At That’s Us.com, we utilize Joomla! and WordPress to create CMS websites, depending on client preference and site needs. With both platforms, we provide a user manual describing the main functions of the client’s site and how to modify them. Although both Joomla! and WordPress are user-friendly, we often get questions about how to do simple tasks. Recently, I was asked how to create a poll using Joomla! as the online tutorials weren’t very clear and the many options inside the Joomla! administration panel can be a bit intimidating. There are many extensions you can install into your Joomla! site, but here is the easiest way to create a poll using the pre-installed Joomla! feature.

1. Log into your administration panel and navigate to Main menu > Components > Polls > then click on the green “New” button with the plus on the right side
2. Give your new poll a title, alias, and ensure that “yes” is selected next to published
3. Enter in up to 12 options in the text fields on the right and then click save
4. Navigate to Main menu > Extensions > Module Manager >  then click on the green “New” button with the plus on the right side
5. Select poll (in right column)
6. Give your module a title (good idea to keep it the same as the title of the actual poll) and alias
7. Make sure you click “yes” next to enable
8. Select a position to display it in on the site
9. Tell your module where to display under the menu assignment. As a default all the pages will be selected. To select only  one or a few pages click the  “Select Menu Item(s) from the list” button and from the list below hold down Ctrl + click on the names of the pages you want the poll to appear on. Note: there are usually several navigation menus on any given Joomla! website. The main menu is of course – the primary menu at the top of the website, while the footer menu is the list of links that appears at the bottom of every page. If you want your poll to appear in the right column on the services page (no matter if the user clicks on the services link in the footer or from the main menu) you should hold down ctrl and click on services under the footer menu and again under the main menu.
10. On the right under “Module Parameters” you must now select the poll you wish to display from the drop down menu.
11. Click save and on the live site you will now see your poll appear. The polls will register ip addresses so you can only vote once per day. The poll will automatically generate a separate page displaying the results.

That’s it! A poll in 11 easy steps. If you have any questions feel free to email us at info@thatsus.com.

Too small/large text

typography in web design

Typography is very important on the web and with the advancements in Cascading Style Sheets  there is no reason for not getting creative with font styles. However, too small of text can be hard to read while too large of text can be a nuisance to the design rather than an attribute.

Not enough content

What is your site saying if there isn’t any content? Many sites may look pretty, but if they lack text describing who you are, what you do, and what your purpose on the web is then why should visitors be compelled to come back? Furthermore, I’ll bet those search engines won’t pick up on that site very well.

Too much content

A website with too much content can be compared to a bad date with too much too say about themself and no regard for the other person at the table. Sure, content is great and very necessary but it’s also important to have a balance between imagery, content, and functionality. Don’t bore your audience by talking too much. A good web designer looks for any chance possible to communicate and interact with their visitors whether it be by adding flash animation, polls, or an image gallery with comments enabled.

Someone else’s design

Sure, all designers take hints from other people’s work and use them as inspiration for their own designs, but completely copying someone else’s design is the worst thing you can do. Be creative – use your own unique style to come up with a look all your own.

Inspiration

webcreme.com

If you haven’t heard of Wecreme yet, you should really check it out. Whenever I’m in need of a little web design inspiration I stop by webcreme.com and see their findings. Webcreme searches the web for aesthetically pleasing and CSS/XHTML valid websites and posts a couple per week.  Their archive goes back 359 pages, so there’s plenty of inspiration to keep you satisfied.

To satisfy your font addiction…

Abstract Fonts

I’m always looking for new and interesting fonts to include in my projects. While it’s true that you need to keep in mind the “timelessness” of a font when designing a logo or other company branding, it’s nice to have a wide selection of options to choose from. My favorite site to satisfy my font addiction is Abstract Fonts.

Abstract Fonts has the motherload of free true type fonts available for download on the web. There’s no fancy website design to distract from the fonts – just the font in plaid old black laid out on a white background so you can get the real feel for it.  Ok, so there are ads on the left and right sides of the page, but at least you don’t have to login to download the font – just click and “save-as”.

Where’s that logo?

Brandsoftheworld.com provides downloadable vector logos.

Ever been working on a project, but you’re missing a necessary logo? First off – make sure you have permission to use that logo on the artwork you’re creating. Then, check out Brands of the World, a handy little site that supplies graphic and web designers with vector – yea, that’s right – vector logos. What more could you ask for?

Do a simple search for the company logo that you need and up pops a list of potential matches. Be aware that some of the logos have actually been submitted by designers and not by the companies themselves, so you should read the fine print and check to make sure the logo you download is the correct one.

Brands of the World is easy to use, provides logos in the most desired format, and saves designers tons of time.

Everything and the kitchen sink.

web resources depot

Pretty much anything you could want or need for web design has been talked about at the Web Resources Depot. The site covers everything from database managent to navigation systems and RSS feeds and provides links to free downloads and tutorials on how to create/install them on your own site. I love this site because not only is it a source of inspiration when I can’t figure out how I want my navigation to perform, but it also provides links to necessary resources – like free high-quality textures.

Pick a color, any color!

Ever need a little help when choosing a complimentary color scheme? Maybe you’ll get a one color logo and need to pick 2 more colors to go with it for the web design, but you’re just not getting anywhere. That’s when COLOURlovers comes in – it’s a color and design community for creative inspiration. Visitors create profiles and then are able to vote on colors and color schemes, tag them, find photos containing those colors on istockphoto and so much more. You cna even create your own color scheme, name it, and see how much the world loves it.

COLOURlovers is a great resource for selecting the perfect color scheme

The great thing about COLOURlovers is for every color scheme the HEX and RGB values are provided which makes our jobs as designers a lot easier. You can search for all blue hues, by #ffcc00, or just browse the lastest additions. Colors not doing it for you? COLOURlovers has patterns and photos to match the colors too!