WineMaker Magazine is a bimonthly magazine for hobbyists who enjoy making wine at home. Some, but not all, of the magazine articles are available online.

The Client

WineMaker had a custom content management system that had become out-of-date and was difficult to use. They needed an upgrade to a site that would allow easy updates. They also needed a boatload of functionality: banner ads, online newsletter, online search, polls, e-commerce shopping cart, blog, photo gallery, supplier/club directory, and a calculator for sulfite levels in wine.

The Solution

WineMaker needed all content to be sliced and diced in a variety of ways, including view by issue and view by interest. We were able to accomplish this via a Joomla extension called JoomSuite Content. Poll, search, and banner ad functionality is native to Joomla. We use the VirtueMart shopping cart to replace the old Yahoo store. We used MyBlog for easy blogging by non-technically oriented wine enthusiasts, and RSGallery for the photo gallery.  Finally, we recommended Constant Contact for the online newsletter. There are nearly 1000 pages of content associated with this site, and all were transferred over from the old site with little difficulty.

We expanded our Contacts4Web Joomla extension to use as a supplier directory (for advertisers), a club directory, and a directory of where to buy WineMaker Magazine.

The result is a site that's much easier to use and navigate over the old site. The design is exactly what the client wanted, with lots of functionality in the left and right columns. The client is actively updating the site with new articles, blog entries, and photos, as well as managing their online store.