Blog Entries

SEO and Analytics at January 14 Joomla Chicago meeting

joe.scarry@arctg.com — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0100

In case any of you have been on an extended island vacation over the last month or two, you may not know that the topic everyone is focusing on is SEO and analytics. SEO and analytics was a major focus of the CMS EXPO in Denver.

(Just out of curiosity: how many of you have made a renewed effort to improve your SEO and/or analytics over the past 30-60 days? If you have, please add a note below re: your experience.)

On January 14, the monthly Joomla Chicago meeting will focus [...]

Milwaukee gets its own Joomla User Group!

joe.scarry@arctg.com — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0100

More exciting news from the Joomlasphere: Joomla Milwaukee starts meeting later this month!

The first meeting will be January 29 at 11:45 a.m. at the Milwaukee Research Park. Sign up online, or send an email to info at joomlamilwaukee.com.

Joomla Milwaukee is putting the finishing touches on their website and it is expected to be launched any day now.

(Do you know about other local Joomla groups getting started in 2009? If so, add a comment below and we [...]

Bob Brill and Mike Carson on Joomla, GPL, and Extensions

joe.scarry@arctg.com — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0100

We had a great December meeting of the Joomla Chicago group. The focus was intellectual property issues, especially how the GPL and Joomla extensions relate to each other.

IP Attorney Bob Brill outlined key concepts. Read about "Intellectual Property of Open Source Software Extensions" on his blog.

Extension developer Mike Carson, of Integrated Technology and Design, related the concepts to specific examples in the world of Joomla extensions.

The most impor [...]

Rocky Mountain Joomla User Group (Colorado, Utah, and other states)

joe.scarry@arctg.com — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0100

This just in: "Is there a Rocky Mountain Joomla User Group?"

Let's hear it, Rocky Mountain types! (Hey, if you get a group together, I'll sure come out for some meetings -- I had an awesome time out there!

Joe Scarry is head project manager for Chicago Joomla web developer and web design firm Arc Technology Group.

Joomla & "Chicago: City of Neighborhoods" - a match made in heaven

joe.scarry@arctg.com — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Coming back from the CMS Expo in Denver, one very clear message is that there's an enormous opportunity for communities and neighborhoods and municipalities to use Joomla to communicate their content on the web.

I think this is an especially interesting proposition for the Chicago community -- after all, we are the "City of Neighborhoods."

BTW - Click here for a very cool poster of Chicago neighborhoods!

There is talk of getting together a special meeting [...]

December Joomla 101: Basic Training Recap

kendall@joomlacoaching.com — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Thanks for the compliments yesterday after the Joomla 101 Basic Training session. I hope everyone got something out of it. If you are a member of JoomlaChicago.com, the slides will be online this weekend. If you want to see Parts 1 and 2, they are also online on the site. You have to be a registered user to view them.

For those wanting to see the cycle again, we'll start fresh with Part 1: Installation at our January 14, 2009 meeting. Nick Martine [...]

CMS EXPO Joomla conference in Denver a HUGE success!

joe.scarry@arctg.com — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0100

I just got back from the CMS EXPO Joomla conference in Denver that ended Friday, and I still can't get over what a great experience it was!

I could go on and on about all my favorite parts -- especially talks by Joomla core team members and tremendous presentations by Joomla experts -- but I'll single out my absolute favorite: meeting people who have just been getting their feet wet with Joomla up to now, and hearing them say, "Wow! This conference has made me really exc [...]

In the driver's seat with JomSocial . . .

joe.scarry@arctg.com — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Yesterday we installed a trial version of JomSocial on the Arc Technology Group site, and today made it available to a select group of testers (n=25), as the basis for a "Evanston Business & Technology Community."

Initial observations are on my Arc Technology Group blog post.

Joe Scarry is head project manager for Chicago Joomla web developer and web design firm Arc Technology Group.

Andy Angelos to Joomla Chicago group: Get those conversations going!

joe.scarry@arctg.com — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Andy Angelos gave an eye-opening talk about Web 2.0 and Social Networking to about 50 members of Joomla Chicago yesterday. The word of the day was "conversation" -- as in, "your website and other web communications should be directed at generating conversation with people -- not just talking at them!"

Instead of doing what I usually do -- writing an exhaustive blog post that tries to cover ever angle and leaves no room for others to share their input, I'm goin [...]

Azrul's JomSocial Review: What can a Social Networking Extension do for Joomla Chicago?

joe.scarry@arctg.com — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 00:00:00 +0100

I'm currently in the process of evaluating Azrul's JomSocial extension. Detailed observations are available on my blog on the Arc Technology Group site.

My question for the Joomla Chicago community: what requirements do we envision for a Joomla Chicago social networking functionality, over, say, the next year?

Please leave your comments about Joomla Chicago's social networking needs, or about any aspect of social networking, below.

And don't forget to [...]

Joomla is Big in America's Biggest Cities, too!

joe.scarry@arctg.com — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0100

The other day, I posted a list of America's Brainiest Cities with links to their Joomla groups.

Somehow Chicago didn't make it onto that list - ahem! - and that led me to wonder how many cities on the list of America's biggest cities have Joomla groups. My conclusion (see list below) is: about a third of America's biggest cities have active Joomla groups, either their own or in an adjacent city. Moreover, many of the rest have listings on Craigslist or other places [...]

The Glorious Open-Sourcer (with apologies to Samuel Clemens)

joe.scarry@arctg.com — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0100

In recognition of the first full year of existence of Joomla Chicago, and in tribute to our fearless leader, John Coonen, I herewith reproduce a recently discovered account of the beginnings of the group.

Friday night had come, and the fall air was clear and crisp, and brimming with life. Anybody with an ounce of sense was down on Rush Street getting the weekend off to a rousing start.

John Coonen sat at the desk in his den, his laptop open in front of him. He sur [...]

Joomla in Chicago's brainy suburbs . . . .

joe.scarry@arctg.com — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0100

I wrote a post yesterday about all the Joomla groups in big brainy cities. Several people pointed out that small brainy cities have Joomla groups, too! Hear, hear!

On that note, the possibility of a Joomla group for suburban Chicago was broached. I want to add two observations to that.

First, we would be delighted to assist in helping to branch towards the northern suburbs. We have a working tech group in Evanston that we can use to help get the word out, and an upcoming e [...]

Sneak preview: November 12 Joomla Chicago meeting

joe.scarry@arctg.com — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Joomla Chicago members are in for a treat on Wednesday, November 12, when Andy Angelos addresses the group on the subject of Web 2.0 and Social Networking. Andy gave me a preview of his talk in the email interview reproduced below.

JS: Why should people who care about Joomla also care about Web 2.0 and social networking?

AA: Joomla Chicago members have all decided to participate in Web 2.0 regardless of familiarity with blogs, social networks, photo sharing, RSS, etc. Adopti [...]

Joomla is a No-Brainer in America's Brainiest Cities

joe.scarry@arctg.com — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0100

I saw a reference the other day to a list that was compiled a while back of "America's Brainiest Cities." It consists of those cities with over 250,000 people which have the highest concentration of college grads. I'm particularly interested in the adoption curve for new technologies like Joomla, and that list got me thinking . . . "I bet there's a pretty high correlation between having a lot of highly educated people and having a lot of people interest in Joomla. [...]

Chicago to Denver - Are you booked yet?

kendall@joomlacoaching.com — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 01:00:00 +0100

If you are going to Denver, have you booked your flight yet? Thanks to Nick M, I learned about cheap flights on Southwest.com. They have flights on Wed out and Sat return for $79 / one-way. On Sunday, they return would be $89 / one-way. That's still cheap to get a weekend in Denver!

If you'd prefer something other than Southwest, another cheap flight is Frontier Airlines out of Midway airport. They have RT tickets for a litle over $179. [...]

Top Reasons to Go to CMS Expo in Denver: #3 - Discover Joomla Trends Nationwide

joe.scarry@arctg.com — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0100

I'm excited, and I know some great things are going to happen at the CMS Expo in Denver. This morning I started to think, "It would be worthwhile to try to put into words - what is it that makes the CMS Expo so worthwhile?" I came up with my top three reasons and I begin today by sharing Reason #3: Discover Joomla Trends Nationwide.

Even though Chicago is the center of the known world (ahem!) I occasionally must admit that somethings are happening in other places, [...]

Security: Why You Need to Actively Manage It

joe.scarry@arctg.com — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0100

For anyone like me who has trouble knuckling down and taking care of security tasks, the article on botnets in today's New York Times provides great insights on the threats out there.

Did you click on the link? Not yet? Stop reading this post and go back and check out the article now!

OK - now that you're motivated, here are some things you can do right now to take the security bull by the horns:

* tackle the three first steps I laid out in my security blog [...]

Denver CMS Expo preview: Barrie North on Ultimate Site Success

joe.scarry@arctg.com — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0100

I've previewed numerous sessions at the upcoming Denver CMS Expo in December (see links below), but now it's confession time: I've been holding off on talking about Barrie North's Black Belt Joomla! session until I made sure that I had my seat reserved!

This session is about the ultimate success of your site: can your site succeed in conversions?

I think of this as the "seeing the forest for the trees" session: you can know a thousand details of ho [...]

Social Networking and Web 2.0 presentation at Joomla Chicago: What Works For You?

joe.scarry@arctg.com — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0100

The web is all about interaction, and the next monthly meeting of Joomla Chicago is all about how to put social networking and Web 2.0 together with Joomla.

Will you do something to help make that discussion as valuable as possible? Please respond to this blog post with comments about what works best for you. What types of social networking do you engage in? And also -- and this is the hard part -- what kind of results do you get, and what is valuable about those results?

For [...]