http://www.joomlablogger.net/bloggingbook These are the slides from my presentation "Blogging with Joomla", held at the third "J and Beyond" conference in Bad Nauheim, Germany. The presentation is a condensed version of my book with the same name.

1. BLOGGING WITH
JOOMLA
past • present • future
Kristoffer Sandven

2. WAY BACK...
…there was the Palm Pilot

3. I started blogging in 1998

4. AND NOW...
…it’s gone

5. Started the current blog
to learn and connect
• Wanted to connect with
the community
• Decided to reach for the
world
• Jumped into it

6. I imagined it would
be like a sprint

7. It turned out to be
more like a marathon..

8. One of my first posts was commented on by
Brian Teeman, and it taught me to do my
research before posting…

9. «This is really bad advice!»
Brian Teeman, May 2009

10. We have since become friends.
JAB 11

11. The past
• Blog layouts have always been a part of Joomla
• Still, Joomla hasn't become a standard for blogging
• Why?
• Too complex or confusing UX / UI
• Lacking features?
• How Joomla is "sold"?

12. My start
• My start was a simple Joomla blog layout (1.5) in 2009
• Expanded with SuperBlogger from Joomlaworks (2010)
• Moved to Joomla 2.5 and K2 (2012)

13. Moving to K2
Needed more flexible content templating:
• Front page
• Blog posts
• Landing pages
• "About" type pages
• Quick Looks
• Pages that show posts with common tags

15. Keys to blogging success
• Great content
• Great looking template
• Readable typography
• Quality images
• Social media integration

16. Keys to blogging success
• RSS feed to Feedburner
• Solid comments system
• Tags
• Quality web host
• Consistency in
delivering content

18. Choosing a platform
Basically, you have three options:
• 1. Joomla + installed extensions
• 2. Joomla + a content construction kit + additional extensions
• 3. Onecomponent with everything you need for blogging
included

19. Joomla
+ installed extensions
• Free
• Canbe hard to keep
updated (many extensions)
• Needs
extensions for
comments, tags and more

20. Joomla + CCK
+ additional extensions
• Free
• Fewer extensions to manage
• More complex to set up
• Commercialtemplates come
with CCK-specific styling
• Good if blog is part of a
bigger site

21. K2 categories and sub templates
K2 Template K2 sub
category template
K2 Content K2 Content K2 Content
category 1 category 2 category 3
K2 items K2 items K2 items
K2 items (articles)
(articles) (articles) (articles)

22. Zoo apps

23. One component
with everything included
• Cost involved
• Onecomponent to keep
updated
• Best for blog only site
• Good for newbies

25. Time to decide...

26. Workflow
Make a Photoshop template for images

27. Workflow
Use a writing program

28. Workflow
Set up automatic publishing to social media

29. Workflow
Set a blog schedule / publishing plan

30. Tips
Create your own content templates

31. Tips
Work with CSS
to make your site
elements fit
together

32. God (or the devil) is in the details
Without JavaScript With JavaScript

33. Mobile site / blog
• Mobile template for each
device (MobileJoomla type)
or
• Responsive template

34. Mobile template
• Onetemplate for each device
(MobileJoomla type solution)

35. Responsive template
Full width
iPhone iPad

36. Organizing content
• Multiplecategories / sub
categories
• One category + Tags

37. SEO Basics
• Unique, relevant and quality content
• Keyword research (using Market
Samurai, SEOMoz or Google Adwords)
• SEF URLs
• Links (internal / external)
• Title and description tags
• Regular optimization efforts

38. The Future

39. My wishes
• Improved front-end editing and image management (JUX)
• Responsive templates in the core (Bootstrap / JUI)
• Sample content / wizard for blogs and other site types
• Remote blogging support
• Authorship support in user profiles
• Tags / new content layouts

40. The improved admin

41. JUX / JUI
• Themost important factor for Joomla to
succeed is improved UX / UI
• WordPress has been popular with bloggers
because of simplicity and useful functions
• Devs are now using WP for full sites
• Lower the threshold of Joomla

42. Conclusion
• Joomla! is great for blogging
• You will learn a lot by doing it
• To
become more widespread,
we need improved UX / UI
• Go do it!

43. Learn more
www.joomlablogger.net/bloggingbook
Available as e-book and printed paperback – 287 pages