Using Joomla to build and maintain websites for volunteer run/charity organisations.

(Joomla helps train dogs, too! ~ JoomlaDay 2009)

Robert Fairhead, Rocher Communications

Eastern Suburbs Dog Training Club• Established in 1962• A self-funded, community/volunteer based organisation• Run obedience training for puppies and adult dogs on most

Sunday mornings in Centennial Park• 600-700 members per year, 120-150 renewals/life members.

Approx 450-550 join short term for basic 6-9 week training• Profile of our longer term membership (renewals/life

members) is middle-aged and older• Our short term members are typically younger, singles,

couples and families. (More tech savvy!)

2007 V1 website

HTML website worked … BUT!• Enabled volunteers to direct email/text/out-and-about enquiries to

the website - achieved objective … BUT! • Too many pages promised: “Details will soon be appearing – please

revisit” (eg. Tips)• Very hard to update content, especially Club News, Newsletter

articles, AND Training Dates• Timely email from former Club member: “Have you ever used a

CMS? Check out Joomla. It's SUPER easy to use … after the initial WHAT THE??? Shock!”

• Help with “WHAT THE???” from Joomla book, online forums and JUG• Version 2 of website launched August 2008

2008 V2 website

Benefits of V2 Joomla website• Open Source (not expensive!)• 1000s of templates: JA Purity with standard Joomla install• Customise template colours etc with parameters and CSS • Huge library of Open Source extensions, eg. Akeeba

Backup, Attachments, sh404SEF etc• Support via discussion forums, Sydney JUG, books,

conferences (like JoomlaDay) and workshops• Main benefit: Ease of updating content and keeping it

relevant, especially Club News and Newsletter • BUT, it looked a bit bland, no photos of members and dogs!

2011 V3 website

Benefits of V3 Artisteer Joomla• More customised look rather than off-the-shelf templates• WYSIWYG, drag-and-drop environment - didn’t need to

worry so much about PHP tweaking … though CSS knowhow still very handy

• Introduced images of cute dogs etc (though could have done this with off-the-shelf templates)

• Initially very happy with Artisteer ... BUT, MailChimp campaign reports from 2012 onwards showed most members were accessing mailings via a phone/tablet

• AND, our version of Artisteer proved not to be responsive

2013 V4 website

Benefits of V4 Purity III Template

• Out-of-the-box Responsive!• Purity III much better template than original Purity• Built on Joomlart T3 Framework - makes customisation (a

little) more logical and easy to keep track of!• Opportunity to reorganise content and introduce more images

(people love photos of dogs!)• Thanks to sh404SEF upgrade from older version of Joomla and

template wasn’t a show stopper• Perhaps thanks to sh404SEF, or Joomla, or website’s clever

developer and content creator, we rank high on Google ...

2014 V4.1 website

Key Extensions

• JCE Editor (IMHO, should be default Joomla editor)• Akeeba Backup• Attachments - used for newsletters, renewal forms etc• sh404SEF - sorts out item id # URLs!• RSForm!Pro - online membership application etc• Articles Anywhere - www.regularlabs.com• Googlemap plug-in - www.mapsplugin.com• Google Authenticator - Two Factor Authentication• Also recommend Akeeba Admin Tools for restricting access to admin,

eg: www.easternsuburbsdogtraining.org.au/administrator

Dog Training Tips

1. Be prepared - have a full treat bag handy and non-aversive training equipment, eg. a balance harness instead of a check or halti collar

2. Control the environment - don’t do your training where there are distractions, like manic off-leash dogs

3. Reward desirable behaviour, ignore undesirable behaviour4. Remember, it’s a two-way street, your dog’s learning what

you want and you’re learning about your dog5. Be persistent, patient and calm … just like with Joomla!6. It takes time, but if you’re lucky, your dog will live for 12,

14, maybe even 16 years!

Questions/Discussion?

● Dog Club website: www.easternsuburbsdogtraining.org.au

● Rocher Communications: www.rocher.com.au

● Tall And True (beta): www.tallandtrue.com.au

● Robert Fairhead: robertf@rocher.com.au

● Offer design and communication consultancy for Joomla (and

dare I mention it?) WordPress websites and blogs.