Build a Joomla Website Forum

I've not built a shopping cart and don't intend to, either.

There was a post the other week about a rental site. I think it was Richard made some suggestions. Might be worth a search of the forum.

That looks great Laurie... I'm impressed that you are creating your own template. I'd love to start looking at how to do that but there is always something more urgent to learn!! I have been using artisteer to make some templates though.... it's actually pretty cool and does save the cost of buying templates all the time but except for the colour schemes the format is a bit samey, although they can probably be made a lot more unique for someone that knows what they're doing!

I'm struggling at the moment with a site with a shopping cart - not sure if I've bitten off more than I can chew but I'm getting there. I've also started a project that needs a rental calendar.... anyone would think I have loads of time LOL.

No worries about me sticking around here... I'll be here a long time driving everyone mad with my questions.

Thanks Sue!

I've gone a bit slack with developing this site. Struggling with template creation.

When I finally create a template I'm happy with, I'll change this site to my own template. You can see where I'm up to at http://www.sapphirecoastnews.com/

Hey! I like you avatar. Makes it look like you're set to stick with us.

Hi Laurie

I think you're dead right to go for a plainer background but the idea of just a pencil sketch sounds great to me. I think two colours that really give a feel of the outdoors are pale blue and a sagey colour green ... maybe used as just the button colours.... only a suggestion of course. Really looking forward to seeing your finished site.

Sue

Laurie, Laurie - tch tch.
You are building websites! You are one of those guys that CAN DO whatever he sets himself to do! Selling yourself short here? If you can't do the things that I suggested, see if you can make arrangements for other people to do it, through your websites, like these guys:

Have a look at https://www.facebook.com/gomagazineSA
You will find a copy of this magazine in the home or office or car of every South African that can afford these type of holidays. This is the main site - see http://www.gomag.co.za/
JP

I think my first task, JP, is to build the sites that attract the traffic. My aim is to have 1000 unique visitors a day over a stable of sites. Can I do it? Unlikely!

Hi Laurie, I also wanted to mention that we do have some tent makers here near where I stay. Maybe I can export some tents to you if you could give some specs.
About 15 years ago I met an Australian who was amazed about the tenting materials that we had here, and I thought he was going to export the stuff himself. Maybe he left it for us.
JP

Thanks JP! Some great ideas there for me to consider.

I'm sorry to say that not knowing what the arrows at the side of the post are, I voted you down one. I'll vote you up somewhere else some time.

Him Laurie,
The only thing that I can think of to promote traffic in your instance is adding adventure tours. The sort of thing where young stressed out guys can go to for say four or five days to experience the outdoors at a reasonably fast pace, to make them forget about work stress.
This may require a new infrastructure though, or there may be somebody that can render this service already in place looking for clients.

Ah! Found where to bold the drop down text. It's in the unordered list.

I think I know what you mean when you say - bend my style.

Shameless self promotion is absolutely not my style :P and if asked to do something like that in the past, I would have cringed - yet somehow, because what I do is totally me, it just comes naturally now.

When you communicate to people about something that you believe in 100% and absolutely love, the sincerity of it comes across and you just end up getting a great reception where-ever you take it.

Have you maybe though of taking a photo of the ground in the bush, or some other natural but unimposing surface and using that as your background. Maybe stylize it a little in photoshop to make it a more graphic element.

Thanks Robert!

I still couldn't change the font weight. Something seems to be overriding.

However, I had a good look around at Joomla templates to try and get a feel for backgrounds and noticed the drop down menus. I think I need to leave the font as is and simply get the background from the parent links into the drop downs.

Thanks for the other stuff.

I think I'll have a go at a seamless background based on a pencil sketch of one of my stark, dead, desert trees. I have one in mind. Otherwise, a plain background seems to be the go for modern sites.

Well Margot, if there's one thing more certain than death and taxes it's that I don't fit into the beauty shop scene. I'll change the background texture colour.

Thanks for the other tips. A fair bit there for me to consider and maybe bend a bit to fit my style.

Ian, thanks about the typo. By the time I finished school, nearly fifty years ago, I hadn't learned the spelling rules. I'm pleased to say I've improved considerably in recent years, typing with spell check.

I've had a few newsletters dealing with Pinterest. I'll look them up.

The camel is Mazan. With his handler, Ken, he'd been on the road for three months, covering about 500km, Ken walking along side most of the way.

The header images are in a random rotator.

More great thoughts for me to work on. Thanks.

Hi Laurie, I'm with the others on the background. The colour also says nothing about nature or bush adventures - its more of a beauty shop kind of colour - pretty peach.

I think its a great idea and with content, it can be a very helpful site to people wanting to take similar trips. Also to Europeans planning trips.

Maybe inlcude a section on 'Tips for non Australians?' or Tips for first time adventurers?? as there are plenty of Aussies who have not had the bush experience - thats a good title - Tips for first time bushies :-)

Maybe also include safety advice or include links to the tourist boards safety advice.

Then take the concept to the Tourist board and the National Parks board (with sample content) and see if they find it interesting to link to your site in view of the fact that it promotes tourism in Australia, and provides support.....

I find I improve traffic when I go to where my audience is and market myself there - for me its pet shops, dog shows, cat shows. You could think of travel fairs, camping equiment fairs - see what sorts of displays are available at your royal shows. If you have no starting point to find these events, ask at a campling shop or at the tourist office.

Hi Mate - thought you'd set off already, it's been so quiet round here!

Green - very difficult colour to work with from a designer's point of view. Extremely difficult to get it looking natural. Love this site - http://www.holidaycottages.co.uk/ - for the way it's laid out and the information it carries - but those greens - yuck!

Your family of sites all have a distinctive 'outback sand' feel to them. Why not colour pick a background from one of your desert photos? Agree with Robert about the texture - but if you could get a more subtle gritty/sandy feel to it, it would be very appropriate. You know, I loved that template you were using back in the day with the panoramic view and transparent header. Stark and beautiful - it just seemed to sum up the outback to me.

Reviews etc. What about some of the camping/exploring magazines - you must have some titles you are familiar with and don't ignore the international ones. They might run a series of stories - most magazines and journals have laid off thousands of journos to save money and are desperate for quality copy. Do it for nothing for the exposure.

Using social media is a great idea. Pinterest - http://pinterest.com/ - is apparently the fastest growing social media site ever and would seem to suit you down to the ground. Have a look.

Your trip could use a theme too. Travel guide to newbie explorers, a tourist guide to the great parks and what to do there, hidden gems of the outback that most people miss. Whatever takes your fancy, but you could tailor it to the people you intend to approach to make it more focused and have a greater appeal.

I had a good laugh - I clicked on 'Camping Gear' and found that camel looking just about ready to spit in my eye! He'll do to carry the gear! Great photo.

Typo - there's just the one 'r' in forest (in the header).

Just a few thoughts - keep up the good work.

Ian

Exciting project Laurie!

OK here's my 2 cents...and out of order probably.


I'm not overly fond of textured backgrounds of that style. And they do tend to look a bit dated. If using texture, make it REALLY subtle.

It's actually pretty easy to inspect hidden items in Firebug, you just have to know where to look. Check the image...





If you click the arrow in the Style tab, the drop down will allow you to select hover so you can inspect those elements.

OK, I THINK that you're looking for line 11 in topmenu.css, which should start with this line:
#ptm-nav a, #subMenusContainer a {

You'll see that color is set to #959595, and you can add in font-weight: bold to the list to get your drop downs bolded.

Hope that works.

For camping equipment, have you tried REI? They have an affiliate program here:
http://www.rei.com/affiliates

Hmmm, for traffic this might be perfect for really pushing the social aspect. Go crazy on Facebook, Google + and Youtube. People want to see personalities...and good info that will either save them money or give them something that they think they really need.

I'll wait to comment on the rest when you get further along.