Last Update November 29, 2023
Welcome to the latest introduction to Joomla!, the content management platform (CMS). At Serfe, we take pride in presenting the latest innovations of Joomla! 5, the most advanced version to date, designed to take your web experiences to the next level.
Joomla! 5 is an open-source content management system (CMS) powered by PHP and backed by the GPL license. Developed to create dynamic websites, it uses a MySQL database to offer flexibility and performance.
Our client offers solutions for audience acquisition and digital marketing optimization, focusing on medium to large companies in competitive sectors. They enhance market capture, improve customer conversion rates, and support scalable revenue growth. Their platform leverages SEO and content strategies to help businesses compete effectively against large aggregator sites.
We prioritize the automation of data downloading and collection processes. This involves setting up systems and tools that automatically retrieve data from various sources, ensuring that we have the most up-to-date and accurate information available. By automating these tasks using technologies such as PySpark, Airflow, and SEMrush, we eliminate the need for manual data retrieval, which not only saves time but also reduces the likelihood of human error. Our team is skilled in using advanced scripting and programming techniques to create robust data pipelines that handle large volumes of data efficiently.
Once data is collected, their focus shifts to in-depth analysis. Our client employs a variety of analytical tools and techniques to scrutinize the data, identifying trends, patterns, and insights that are crucial for informed decision-making. Based on that, we generate new data collections, enriching the datasets and providing a more comprehensive view of the information at hand. This process involves the creation of derived metrics, aggregation of data points, and the synthesis of new datasets that offer deeper insights and support strategic initiatives. We facilitate this process to the client.
A key aspect of our work involves generating detailed reports that serve as the foundation for estimates and strategic planning. These reports enable stakeholders to make informed decisions, plan strategies effectively, and allocate resources efficiently. The reporting process is designed to be transparent and comprehensive, ensuring that all relevant information is communicated effectively for all team members.
We collaborate in the development of prototypes, mockups, and wireframes, providing suggestions on design, usability, and adherence to standards. While these tasks are primarily handled by the client's team, we offer our expertise to ensure that design concepts, functionality, and user interactions are optimized. We can use tools like Figma to assist in this process, helping to visualize and refine ideas before moving to full-scale development.
Collaborating on the design of user-facing components that query generated data and interact with users is a crucial part of our work. We focus on implementing, optimizing, and testing these components. We ensure that they are intuitive, responsive, and provide users with the information they need in an accessible manner. Our contributions leverage the latest technologies and best practices to create seamless interactions between users and data, enhancing overall user satisfaction and engagement.
Implementing designs with a high level of detail is essential for optimal integration into target sites. We pay meticulous attention to every aspect of the design and UX (user experience), ensuring seamless integration with existing systems without disrupting the visual or functional integrity of the site. Our implementation process involves rigorous testing, validation, and performance monitoring to ensure that all components work as intended and meet our quality standards.
We excel in providing technical assistance to review and suggest improvements for optimizing content processes. We take the natural text provided by the client and transform it into intelligent, data-driven content using techniques such as complementing Mustache with custom filters. Our goal is to ensure efficient content creation and effective communication of key insights.
Early detection of requirement errors is crucial in the development process. We assist in identifying potential issues in the initial stages of development, preventing costly and time-consuming errors down the line. Our proactive approach involves thorough requirement analysis, continuous feedback loops, and rigorous testing to ensure that all requirements are accurately captured and implemented.
24/7 Drive offers a special service with the Online Driver Improvement Course in Virginia, USA.
After 3 years working together, we reached a successful website transformation: Migrating from Drupal 7 to WordPress 6.
The client initially reached out to us to resolve several critical issues plaguing their website, which had begun to impact their business's reputation in 2020. Upon conducting a comprehensive review, we identified a range of tasks required to enhance the user experience and address the critical errors.
When we undertook the project, it became evident that the website faced significant challenges, particularly in the areas of security and performance. At that point, we had already determined that migrating the eLearning platform to WordPress was the most suitable solution. This transition represented a substantial investment for the client. We initiated a long-term plan, first focusing on improving the Drupal platform to a level that would sustain the business. Afterward, we began to consider the migration.
Early in 2023, we started working on the new eLearning platform powered by WordPress. After five months of extensive web development, we released a new refreshed website with outstanding performance. We took on the challenge of enhancing the website's performance, and the results were nothing short of remarkable. Through meticulous optimization efforts, we successfully boosted the website's speed, achieving an impressive score of 98 on mobile devices according to the PageSpeed Insight tool and grade A on GTmetrix. This achievement marked a substantial improvement in user experience and page loading times, greatly enhancing the site's overall performance and competitiveness.
Here is an screenshot of both tests:
We combined our more than 15 years of experience working on CMS and performance with a unique configuration using a plugin that provides remarkable results. You can read more about our Wordpress Speed Optimization service
We resolved issues that were hindering users from completing courses which was also related to bad practices into existing and previous source code.
One of the most crucial steps was the migration from Drupal 7 to WordPress 6. We recognized that the site was running on PHP 5.6, which posed security vulnerabilities. To rectify this, we upgraded the core of Drupal 7 and all its modules to the latest versions, ensuring proper functionality and enhanced security. We meticulously applied security patches to the core and continued to work through each module to guarantee a seamless transition.
Subsequently, we focused on updating the source code to support various custom modules and ensure compatibility with PHP 7.4 and later upgrading to PHP 8.1 into WP Engine environment.
Following the resolution of critical issues, our team embarked on a redesign phase. During this stage, we not only updated the theme but also collaborated closely with the client to implement design enhancements. These included the creation of a new header, footer, and several modifications aimed at achieving a responsive design. Our goal was to ensure that students could access the course from any device seamlessly.
Beyond mentioned achievements, we also focused on further improving website architecture. To achieve this, we made the strategic decision to migrate the site from a shared hosting environment to a dedicated Virtual Private Server (VPS) in 2020. This move not only enhanced performance but also provided scalability options for growing business. We set up a new server from scratch, deploying the Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP (LAMP) stack, and configured the necessary security settings to maintain optimal website performance.
Even this move was a significant improvement for the old Drupal website, we had already identified the next step to migrate to WordPress, and clearly, the new site would be even faster using WP Engine. That's why when we launched the new site in 2023, we migrated to this new hosting. The managed hosting services provided by WP Engine not only improved site speed and performance but also enhanced security and reliability. With WP Engine's advanced caching and content delivery network (CDN), we experienced faster load times, resulting in a seamless user experience. The robust security features and automatic updates ensured that the website remained protected against potential threats, while the scalability of WP Engine's hosting allowed us to easily accommodate increased traffic and growth.
Today, the website stands as a testament to successful transformation. All critical errors have been resolved, and it now operates smoothly. We continue to work closely with the client, addressing new requirements and tasks as they arise.
In this project, we had the exciting task of creating a dynamic and user-friendly job board platform that caters to both job seekers and employers. An essential quality of the platform is its commitment to helping senior professionals navigate the job market, enabling them to secure roles that align with their experience and aspirations.
Our focus was on integrating key functionalities and plugins that not only enhance the user experience but also streamline the management process for the site administrators. Through careful selection and implementation of defined plugins and functionalities, we created a robust and user-friendly job board platform. The combination of essential tools like JobBoard Light and GTranslate, alongside critical features like PayPal integration and customized job searches, ensures that the platform is not only functional but also highly effective in meeting the needs of its users.
The additional plugins and customizations further enhance the platform’s performance, security, and usability, making it a powerful tool for both job seekers and employers.
At the heart of the platform lies the JobBoard Light plugin, a powerful tool that facilitates the complete management of jobs and employers. We chose this plugin for its robust features that allow administrators to easily post, edit, and manage job listings, as well as handle employer profiles. This comprehensive management system ensures that both job seekers and employers have a seamless experience on the platform, making it easier for users to find the perfect job or candidate.
To make the platform accessible to a wider audience, we implemented the GTranslate plugin, enabling translation between English and German. This choice was particularly important as it allowed us to cater to a multilingual user base, ensuring that language barriers do not hinder the user experience. By providing content in multiple languages, we significantly increased the platform’s reach and usability.
To empower the site administrators with the ability to easily manage and update content, we integrated Elementor. This plugin was selected for its intuitive drag-and-drop interface, which allows even non-technical users to create and customize pages with ease. The flexibility offered by Elementor ensures that the platform remains visually appealing and up-to-date, without requiring extensive coding knowledge.
One of the critical functionalities we implemented was PayPal integration. By enabling secure payment processing through PayPal, we ensured that users could effortlessly make transactions, whether they are paying for job postings or subscribing to premium services. This integration not only enhances user trust but also streamlines the revenue flow for the platform.
Understanding the importance of precise job matching, we customized the job listings with new features that can be filtered and searched on the job search page. This customization allows users to narrow down their search results based on specific criteria, making it easier for them to find relevant jobs quickly. The enhanced filtering options improve user satisfaction by delivering more accurate and relevant search results.
Facilitating communication between users and employers is key for this platform, we implemented a small async chat using Contact Form 7. This plugin is well-known for its simplicity and flexibility, allowing us to create custom forms that meet the specific needs of the platform. By providing a reliable way for users to get in touch, we enhanced the overall user experience and ensured that any queries or issues could be promptly addressed.
For a seamless user journey, we added the Login/Logout Menu plugin. This plugin allows us to easily add login and logout links to the site’s navigation menu, providing users with quick access to their accounts. This feature enhances user convenience and helps maintain the security of the platform. To safeguard the platform’s data, we chose UpdraftPlus - Backup/Restore. This plugin is one of the most reliable tools for creating backups and restoring the site in case of any issues. By regularly backing up the site, we ensured that data loss is minimized and that the platform can quickly recover from any unforeseen events.
The client has selected the Astra theme as the foundation for the platform due to its lightweight and highly customizable nature. To ensure that the theme perfectly suited the platform’s needs, we created a custom child theme where we applied all necessary customizations. This approach allowed us to maintain the core functionalities of Astra while adding unique features that align with the platform’s brand identity and functionality requirements.
Didas Research is an independent research firm. Its sole focus is on helping their clients take advantage of long term investment opportunities. Its research is grounded in rigorous analysis of the key elements of long term performance. It focus on the drivers of sustained earnings growth through objective analysis of capital allocation decisions and business models. By integrating financial, industrial, competitive and stakeholder performance, it seek to identify businesses best placed for sustained long term growth at undemanding valuations.
We took Wordpress for start developing this website. WordPress provide great built-in features and the admin panel allow you to easily manage pages, post and users.
We implemented a custom plugin which offer management feature to visualize large volume of business and financial data. The information is uploaded to the site through the administrator panel using Excel files. The plugin is responsible for reading and processing the data for storage in the database. The economic-financial information is displayed on the site using different types of graphics libraries implemented with jQuery and custom pages where the information is shown in a friendly way. There are filtering methods which provides the ability to organize results by group, sector and region.
The system also allows registered users to keep a list of companies. Thus, they are able to compare between them.
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This website provide useful information about researches on regional climate modeling with a focus on land surface-atmosphere interactions, their relation to the water and energy cycles, and potential contributions to understanding the predictability of the hydro-climate system. The site is leaded by Dr. Hugo Berbery who is collaborating with students and researchers from different institutions.
Serfe was requested for some specific components to show weather forecast from South America region. After analyze different alternative we conclude that implement a custom extension for Joomla would be the best option. Thus, we started working on the web design and implementing a custom Joomla template for it. We designed also the desired component in collaboration with the client, identifying necessary information and material for the development. We suggested Joomla because it also provides basic CMS features such dynamic page content, menu item manager, contact page, SEO and more.
Forecast Joomla Extension
We implemented 100% of this extension including one Joomla component, a module and a plugin. The component provide all the functional part of the application, in the Administrator panel the admin is able to add, edit or remove the satellite images and its values. The module is shown in the Forecast and Monitoring pages so the visitor is able to filter and choose different option to see different images based on domain and variables. The plugin is handling the effects and the dynamic load of each image which is loaded into the slideshow in the main content page.
Custom template
In order to fit the web design we customized the basic Joomla template, including specific module sections and changing HTML structure. This template works better for desktop and a few tablets (for iPad 2 and higher). We also implemented HTML templates override for articles and category pages to avoid hardcoding for them.
The Inter-Agency Task Force is an NGO. The site's main objective is oriented to provide communication for American Jewish people whose activities are to inform them about majority/minority relations in Israel, topics like economy, education and social services treated in Arab Israeli communities as well as the financial resources to provide effective solutions.
The site was implemented in Drupal 7. We received the PSD for web design therefore we implemented a new custom Drupal theme using Bootstrap and jQuery based on CMS standards.
We developed a custom Drupal module for entities management (people, articles, posts and events). The administrator and any registered users is able to create, edit or delete content on the page. Forms module for custom entities include its own attributes which were to be used to filter them in search engines.
Among the main features of the site we can highlight a powerful search engine that was developed in order to display and filter the results showing entities site so customized and optimal. Thus, it offers the possibility to apply advanced filters, using keywords, tags and content type obtaining as results a list of articles and events that match the search criteria. All filters are dynamic and these were implemented using Ajax combined with Drupal API.
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