Joomla or WordPress...which is better?

I've been working freelance for a while and as the workload increases I remember the words of my former supervisor, Roland Booth, "Work smart, not hard" (paraphrased). That has been my motto for a while. So when I'm about to develop a website I think Joomla or WordPress?

For me both are in two different categories. Joomla is built to be a CMS, which can be used like a blog and Wordpress is a Blog, which can be used like a CMS. I remember having a discussion about Joomla with a web programmer, from the Gleaner Online, who exclaimed "Joomla is an overkill..." for some projects. I agreed, but somehow found myself, always, using Joomla (and sometimes CuteNews) on my projects, promising myself that one day I'd use WordPress. Well that day has come!

I recently bought 2 excellent books, WordPress 2.7 Complete & RockStar WordPress Designer, which helped me to better understand how to use WordPress as a CMS. I also read some tutorials on Theme Forest's Blog - In the Woods. And I'm now more educated, my eyes have been opened! I'm now using WordPress on my latest project and for my company portfolio - The Gist (coming soon).

JW Media Player v1.4 for Joomla 1.5

It's here! Yeah I know I just released 1.3 a few days ago but when I was looking through the code, man was it messy. So I cleaned it up and added some new features.

New Features include:
- Streaming media support
- Volume control
- Video smoothing
- Video stretch to fit
- Custom logo support
- Button hover colour & active item colour
- Bufferlength

Trust me! There is more to come...

Download: JW Media Player 1.4 JW Media Player 1.5.2

JW Media Player v1.3 for Joomla 1.5

I recently got some comments, from Px Junkie Google Group and this blog, pertaining to some errors for the previous version of the JW Media Player (v1.2). I had all intentions of coming out with a version 1.3 much earlier but my schedule prevented me from doing so. It seems that everything has come full circle...I now need to use the module on a project and I'm faced with some challenges.

In JW Media Player version 1.3 I've addressed the issue of multiple modules on the same page and allowing the full screen mode to be enabled for all video types from the backend.

I am aware that LongTail has released a version 4.5 of their player an plan to take advantage of the new features. So keep your eyes open for upcoming versions. There's lots more to come!!!

Download: JW Media Player v1.3 [ Mirror ]

JW Media Player v1.1 for Joomla 1.5

I felt like the JW Media Player Module I did a few weeks ago could take a few tweaks. So with some free time on my hands I decided to enable the joomla module to play YouTube Video and YouTube Playlist.

Now with the tweaks you can play YouTube Vidoes, FLVs, MP4s, MP3s, AACs, JPGs, PNGs and GIFs as individual files or a playlist. As well as customize the joomla module by setting the colours or selecting 1 of the 12 skins:

Blue Metal

Ice Cream Sneaka

Kleur

Magma

Metarby 10

Modieus

Overlay

Pearlized

Silvery White

Simple

Snel

Stylish Slim

If I have some more time I'll be sure to add a version of this module which will include some of the plugins found at LongTail Video.

Enjoy!

Download: JW Media Player v1.1 JW Media Player v1.2
Support: PX Junkie Google Groups
* Credit: Longtail's JW FLV Media Player 4.4

* Version 1.2 has AutoPlay, Shuffle & Repeat

JoomPal v1.0 Module for Joomla 1.5

I've been working on a couple of Joomla projects since the start of the year. Between March and April I think I've been working on about 3. Now the latest project had a feature where visitors could donate to the organization and no ordinary Joomla PayPal module would work.

The visitor must have the option to select from a range of options, how much the want to donate, or submit the amount they can afford. So I had to write a module just for that - JoomPal.

With JoomPal you can set various donation values, success url - once payment is complete, add custom button, choose currency (dollar sign changes according currency selection), style the form using css and more.

Enjoy JoomPal!

Download: JoomPal v1.0

Simple Mp3 Bar v1.1 Module for Joomla 1.5

I've decided to make some modifications to the Simple Mp3 Bar module for Joomla 1.5. Simple MP3 Bar - version 1.1, now allows you to choose whether you want to play one song or a group of songs as a playlist (not xml).

To make a playlist all you have to do is select playlist, type the names of the files (eg: love-song.mp3, peopleperson.mp3, partytime.mp3), the respective names and poof!!! Your playlist is created.

It's one of the simplest mp3 players you'll find for Joomla 1.5.

Download: Simple MP3 Bar v1.1 Simple MP3 Bar v1.2

Media & MP3 Player Modules for Joomla 1.5

Recently I was working on a website that was using Joomla 1.5 and I needed a mp3 player. The had to be obtrusive since it was only going to play the organization's theme song. Unfortunately I didn't find one that fit the bill.

I ended up porting JW Media Player 4.3.1 but that was an overkill for the project so I had to go a simpler route. Now I have two (2) Joomla modules you can enjoy.

The two (2) Joomla modules are:

JW Media Player which allows you to:

• Play a single audio/video file or xml playlist
• Customize the player (12 skins, background colour, control bar placement and playlist location)

Simple Mp3 Player Bar allows you to:

• Play a single mp3
• Change player colour

Download Joomla Modules:
JW Media Player v1.0
Simple Mp3 Player Bar v1.0

* Credit: Longtail's JW FLV Player | Neoleo's Flash MP3 Player

Lime v1.0 - Wordpress, Joomla & CuteNews Template

Download: Wordpress | Joomla 1.0

There is also a template I did for CuteNews with the same name.
Download: Lime for CuteNews