Web Developer News Archive (20)
The popular Joomla Module JSThumbs, is now called Joomla Miner and we're redeveloping it from the ground up.
It'll be a component, module and plugin and will be fully Joomla 1.7 compatible.
Display thumbnails form Joomla, Jomsocial, Kunena, Community Builder in a module or article in Joomla. Define your own "nuggets" that allow you to decide what data feeds the module.
Simple to uses, fully configurable from Admin and fast as a fast thing, Joomla Miner is the extension you've been waiting for.
To read more about Joomla Miner, the thumbnail extension for Joomla, here.
We've been busy on a number of projects recently, but one of the most fun was when we got a call to help out with some web development work for Modernity Scotland - THE resource for those teaching and studying higher modern studies in Scotland.
We've brought in their social media side, added some easy to share links and developed a nice slideshow for the main page. All in all a fabulouse little project for a really nice client. Thanks for the web development work, John!
Our very own Craig Dunn was delighted to be given the opportunity to speak at the ScotConf Social media get together yesterday at the Thistle Hotel in Edinburgh. Follow it on twiiter by using the hashtag #scotconf.
His topic was on building an engaged social space.
Here's a summary of the points he made.
1. Be transparent in your message - in the marketing you put out there to promote your social space be clear on the benefits for the audience and what is expected of them.
2. Carry that message through to the main destination - re-inforce this message when the audience arrive at the social space you've created.
3. Encourage interaction - Through content seeding and asking for help from the audience. Explain why you want their help and what they can expect from contributing.
4. Reward regularly - Reward your contributors of user generated content. This doesn't have to monetary, it can just be a note to say thanks, but could equally be other benefits, discounts, promotion on the front page.
5. Listen - Take on board user feedback, and act on it. If a user requests a feature then produce this if you can. Then promote it, and the fact that it was user driven.
6. Communicate - Allow users to be updated the way they want to be updated. So every time hot topics, or new features or rewards are added, make sure that users know about them and have the opportunity to read about them via e-mail, RSS, Twitter, your Facebook page, on your homepage.
7. Don't go all PR - PR has it's place, but unless you're clear to your user base that this is information from your company and placed by someone from your organsation then it can have huge negative effects.
8. Save money by using Open Source tools - there are a host of tools out there for building Social spaces - JomSocial - our particular favourite, Elgg and Ning to name just three.
For an informal chat about creating an engaged social community
Call us now on +44 (0) 870 0429 240 for an informal chat about your project or get in touch by requesting a quote.
Once again, paid links are a hot topic in the search engine optimisation community. The website of J. C. Penney had number 1 rankings for many competitive keywords. It turned out that the J. C. Penney website obtained these rankings through buying links on over 2000 pages.
"We're evaluating multiple changes that should help drive spam levels even lower, including one change that primarily affects sites that copy others' content and sites with low levels of original content. We'll continue to explore ways to reduce spam, including new ways for users to give more explicit feedback about spammy and low-quality sites."
Reciprocal links were the first social element on the World Wide Web. They existed a long time before the term "social media" even existed.
When we were approached for some new web development work on the Joomla CMS by Visioncall we were only too happy to help. Visioncall give a fantastically valuable service to people who can't perhaps make it to an opticians on their own steam. A great service.
Our web development work involved updating their system and introducing a host of new usability features and we're delighted with results.
We wish them all the best in their future business and we look forward to more web development work.
