Packt announced Zen Cart: E-commerce Application Development

I am very much happy this morning. While opening my computer at office, I visited website of Packt Publishing (www.packtpub.com) and found that my book has been announced on their web. It's a milestone. I started writing on this in November 2007. And I also remember that the idea sharing of this book started in last July. So, it's finally going to be published after 1 year. Not a long time.
Anyone who has ever written a book knows how it feels writing a book. It's really a tremendous job! You need patience and perseverance all the long. Although I have written some other book on information technologies and those are already published, this book really fascinated me! Why? I'll tell that later, sometime! In brief, it's a different experience, totally!
For details of the book, please read:  Zen Cart: E-commerce Application Development

Joomla! Cash

There is no doubt that Joomla! is the best open source PHP based content management system. Its rapid growth is really amazing! Now it is in version 1.5, which made a major overhaul of its code system.

Joomla! can be used for any purpose site. One of the best features of Joomla! is that you can customize it and extend it to your needs. You can virtually use it for any purpose - general company website, document management system to e-commerce site. Joomla! has over 3000 extensions and plug-ins. Among these some extensions can be used as money-making tools.
Joomla! Cash authored by Brandon Dawson and Tom Canavan, and published by Packt Publishing, UK, shows you how to make money using Joomla! and its associated extensions.

Packt has published a lot of book on open source technologies - especially on content management systems. If you have already read some books from Packt Publishing, you are aware that their books are narrowly focused to some solution. Instead of discussing technology overview it helps readers to solve problems. It has published some other titles on Joomla! - namely :

• Building Websites with Joomla! 1.5,
• Mastering Joomla! 1.5 Extension and Framework Development, 
• Learning Joomla! 1.5 Extension Development: Creating Modules, Components, and Plugins with PHP, 
• Joomla! Template Design: Create your own professional-quality templates with this fast, friendly guide, Joomla! Accessibility.

All these are discussing a specific topic.

Joomla! Cash is also focused on money making tools. However, when users read it, they may find it not so focused. The book has discussed some extensions, and moreover there are some long discussion on website marketing, search engine optimization , generating revenues, etc. - which are not specific to Joomla!, rather generic.

Chapter 3 of this book discusses on Generating Traffic. This chapter mainly shows you how to optimize a Joomla! site with keywords, research keywords, and use search engine friendly URLs by using openSEF. This Chapter also discusses link baiting, but it is not clear how this can be implemented in Joomla!

In Chapter 6, you will learn about advertising in Joomla!. It shows you how to use banner ads and run affiliate program using CJ Affilates module and iDevAffilitate. However, readers may still expect some through discussion on these two modules. It also shows use of VirtueMart for running an online shop. VirtueMart alone deserves a full book - but a full chapter has not been assigned for this strong shopping cart. It would be better if a full Chapter could be dedicated to running online shop using VirtueMart. In fact, when I saw the title, I thought that the book is on VirtueMart. In think there are other people who will also think so.

Chapter 7 is on disaster recovery, which, I think, is very much appropriate for Building Websites with Joomla! book, and less appropriate for Joomla! Cash.

At the end, Chapter 8 really shows you how you can sell your Joomla! skills and earn money on the internet.

As a whole, the book is good for getting overview of extensions and tools available for Joomla! which can be used for generating revenues. If you expect more details, or some must work technique of making money or just money making machine - I am sure - you may be disappointed.

[I have received a copy for review from Packt publishing]

Joomla! Cash

There is no doubt that Joomla! is the best open source PHP based content management system. Its rapid growth is really amazing! Now it is in version 1.5, which made a major overhaul of its code system.

Joomla! can be used for any purpose site. One of the best features of Joomla! is that you can customize it and extend it to your needs. You can virtually use it for any purpose - general company website, document management system to e-commerce site. Joomla! has over ... extensions and plug-ins. Among these some extensions can be used as money-making tools.
Joomla! Cash authored by Brandon Dawson and Tom Canavan, and published by Packt Publishing, UK, shows you how to make money using Joomla! and its associated extensions.

Packt has published a lot of book on open source technologies - especially on content management systems. If you have already read some books from Packt Publishing, you are aware that their books are narrowly focused to some solution. Instead of discussing technology overview it helps readers to solve problems. It has published some other titles on Joomla! - namely :

• Building Websites with Joomla! 1.5,
  
• Mastering Joomla! 1.5 Extension and Framework Development, 
• Learning Joomla! 1.5 Extension Development: Creating Modules, Components, and Plugins with PHP, 
• Joomla! Template Design: Create your own professional-quality templates with this fast, friendly guide, Joomla! Accessibility.
  

All these are discussing a specific topic.

Joomla! Cash is also focused on money making tools. However, when users read it, they may find it not so focused. The book has discussed some extensions, and moreover there are some long discussion on website marketing, search engine optimization , generating revenues, etc. - which are not specific to Joomla!, rather generic.

Chapter 3 of this book discusses on Generating Traffic. This chapter mainly shows you how to optimize a Joomla! site with keywords, research keywords, and use search engine friendly URLs by using openSEF. This Chapter also discusses link baiting, but it is not clear how this can be implemented in Joomla!

In Chapter 6, you will learn about advertising in Joomla!. It shows you how to use banner ads and run affiliate program using CJ Affilates module and iDevAffilitate. However, readers may still expect some through discussion on these two modules. It also shows use of VirtueMart for running an online shop. VirtueMart alone deserves a full book - but a full chapter has not been assigned for this strong shopping cart. It would be better if a full Chapter could be dedicated to running online shop using VirtueMart. In fact, when I saw the title, I thought that the book is on VirtueMart. In think there are other people who will also think so.

Chapter 7 is on disaster recovery, which, I think, is very much appropriate for Building Websites with Joomla! book, and less appropriate for Joomla! Cash.

At the end, Chapter 8 really shows you how you can sell your Joomla! skills and earn money on the internet.

As a whole, the book is good for getting overview of extensions and tools available for Joomla! which can be used for generating revenues. If you expect more details, or some must work technique of making money or just money making machine - I am sure - you may be disappointed.

[I have received a copy for review from Packt publishing]