Your old school developer's Dreamweaver and HTML coding skills are so ass-backward in this era of shockingly powerful web applications, that your old school (uni-directional, broadcasting) marketing site is worse than defunct.  It's irrelevant. Why? Because it's not part of the conversation that new social media marketing requires.

Why?

Gee, you ask a lot of questions. Because it's not built on a CMS (Content Management System) with any web application power at all.  You've shown up to the fight with a ice pick, while everyone else is packin' laser-targetted, fully-automatic grenade launchers. (OK, a bit much, but you get my point).

Fire your "old school" website developer, and get an experienced Joomla professional to build your Web 2.0 Social Media, Neo-Marketing 2.0 website on the powerful Joomla! CMS (Content Management System), or Drupal or WordPress if you are thus inclined.  (Or at least make them update their ancient ways of website building.)

This site (and all the sites I've developed recently), is built on the Open Source platform Joomla. The strength of using Joomla is that development doesn't require expensive licenses, is fast and relatively easy, and application power and potential are almost limitless.  No, it's not as easy as setting up a drag and drop free site using any number of lame hosting company softwares, but once you do a bit of reading to understand basic software philosophy and logic behind Joomla CMS, you'll be publishing reams of valuable content in no time!  And that's key. You'll be publishing reams of content, not asking your Dreamweaver/HTML web developer to to it for you.

Why am I, a Web Publisher / Developer / Consultant / Windbag telling you this?  Why am I telling you that you don't really need to hire an old-school web developer, with their bag of mysterious HTML coding skills and Adobe Dreamweaver know-how? Joomla is nicknamed "The Dreamweaver Killer." I'm telling you because your old site is embarrassingly ineffective.  And you can't join in the neo-marketing conversation, unless your site has the skills.

Is Joomla CMS putting web developers out of work?

No. If anything, Joomla is making developers who are expert in CMS systems (like Joomla, or even WordPress or Drupal) very busy:

• Because business expertise is still required in building great sites. Though Joomla is a great website platform, and free (but not cheap), expertise and experience is still required to get a Joomla (or any other CMS) website to do all the cool things most corporations and companies want.
  
  Find someone with technical expertise combined with real world business experience, who can make sure Joomla and it's software components mesh with your real business needs: your have-to-haves and nice-to-haves, your sales and marketing requirements, your short and long-term company strategies. Put together a solid plan on how to get there, and how you can keep that site running and updated on your own.  That's right, find a Joomla developer who wants you to do your own updating, not one who will hook you into long-term contracts.  Because Joomla is easy to maintain.
  
  
• Because it's expensive and time consuming to do the wrong thing. There are a lot of "stranded" Joomla-based websites out there. With great power, comes great probability that a conflict will arise to completely mess up your website and development! Though there are literally thousands of 3rd party add-on softwares out there to expand the basic functionality of Joomla, it's easy to make the wrong choice that could cost your business headaches, and loss of lots of time and money. Many, particularly those component softwares with lots of transactional and social media features, will, for a myriad of reasons find incompatibility with existing software...and completely trash your website. That's where you need people with experience in making Joomla "behave."People with anal-retentive skills with debugging and tweaking Joomla functionality through PHP programing and CSS coding, and ability to fine-tune design templates, making them much more user friendly.  Get an experienced Joomla professional to help you plan before your Joomla site gets "stranded".
  
  
• Because you tried and failed and now you need to quit messing around with web code, and focus on your core business strengths. Remember when you were a ___________ (fill in the blank), and not an amatuer web developer?  You didn't go into business, because you planned on becoming a web development techie.  But you still want it all! You want enterprise-level capabilities at small business costs, and at lightning speeds.  You want your company to be able to update your websites on your own, without having to rely on a web developer to change an simple sentence or add an article, and capitalize a word. You want the neo-marketing power of the web, but at small business cost. Hire a Joomla professional to take you the rest of the way!
  

So "Fire your "old school" developer (or at least make them update/upgrade their ancient ways of website building), and find a good Joomla-Drupal-Wordpress consultant.  That might be me and the good folks at XMedia, or we might be way too busy with our own publishing projects to mess with your half-baked schemes or non-existent budgets.  Either way, an experienced professional will save you time and money, while empowering you to focus on your business, rather than web development.

Ask me, I might know of a few you could find happiness with.

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Jason Gallagher  - Agree 80%   |2009-03-15 11:52:21 But I don't think it's too far fetched for many designers. Their biggest challenge as far as moving from say print to web, is actually that they don't even have a working knowledge of html/css... and therefore how to design for it. You really can't be a great web designer without having at least some hybrid skills and code knowledge. As far as Joomla or any CMS, you don't really have to learn PHP...although a little helps of course. You're absolutely right though, a successful site requires a broad range of skills/interests and rarely can one person encompass them. However... I think the market will always have a big place for lower budget work and therefore seek out individuals. What I think will eventually happen, is that we'll see CMS systems get better and much easier to work with. Just picture a Joomla (slicker/more usable) with all of its powerful extensions, combined with a Dreamweaver like interface (or better) for design. It'll happen, just as no one uses postscript in Illustrator any longer. But I doubt it's going to happen with Adobe (thus "Dreamweaver Killer" ;) because after 10 years, their extensions are still as limited and crappy as ever. Open source I think is what will help us evolve. Reply

Ed Eusebio  - I agree - In the end we are business consultants   |2009-03-16 07:16:39 You're right, hybrids and the hyphenated will thrive. What I'm finding also is that, you're right, there is a huge market for low budget/no budget work. But with more free hosting and easier plug-yer-stuff-in-dev-tools, that's not really a market where we can afford to play. Unless we can show added value, and change that initial budget perception. The perception is, "My 14 year old can make a website on his Mac, why do I need to pay you thousands?" And it's legitimate, for very simple sites. How do I add value to that perception? I am challenged to demonstrate superior skills in understanding client business needs, the market in which they compete, and their current marketing strategies. And then add value to simple web developments, by acting more as an ongoing web marketing consultant, who stretches their strategies, makes real business tactical recommendations based on their resources and skill sets. Often I find myself asking them many, many questions, because their strategies are not fully thought out, and the possibilities for change and improvement are not understood or realistic. In many ways the actual web development and design is essential, but secondary to ROI producing web marketing execution. Which is the larger more encompassing strategy. I think as consultants, we often do more teaching and coaching than we do site building. Fortunately the tools for site building are much easier to use. I think your prediction about the future of Joomla and other CMS is prophetic. But as web consultants, our most important value is in our experience and ability to guide client strategy. Reply

Jason Gallagher   |2009-03-18 17:00:48 Absolutely... the ability for anyone (even a 14 year old) to be able to create a once click website, while a boon for the average person... can be scary at first for people who do this for a living. But I think even now, with the web still pretty much the wild west, most corporations and businesses w/some experience know that it always takes real skill and planning to get results... and you get what you pay for. On the other hand, for mom and pops and a lot of small-medium size business, it's more hit or miss that they've figured this out. This is actually the category I personally prefer to work with (for reasons besides money), but I admit it's very challenging these days. But I think (and hope) sooner or later, people in general will start to realize that their website really is worth an investment. Regardless if you work as a team or solo, if you can demonstrate results... I believe there will be work for you. I love being "mostly" a one stop shop and I do think there's room for it and tools like Joomla let me offer a lot more. But you really do have to learn about marketing, copy writing, SEO and the bigger picture. I agree that a lot of "Dreamweaver Designers" won't be able to make the transition...and that's probably not a bad thing. Or maybe I'm wrong and we're all doomed. Clients will someday just click a button...and out comes a fully functional, self maintaining, personalized, indefatigable web presence. That's what a lot of smaller businesses seem to think is possible anyway ;) As as side note, how many times have you heard, "I would do it myself, but I don't have enough time". That always floors me and almost always lets me know that they're expecting the kitchen sink for around $500... Reply

Jason Miller  - Couldn't Agree More   |2009-01-29 09:55:58 I don't believe it is possible to update someone from Dreamweaver "development" to CMS use - they're stuck and their skills are dead. Reply

Ed Eusebio  - You're probably right   |2009-01-29 11:47:54 But wouldn't that be a nice combination? With a little CSS and PHP thrown in? Reply

Jason Gallagher  - Why not?   |2009-03-10 21:46:51 I am a graphic designer for print, turned front end web designer, then turned CMS user (and the author of the article mentioned here... Open Source, the Dreamweaver Killer). Learning a CMS is just another step in your evolution if you have web skills. Check out the new tutorials for Joomla template creation over at www.lynda.com to see how it's really not so bad (you don't have to be a member to see the outline and take a sample). I've successfully trained several Dreamweaver designers to make the transition. To be sure, especially if they don't know HTML it's a lot of work, but highly worth it. Perhaps less so then before, there will always be a need for personalized, original designs. So the types of creative Designers who traditionally used Dreamweaver... not programmers nor the new breed of "template installers" will always be needed for that. But I agree that times are about to get tough for those who don't either update their skills or form a team. And of no less importance, SEO and marketing are also going to have to be in our toolkits. Reply

Ed Eusebio  - Thanks for talking about Evolving, Author!   |2009-03-14 09:21:08 Yes, with so much changing in the whole publishing environment, being multi-talented or even experienced is best, but rarely possible. We all have our strengths and preferences. Though I love to use Joomla CMS, I don't love the php/css coding that is often required for finished detail work and functionality. And while I love to write and organize content, I prefer to let others fine tune design. And while I can do my own LAMP server installs, it's best if I leave server admin and security to people who know their craft. As market needs evolve and change, as well as all the tools, us creatives must change. But we aren't islands, and often I find the best course is to build complementary teams that can come together when particular combinations are required. As freelancers, it's probably best to team up with other freelancers to offer top-notch whole solutions that clients demand. As I micro-blog on Twitter with my Tweets, I'm always on the look out for complementary freelancers. Reply

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