Joomla! 1.5 Templates Cookbook review

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I will be reviewing  the “Joomla! 1.5 Templates Cookbook” by Richard Carter, published by Packt Publishing. This book is about modifying Joomla! 1.5 Templates.

Packt Publishing asked me to review this book since it’s in my line of expertise.

A little about me:
I am Ramon “Ramoonus” van Belzen. A 22 year old web designer (HTML, CSS, microformats, JavaScript, AJAX, jQuery, PHP/MySQL) and hobby programmer (Visual Basic). I’ve been creating webpages since 1997.
I’ve been playing with Joomla! for more than three years now. I currently own no sites which run on Joomla! but I don’t see a reason why I shouldn’t be using it for one of my sites.
You can find my website on http://www.ramoonus.nl

The Joomla! 1.5 Templates Cookbook is one of Packt Publishing’s cookbook series meaning it contains loads of recipes. Each recipe is a small articles/paragraphs with an idea and how to work it out. Just like a regular cookbook.

As the title reveals this book is about Joomla! 1.5 templates. A template is the design which displays the Joomla! site. Without a template no content is displayed, you will only see blank pages.
This book can also be used for the future Joomla! 1.6, which is currently in beta status.

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Linux Kernel 2.6.35 installation guide for Ubuntu Linux

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This short walkthrough describes how to get the latest linux kernel working under Ubuntu Linux without having to compile it yourself.

This tutorial should work with the latest version of Ubuntu Linux (10.04 and 10.10 ) and most distributions based on these versions of Ubuntu Linux like Mint.

The included kernel files have been compiled using the generic ubuntu configuration.
Note: nVIDIA ForceWare drivers are automatically installed using DKMS, if you have these installed and up-to-date.

Installation Guide

  1. Download linux-headers-2.6.35-020635_2.6.35-020635_all.deb
  2. Download your kernel headers package;
    I386: linux-headers-2.6.35-020635-generic_2.6.35-020635_i386.deb
    AMD64: linux-headers-2.6.35-020635-generic_2.6.35-020635_amd64.deb
  3. Download your kernel compile;
    I386: linux-image-2.6.35-020635-generic_2.6.35-020635_i386.deb
    AMD64: linux-image-2.6.35-020635-generic_2.6.35-020635_amd64.deb
  4. Install the files in the same order (else it won`t work!)
  5. In the terminal run:
    sudo update-grub
  6. Reboot and select the kernel from the bootloader menu
    If it`s not there check all steps (and ofcourse errors)

For those who want to do their “own” compiles, the source is also available; linux-source-2.6.35_2.6.35-020635_all.deb

WordPress 2.8 Themes Cookbook review

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When you look for a WordPress theme design books, there isn’t much choice. I looked at the country’s best book store and found nine books when I search for “WordPress themes”. Five of them are published by Packt Publishing. Some of these books only feature a chapter about WordPress theme design or studies, only some are actually interesting.

Packt Publishing offered me  the chance to review “WordPress 2.8 Themes Cookbook”. And that’s what you’re reading right now!

A little about me:
I am Ramon “Ramoonus” van Belzen. A 22 year old webdesigner (HTML, CSS, microformats, Javascript, AJAX, jQuery, PHP/MySQL) and hobby programmer (Visual Basic) with over 10 different WordPress installations online. I`ve been creating webpages since 1997.

The WordPress 2.8 themes design cookbook is one of Packt Publishings cookbook series meaning it contains loads of recipes. Each recipe is a small articles/paragraphs with an idea and how to work it out. Just like a regular cookbook. I haven’t got compression material to compare the book with others of the same topic.

The book is called “WordPress 2.8 themes design cookbook”, which means it’s all about WordPress 2.9 theme designing. After reading the book you should be able to create and modify WordPress themes.

I bet you’re wondering if it’s outdated already since the release of WordPress 3.0? No it’s not. The book is actually until WordPress 2.9 and it should remain usable for the next several point releases. It contains the use of all implemented theme design features in WordPress 2.8.
For the book you will need to have prior knowledge of WordPress (how to use it) and experience with HTML, CSS and basic PHP knowledge. The PHP knowledge isn’t required but trustsme, it’s useful when it comes to debugging typos. Experience with Javascript and frameworks like jQuery is handy but not required. There is no knowledge of WordPress theme design needed.

The first chapter takes you through the basics of WordPress themes and mentions how to use some basic strings you’ll need in every template. It also describes how to make your first theme style.css, how to make a child template and how WordPress template files are organised.

The second chapter helps you create a navigation menu in several ways (horizontally and vertically) and tells you how to implement a search area in your template.

Chapter three explains “the loop”. The loop is the part where a page or post(s) show up. There are multiple ways of displaying the page content for category or tag archives and the homepage. It’s also possible to style sticky pages differently. Finally the chapter explains how to implement advertisement between posts.

The next chapter explains how to implement template tags like an edit button, previous/next link, using an excerpt and such. One of the most handy things is probably a search highlighters. No more use of third party plugins which break down too often!

The fifth chapter explains how to implement WordPress commenting features in your template.

Chapter six is also an important one (isn’t every chapter?!) since it explains how to work with sidebars. Sidebars can contains widgets by default or manually. The chapter also explains how to use multiple sidebars and pre-install widgets.

Chapter seven explains how to use custom page templates like a photo album or archive page.

The following chapter (eight)  explains how to use CSS and PHP to style images in the theme. It ends with implementing video`s in pages and posts.

Next chapter guides you through author pages and adding custom user fields (like a Twitter field). Creating a custom author page gives the author its own short page about himself.

Chapter ten is one of those you’ll probably need when your theme is nearly finished. Its about adding JavaScript effects to the theme. It also guides you through a simple installation of already in WordPress implemented JavaScript libraries like prototype, scriptalulous and jQuery (UI). This is followed by a JavaScript post slider (skinable), toggle-able widgets and a font-size toggle. Handy functions for every theme!

Template eleven is called Advanced WordPress Themes. It explains how to use a theme options page, use multiple color schemes, create a default theme avatar, how-to localize the theme, implementing your own shortcodes and information on publishing the theme to wordpress.org

The final chapter (twelve) contains more advanced features like a rotating header image, centring the main content, making draggable items, creating a tabbed navigation and adding a global toolbar to the theme.

I’m glad I got this book. After reading this book (in just a couple of hours – which is good) I can say to people I can design, create and modify WordPress themes.
The images included really show you what’s the point of what you’ve done and are a good addition to the text.
If you’re looking for a book about WordPress theme design to get started with modifying and/or creating themes, this is the one you should consider buying.

The book should be available at all good book stores right now. You can also order it online (on paper or as E-Books) at https://www.packtpub.com/wordpress-2-8-themes-cookbook/book. This is also the link for more information. A sample chapter (chapter 3 – the loop) can be found at https://www.packtpub.com/sites/default/files/8440-chapter-3-the-loop.pdf

Review by Ramon “Ramoonus” van Belzen

Written by Lee Jordan & Nick Ohrn

Book published in July 2010, by Packt Publishing (Open Source). 296 pages. Paperback

ISBN13: 9781847198440

Mastering Joomla! 1.5 Extension and Framework Development (Update)

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Packt Publishing released the book “Mastering Joomla! 1.5 Extension and Framework Development (Update)” which is an updated version of the original.

This book will guide you through the complexities of implementing add-ons, components, modules, and plugins in Joomla! 1.5. After learning the basics the books teaches you the more advanced stuff like modifying the database and building 3rd party applications using the API.

The book is written for PHP programmers and experience with the MVC design pattern is usefull.

What you will learn from this book :

  • Understand the structure and design of the Joomla! 1.5 framework and how it operates at its core to develop efficient and well-designed extensions for Joomla!
  • Extend the database conventions for the database schema and common fields
  • Access and manipulate the database with the help of JDatabase and JTable classes
  • Design extensions that work within the Joomla! structure
  • Incorporate User, Session, Request, and Browser classes in extensions
  • Organize your code with the Model-View-Controller (MVC) design pattern
  • Build your own components to manage and present a specific set of data
  • Enhance our component by creating a module, which will add new functionality to our frontend
  • Modify your system’s functionality without the need to alter existing code
  • Discover how to add pagination, ordering, filtering, and searching to make your extensions more user-friendly, and increase the chances of having successfully created a commercially winning or freely available extension
  • Improve your extensions by customizing the document properties, adding multilingual capabilities, and providing an interactive user experience
  • Access remote third-party services from an application with Joomla!’s API (Application Programming Interface) and web service
  • Master the techniques of error handling and access control to prevent malicious attacks on your systems

If you`re interested in the book I`ve got the following article for you: Customize backend Component in Joomla! 1.5.