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.

When: January 27th, 11am - 1:45pm
Where: DePaul University Conference Center - 1 East Jackson St, 8th Floor, Chicago
Cost: Complimentary
Lunch: Included (care of Arc Technology Group)

Quarterly CMS Connection meetings are geared toward business owners and managers, interested in using Content Management Systems like Joomla! to achieve successful business results.

Tech-discussion at the quarterly CMS Connection meetings will be relevant to project leaders, discussing business subjects such as ECommerce, SEO and Web-based Marketing, Analytics, Social & Instant Media, Business Strategy and more. Attending the CMS Connection is a great opportunity for business-tech leaders to network with others - live - here in Chicagoland.

Sign Up to Attend

What's the Difference Between JoomlaChicago and The CMS Connection?

Both initiatives are community-powered and organized by the CMS Association. The CMSA's mission is to support Content professionals in the technical, creative and businessworld. Here are the differences:

JoomlaChicago meetings are monthly, in Palatine.
CMS Connection meetings are quarterly, in the Loop.

JoomlaChicago monthly meetings focus on technical training for Joomla! users. CMS Connection meetings focus on business-related subjects for business decision-makers.

JoomlaChicago focuses on Joomla! CMS Connection centers on technology tools such as Joomla! to help business flourish.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Thank you to many folks coming together to foster the qualtiy growth of tech-business here in Chicago: All presenters have generously offered up their time and talents; facilities are underwritten by DePaul University; a delicious lunch is sponsored by Arc Technology Group, and the quarterly meetings are organized by the CMS Association, host of the annual CMS Expo.

Special thanks to Danny Mittleman and DePaul University for providing Chicago location. We hope to see you on January 27th, to come together to promote and strengthen your business through the strategic use of one of the best CMSes on the planet: Joomla!

Sign Up to Attend

There's good news on the Joomla 1.6 front! Tonight, the Joomla! Project officially released its RC1 version.  Fifteen beta releases later, Release Candidate #1 is now live, and available for download on Joomla.org. Give it a spin here!

That said, those in the know in the developer community are still recommending you treat this release with a fair dose of caution, almost like this is a "beta 16" version. At least one developer mentioned to me that there are some rather substantive, pesky bugs that remain in the stew.

That said, for now, let's all CELEBRATE the release! Proceed cautiously, as if some orange cones still line the roadway...hell, we're used to that. You may not want to use this RC on a live site. A big THANK YOU goes out to all those who contributed to the release of 1.6RC1! Three CHEERS!!!

Welp, the mad scientists up at 'corePHP' in Battle Creek have gone and done it. As if the WordPress + Joomla! marriage of CMSes wasn't enough for their franken-CMS laboratory, they've gone and invitro-fertilized a Drupal egg with some Joomla! goodness, giving us - you guessed it - Droomla!

Aside from the gory detail of whether Droomla was delivered via C-Section, one wonders, why'd the folks at corePHP lash together Drupal and Joomla DNA, all in one CMS? A few reasons, which boil down to the following:

1. Get all the power of Drupal with Joomla! ease of use.
2. Short learning curve to get Drupal-esque site up
3. Access over 7,000 NEW Drupal-powered extensions (modules)
4. Easier templating options from the Joomla-side
5. Built-in capabilities such as blog engine, document repository, nested categories, etc.

Nooku announced on its blog that it too is creating a new Joomla Distribution, this one to focus on Multi-site capabilities. Nooku Server is currently being released to Nooku'sown Partner base first. Nooku's announcement comes on the heels of another distribution announcment from the Molajo team.

There's no word on how long that Partner-only distribution period will be, until they release it to the general community. Lead-time between announcement, pre-launch public relations and actual delivery date for many of leader Johan Janssen's projects has been notoriously long;  nevertheless, Janssen's team is worth watching, as they continue to innovate in the Joomla! community. See Nooku Server's announcement here.

. . . . . . .

Point from Johan made Dec 10, 2010: Nooku is an open source project. We are growing a collaborative and innovative community. As stated in  our announcement the Nooku Server Space on our develepor portal is only accessible to Nooku contributors. Contributors are people who have signed our contribution agreement. More info on our contributor agreement can be found here : http://blog.nooku.org/2010/11/nooku-contributor-agreement/

Keeping It Personal Keeps It Real.

The #1 over-arching goal at the beginning of the year was to provide excellent LIVE meetings for all members. While online efforts will always be part of the package, to help share information and insights, the purpose for any online efforts will continue to be to support the premise of providing excellent quality person-to-person meetings.

There's nothing like that personal contact, not only for quality learning purposes, but also to forge trusted relationships that webinars, emails and Skype just can't touch.

We presented a full slate of learning and business networking sessions in 2010, including new sessions on Joomla frameworks, audio and video for Joomla, Joomla 1.6, plus a "3-minute dating" format to enable everyone to get to know eachother better.

New Online Capabilities

We performed a major re-design to the site, all done by JoomlaChicago members. The new design is clean, it's stylish, and it's "Chicago!" We added quite a bit of functionality to our website, including a social networking element, using JomSocial, complete with Discussion Groups and apps, ProjectFork for project management, new online presentations, expanded Joomla Showcase section,  rather official "Terms and Conditions" legal documentation and more. We also expanded our blogging area to enable all members to blog on JoomlaChicago.com.

New Location In Chicagoland

After three-plus years at the swanky-swank headquarters of the Acquity Group, we finally outgrew each other. It was time to give a new location a shot, so we shifted to Durty Nellie's in suburban Palatine. Meeting attendance ranges from 35 to 45 participants, which is slightly down from the 45 - 55 downtown, but so far, so good!

Connections With Joomla.org

This year, Joomla.org continues to grow and expand. The parent organization, Open Source Matters Inc (NY based non-profit), has helped fund and foster Joomla's growth as well. Their working groups have implemented several new programs to assist user groups, and JoomlaChicago has been a benefactor of all that work. We participate on Joomla.org's JUG working group, and in 2010, earned its "official Registered User Group" status.

Looking Forward

We're very thankful for several new presenters who stepped up this year to present on a myriad of topics, including VirtueMart, CSS tips and tricks, E-Commerce solutions, Joomla Security and admin, and much more. This group is all about the members themselves, and their own willingness to give of themselves to share their insights with others.

We look forward to another growth year in 2011, helping our members meet their wide array of challenges when it comes to getting familiar with Joomla, ramping up their Joomla-powered sites, and pushing this amazing CMS to its limits.  Our annual planning meeting was today, in which we mapped out a tentative schedule for each and every meeting in 2011. We'll be posting that soon, and taking your feedback and insights over the coming month, in order to finalize, lock-and-load the schedule, and line up capable speakers to present! By the way, if you're a JoomlaChicago member, and you're interested in presenting, please contact us.

Thank you all again for a great year of working together in Chicago to help each other up to speed on the software, the trends, the techniques, the business strategies, and especially all the people who are at the helm, powering their sites using Joomla!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!

Linda and John Coonen
Co-Hosts, JoomlaChicago

Today, the Joomla Project announced the immediate availability of Joomla 1.6 beta 7 (download).  As with all recent releases, it is a beta version and is not intended to run any type of production site. Since the Joomla 1.6 beta 6 release on July 26, the Joomla! team has fixed approximately 85 issues. This progress is directly related to the continued efforts of the Joomla! Bug Squad. The Joomla! Project plans for beta 8 to be released on August 23, 2010.

The Joomla Project is proud to announce the immediate availability of Joomla 1.6 beta 5 (download). IMPORTANT NOTE: This is a beta version and is not intended to run any type of production site. It is intended to be used for evaluation purposes only.

Since the Joomla 1.6 beta 4 release on Jun 28, we have fixed approximately 65 issues in the tracker. Much of this progress is directly related to the stepped up efforts of the Joomla! Bug Squad. Thanks for all your hard work in bringing us one increment closer to stable!

See the CHANGELOG for details of what has been changed in this release.

What's next?

This is the fifth in our series of continuous beta releases. Beta 6 will be released on July 26, 2010.

There is already another security release of Joomla. You may download version 1.5.20 here. This is available immediately. Thanks Joomla!