Web design & FOSS
Front-end web technologies and Free Open Source Software.
Thursday 17 April 2008, 3:18 PM
Learning curve ball
For the past few years I’ve been working as a specialised contract XHTML/CSS builder. As part of my planned move to remote working from the heart of Devon, I am starting to use the Joomla! Content Management System. I plan to start growing my web design & build company – already, my existing private clients are becoming increasingly demanding(!), asking for updateable image galleries, blogging facilities, multiple authors etc.
Due to time constraints (ie moving my entire life) I have chosen Joomla! rather than learn a web application framework such as Ruby on Rails, Django or CakePHP. The theory is that it should be very easy to knock up a serviceable web site.
In practise, I have found it quite frustrating! I’m pretty competent at writing XHTML and CSS, I “know about computers” and I’m a fairly bright chap, so shouldn’t learning Joomla! be a walk in the park? Well, no.
As with all new skills, there is a learning curve, and that curve can be the more frustrating if you don’t acknowledge it from the start. As I explained to my friend JT, just because I’m a skilled mechanic doesn’t mean I’ll know how to drive!
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