The WTLUG has had several meetings over the last year that focused on the open source content management system (CMS) Joomla. These meetings have resulted in at least four successful website in Abilene based on the Joomla CMS. The WTLUG is dedicated to promoting the use of open source software in Abilene and has been holding meetings since 1998.

Fred Famble of Minda Street Church of Christ has implemented a new website based on Joomla CMS. Fred included some interesting features in his website including content that is organized in tabs and an inset with rotating pictures. The plan is to use the website to distribute information about the church and audio files of the weekly service. Minda Street Church of Christ have combined a nice template from Shape5 with high quality content to create a website that will move the church forward over the coming year.

Kent West of North Firth and Grape Church of Christ has also started a new website using Joomla. Kent has chosen to keep his website simple with just basic content at this time. The website will be used to distribute basic information to church members. As Kent continues to learn more about Joomla I expect his website to grow in both use and function.

McMurry University lunched a new student portal based on the Joomla platform. McMurry's webmaster Jim Qunnett has created a site that should provide a steady stream of information to students along with allowing the students to discuss and comment on this news. Two of the prominent features of the new portal are single sign on access to the McMurry learning management system that is used by a majority of the professors at McMurry University. Jim has also placed a calendar on the portal that will link to various events happening on campus.

Finally many of you may have noticed that our own website for the WTLUG has moved to a new platform. This new platform is based on Joomla and was implemented in the spring of 2008 by Scott Fritz. The WTLUG website provides commenting on news articles by registered users of the site along with a calendar that shows upcoming WTLUG events along with some open source events that take place both in Texas and around the world.