"Joomla 1.5 Customization" is a book edited by Packt Publishing and written by Daniel Chapman, founder of Ninja Forge, a company that produces Joomla Extensions.

The book is a guide to the creation of websites using the Joomla Content Management System, and it is written for people that are not professional developers and want to customize their website and introduce non-standard features.

The book talks about the building of an example site, where the users subscribe annually to have access to specialized information, and they can communicate via comments and forum posts.

The Daniel goal is to teach the reader the basics about customizing existing extensions the way he wants, and integrating them to build a complete website.

The book begins introducing the web technologies involved in a Joomla website: HTML, CSS, PHP, JavaScript, XML, SQL.
The reader is guided through the setup of the tools needed - from the FTP client to the SVN server.

Then begins the website planning: after defining the objectives, we have to find the right extensions for us, and Daniel explains how to do it.

After we have chosen the template we will use on the website, we learn how to customize it to include the logo and personalized graphics we have.

So we switch to a more technical phase: the customization of installed extensions - modules, plugins and components. The discussion is not meant in any way be a complete guide, but describes the modus operandi, so that people can begin to get familiar with the customization of the extensions and not feel scared when it is necessary to make a small change to your site.

The discussion continues with a chapter devoted to identifying and correcting problems with a brief memorandum of common problems followed by recommendations for solving problems through the Web looking for support.

After this, we talk about how to promote your site through search engine optimization and marketing - traditional and modern. It is also explained how to track visits to our site through Google Analytics.

The final chapter is dedicated to monetizing the website, or how to obtain monetary benefits from the popularity of our site: advertising, selling information, products or services.

Ultimately this book is recommended for those who have already taken the first steps with Joomla and want to deepen their knowledge and produce their Web sites supported by the highly valuable explanations contained in this volume.