Non-profit needs help converting site to Joomla

[joy_m_n]

I'm an 'accidental techie' that has taken on the role of creating and maintaining our non-profit's website due to lack of funding for technology-related issues.

I REALLY want to use Joomla! (or a similar CMS....if Joomla just won't work), because I'm sick of making updates to our hand-coded-from-scratch site, and because right now, our blog, main site, message boards, email system, and calendar all have their own software. I'd like to merge everything into one site, which is update-able by anyone on our staff.

However, our staff and our members REALLY like our current web design. The problem is that the site uses a fairly complex Javascript-based menu, with individual images for each page (plus rollover images), 4 different subsections (all different colors) with 3 different submenu image types in EACH subsection (with corresponding rollover images......).......
Anyway, needless to say, getting this same functionality in Joomla is......UGH.

If ANYONE can offer any advice as to how to get as close as possible to our current menu using Joomla, I would love you forever and ever and ever!!! Ok, maybe LOVE is a strong word, but, needless to say, you'd be saving my ass, BIG time!!!

To view our current menu system in action, check out our main website at http://www.joyproject.org

Thank you in advance for ***ANY*** assistance you can provide! 

[joy_m_n]

Oh, and if it helps, we are officially a 501(c)3 tax-exempt non-profit public charity in the US. So, I *believe* that if you donate your time and/or resources, you can earn yourself a tax deduction! 

[tydust]

Ninjoomla.com utilizes something similar to this in their left menu, currently not with different colors but I think that could be extended after you figure out the right module to use.

There are many different menu extensions, I believe one of them will fit the bill if you were to spend the time digging through them all (which you don't necessarily have time to do). 

The menu system I use and swear by is SWMenuPro... and I know it has this functionality at least for the first level and its initial sublevel, though I haven't extended it to use different colors for each item's submenu.

Each of these extensions comes at a price though, and I'm not sure what the budget of your nonprofit is.

However, if you find that you can't get a developer to convert your javascript into Joomla form, it might be a viable alternative.  You will find the menu extensions using the names "click" and "accordian" that do similar things to your menu.

[lcdweb]

In Joomla 1.5, I believe you can control menu styling on a per menu item basis (using the itemid). So you should be able to achieve the different colors through css. The accordion structure should also not be a problem using some of  the extensions out there. Even the default Joomla submenu would essentially achieve this, although without the nice sliding effect.

[joy_m_n]

Hmmm......
That sounds do-able. At the moment though, I have yet to find where exactly to add changes to the CSS for each itemid.
I'm guessing that I would need to add all my pages/categories first, then figure out which itemid applies to which page, then change the CSS accordingly?
Am I understanding this correctly?
(sorry-- I'm still a bit of a n00b  )

[lcdweb]

1) Create a menu
2) Publish the corresponding module. In the module parameters, select "list" for the format/type, not one of the legacy options.

If you then look at the code generated for that menu, you'll see that each menu item (li tag) has a class identified called "itemXX" where "XX" is the menu's id.

You can then create your css styles to match. Something like:

ul.menu li.item23 = blog
ul.menu li.item45 = contact us

and associate a background image specific to the menu item in the css.

[joy_m_n]

I'll give it a try.
Thanks so much!

[gebby3346]

There are a number of different menu system available for Joomla! and even some other extensions that would be able to accomplish what you want for the menu system so you are on the right track! You also some some content on your site that could certainly be updated easily using some of the extensions available. Although not a menu system, the module rok_latest is something very similar to what you want out of the box. Just make each menu item in the content linkable to your menu items, here is a link to the demo http://www.rocketwerx.com/joomla/extensions/roklatest/

Hope that helps

[Edit by tydust]

[geekhead]

SWMenuPro will do most of this

there is a free version you could experiment with