 JoomlaPraise version 2.0 is live! We've put in a ton of work to improve the user experience of our site, and we hope you enjoy it! The goal was to improve the overall aesthetics and navigation of the site. We've also updated our SEF (search engine friendly) urls, moved Ask Dr. Joom over to the forum, and improved the voting system.
Of course, with any major update there's a great possibility of small bugs or glitches, so please report any problems or issues. We also love feedback, so please have a look around and let us know what you think!
Lastly, to celebrate our new design we're taking 15% off our Club Membership, so if you aren't a subscriber, join now and use the coupon code:reloaded. This deal will end on July 31st, don't miss out! |
The Wind of Change isn't just a great 80's metal ballad by the Scorpions, it's a sign that JoomlaPraise is growing and evolving! For our users, there has been a bit of radio silence this month. I assure you it's due to lots of hard work behind the scenes.
The biggest update is an entire site refresh to JoomlaPraise.com. We've taken feedback from our users and totally refactored the JoomlaPraise design and template. The current site design is good and earned us some wonderful members, but lacks a certain "pop" commonly found in our designs. The biggest improvement though, is the site navigation. As more areas were added to the current site, we honestly ran out of space and groups many links illogically. The new site navigation clearly groups account navigation in one menu, and site navigation in another. We also opted to use more common link naming conventions.
Here's a quick comparison of the new and current site designs:
Look for this new design to roll out as early as Friday!
We'll also be releasing our latest club template, SocialPraise, along with a slideshow module named PraiseShow. |
 HTML Frames and iFrames have given developers the ability to combine web content into one page...with limitations:
- Cross domain issues - browsers don't like sites accessing each other (for good reason).
- CSS styling issues - styles are not inherited, iframe styling can cause issues, etc.
- SEF issues - search engines do not consider framed content as part of your site.
- The list goes on...
The PraiseFrame module can be used to inject web content into a web page and avoid some of these limitations. Version 1.0 supports navigation in the framed page through the containing page. The user can specify which links should lead back to their site and which ones should not.
How does it work?
- The user specifies a starting URL for the module.
- When a page containing the module is requested, the server calls the URL using php curl and displays the results (with modified links) on the containing page.
- If the user selects a modified link from the PraiseFrame content, they are directed back to the containing page with the original URL as part of the query string.
- PraiseFrame requests the new URL and the process continues.
Future versions plan to support AJAX calls as well as forms. Keep checking back for updates and submit any suggestions you have to the forums.
Download PraiseFrame (alpha)
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 SubmitMailer has been updated to include the Intro and Main article text in the notification email. The best new feature is the ability to approve the article by clicking on a link in the email! That rounds out a solid list of features:
- Notify admins (choose whether admins and super admins receive email)
- Send to custom address (use the defined custom email addresses)
- Notify on content update (receive email when content is updated)
- Approve via email (approve new content by email link)
- Custom email address (add mulitple email addresses)
- New item - Subject (customize email subject for new items)
- New item - Message (customize email message for new items)
- Updated item - Subject (customize email subject for updated items)
- Updated item - Message (customize email message for updated items)
Download the Update |
 Joomla!'s best project management component is back and better than ever! Project Fork 2.0 is totally new from the ground, up and boasts a brand new framework which will allow Project Fork to be extended with new modules. Project Fork is also now Joomla! 1.5 Native and will have no 1.0.x version.
The goal of the pre-alpha release is to preview the new framework and functionality. This release is not intended for production usage. We encourage users to test the new package, give us feedback, and report bugs to assist with a speedy stable release. This release includes Users, Groups, Projects, and Tasks. Project Fork lead developer Tobias Kuhn is now joined by the JoomlaPraise team and now resides on www.joomlapraise.com The previous 0.67 release is now defunct and support of the 2.0 release will move to the JoomlaPraise Forums (www.joomlapraise.com/forums). Why the jump from 0.67 to 2.0? The previous 0.67 version was working towards a stable 1.0 release. The new version is a major release that shares absolutely no code. You might also notice we've rebranded. The original Project Fork logo was and is a great logo, but didn't match the brand of the JoomlaPraise extensions. We also wanted to make a clear division with the previous release and support. Many thanks to Fabrice Michaut, the original logo designer. 
Original Project Fork Logo
What are you waiting for? Download the pre-alpha and give it a test drive! We want your feedback and feature requests. Project Fork remains free to use under the GNU/LGPL Open Source License. |
We've just released the next 2 designs for our next club template!
Members, make sure you head to the homepage and cast your vote! All the
rest of you, head on over to subscription and save $35 by joining today, THEN
cast your vote!
This month's contenders are EventPraise and SocialPraise. EventPraise
is an events template which would feature custom styles for DT Register, JEvents,
and more! SocialPraise is a community template which would feature custom
styles for Community Builder, Fireboard, and more!
Here's a quick preview of the 2 designs:
(Click thumbnail for preview image)
EventPraise 
SocialPraise 
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 TechPraise has just been released! Here are
some of the great features of this beautiful
template:
- 6 Themes
- Frontpage Slideshow Template
- Fireboard Styles
- Fb Latest Module Styles
- PraiseSlides Module Styles
- Font Family Selection
- Fluid Layout
- Custom Width
- Switch Sidebar Layout
- Endless Color Possibilities
- Native Joomla 1.0.x and 1.5.x Versions
Read More...
View Demo |
 We are extremely pleased to announce the arrival of the JoomlaPraise Menu System: PraiseMenu!
We've been putting in many hours to speed up the release, due to the amount of requests we've had, and we're very excited with the current status of PraiseMenu. Due to limited testing time and lack of styling options, the current status is Alpha, so test thoroughly before using on a production site!
Here are some of the great features of PraiseMenu:
- Include Javascript: Ability to turn off the Mootools Javascript if your template or another extension already uses it.
- Menu Name: Pick any Joomla Menu to use in PraiseMenu.
- Menu Alignment: Here is the core feature of PraiseMenu!
- Top Horizontal: The default traditional javascript dropdown menu
- All Vertical: The traditional vertical popout menu
- All Horizontal: Comparable to a dropline menu, but no extra space needed!
- Single Sub-Menu: This one's cool! Multiple nested submenus all group together in one dropdown! Previously used by Amazon and currently used on Yahoo's Developer site
- Sticky Menu: Ability to leave menu open even when you hover off
- Max Sub-Menus: Ability to limit the amount of sub-menus that drop down or pop out
- Sub-Menu Horizontal Alignment: Drop down items can either be aligned to the item they're dropping out of or the container!
- Enable Sub-Menu Size Effect: Sub-Menu items can animate out and in
- Enable Sub-Menu Fade Effect: Sub-Menu items can fade out and in
- Enable Link Fade Effect: Font can fade in on hover
- Transition Duration: Control the speed of the transition takes
- Timeout Duration: Control how long a menu stays open
Is that enough features? We hope so, but let us know if you can think of anything else!
The next major item we're working on will be the ability to easily change the styles of the menu. For now, if you're a CSS novice you'll be able to easily customize PraiseMenu.
Head on over and check it out!
Comment and let us know if you prefer this updated logo as well! |
 PraiseSlides has recently been updated to incude the following features:
- Auto-Play
- Auto-Play Time: Speed of Auto-Play
- Auto-Play From: Auto-Play from Last Clicked slide or Last Position
- Auto-Play Stop On Click: Ability to stop Auto-Play when clicked
- Navigation Position
- Left: Slide Navigation on Left
- Right Slide Navigation on Right
Head on over to the downloads section and try it out!
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 If you take a look around our site, you may notice some big improvements lately. We've been hard at work making improvements this month. We've recently upgraded servers, installed a secure cert for login, registration, user pages, and checkout, upgraded Dr. Joom from a simple contact form to the interactive NiceTalk component, and setup a totally integrated secure credit card subscription checkout process! Here's a rundown of the biggest benefits:
Credit Cart Payment Option
We still offer PayPal checkout, but this is cumbersome for those who don't have a PayPal account, don't trust PayPal, or for those who live in areas of the world in which PayPal isn't available. Now we have a totally secure, integrated, and painless Credit Card checkout option in which you truly receive INSTANT access to member areas.
Dr. Joom
Dr. Joom is now new & improved! We've installed and customized Azul's awesome NiceTalk component for Joomla 1.5. We were excited to see the release of NiceTalk for 1.5, but had to apply many fixes to get it working with sh404sef (if you'd like to learn more on how we did this, Ask Dr. Joom!). Now users will be able to submit and comment on Dr. Joom questions interactively.
Best of all, Dr. Joom is still offering FREE JOOMLA ADVICE to all!
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I'm very pleased to announce that a new version of SubmitMailer is now available for download.
This new version allows you to edit/translate the email subject and message.
And you can also get notified when someone updates a content item.
This feature is optional and can be turned off at any time. [ Download SubmitMailer 1.2 ]
More to come soon!
- Tobias
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 No, it's not the name of an upcoming template or extension, it's the theme of our personal lives lately. I've just returned from my honeymoon in Europe, and Gary will be getting married later this month and off to his honeymoon in Europe.
I share this information both to share the exciting news with our users and to communicate why you've seen a slow down in activity on the site during the past couple of weeks. Don't worry though, I'm back in action and we have a new team member! Will, a long time programmer joins the team to focus specifically on the Joomla! Extensions side of the house. You'll see activity from Will on the forums very soon as he'll be assisting as a moderator. You'll also be seeing lots of activity with:
- PraiseSlides updates
- PraiseMenu development
- Current template vote winner
- New template vote designs
- Subscription updates
- Dr. Joom updates
Things are going to crank up a notch, stay tuned!
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It's only taken 6 weeks for the maintenance release. It looks like the team is sticking to its goal of "regular, frequest updates". It's also an extremely pleasant surprise to see the team updating the Joomla! documentation wiki.
Helpful links:
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SocialPraise is now available for download! SocialPraise is a Joomla social networking template. We've included custom CSS styles for all the major extensions you'll need for your very own social network:
JoomlaPraise has released their 6th Joomla! template "