Joomla and Magento. To integrate or not.

There’s been a lot of talk of the new ecommerce platform, Magento. I must say, it’s one sexy platform. Without doubt, Magento will be the leader in open source commerce, if it isn’t already. Packaged with all the bells and whistles, this SEO-ready platform has released it’s first stable version with force.

Magento already has a substantial following. Without doubt, we’ll start seeing the Magento template shops start popping onto the seen. Many Magento-Junkies come from a Joomla-based background and seem eager to get their hands on the feature rich, best-of-breed ecommerce platform. Most, if not all, have one thing in mind: to develop, hack, extend, modify and integrate. (more…)

Tags: ecommerce, Extensions, Joomla, Magento, seo

Killer copy! What is it and does it really work?

We’ve all heard of killer copy. But what actually constitutes killer copy? To my way of thinking it should mean any copy that is succesful in its aim. But it’s come to mean the sort of manipulative, emotive, NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) copy that we see on those narrow, letter-like pages.

Does it work and if so, will it work for you?

It undoubtedly does work but it really depends on your audience. When I see that sort of copy, while I might be enticed into reading it I rarely buy. Why? Because to me it seems somehow sleazy and I don’t trust the company. I have a sense of being manipulated and that doesn’t feel good. That may seem unfair, and if so I apologize to anyone who disagrees, but that’s how I feel when I read these pages. (more…)

Tags: Copywriting, Online Presence

Fonts, where can I find more?

Have you ever struggled to find a font for a project? Tired of all your default fonts? Does your client want something really obscure?

We have all been to a website with a font we really liked, or really disliked. Sometimes it is really hard to find the one you want in a simple and effective way. I have found a site that makes it all easy.

Neatfonts.com is a great way to navigate around and find thousands of fonts. It has a slick ajaxy feature that lets you live preview any text you want. It is clear, simple to use and gets the job done. The only real downfall of the site is you can literally spend hours considering font options.

Tags: Design, fonts, tools of the trade

Build your Joomla site locally and faster… Extended.

Matt wrote an excellent post on time-saving tools for designing and developing your Joomla!. He’s right, you can save substantial time by installing a local server environment. As well, these tools provide a great platform for learning. Since he’s the Mac pro, I thought it would be of use to include some handy Windows tools…

JSAS is a light-weight, reliable, and quick way to install all your necessary servers, databases, and Joomla! files. This downloads in seconds and is up and running in no time on your local machine. What many people don’t realize is that you can actually use JSAS to develop/design several other open source apps such as Wordpress or Drupal. (more…)

Tags: Joomla, tools of the trade

If Architects Had To Work Like Web Designers…

Dear Mr. Architect:

Please design and build me a house. I am not quite sure of what I need, so you should use your discretion. My house should have somewhere between two and forty-five bedrooms. Just make sure the plans are such that the bedrooms can be easily added or deleted. When you bring the blueprints to me, I will make the final decision of what I want. Also, bring me the cost breakdown for each configuration so that I can arbitrarily pick one.

Keep in mind that the house I ultimately choose must cost less than the one I am currently living in. Make sure, however, that you correct all the deficiencies that exist in my current house (the floor of my kitchen vibrates when I walk across it, and the walls don’t have nearly enough insulation in them). (more…)

Tags: Design