Archive for May, 2008

You’ve probably received fraudulent emails from people posing to be a bank wanting you to log in to your account. A few weeks ago, I received a phone call from an automated machine claiming to be my bank with a message for me. It then asked for the last four digits of my social security number; hung up immediately and decided that I would call my bank later.

Today, I received a similar phone call and hung up again. I called my bank right away and they confirmed with the security department that they did not place this phone call. Had I given this information, who knows what would have happened?

REMEMBER: only give personal information when you initiate a phone call with a trusted number. NEVER give your personal information when someone calls you.

The first JoomlaEXPO was held this past Friday in Chicago. We had a full house with 251 people attending.

We had three sessions on Joomla! coding (including mine) that each focused on a different aspect of Joomla! programming. My session was on the differences between coding in Joomla! 1.0 and 1.5, highlighting some of my new favorite features. (You can download the PowerPoint slides here.) Azrul then followed up with a full presentation on how to create SEF URLs for your component while avoiding some common SEF URL pitfalls. Steve talked about different framework features and debugging tools, then unveiled his Community ACL component.

I was also able to hear Victor Drover’s session on GPL software business models. He’s currently using a hybrid model where he sells access to his site and also does consulting work. His main point was that chasing down software pirates is a waste of time, so make it a moot point by offering your software under the GPL.

The one thing that struck me about this event was that the third-party developer community was very well represented. However, no one group totally dominated the conference: we a had a good mix of template designers, website producers, system admins, hosts, programmers, and Joomla! users. At the beginning of the event, we were given a set of color-coded stickers to identify ourselves. In a community as diverse as Joomla!’s, this was definitely helpful!

Special thanks goes out to the conference organizers. I know firsthand that putting together an event of this type takes a lot of effort and persistence. This one was very well attended for a first (or even a third) year conference and I’m already looking forward to the next!

UPDATE: Now you can see the presentation below:

| View | Upload your own

Quick Joomla! University update: there is a slot available in my Creating Joomla! Extensions session on May 17th in Chicago. I’ll be covering the basics of how to create a component, a module, and a plugin. We’ll then get into Model-View-Controller style components and go over some commonly performed Joomla! programming tasks. Sign up today!

UPDATE: The course is now filled.