What to say? Where is River Media?

The economy is a beast not to be trifled with. Over the past few years, business has slowed to a crawl causing us to look for additional income. We had been fortunate to keep the business running during that time, but that has changed. It has become neccessary for us to close the doors of River Media.

It has been a really long time since Joomla has announced End of Life for Joomla 2.5, which will mark the end-of-support for the Joomla 2.5 series. While current websites running Joomla! 2.5 will continue to work, administrators are encouraged to use this opportunity to migrate their sites to Joomla! 3.x. When a Joomla! version reaches end of support, it means that Joomla! will no longer provide bug fixes, features or security updates.

It looks like our specialty with extensions is to fill-in the gap where we seem to find Joomla lacking. Now don't get me wrong, we think Joomla is the best CMS on the planet, just that it doesn't come with everything you need pre-installed. And that's ok! That's where developers like us get to do our best work.

Menu Links Majix

With this in mind, we have added a new extension to our line-up that helped us create buttons and links on our new website during the last upgrade. We asked ourselves, how can we add links to our site in articles (or for us, we use K2) and if the links changes, they won't break. The answer we came up with is to leverage the usage of plain text links that Joomla creates for every menu item that is created (an alias).

Oh sure, you can use some fancy SEO link generator component, but if you are like us... we like to keep things simple. So we created a simple little content plugin that you can add any where on your site that will accept a content plugin. You know, those funny little brackets { } that you place stuff in that can enhance your site.

It would look something like this: { menulink id:444,class:btn } (spaces were added so the plugin wasn't parsed). When actually parsed, looks like this: Menu Links Majix Documentation

And to that point, if you want to see exactly how to use this plugin with more examples, visit the link.

Did you miss finding our Constant Contact Sign-Up Module (Sign-Up Majix Pro) on the Joomla Extensions Directory?

We stumbled across the fact that our module was unpublished on the JED when we attempted to add a new submission. It turns out that after the last overhaul of the JED, someone took to revisiting published extensions and disabled ours because it didn't meet all of the criteria.

Really?

A plugin that has been listed for years, suddenly and without notice was unpublished. Anyways, I don't mean to whine. I just wrote this article to share that our popular module is still available and ready for download (with an active club subscription of course).

It has been almost a month and multiple support tickets to just sit and play the 'waiting game'. Hopefully we will get this all resolved soon, but rest assured, this module is still available. It's ain't goin' nowhere!

-UPDATE-

March 6th, 2015

We are happy to report that our module has finally been published once again on the JED. It seems that with the latest updgrade to their site, they installed some new 'hidden' features. One of which unfortunately unpublished our module. I won't bore you with all the details, we're just happy to report that all of our extensions are listed once again and available on the Joomla Extensions Directory.

Pretty straight forward:

If you are not 100% satisfied with your purchase, within 30 days from the purchase date, we will fully refund the cost of your subscription(s).

PERIOD! No Questions asked!

This page always lists the latest releases of each extension. Links to older versions are also available under each item.
Untested Developer Releases are also available to experienced users who want to perform pre-release evaluation of new features.
Can't find something? Check out our main download repository page.

If you manage a Joomla! website and use Constant Contact to manage your email subscriptions for newsletters, our extensions are a must have for your business! Whether you need a simple sign-up form or our top-of-the-line Constant Contact Manager Component, you will be amazed at the simplicity of our products.

Over the many years that we have been developing extensions for Constant Contact, our product line has grown so much that we didn't want you to feel overwhelmed asking yourself "which one do I need?" With that in mind, we have created this comparison chart to help you make that decision.

Greetings from the JoomLadds Team!

We have been hard at work updating our Constant Contact Signup Majix Pro Module. Not only have we added many new features, but this version is the first to have OAuth2 Authentication built in. The older version of authentication that the Constant Contact API used was basic, which required account holders to enter their Constant Contact Username & Password into the module settings and those credentials were stored in the Joomla database in order access their account information. With OAuth2, you are now able to register your website with Constant Contact by granting access to your account, much the same way that Facebook connects with external websites and applications.

We have begun upgrading our extensions to be Joomla 3.0 R3ADY!

So far, the updates have been minor, and we're hoiping to have all extensions ready by 2013.

Our current roadmap is to update all of our Commercial (for-a-fee) extension by the end of November 2012. Then as time permits, continue with the rest until we're all done.

Please do not hesitate to drop us an email if there are any extesnions that you can't live without and need us to bump them to the head of the line.

~Thanks!
The JoomLadds Team

We found this article of interest discussing one of the newest features in Joomla 2.5

Give it a read...

http://www.ostraining.com/blog/joomla/smart-search/

We have taken one of our Joomla Modules and put it on steriods!

This Constant Contact Signup Module has been upgraded to utilize the Constant Contact API. By adding the API, email subscribers will now be able to signup to your newsletters immediately without ever leaving your website.

We are happy to announce the latest extension to the JoomLadds family. This new module gives you the ability to add a LinkedIn profile badge to your website. You can choose from 8 different images. Please see the Product Information page for more information.

We recently had a client who needed to convert their WordPress website to Joomla. Their forum was vBulletin and they used aMember to manager their users. During our initial research, we discovered there was not a direct migration path to Kunena, however, we found that migration was still possible if we converted vBulletin to phpBB3, then to FireBoard (a predecessor to Kunena). Once we had a Joomla 1.5 website set up with FireBoard and a successfully migrated forum, we upgraded to Kunena 1.6.x. (We hope to add basic instructions as to what we did at a later time)

We ended up having to modify the phpBB3 converter script so that the aMember user data was imported into JomSocial (the replacement of aMember) along with making changes to the converter for phpBB3 to FireBoard. All in all, we were very happy with the results.

One of our clients needed a way to automatically create user profiles on their Joomla website from records that are created in their FileMaker Pro database by the sales staff. Once their new members have signed up in the office, they can 'flip a switch' that now automatically creates their Community Builder Profile. Once the new members arrive home, their profile is waiting for them, all they have to do is confirm their email address and they are ready to log in.

Our client also wanted to be able to have these new accounts sign up with Constant Contact, and with our , the signup to their newsletter is automatic too!

This is the process in which we upgraded our forum from Agora to Kunena, and the issues we encountered.

As always, the first thing we did was install everything on our development server. Next, we followed the directions given by Kunena to perform the conversion from Agora to Kunena which included installing an older version (1.5.14) because the latest (1.6.3) was not compatible with the converter. That's where our first issue showed up. We could not get Kunena 1.5.14 to install. We searched Google for some answers, but found none. Somedays you win and find exactly what you need, other days you give up only to try again later.

Later came and we found a post that said to download Kunena 1.5.13 instead. We had a little trouble finding it (mostly because our frustration level was high and we didn't read the directions thoroughly) but once we did and installed it, everything fell right into place. Next, we installed the Kunena Converter and ran the process to migrate Agora. Worked like a charm. The last step was to upgrade the Kunena installed version of 1.5.13 to the latest (1.6.3) That went well too!

We are happy to annouce that we have successfully migrated our forum to Kunena. When we decided to add a support forum to our website, we did some extensive research to find the best forum for our neds. At that time we decided to use Agora. Agora served our needs in the beginning, however, we soon found that it was no longer working for our needs. We decided to look again and decided on Kunena.

Our first dealing with Kunena looked promissing until we needed to migrate our exisiting Agora posts. Obviously we didn't want to loose our older posts so it was very important to make sure the tranistion was smooth and painless for both us and our users. We had a few hickups (which we have detailed here) but all in all, we are glad that the transtition is over.

A new client of ours has two Joomla! Websites that were created a few years ago. They contacted us to take part in our 'Tune-Up' program.

We have found the Joomla Extension " ReDJ" highly useful, not only for our websites, but for our clients as well.

We had a site that required us to map every page that the client had created in XOOPS, and although we were able to accomodate most page names simply using the 'alias' of an article and menu, this component allowed us to remap the entire site without one broken link.

Pros:

1. Great for a site migration, mapping old links so search engines don't give broken links.
2. Content Updates, you are able to redesign your site, move articles, and no broken links.
3. Frequent software updates. This developer is actively working on this component.
4. Easliy create your own Error Page! No longer do you have to dig through Joomla Code to make changes to the default error page.
5. Free, however they do have a commercial version available if you need extra features.

Cons:

1. Configuration might be a little intimidating because of all the instructions about adding variables, etc.
   (However, you can easily ignore those and not use them.)

One day out of the blue (so we thought) all of our downloads broke. No one could access any of our downloads via the DocMan 1.5 component. After two days of server migration (actually moving our site to a different host) and troubleshooting, this is what we found:

I had forgotten two of the most helpful tools in debugging any system:

1) Error Logs and messages

2) Asking myself the question: "What was the last thing I changed?"

I have found the practice of setting the Joomla "Error Reporting" Global Configuration to "System Default"  to be good. However, when I need it, I forget to change it to something more useful, like "Maximum".

We have been working hard to update our video tutorials to include the latest changes to the Constant Contact Integration Plugin for Community Builder.

We have split the video's into two different video's, one that shows how to install and configure the plugin, the other to show basic usage of the plugin giving an example of registering a new user while showing the progress in Constant Contact.

Watch these new video's here!

JoomLadds is a team of Joomla! developers ready to build custom extensions for your Joomla! website. We offer much more than just a place to download great extensions, such as the following:

• Installation assistance for ANYextension
• 1-on-1 Joomla Training & Coaching using Join.me
• Migration services (upgrading one Joomla version to the next)
• Contract Work (freelance), build your development team by leveraging from our team of experts

To ask about our rates or get a quote on your next project, please send us an email!

In an effort to help market what JoomLadds is all about, we have decided to post recent projects that the JoomLadds Team has been working on. Please visit this area often if you are interested in what we have done, to give you an idea of what we might be able to do for you or your business.

We have recently finished a component that will allow the site owner to upload Excel files that create new records for them. The customer is ShellStockReview.comand they use this new component to update their Stock Profiles. (Unfortunatly, To see this component in action, you will need to be a member of their website community.)

The original component ( Content Uploader - free version) was designed to allow admins to upload Excel files to create articles. We modified their component to upload specific data into new tables and then use this data in their own views. The component comes complete with a back-end area to manage the uploaded records and the ability to add new records, as well as added front-end views to see the uploaded data.

Screenshots:

We are happy to announce our first Native Joomla 1.6 extension.

Our "Find Us On Facebook" module is our most popular extension and it was only fitting that we modified it first for native compatibility for the future of Joomla. today!

JoomLadds is committed to respecting your privacy and recognizes your need to protect the personal information that you share with us.  The following is our privacy policy.  In it we inform you what information we might collect from you when you visit our internet site, how we might use such information, the choices you have regarding our use of such information, your ability to review and correct such information, the process by which we notify you of any material changes to our privacy policy, and the effective date of our policy.

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