Being true to its mission which is to make IT work for everyone especially for its partner-agencies and clienteles, Central Visayas Information Sharing Network Foundation, Inc. (CVISNET) has once again hosted a training entitled WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT USING JOOMLA! 1.5 on July 27-29, 2011 at DOST 7 Conference Room, Sudlon, Lahug, Cebu City.

The three-day hands-on workshop is in partnership with the Confederation of Scientific and Professional Organizations (COSPO) and the Department of Science & Technology Region 7 (DOST 7).  The workshop was participated by the representatives from the academe namely - Leyte Normal University, Saint Joseph Institute of Technology – Butuan, Negros Oriental State University. Some government offices such as the Philippine National Police (PNP) - Cebu City and Siquijor, Department of Environmental and Natural Resources Region 7 (DENR 7), Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD), and the Municipalities of Catarman - Camiguin, San Fernando - Cebu, Barili – Cebu took interest and sent some representatives for the workshop.

But what is Joomla?

From its release in 2005, Joomla! or the anglicized Swahili word which means “all together” or “as a whole”  had been downloaded 23 million times and won awards because of its accessibility to the public. Many aspects, including its ease-of-use and extensibility, have made Joomla the most popular Web site software available. Best of all, it is an open source solution that is freely available to everyone. It is an award-winning content management system (CMS), which enables the user to build Web sites and powerful online applications. Through this, one can keep track of every piece of content on the created Web site, much like the local public library that keeps track of books and stores them. Content can be simple text, photos, music, video, documents, or just about anything one can think of.

Workshop Output.

The workshop has provided the participants a good venue for a learning opportunity to develop and enhance customized applications for their respective websites as they were individually mentored to make their own works online such as:

§  Add news, events, links, users, content pages, media and understand how to make the most of Joomla! powered websites.

§  Load media and insert into content

§  Layout website  including positioning of modules, assigning them to pages & templates

§  Select & install templates

§  Add, edit and delete content using WYSIWYG editor

§  Set up and Installation of Joomla 1.5

§  Introduction to joomla, site structure and administration of control panel 

With the positive turn out of the workshop and appreciative comments from the participants, CVISNET will definitely continue its advocacy on timely communication of IT advancements through information sharing.