This Post will serve two purposes. First is a reference for me on what I did, second is to hopefully help someone else out there along the way in building their site. If you find anything in this post helpful, comment and let me know!

Unless I decide to break this up, this is going to be one LONG post when finished, so here are some jump links for those who only care about certain aspects. For the rest, read on…

• Intro
• Planning the Site
• The Template
• Setting Up Virtuemart
  • Default Modules & Components Used & Modified
  • Add-on Modules & Components

Intro

I’ve used Joomla! many times, and have been meaning to set up a full e-commerce site, using Joomla! and Virtuemart, to give it a full evaluation on it’s e-commerce potential (I usually prefer Interchange).

An idea struck me to set up a giant “multi-family yard sale” website, that all of my friends, family, and I could use to unload various items. So, I decided it was time to stop procrastinating, and get to work. Meanwhile, I might end up with a site structure I can reuse on future sites. On with th fun…

Planning the Site

I started planning the site like I would any client site; this includes Photoshop mock-ups, sitemap plans, component/module plans, research, and testing, the whole nine.

During the planning, I knew the most important factors in this site were going to be usability, showcasing products, and making the sell. The layout was designed minimalistic, with plenty of space for promo banners, product rotation, and full, easy to use navigation. And, as I tend to do, I reviewed winning sites that fit the class of site I’m building; in this case, sites like eBay, Amazon, and New Egg. Once plans were in place, I started building away.

The Template

I’m not going in to the details of template creation, as that is outside the scope of this post, but instead, will detail what I did different than normal, that is making my life easier now, and will in the future.

Most base Joomla! templates use component areas named user1, user2, etc, and I tend to keep this when building a template. In the case of Wanda’s Bargain Basement, I wanted tighter control over the various ‘pieces’ of the site, and I didn’t want to have to remember which generically named placeholder went where.

All of my component areas are named for the component they are going to hold and, when needed, I use conditional statements. For example, the rotating “Featured Products”, shown only on the homepage, is defined as:

[code]<?php if( $this->countModules('ProductRotation') && JRequest::getVar('view') == "frontpage" ) : ?>
<div id="product-rotator">
<b id="featured-item-title">Featured Items</b></div>
<div id="product-rotation"><jdoc:include type="modules" name="ProductRotation" style="xhtml" /></div>
</div>
<div id="product-rotation-pager"></div>
</div>
<?php endif; ?>
[/code]

One final thing, as with all of my sites, the template is full CSS. The ability to easily make changes later is important, and dynamic (database driven) sites are a pain if everything is built using tables and hard coded in to the HTML.

Other than that, everything is your basic custom Joomla! template.

Setting Up Virtuemart

This was by far the most complex part of the whole job. As mentioned, I want a mostly reusable system; on top of that, I want to keep the costs down, to provide an option to future clients who need an e-commerce site that doesn’t break the bank.

After making a copy of the default templates, named for the Wanda’s Bargain Basement site, I could begin my customizing.

Default Modules & Components Used & Modified

Featured Items
There were certain things i knew from planning, that I wanted the site to do. Unfortunately, my desire to customize and a programmer’s desire to let me, doesn’t always agree; as is with most software you’ll come across.

There were no free Featured Items plug-ins available that would easily let me tie the jQuery Cycle plug-in to them, so this is the one time I broke the “don’t hack the core” rule.

The Featured Items module: ./modules/mod_virtuemart_featureprod/mod_featureprod.php
is hard coded to display the items in a table, even when it’s completely pointless to do so; I removed those lines by adding my own $notables variable, adding to the if statements, and adding additional if statements to the file.

With that done, I could clean up and modify my custom copy of the template: ./components/com_virtuemart/themes/ThemeName/templates/common/productsnapshot.tpl.php
and create the “Featured Items” rotator on the home page.

Mini Cart Display
With the design I was building for Wanda’s Bargain Basement, I wanted the mini cart to be shown in the top right of the page. By default, the mini cart shows a LOT of information, as it is intended to be added to a side bar with plenty of room.

I simply trimmed down the template file: ./components/com_virtuemart/themes/ThemeName/templates/common/minicart.tpl.php
added lots of CSS rules, and ended up with a clean, simple display.

Add-on Modules & Components

CSS Menu
I find it amazing how complicated it was to simply have a bullet list menu of Virtuemart categories, without any fluff, add-ons, or loading of countless amounts of extra code. But, I found one; and it was free. The CSS Menu for Virtuemart did the trick, and allowed me only a bullet list, which I could style as I please.

Joomla! SEO
The ACE SEF Joomla! SEO plugin makes Joomla! “Search Engine Friendly”. Me, I wanted to get rid of those horrendous URLs Virtuemart makes. Not for search engines, but for my own sanity and that of my users.
Unfortunately, to have really nice URLs in Virtuemart, you have to buy an add-on; for the moment, I’ll live with the “1/2 way ok” URLs the free version creates.

Having a backup plan running and in place makes everything so nice.
Losing your important photos, documents and emails from not having a backup, not so nice.

So, how do you get a backup going and make sure your digital life doesn’t go up in smoke?

Home computers generally do not need the backup protection business computers need, and you can get away with the more simple solutions available. However, if your home computer is your business computer, like mine, you should consider business level PC backups.

There are various “one touch” backup drives on the market which seem to come with everything you need to “set it, and forget it”. I have personally not used one of these drives and cannot vouch for them, but a single backup, located in the same room as my PC… Doesn’t sound to safe to me. Am I going to remember to grab that hard drive, along with anything else I need, should a fire break out?

Many versions of Windows have built in, or add-on in the case of XP Home, software from Microsoft that will create various types of backups. I have used these in the past, and while everything appears to run fine – it doesn’t always. When I was recovering from one of my massive backups, several of the files could not be read and my backup was toast. The Windows backup software also isn’t very easy to use, especially for ‘non-technical’ computer users. Personally, I give it two thumbs down.

So what’s my current method for doing backups of my data? Backing up my PC is actually two part, and quite inexpensive!

Part 1) All of my important data files are saved on a USB MyBook 1TB Mirroring Edition.
This handy little device connects through USB, and provides 2 500 gigabyte  drives, but only a single hard drive is available on my computer, as they are mirrored. Whenever I copy data to the one 500gig drive, it is mirrored (exact copy) on to the second hard drive. I keep all of my important data on the drive – Quicken data, photos, web sites, invoices, etc. Should one of the drives fail, I simply replace it and the data is rebuilt from the other 500gig backup drive.
The problem: if a file gets corrupted, it gets mirrored, giving me two damaged copies of a file. Add to that, all my data is still in the same place.
That’s where part two comes in to play.

Part 2) If there was ever a fire, I don’t want to have to think about grabbing a drive. That’s where Bastionpoint Technology’s managed offsite backup solution comes in to play. Every night, my main hard drive (the one with Windows and all of my software) and select files from MyBook are backed up. Any changed data is securely and magically transported over the internet to two offsite servers. My whole computer and all of my drives could melt into a smoldering puddle of plastic and charred metal, and I won’t lose any of my files. I just get another computer, call up Bastionpoint, and get rolling as if nothing ever happened. And, if any of my files get corrupted, the good backed up copies can be restored.

I’m interested in hearing – how do you do backups for your business’ computers?
Leave a comment and let me know!

Without getting in to all of the details, the person on the phone told me I should “do what’s right” and pay the balance, continually insulted me, and repeated several slanderous statements about me by the card holder.

Thanks to caller ID I know the number, 877-298-2251, which belongs to “Creditors Financial Group”.

After doing some digging, it seems Creditors Financial Group is famous for calling anyone and everyone demanding money.

The good news is, Chase acknowledged I have no accountability on the account, have submitted to my credit reports “just in case” that I am not responsible, and are sending me a letter to state the same.

I’ve learned a few things since then as well. If Creditors Financial Group calls you demanding money you do not owe, let them know they are in violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act and not to call you again. Call the credit issuer (Chase in my situation), and tell them about it. And, if they still keep calling after that, you can report them to the FTC.

Lastly, you can always blog about it, and have a high Google rank for Creditors Financial Group, like I do!

Well, anybody that knows me, knows I’ve been hooking up media P.C.s for a while. Now, software is improving and our options are expanding.

Looking to build your own cable-replacing media P.C.?
Want to know how’s it all done?
Well, lets get started!

1st the T.V.

I’ll be starting out with this on a Philips 55″ H.D. Wide Screen HD rear projection T.V.

2nd The P.C.

I used one of the spare P.C.s I had picked up for between $50 and $100 each. The PC is a HP dx2250 Micro Tower, running  Windows XP Pro.

From what I’ve read, some people also use Mac minis. Use what you like, but make sure it has enough horsepower.

I would look for a computer that is at least:

• Pentium 4 or AMD equivalent
  Not a celleron  or other “buget” CPU
• 2 gigs of RAM. Personally, I would go for DDR2 or better.
• If you plan on ripping DVDs, or running media off your media PC, I would go with a SATA hard drive that is 200 gigs or larger.

3rd Upgrades

The standard P.C. isn’t quite enough to do the job. The main upgrade we are going to need to get started is a graphics card capable of sending the video to the T.V. For now. I’m using a spare NVidia  card I had laying around, which has an S-Video out. We’re going to want some other upgrades but, for now, we have enough to start having fun.

4th Additional Hardware

Sound
If you do not need high end sound and your P.C. has on-board sound (you have a headphone jack on the back of the computer), you can pick up a headphone style plug to RCA cable converter.
Make sure you don’t buy the mono plug, which is one headphone looking plug on one end, and one RCA looking plug on the other. You will want the one the makes a “Y”, which will allow your media PC to support left and right sound.

Controls
On order, I picked up a Logitech wireless keyboard and mouse. These can get pretty pricey if you buy them at the store. I got mine off ebay for about $22, with free shipping.

Hardware
Thumbscrews. Not necesary, but very convenient. Pick up two thumbscrews, and replace the two screws you have to remove to get the side panel off the case with them. When upgrade time comes, you’ll be glad you did.

5th Software

This is where the real fun starts!

Boxee
I was reading an article the other day, which inspired me to do this project again, and they mentioned software called Boxee. I took a look at it, created and account, installed and tried it, and it’s pretty friggin sweet! It’s in its early stages, but so far I’m seeing very few problems.

Boxee launches a full screen browser, that easily allows you to stream content from Hulu, Comedy Central, and much, much more. They even have Linux, Windows, and Mac versions available. Best of all, it’s FREE!

Windows Media Player and K-Lite
I hate to  push Microsoft products, but I use Media Player quite often. Some videos use codecs, like DivX and others, that require add-ons to play them. The K-Lite codec pack provides everything you will need, minus the spyware, to play any (safe and virus free) videos you will come across.

Finally, the End Result

I’ve been catching up on Southpark, running in Boxee, while typing up the initial version of this post on my netbook. It’s working pretty good, but I do have some tweaks that need to be made to the system. As I perform upgrades, find better software, or anything else, I will update this post with the new info.

To elaborate, the final result would be:

The”Text Link” shoud be positioned using absolute positing, height, width, and padding/margins so that it over-layed the entire icon.

The HTML would look like this:

[php]
<div class="services-box">
<a class="link-mask" href="/services/network-maintenance/"&>Managed Services</a>
<div><img src="/images/pc-1.png" alt="" width="77" height="78" /></div>
managed services text
</div>[/php]

Initially, I set up the CSS as follows:

[css].services-box a.link-mask {
position: absolute;
width: 290px;
height: 83px;
text-decoration: none;
font-weight: bold;
color: #fff;
padding: 4px 0 0 112px;
z-index: 2;
}[/css]

This worked great in every browser I tried, except for IE. It seem Internet Explorer will not let a simple link cover another element. As you can see, I attempted setting the z-index value, which did not work. Hovering over the image ([image]) or text( “Additional text”) still produced a default/text icon and was not a link.

I also attempted using hasLayout hacks, by adding the zoom css property to the link, and that did not work.

After Googling the heck out of this and not finding a solution, which is why I’m making a post out of it, I started playing.

The solution?
If a background is applied to the link, Internet Explorer will force the link to be on top of text and on top of images. Since I did not want a background, as it would cover the other elements, I came up with a little hack.

I added the following css to my link’s CSS

[css]background-image: url(/images/services-boxes.png);
background-repeat: no-repeat;
background-position: 999px;[/css]

What this did, was make IE *think* there was a background, and position it over the text and image, while pushing the non-repeated image far away from the viewable area. I used the background image of the icon itself, which prevented the browser from having to load another image.

The icons now work perfect in every browser, including the pesky IE.