I can’t settle on a favorite platform to post my insights on. I like Joomla but all my Joomla websites enjoy the almost exact look and feel. OK for ‘my’ sites, but not everyone wants to look just like me (he he). I am also testing out tumblr and twitter and facebook and google+ and even wordpress and weebly and google sites.This post was originally on tumblr which should have forwarded to twitter which should be passed on my 3 friends at facebook, but getting that content back from those sites to links on my websites is unnecessarily awkward. I usually end up double posting the content back where it should end up .. like here .. when I get time. Joomla is a CMS that I never use as one, because I really only have those 3 friends. So most of my sites end up like a large personal blog. Setting up a Joomla site for others to use has been less than successful due to the need to train users in entering passwords and basic html code. Their eyes start crossing and I have to back them slowly away from the computer screen.
Weebly was selected for the Magrath Museum website and it was easily mastered by the summer intern, but needs some full time tending. Content is king and I don’t have access to it unless I go work at the Museum (although my kids would say I belong there). [clarification: I have easy access to the website via Weebly, just no access to the content that makes it interesting ..]
Google Sites was used with some success for Westwinds Soccer. They only update it during the soccer season (a short season in Canada) and the last year I convinced them to use an embedded Google Spreadsheet to report the League Standings with some success. It will remain to be seen if they will be able to update the site for 2012 without some assistance.
The Magrath Chamber of Commerce is a site I am donating space and time to. The primary site is on my webserver using Joomla with links to Google Sites for projects like the upcoming Tradeshow. This approach allows for quick implementation and presentation of information for chamber projects without major webdesign project on the main site. I simply include a menu link to the Tradeshow on my main Joomla site and back to the Chamber site from the Google Sites page with similar theme and it seems to work ok.
Finally, a word on Social Media .. Google+ vs Twitter vs Facebook. Still find it awkward to use successfully. I would like to use my multiple personalities but these sites want only to know the actual me. I would like to post as Magrath Chamber when acting as their spokesperson and as Soft Serve Direct when wearing my business hat and only as R Davies when posting my own family news. Similar problem with email: I have Gmail accounts for all these same entities. To their credit, Google is making recent strides in letting me ‘switch identity’ as needed between my various email accounts.
Meanwhile, my webdesign efforts are much like my kindergarten art projects - various interesting pieces of information glued together in awkward ways with occasional missing links, that once in a while could be considered a masterpiece (by my mom).
Google Sites was used with some success for Westwinds Soccer. They only update it during the soccer season (a short season in Canada) and the last year I convinced them to use an embedded Google Spreadsheet to report the League Standings with some success. It will remain to be seen if they will be able to update the site for 2012 without some assistance.
The Magrath Chamber of Commerce is a site I am donating space and time to. The primary site is on my webserver using Joomla with links to Google Sites for projects like the upcoming Tradeshow. This approach allows for quick implementation and presentation of information for chamber projects without major webdesign project on the main site. I simply include a menu link to the Tradeshow on my main Joomla site and back to the Chamber site from the Google Sites page with similar theme and it seems to work ok.
Finally, a word on Social Media .. Google+ vs Twitter vs Facebook. Still find it awkward to use successfully. I would like to use my multiple personalities but these sites want only to know the actual me. I would like to post as Magrath Chamber when acting as their spokesperson and as Soft Serve Direct when wearing my business hat and only as R Davies when posting my own family news. Similar problem with email: I have Gmail accounts for all these same entities. To their credit, Google is making recent strides in letting me ‘switch identity’ as needed between my various email accounts.
Meanwhile, my webdesign efforts are much like my kindergarten art projects - various interesting pieces of information glued together in awkward ways with occasional missing links, that once in a while could be considered a masterpiece (by my mom).
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