Another Shameless Plug

Last week I was working on the Solihull Presbyterian Church Website. We previously had a single page using borrowed server space from the EPCEW. Now we have our own space.

We opted to install the Joomla! content management system because we want a flexible, usable site that does not depend on people knowing HTML, CSS etc, etc. This way it can easily be kept live, rather than simply existing as a dead online brochure. There is still scope for nerdy-types like me to poke around html files if I want to. But one need not. The nice thing about Joomla!, apart from being FREE, is the powerful backend administrator functions that are made available to control content, categories, menus, some layout, and included functions. It is easy to install 3rd party plugins for podcasting, member forums etc etc.

Another nice thing is the separation of the 'look and feel' of the site from content and structure. The look and feel is determined by a 'template' which deterimes general layout and graphics. Templetes can be plugged in easily. At the moment I have simply tweaked the standard template that comes with the Joomla! installation. It looks reasonable, if a little functional. However, one day we might get a graphic designer to do something a bit more whizzy.

Go on. Have a look!