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!