Linking HTML files from local computer to Joomla

[ebstarasia]

I have local HTML files created from Excel and Crystal reports that I need to link to my joomla site that I'm creating. Half the files are updated manually while the other half is updated via Crystal Deliveries every 30-60 minutes.

I already have a basic website built from Microsoft Word that points to each HTML directory, but I am trying to create a better intranet site for the staff members at this company.

 

[kjv1611]

Are you testing the various CMSes to see which one you want to go with for this idea or what?

Also, if it's for an intranet-type-setup, you may be best off using Microsoft SharePoint, assuming the company wants to do so and can afford it.

For dealing with documents in an office, SharePoint is hard to beat.

 

[ebstarasia]

yea, I am playing around with different CMSes. The company is fairly small, staff of at most 25 people so they don't really need anything that would need to hosted or really paid for.

 

[kjv1611]

If I'm not mistaken, any website has to be hosted. But I imagine what you mean is that you want a solution you can host internally with no outside connections, and they don't want to spend on the software if possible.

So the Open Source solutions would probably be ideal in that sense.

However, are you (or someone else there) going to be able to maintain a CMS. A CMS, though very powerful, can also be more involved as far as managing it. Well, so long as they didn't make major changes, just adding/modifying/deleting content, then it shouldn't matter much.

So, if you wanted to do a total in-house solution, I'd suggest (will require spending some money initially unless they have a spare pretty good performance PC available already).

1. Buy/Build a desktop computer - doesn't have to be super fancy for 25 people for sure, but I'd try to get a decent amount of umph out of it if possible. If you go throw this on an old P4 with 512MB RAM, then it'll be maybe good enough for 1 or 2 people, but as soon as you get more than a couple requests on the database, it'll start showing it's weaknesses. So if at all possible, build a good/decent system - or use a fairly modern one - anything in the core 2 duo or above CPU area would suffice, probably - you may have to upgrade the RAM, but maybe not.

2. Pick the CSS you want to go with. I do greatly personally prefer Drupal. I researched web design tools and methods for 2 years while keeping things "static" using MS FrontPage quite a while back. I ended up going with Drupal when I saw how customizeable it is, and generally how it performs. Just like anything else, it does have it's drawbacks on occasion. Things can go haywire, but I've yet to hear of any solution for anything that can't.

3. I know for Drupal, there are some "all-in-one" setups already out there that you can use to install Linux, Drupal, and everything necessary, all at once. For instance, there's the whole Drubuntu project that uses Ubuntu Linux:

http://drupal.org/project/drubuntu

http://groups.drupal.org/drubuntu

And I've seen a where folks have done really well using Drupal for building Intranets for businesses and schools and such. Also, if you're interested, when Obama was elected, and they redid the White House website, they went with Drupal - looks pretty nice.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/

I'm assuming that hasn't changed - I've not checked into it of late, but it looks pretty much the same as then.

Also, if you want to look at a tool that makes building themes for sites really easy (you can always further customize/tweak/cleanup afterwards, I really like this tool (not free nor open source):

http://www.artisteer.com

If the company wanted to do any project management via the site, there's also the Storm module in Drupal that you can look at. I played around with it, but I don't have any real NEED for it. I may still use it one day, have some ideas with the media ministry at my church, but not sure we'll ever go there.

Anyway, there are lots of options there.

And here's a mention (VERY recent - last month) of another school - university - that used Drupal to set up their Intranet - you might find some good info there:

http://groups.drupal.org/node/161284

Of course, you'll have to setup user groups, and determine who needs what permissions, and all of that as well. Try to stick to using GROUPS for setting permissions rather than individual users when at all possible. The reason why is that you can have VERY granular permissions in Drupal. It pays to keep it as simple as possible, otherwise you could end up looking at LOTS and LOTS of checkboxes!