Design vs. Develop

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:

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