Fully Loaded Joomla! Websites

Carol Delisi runs a very successful learning facilitation, business process documentation and consulting business from a rather isolated location in Southwest Montana.  While professional networks such as LinkedIn are an excellent resource for professional accreditation, they don't effectively community style, advice and many other characteristics that can open the door to new professional relationships.  Carol's website uses some basic Joomla! extensions, customized to provide a personalized media for her message.

Design notes -

• FacilitatingbyDesign.com employs extensions for a weblog and a news flash for mini-notes.
• Tobacco Root Graffics designed the logo for Facilitating by Design.  Please see our logo portfolio for more information. 
  

The Greater Ruby Valley Chamber of Commerce & Agriculture (GRVCCA) represents the towns of Silver Star, Twin Bridges, Sheridan and Alder and the surrounding agricultural community.  The Chamber's board wanted a new website that would provide extensive information about tourism opportunities in the Ruby Valley, relocation and new business advice, event information for the community and an advertising venue for Chamber members. 

Design notes -

• At the time we started designing this project, it was generally believed that it wasn't possible to create image menu buttons of the type we've implemented on the GRVCCA website. We researched a number of different code snippets and, eventually, integrated a couple of the code sections into a working system.
• The main menu employs a three level, horizontal submenu system.  While this is visually more appealing than many of the dropdown menus, it requires more time to navigate to the second and third levels.  (We probably wouldn't recommend this system in the future.)
• While the core system is Joomla!, there are two pages designed solely in HTML with image maps.  At the time the GRVCCA website was designed, a reliable pop-up window extension system wasn't available.  The HTML system works really well but the information is not stored in the system's database.
• Tobacco Root Graffics has provided nearly all of the text content and many of the photos for this website.
• Joomla! extentions used in this website -
  
• weblog and content management
• events management for the Community Calendar
• external links management
• business directory
• list management
• photo slideshow

Tobacco Root Graffics did not design the template for SweetgrassRods.com (SGR).  The template was designed by Earthtalk Studio (oolitemedia.com). 

Dave Delisi and Jerry Kustich from Sweetgrass Rods asked Tobacco Root Graffics to transfer their HTML website to the Joomla! content management system in order to facilitate maintenance and an on-line store.  Dave and Jerry also wanted to reorganize the photo gallery, add some weblogs and provide a nice on-line spot for fly fisherman to virtually explore Southwest Montana.  This website is our best example of the flexibility of the Joomla! system to grow with an organization. 

Sweetgrass Rods builds world renown, hand-made bamboo fly rods under the direction of master craftsman, Glenn Brackett. 

Development notes -

• Each page of the original website showed one or two stylized photos relating to fly fishing or the construction of fly rods.  As we planned to add many new pages to the website, we needed a system that would integrate photos on the fly (no pun intended).  A Joomla! extension module, Flexheader3, allows the integration of the photo images based on the Joomla! page id.  This saves a considerable amount of time setting up the photo page headers, keeping it very simple and non-technical. 
  
• The original website provided visitors with a pdf order form for purchasing items such as SGR logo products, reels and books.  With the Virtuemart Joomla! extension, SGR's website offers over 150 ancillary fly fishing products ranging from artificial flies and reels to household decor and artwork.  These items can be purchase immediately, on-line and payments are processed through a Paypal portal.  TRG writes the copy for all of SGR's on-line products and produces the photos.
  
• In the initial redesign of the SGR website, Dave and Jerry had not planned to offer an on-line payment option for their fly rods.  Then, they received an order form Japan and needed to collect payment!  In addition to setting up a special Paypal payment portal for the rods, TRG designed a rainbow trout medallion for each type of SGR fly rod. 
  
• SGR's Zac "Meadering Booboy" Sexton has taken a simple weblog and turned it into a fly fishing dream journal.  Zac's photos make the city fishers drool and his fishing tales are delightful.
• We organized the SGR photos into albums and integrated a stylized presentation that shows off the images.  Our timing was great.  Just after the gallery was organized, Dave and Glenn returned from a bamboo shopping trip in Southern China with hundreds of terrific photos.
• One size does not fit all for photo galleries and slideshows.  While most of the SGR photos are organized in an extension called Joomgallery, we decided to use an extension called Atomicon to display the photos of the construction of the new SGR headquarters.
• Culling waterflow data from the USGS website isn't entirely new.  Some fishing outfitters provide this data for their operating area.  Even so, we had to write a program to grab the data and feed it to the website.  The fishing conditions page also integrates a Joomla! extension showing the phase of the moon and the weather forecast. 
  

Cleve Witham breeds and trains horses that have pedigrees concentrated on traits from the legendary Lucky Blanton.  Cleve needed a website that would -

• provide extensive data and photos for his horses,
  
• be easy to maintain, and
  
• not cost $10,000.

We did that!!

Design notes -

• We created a customized catalog system for Cleve's website which is built on the Jxtended catalog framework.  Besides storing information about a horse's color, size, DOB and AQHA registration, the Breeder's catalog integrates each horse's dam and sire data with all the data points to create on-the-fly pedigree charts.  This means that for any pedigree chart on the website, the data for each horse is only entered once.  For example, your mare, Miss Sally and stud, Mister Joe, are their antecedents have been entered into the database.  The the record for the foal from Miss Sally by Mister Joe is entered into the database, the complete pedigree for this foal will automatically appear on her webpage. 
  
• The custom breeders catalog includes a large, primary photo and a lightbox photo gallery for each animal.
  
• Each stud and mare's record shows a list of their offspring as found in the database.
• By category, visitors can review horses by selection from a list or browse through the category, page-by-page.
• Joomla! extensions used in the website -
  
• catalog system customized for breeders
• photo gallery with multiple albums and an excellent slideshow system

The Ruby Valley Hospital Foundation raises money to assist in the purchase of diagnostic and other life supporting equipment for the Ruby Valley Hospital.  The Foundation's  decision to have a website was based on their desire to have -

• an efficient media for communicating with the community, 
• an information resource for potential donors, and
• a portal for on-line donations.

Design notes -

• This website was designed in conjunction with a new website for the Ruby Valley Hospital.  major aspects of the template for both websites are identical.  The only significant design difference was a panel on the right, devoted to recent news items.  Visitors can switch between the two websites by clicking on the Hospital's logo or the Foundation's image button. 
  
• Joomla! extensions used in the website -
  
• On-line donation payment system with automated donor and administrator notification.
• Site map management
• Latest news list
• Custom menus

The management of the Ruby Valley Hospital found that not all content management systems live up to the title.  Because of the difficulties in updating their website, information had grown stale and their website was not the community resource that they had planned it to be.  After a tour of the Joomla! content management system, the decision was made to redesign their website and coordiante their development efforts with the Ruby Valley Hospital Foundation.

Design notes -

• This website was designed in conjunction with the website for the Ruby Valley Hospital Foundation.  Major components of the template are identical for the two websites.  Visitors can switch between the two websites by clicking on the Hospital's logo in the masthead or an image button for the Foundation.
• Joomla! extensions used in the website -
  
• Site map management
• Custom menus

Southwest Montana Sugar (SWMTSugar) is a community forum for sharing information in Madison County, Montana.  We created this website in response to a comment that "our greatest poverty in the lack of information" in Madison County.  Unfortunately, this website hasn't been used as we had hoped.  No, we haven't received piles of junk posts but we also have seen the locals posting their events, ideas and opinions.  This can probably be resolved with more social media links.

Design notes -

• We eventually hope to sell advertising on this website. Visitors statistics are downloaded periodically from Google analytics and fed to a program we created which organizes the data and creates a web page report.
• Joomla! extensions used in the website -
• Kunena forum
• Kunena forum ad linking utility
• a masthead image rotator