The JUpgrade component was key to this migration. I won't get into every step here but I followed this one to the T and it worked well. Now is the biggest issue I ran into afterward the process completed.

Article and categories permissions were wonky. For some reason my front-end editors couldn't edit articles on the front-end of my site. So long short, their permissions needed to be set. Is this a bug or issue with the upgrade tool? No clue! For some reason all my migrated categories were marked "Inherited" and had the message "Not Allowed" at the same time. So it appears that they didn't have the correct ACL perms.

So my fix? Open the category, then click save. After doing so somehow it gave itself the correct permissions. How did I know this? I created a new category and compared the default ACL settings. Now this wasn't the only spot. On all the articles that people edit on the front-end I needed to follow the same process. Open, then save. Poof permissions corrected. I still need to hit the JUpgrade forums to see if anyone else ran into this. It would be much better done with one sql query. I'd still like to know if this is an upgrade bug with JUpdate or just something we are all going to have to do because of the new 1.6 ACL features. If anyone has some comments or insight pleas post comments below.

Other than that, I will admit that 1.6 rocks!!!! Unlimited categories is extremely helpful. I love the admin overhaul, I find things are more logically grouped. I love the one view for extensions as well. Just use the drop down box to select, component, plug-in or module and bam, your display changes. Oh and the gantry template framework is even cooler in 1.6.

I'll post some more as I finish up my intranet migration into 1.6. I'm sure I'll have some other findings to share with you all.

Cheers,

Nick

"Raise the fist of the Joomla child" m/

We both are still deeply ingrained in using 1.5, so to learn 1.6 on top of our day jobs was pretty challenging to learn to say the least! After giving ourselves a crash course on some testing sites, visiting joomla.org's documentation we got the hang of it and where able to successfully teach it. Learning by doing right???

I'd like to thank all those Joomla newbies and returning attendees for joining our session. It was great to see some of you from prior years back again. And I'm sure Kendall would agree we had some superb Q/A sessions. And lets face it, us Joomla folks always have more fun than those...cough cough... DRUPAL people right... Ya Joomla rocks harder, I SAID IT!

So some of my favorite memories of CMS Expo 2011 (not in any special order)

1. Having the privileged to come speak at such a high quility and nutruing event. This by far is better than any expo or learning conference I've ever gone too. Even though its not a 100% Joomla expo, there isn't one that could come close to the diversity of the Joomla sessions offered, hands down.
2. Joomla vs. Drupal Smackdown. Man if you missed this you better come back next year for part two. I think the onlookers got more heated than the project heads from both camps. Kyle Ledbetter and the boys from CorePHP didn't back down and had their share of zings. Thumbs up to you fellow JoomlaVangalists.
3. I got to drop Rocket Theme's Gantry Framework mini demo into my kickstart template session. Those of you know me as a RT / Gantry fanboy, so it was cool to show of the raw power of Gantry. I heard plenty of oohs and ahhss.
4. Having Tom Canavan cause me to loose sleep after his Security session. Tom I love ya brother but the moment I walk out I have a three page task list to review back at the office. BTW, nice birth certificate reference, ha ha!
5. Checking out Johnathan's session on CSS3 and the unveiling of Automated CSS3 Generator Plugin. OMG rounded corners in ALL browsers without spending hours doing css and image slicing. A MUST HAVE EXTENSION!!! Go buy it now!
6. Microsoft giving out "Make web not war" Joomla t-shirts. yes...I took a few. ;)
7. Sitting through Avery Cohen's Google analytic presentation. I tell you folks this dude is hilarious. By far one of the most entertaining/lively speakers I've seen. Not only did he school me in new Google secrets, he kept the crowd laughing and interacting constantly. I heard so many good comments from other attendees. Hats off to you Avery, you rocked the crowd! BTW this talented SEO king is a member of our Joomla Chicago group.
8. Kendall, is now known as the VGA cable master. So from now on its Kendall "VGA" Cabe, ir KCVGA for short.
9. The food. Hotel Orrington's breakfasts and lunches where amazing. Their staff was so friendly. I've never seen a harder working bunch. These guys take pride in their work and the amazing service shows!!!!
10. Meeting other Joomla evangelists.
11. I'm sure I'm missing some so I'll append later.

I would also like to personally thank Linda and John Coonen for their tireless work and devotion to the Joomla Chicago user group and for lost sleep for running CMS EXPO. The Expo event gets bigger and better as each year passes. All those who attend do nothing but rave that this is THE BEST Joomla / CMS event they attend. I'm very thankful to know you guys and be involved with people who are so passionate about teaching Joomla to the masses.

Raise the fist of the Joomla child! m/

 

I've had the privilege to be in contact with some folks from Portland Oregon that have been attempting to pull together a Joomla User Group in Portland.  The first attempt didn't go very far, but a new set of people have stepped up and have really started pushing things forward.  On my latest trip to Portland, I contacted the group to see what was going on.  Nothing was scheduled but the organizer suggested a meetup between myself, her, and another gent that mentioned they wanted to meet soon.

From that meeting, a user group meeting was planned, date set, venue found, and publicity released.  All from a simple post to the user group forum.  What was the key?  I believe the biggest thing that helped was just the push of someone offering to be the speaker at their event.  That someone was me and I offered to speak on a topic they were definitely interested in - Joomla 1.6. 

I have gotten involved with the local group as part of the steering committee to help from afar based on the experience I have gained from being on the core team in Chicago.  When I visit Portland, I can plan my trip around the meeting in Oregon and visit with some new colleagues around the NW portion of the US.

It's amazing where you can find new places to converse about Joomla!.  I'm very happy to have met some very nice, talented, and passionate people.  Joomla! enthusiasts are everywhere!

Want to see what's happening in Portland if you are going to be visiting, go to http://www.joomlapdx.com and see what's up for their next meeting.  If it was like the first one, it should be another great meeting.

The November 11 Joomla Chicago meeting promises to be a sell-out - the presentation will provide a preview of Joomla 1.6.

I've seen a couple of previews so far, and it looks like 1.6 is going to have some powerful features, especially with respect to Access Control Levels (ACL). I can't wait to start developing in 1.6!

As for existing sites . . . what will the path to upgrade look like?  One of the important topics we covered in Joomla Chicago meetings during 2009 was the 1.0 > 1.5 pathway.  Presentations included hands-on programming steps, as well as decision model for site managers about if and when to make the migration.

What do people think?  Should we get some similar events on the calendar for 2010 with respect to the 1.5 > 1.6 upgrade path?

Let me share my newest discovery with you: go to Joomla Milwaukee and get signed up for their next meeting. I've been to two meetings so far and they've both been fabulous.

At yesterday's meeting there was a great, hands-on presentation by Tom Egan of Egan New Media about customization he did on a calendar module for a site he built for the Grand Prairie, TX, Air Hogs professional baseball team.

Dan Knauss of New Local Media provided an excellent overview of the planned Joomla 1.6. Key focus was on access control. (That's a presentation I'd love to see at our Chicago meeting!)

The level of discussion at Milwaukee Joomla meetings is really helpful: precise and practical, and edging on technical, but without being obscure.

One other interesting note: John Fischer, a member of the group, will be presenting a two-day program on "Joomla: Building Powerful Content Managment Systems and Onine Applications" at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) on April 30 and May 1. Tuition is :$525. See http://www4.uwm.edu/sce/course.cfm?id=17282 to register.

Once again, hats off to Victor Drover of Anything Digital and Gabriel Wahhab of Connexion Technologies for their leadership of this group.

Joe Scarry is head project manager for Chicago Joomla web developer and web design firm Arc Technology Group. Arc Technology is one of the sponsors of Joomla Milwaukee.