Using Joomla!, 2nd Edition

Foreword

Ryan Ozimek

Board Member, Open Source Matters (OSM)

In 1999, I found myself in the middle of a war zone, embedded with a humanitarian relief organization in Eastern Europe. I was just another recent college graduate looking for ways to serve a higher purpose. During college, I’d paid my way through school by doing database consulting gigs since I had a knack for technology. In the golden era of the dot-com boom, I thought it would be great if there were a way to find affordable, effective, and open source technology that could be used to help those in need. Flash forward a few years to 2003. As I’m preparing to present a website solution to a nongovernmental organization in New York, an engineer on my company’s team showed me a content management system (CMS) called Mambo. At the time, trying to manage content on your website either required an engineering degree or was woefully underpowered to run even a simple blog. Mambo was different. It provided just the right balance of ease-of-use and robustness. “Power in simplicity” was the tagline. I was hooked.

Little did I know that 11 years later, more than 3% of the Web would be powered by Mambo’s successor, Joomla. Joomla brought a new way of thinking about website management when it evolved from Mambo in 2005. Website creation and management was no longer the domain of software developers, and instead “accidental techies” within organizations could now create content on the Web to share with the world. It also brought with it the powerful ability to make your website more than just a blog or content. Third party extensions could be easily added to allow you to sell merchandise, create an online community, and share your message with the world in a variety of new ways.

While Joomla provided liberation from standard technology for accidental techies, its true success was in the growth of a worldwide community of developers, designers, contributors, and users. Bringing diverse backgrounds and cultures to a software project was not novel when Joomla started, but the way it attracted the nonengineer was certainly unique. Due to this community development, Joomla has continued to grow in two directions at the same time, serving the needs of both the average end user and the software engineer.

One of the most striking differences between Joomla and any other software I’ve used is its focus on community. From two worldwide conferences each year to more than 40 local conferences spread around the globe, Joomla is truly a community of individuals passionate about harnessing the power of the Internet to improve the world. It’s a community that speaks more than 50 languages, is used in more than 190 countries, and which actively promotes and encourages the ideas and contributions of nondevelopers. As the Internet continues to evolve, and as more technology is created to better serve a more global, mobile, and social online world, Joomla continues to change with it.

The book in your hands is a testament to Joomla’s progress, as it contains the information you need not only to be successful in building and managing a Joomla website, but also the insight as to where to look for the next generation of technology to help your organization thrive online. Whether you’re running a small business or operating a multinational organization, Joomla provides the tools you need to build a successful website. I met Ron at the very first JoomlaDay event on Google’s campus in 2007 and we’ve been great friends ever since. I also met Jenn at a JoomlaDay (in San Francisco) recently and was immediately impressed by her great attitude, organizational skills, and ability to get things done. Jenn and Ron provide you with a simple step-by-step game plan to create your Joomla website—and the encouragement to go beyond the basics and explore all the richness the Joomla community has to offer.

I hope to see you in the Joomla community soon!