The Clearview-Homes Group is several companies under one umbrella focusing on all aspects of the property market. The fully licenced group is  based on the idyllic island of Madeira offering new affordable luxury homes primarily for overseas property buyers.

The newly launched website offers information to English, Portuguese and Russian visitors. Although the site is not a property listing site and is more oriented to the groups activities - this is certainly an ideal starting point for prospective real estate buyers who are researching the property market on Madeira and Porto Santo.

Clearview-Homes Group knowledge and experience in guiding clients through the sometimes confusing task of buying a property on Madeira is second to none. Within the group of companies they have years of experience & have many satisfied clients. The company’s operations are based in the village center of Ribeira Brava, one of the most sought after residential areas of the island.

David Albon the managing director of the Clearview-Homes Group is your prime contact and he will see you through every aspect of buying and personalizing your dream home.

All the developments are owned, designed, supervised and constructed by the Clearview-Homes Group, whose fulltime employees cover professions such as construction, architecture, engineering, design, marketing, economy / accounting and law.
They have many developments in construction along the south coast of Madeira to suit every body’s requirements and budgets.

The site was developed by web design specialists ‘Navega Bem - Web Design‘. The project was crafted using the Joomla CMS framework.

When it comes to CMS solutions, some things are just plain obvious - and here are 5 good reasons where Joomla falls down again and again:

1. You can’t recognize a good Joomla web site
Professional web developers that create CMS sites using Joomla have no regard for the standard templates that are available and inevitably create sites that are totally unrecognizable as CMS and where the origination software can only be found after digging in the source code. Very original!

2. Get lost in the available extensions.
Good CMS solutions sport a ‘reasonable’ number of extensions. I know of several that can boast dozens. I know some CMS developers that can list them by heart. I even know of commercial CMS options that sport approximately 60 extensions. But Joomla with total disregard to its user base has gone totally overboard and currently offers 3461 extensions. Now that’s just sick! Who can keep track of so many extensions?

3. Joomla sites can fall to bits when they are finished.
It is alleged that Joomla sites are so easy to manage and keep up to-date that virtually anyone with a web browser and an internet connection can edit their website. In fact Joomla will tell you that you need no programming or HTML experience to manage your site. Therein lies the problem! Once a web design company has handed over a finished site to a client - they go crazy and add new texts and images and the whole thing ends up looking quite different to what the designer had in mind and has a really ‘up to date’ feel about it.
Caution: If you want your site to stay the way it was when you designed it - don’t use Joomla and don’t let your client update it.

4. Joomla is not for the elite
Elite design companies use specialized tools. They like to use things… the elite use. So forget Joomla! - Apparently masses of people are now using Joomla. There are hundreds of thousands of registered Joomla developers and a whole heap more of people using Joomla websites. Joomla has become very common indeed.
The bottom line: Joomla isn’t for the sophisticated anymore. Stick to your Mac and your iPhone!

5. You can’t deduct Joomla from your taxes
Yes, for most of you this will be the sticking point. You really can’t get tax returns when you use Joomla. So what’s that all that about then?
Those people at Joomla really went out on a limb when they decided to make Joomla ‘Open Source’. Without going into the small print I can tell you that it’s cost free - you can’t buy it. You won’t have any ‘overhead’ advantages with Joomla. For Pete’s sake - you don’t even get to pirate it!

So there you have it in a nutshell, Joomla is free, common, over used and quite possibly under rated.
You can find many more drawbacks at www.joomla.org

Being seasoned CMS professionals we tried several CMS solutions and quickly got into the mindset that we had to develop our sites around the software. That is exactly what we did for quite some time - until we encountered Joomla!

Joomla is ultra flexible and our sites are designed in Photoshop without any regard to what you may think Joomla can or cannot do. Our finished sites look exactly the way they do in the design layout.

Now that Joomla 1.5 is stable and supports many of the extensions we like to use, it has become even more apparent that we have no limitations when it comes to website design.

We feel that too many CMS sites look very similar and can often be spotted as CMS sites from a distance. For that reason we never use templates. Each site we design is carefully crafted from a unique graphic layout that has been meticulously researched for the clients particular needs. So, we have a large portfolio of websites - each unique and attractive in its own right.

So what is the secret? Well, there is none. Joomla makes it possible. Joomla for us is the ultimate CMS framework and it lets you take control of the complete development process. Sure, you may sometimes need to do a little extra programming to get things exactly the way you want them - but that is what professionals do.

Navega Bem - Web Design has absolutely no affiliation with Joomla and is a totally independent web design company. Our only connection is that we love Joomla!

The ballet school on Madeira island (Escola de bailado Carlos Fernandes) has launched its website. The feature full site has information about the school including how to enroll, activities, ticketing, image gallery, video clips and much much more.

Carlos Fernandes, the school founder hopes that the site will serve the public on Madeira island and be an inspiration to future dance students.

The site was designed by Sara Lomelino from ‘Navega Bem - Web Design‘ and is crafted around the Joomla CMS framework.

Sara explained “the site is a content management system that allows the school to edit and publish the content on their own - using a computer connected to the internet and a standard web browser - from anywhere in the world. They don’t need any experience with web site programming or HTML. I think this kind of site which we have developed around Joomla 1.5 is perfect for companies and organisations that want to keep their site up to date and attract loads of visitors”.

Visit the Escola de bailado Carlos Fernandes site here.

Portugals renowned Dj Foksen has launched his new official website with professional support of ‘Navega Bem - Web Design‘.

The site has been designed by Sara Lomelino and many interactive features are incorporated in the Joomla 1.5 framework: Image gallery, live digital audio feeds, download and media areas as well as the latest charts. Of course you can find all the latest news about Dj Foksen and upcoming dates of special venues. Visit the site ‘Dj Foksen - The Official Website‘.

One year after a meeting between Peter Russell and Chris Szabo to produce a podcast about Joomla, they meet again as Peter records a videocast in London and talks with Chris about his adoption of Joomla! 1.5, e-commerce and real estate implementations of Joomla! 1.5.

Joomla’s PR man, Peter Russell, is an Australian who resides in Yorkshire, UK. Peter works in media strategy, PR, media liaison and infomatics. See the videocast in full here.

Our Real Estate Agent CMS solution includes full design, multilingual
capability and search engine optimization. Just add your properties!
No license fees, no monthly fees, no maintenance fees or set-up fees.
Learn more about our award winning Joomla websites at Navega Bem - Web Design.

the-property-agency.com is a brand new website that has been developed by Navega Bem - Web Design.
The Madeira Property Specialists website is a combination of three companies each licensed in their field of work to provide the best possible service to both local and overseas clients. This collaboration is a trouble free way in finding your new home here on the Idyllic Islands of Madeira & Porto Santo whether you are looking for a new build or an old property.

Clearview-homes Group
“The Clearview-Homes group is your number one company to see you through every aspect of buying and personalizing your new dream home, we have many house developments along the south west coast of Madeira to suit every body’s requirements and budgets”. David Albon

Proprifunchal, Mediação Imobiliária – AMI 6265
“My goal is to make the process of buying, selling, or owning a home stress free, enjoyable and rewarding for you and an efficient service from me” Graça Caires

Macnicasa, Construções Lda – Alvará 54969
“We Pride ourselves on the level of construction from start to finish, we give attention to every detail providing the Quality that you would expect of an efficient new home. Most of our clients have been astonished at the standard of finishings and ultimately the sheer value for money.
As from the 1st of July of this year all new properties have to ahere to stringent rules with green issues high on the agenda. All new properties will be graded into four categories from A+ to B-, A+ being the highest specification and build quality.  B- Being the lower specification and build quality.
From a recent appraisal of all the properties we have in construction at the moment, all have been rated within the highest specifications and build quality”.  Fábia Gomes, Civil Engineer.

The site has been developed by Joomla specialists Navega Bem - Web Design. The company have developed their own Real -Estate solution that is competitive with the biggest software solutions available in the realty market.

Managing Director Chris Szabo explains “we have developed a complete real estate agency solution that is crafted around the Joomla framework. We don’t market our component to other developers - our strength lies in creating complete Real Estate Agent websites in a package that includes a unique design, our proprietary real estate component, search engine optimization and submission to all the major search engines and directories.
The only thing our clients need to do is add their properties”.
“The big advantage with our real estate solution is that there are no license fees, no monthly fees, no maintenance fees or set-up fees. Also, we have developed more integrated features than most of the other solutions put together. The properties can be exported or imported and we already have XML exportation to several locations such as Properazzi, Google Base, Imo-Portugal, Habinet, Lardocelar and GiMob. Others are being developed.”
“Utilizing Joomla as the backbone of the site we can offer clients a multilingual CMS Real Estate Agent website that you can manage from anywhere in the world. All you need is an internet connection and a standard browser. The complete site (CMS & Real Estate) is managed through just one back office

Find out more about Professional Real Estate Agent websites here.

If you are looking for the latest Joomla! news in audio and video format, this is where you’ll find all of the best juice.  Joomla! Juice! is the original Joomla! podcast

Peter Russell, founder member of Joomla! and founder member of joomlatools regularly interviews key influencers from the Joomlasphere including the energetic, driving forces from the not-for-profit and commercial user communities.

Joomla! Juice! is the original and longest running podcast about all things Joomla.  The podcast explores a range of topics including commercial and non-commercial uses of Joomla for websites.  We regularly host key figures from the Joomla community.

The podcast came about due to an obvious need for a light-hearted approach to help introduce new users to the possibilities of using a content management system as their website.  Joomla! Juice! creator Pete Russell, a founding member of Joomla!, presents the shows regularly via the iTunes podcast distribution network.  Content varies from audio podcasts to, more recently, video.

One of the newest videocasts ‘Living the Joomla Dream‘ re-visits Chris Szabo, an expatriate Brit living on the sub-tropical island of Madeira, who has established a thriving business based around the Joomla! CMS. In this video Pete talks to Chris about his adoption of Joomla! 1.5, e-commerce and real estate implementations of Joomla! 1.5. and his web design company ‘Navega Bem - Web Design‘.

Palheiro Estate have launched their new luxury property website giving potential home owners a wonderful opportunity to procure detailed information about the unique projects available.

The beautiful hillside location of Palheiro Estate makes it ideal for discerning property owners: quiet and peaceful with ocean views, yet within easy reach of Funchal city centre and the international airport. All property owners enjoy special concessions at the various facilities around Palheiro Estate, including the Casa Velha do Palheiro hotel, the 18-hole Cabell Robinson golf course and use of the M.Y. Balancal motor yacht.

The choice of real estate includes large, individual villa plots close to the golf course and clubhouse, or Palheiro Village, a small, luxury development of apartments and villas.

The site has been carefully crafted utilizing Joomla 1.5 as the framework by the web design company ‘Navega Bem‘.