I wish I could say that I wrote all the great little modules, and widgets on this site, but I did not. Aside from the content that has my name on it, the layout and organization of the site and the occasional bug fix or style sheet tweek, this site is a product of the hard work of many people from all over the world.

Powderworks.net was built using a CMS package called Joomla. CMS stands for Content Management System and is a name for a category of website technologies. A CMS allows for the centralized and modularized organization of data. This data is then displayed based on themes that can be customized in many different ways. The result is that when I write an article, install a module, or add a new component, I simply tell Joomla where I want the item to be displayed. There is no editing of individual pages or articles since are modules that are loaded seperately each time a page is loaded. 

Since Joomla is modularized, custom modules that others create can be easily installed and implemented. Below is a list of components, modules, and bots that are installed on the site with links to more information. Almost everything here is Open Source and freely available for anyone to use. If you want to set up a site for yourself, I hope you find this information helpful.

Powderworks.net is built on Joomla! Open Source CMS.
More information can be found at http://www.joomla.org/

Powderworks.net Components and Modules:

• Front end (Visible to Members)
  • Amber Alerts Ticker - This simple ticker module displays realtime Amber Alerts
    http://www.joomlatoys.com/
  • Community Builder and assorted links to CB plug-ins - Community Builder is a membership profile replacement module for Joomla.
    http://www.joomlapolis.com/
  • eWeather - eWeather is a Weather Channel RSS interpreter.
    http://www.mambobaer.de/
    *NOTE: I have made several modifications to this component in order for it to work with the changes in the weather.com terms of use policy and data feed requirements. I have outlined some of my issues and fixes here.
  • Fireboard - Fireboard is one of the most popular opensource Forum components.
    http://www.bestofjoomla.com/
  • JIM (Joomla Instant Messaging) - JIM is a private messaging system for Joomla.
    http://www.clickwork.ch/cms/
  • Live Users Pro - Add a better Who's Online module to your community site.
    http://ndwdesign.net/
  • NASA Image of the day module - A very cool pic of the day RSS interpreter.
    http://www.momoprojects.com/
  • PU Arcade - The best free arcade you can never buy!
    http://www.pragmaticutopia.com/
  • PU Arcade assorted statistics, game grouping modules, and Search bot - One of the contributors to the PUArcade also has a site of his own showing off his PUArcade add-ons as well as some other advertising modules for Joomla.
    http://steve-o-meter.com/
  • PU Arcade Games - All of the games in the arcade came from PUArcadeGames.com
    http://www.puarcadegames.com/
  • RS Factory - All of the News feeds in the News section are handled by RSFactory RSS Reader.
    http://www.thefactory.ro/
  • RS Gallery 2 - This is very useful but not entireley mature gallery component for Joomla. I chose it because it would allow for front-end mamber uploads where as many others either would not or would require a bridge component to link Joomla to a stand-alone gallery.
    http://rsgallery2.net/
  • SMO Ajax Shoutbox (Powderworks Chat) - A simple  chat program that can be used anywhere on the site so that members can chat with each other while on this site.
    http://wael.nasreddine.com/projects/smo-ajax-shoutbox
• Backend (Administration Modules)
  • JCE Inline editor - a nice alternative to the tinyMCE edito. I chose this editor because it allowed for an easier file upload option.
    http://www.cellardoor.za.net/
  • JoomlaPack - A backup and migration program that allows you to backup your Joomla website and then "install" it on another server or domain. I use it to develop a site and then migrate it to its actuall server and domain name when it is ready to go live.
    http://www.joomlapack.net/
  • JoomlaStats - A fantastic website statistics tool!
    http://www.joomlastats.org/
  • JoomlaXplorer - This module is a file explorer for Joomla. It allows for inline editing, file upload and download, file rename, and shows rights and ownership.
    http://joomlacode.org/gf/project/joomlaxplorer/
  • PU Arcade Mass uploader - A very useful tool for uploading large quanties of games to your PUArcade. This site also has more than 10,000 games for your Arcade.
    http://www.puarcadegames.com/
• Bots (Mambots)
  • ObjectClarity Fireboard Discussbot - This plugin allows me to add a Discuss button to the end of any article that automatically starts a forum thread with the article title.
    http://www.objectclarity.com
  • Simple Image Gallery - A very nice bot that allows a litebox gallery to be directly integrated into any article.
    http://www.joomlaworks.gr/
  • XTypo - This bot allows me to add numerous decorative effects to my articles.
    http://www.templateplazza.com
  • XTypo String Editor Button Pack - This pack adds buttons to my editor windows that quicly add the tags for the XTYPO bot.
    http://www.filmanleitungen.de
• Themes
  • The theme for this site came from JoomlaDesigns.co.uk. This site is a pay site but you get your choice from more than 300 themes plus you get the Photoshop files.

If you have any questions about this site please send me a message or click on the Discuss button below.