit our website under Joomla Training.

Training Menu

What is Joomla! Training?

Joomla! for End Users

Joomla! for Administrators

Joomla! for Developers

Joomla! in your Office

- - - - - - -

SEO - half day

SEO - full day

- - - - - - -

Joomla! Visual Tutorials

Joomla! Animated Tutorials

Learn Joomla! Online

Regards, Sean
www.joomla.org.za
All-4-Joomla! & Joomla!-4-All

PS: I have copied this response to our Blog to help someone else with a similar challenge, so please let me know if you are not happy with that.

On 20/04/07, Eric Rwanqa <eric@analytix.co.za> wrote:

I have been trying to install joomla! On my PC. I followed the steps in the forum Installing joomla on Windows, but still can't do it.

Please help

Those who know not know not that they know not.

Fwd: Regarding Copywrite for Websites - Paul Warby

2007-05-14T23:55:00.000+02:00

Hi Folks

Can anyone use some website copywriting skills?

Found this old mail in my box when going through some Starred items - I must have missed it back then.

Cheers, Sean

---------- Forwarded message ----------

Hi Sean

My name is Paul Warby, I live in Mtunzini and I am a website copywriter. I promised Lorraine Goodman that I would contact you as it was felt we may be able to benefit each other.

Below are some links to my most recent copy

www.talkingshop.co.za

www.africanbyways.co.za

www.qpid.co.za

Please feel free to contact me with any queries or if you would like to sit down for a cup of coffee to see where things go.

Yours Sincerely

paul warby

+27 83 6099 180

--
Regards

Sean Grant
Blog: www.seangrant.blogspot.com
Skype /G-Talk : slingshotsean
Tel: +27 (0)35-902-6482
Fax: +27 (0)35-772-4555 / Fax-to-email : +27 (0)866-345-901
Cell: +27 (0)82-5777-340

Re: Hi & a quick question :-) Joomla! chat modules

2007-05-14T22:16:00.000+02:00

Hi Jared

Yes, there are a number of Chat extensions available for Joomla!

As we do not have any chat-enabled sites, I would suggest that you choose one of the more popular / well rated / editors pick of the chat extensions.

On that basis, my shortlist would be as follows;

AJAX Shoutbox
54 votes - 36 reviews
This Joomla module adds live chat functionality to your Joomla site. Your visitors can chat with each other right in your website without refreshing their browsers. It's almost like chatting on an instant messenging network! And it's all powered by AJAX, a hot new old technology that powers things like Gmail, Google Maps and other brilliant web apps. Now you can get a piece of all this in your own site. For problems with installing please contact me instead of using the review function.	component module language
Category: Shoutbox \| GNU GPL \| http://risperdal.student.utwente.nl/joomla/ \| Updated 37 days ago	Views: 53,131

Joomla-SMF Forum Component (Simple Machines Forum)
58 votes - 30 reviews
The JoomlaHacks Joomla-SMF Forum(JSMF) Bridge is intended to be used with Joomla Content Management System(J!) and Simple Machines Forum(SMF). The bridge integrates these two pieces of software allowing one login, registration, and user modification point for both systems. The JoomlaHacks bridge goes one step further and adds full integration with Community Builder (CB) using a CB plugin and allows the use of a wide array of logins. In addition, this bridge allows a choice of Personal Message Systems to be used with the integration. The Joom ...	component module plugin language
Category: Forum \| GNU GPL \| http://www.joomlahacks.com/ \| Updated 131 days ago	Views: 48,051

BlastChat - free chat for your website
94 votes - 27 reviews
Things to consider before you select chat application or shoutbox for your website: 1. If your website is on shared server, this server will most probably have problems handling chat traffic because of limited hardware resources (on top of it see 3.). 2. If your website is on dedicated server but has limited memory and/or has only standard apache/mysql installation, it might have problems handling traffic (on top of it see 3.). 3. If server is not properly configured, high traffic can bring server to halt/crash (usual case for basic apach ...	component module language
Category: Chat \| Creative Commons \| http://www.blastchat.com \| Updated 24 days ago	Views: 40,232

Trust that helps.

Sean

PS: I have copied this reply onto our blog and user group for the benefit of other Joomla Users, so please let me know if you need me to remove your personal details.

On 14/05/07, Melanie Grant <mel@joomla.org.za> wrote:

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Camberg, J. (Jared) < CambergJ@nedbank.co.za>
Date: May 14, 2007 12:22 PM
Subject: Hi & a quick question :-)
To: mel@joomla.org.za

Hi Melanie

How you doing? How was the training in JHB?

I have a quick question, when u get a chance. What are the suggested chat modules for joomla (free or paid 4)? Is it possible to run a chat off your server running joomla?

Great …

Cheers

Jared

Nedbank Limited Reg No 1951/000009/06. The following link displays the names of the Nedbank Board of Directors and Company Secretary.

This email is confidential and is intended for the addressee only. The following link will take you to Nedbank's legal notice.

--
Melanie Grant
+27 (0)35 772 2712 / 772 4555 (T)
0866157800 (F)
084 704 9614
mel@zigzag.org.za
ZIG ZAG Tours and Accommodation
"To the ends of the earth"
http://www.zululandzigzag.co.za, http://www.hluhluwe-accommodation.co.za, http://www.sodwana-accommodation.co.za, http://www.empangeni.net, http://www.richardsbayaccommodation.co.za, http://www.kosi-bay-accommodation.co.za, http://www.st-lucia-accommodation.co.za, http://www.mtunzini-accommodation.co.za , http://www.pongola-accommodation.co.za, http://www.eshowe-accommodation.co.za,
http://www.vryheid-accommodation.co.za, http://www.sling-shot.co.za, http://www.joomla.org.za,
http://www.moodler.co.za ,
http://www.southernafrican.co.za

--
Regards

Sean Grant
Blog: www.seangrant.blogspot.com
Skype /G-Talk : slingshotsean
Tel:   +27 (0)35-902-6482
Fax:  +27 (0)35-772-4555 / Fax-to-email :  +27 (0)866-345-901
Cell:  +27 (0)82-5777-340