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User Manual
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Joomla 1.0 User Manual

Joomla! User Manual
5/15/2006 11:16:52 PM Version 0.01
Joomla! User Manual............................................................................................1
Chapter 1 - Welcome to Joomla!...........................................................................4
What is a Content Management System?............................................................4
Joomla!! for End Users .................................................................................4
Taking Joomla! to the Next Level ....................................................................4
Joomla!! for Developers................................................................................5
So what’s the catch?....................................................................................5
Chapter 2 – Getting Started.................................................................................7
Getting the files .........................................................................................7
Installing Locally.........................................................................................8
Installing Remotely......................................................................................8
Browser Installation.....................................................................................8
Introduction ............................................................................................ 18
Templates .............................................................................................. 18
Components ............................................................................................ 18
Modules ................................................................................................. 19
Mambots ................................................................................................ 19
Introduction ............................................................................................ 19
Add a Section .......................................................................................... 19
Add a Category......................................................................................... 20
Add a Content Item ................................................................................... 20
Add a Static Item...................................................................................... 20
Add a Menu Item....................................................................................... 20
Chapter 3 - Joomla! Users................................................................................. 21
Chapter 4 - Accessing functions from the Frontend .................................................. 25
Author ................................................................................................... 25
Editor.................................................................................................... 31
Publisher ................................................................................................ 31
Chapter 5 - Accessing functions from the Backend - Manager ...................................... 35
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Statistics................................................................................................... 35
Add a New Menu Item ................................................................................ 35
Publishing and Unpublishing a Menu Item......................................................... 35
Creating Sub-Menus ................................................................................... 35
Managing Sections..................................................................................... 35
Managing Categories .................................................................................. 35
Managing Items ........................................................................................ 35
Managing Static Content ............................................................................. 35
Frontpage Manager.................................................................................... 35
Archive Manager ....................................................................................... 3 5
Chapter 6 - Accessing functions from the Backend – Administrator ............................... 35
Creating New Menus .................................................................................. 36
Banners.................................................................................................. 36
Contacts................................................................................................. 36
Mass Mail................................................................................................ 36
News Feeds ............................................................................................. 36
Polls...................................................................................................... 36
Syndicate ............................................................................................... 36
Web Links ............................................................................................... 36
Introduction ............................................................................................ 36
The Module Manag er Sc r ee n......................................................................... 36
The Site Module Screen .............................................................................. 37
Banners.................................................................................................. 38
Main Menu .............................................................................................. 38
Who’s Online ........................................................................................... 40
User Menu............................................................................................... 40
Other Menu ............................................................................................. 40
Login Form.............................................................................................. 40
Syndicate ............................................................................................... 40
Statistics ................................................................................................ 40
Template Chooser..................................................................................... 40
Archive Sections .......................................................................................40
Wrapper................................................................................................. 40
Polls...................................................................................................... 40
Random Image ......................................................................................... 40
Newsflash ............................................................................................... 40
Related Items .......................................................................................... 40
Latest News ............................................................................................ 41
Search ...................................................................................................42
Popular .................................................................................................. 42
Top Menu ............................................................................................... 42
Managing Mambots .................................................................................... 42
MOS Image .............................................................................................. 42
Legacy Mambot Includer ............................................................................. 42
Code Support........................................................................................... 42
SEF ....................................................................................................... 42
MOS Rating.............................................................................................. 42
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Email Cloaking .........................................................................................42
GeSHi .................................................................................................... 42
Load Module Positions ................................................................................ 42
MOS Pagination ........................................................................................ 42
No WYSIWYG Editor ................................................................................... 42
TinyMCE WYSIWYG Editor ............................................................................ 42
MOS Image Editor Button............................................................................. 42
MOS Pagebreak Editor Button ....................................................................... 42
Search Content ........................................................................................ 42
Search Weblinks ....................................................................................... 43
Search Contacts ....................................................................................... 43
Search Categories ..................................................................................... 43
Search Sections ........................................................................................ 43
Search Newsfeeds ..................................................................................... 43
Chapter 7 - Accessing functions from the Backend – Super Administrator........................ 43
Site Templates......................................................................................... 43
Administrator Templates............................................................................. 43
Module Positions....................................................................................... 43
Index .......................................................................................................... 44
Table of Figures............................................................................................. 45
Appendix A – Further Reading ............................................................................ 46
Appendix B – GNU/GPL Licence .......................................................................... 47
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Chapter 1 - Welcome to Joomla!
Introduction
Thank you for choosing Joomla!! Content Management System (CMS) software! You have made a great choice by selecting one of the most powerful and versatile Open Source Content Management Systems available.
Joomla!! is an award-winning Content Management System that will help you build websites and other powerful online applications. Best of all, Joomla! is an open source solution that is freely available to everybody.
What is a Content Management System?
A content management system is a computer software system for organizing and facilitating collaborative creation of documents and other content.
A content management system is frequently a web application used for managing websites and web content.
Joomla!! for End Users
The basic Joomla! package is designed to be easy to install, even for non-programmers. Most people have no trouble getting our software up and running, and there is plenty of support available via the Joomla! forum at http://forum.joomla.org/.
Once Joomla! is installed and running, it is simple for even non-technical users to add or edit content, upload and add images and to manage the critical data that makes your company or organization go. Anybody with basic word processing skills can easily learn to manage a Joomla! site.
Via a simple, browser-based interface you will be able to easily add new press releases or news items, manage staff pages, job listings, product images, and create an unlimited amount of sections or content pages on your site.
Taking Joomla! to the Next Level
Out of the box, Joomla! does a great job of managing the content needed to make your website sing. However, for many people, the true power of Joomla! lies in the application framework that makes it possible for thousands of developers around the world to create powerful add-ons and extensions. Here are just some examples of the hundreds of available extensions:
• Dynamic form builders
• Business or organizational directories
• Document management
• Image and multimedia galleries
• E-commerce and shopping cart engines
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• Forums and chat software
• Calendars
• Blogging software
• Directory services
• Email newsletters
• Data collection and reporting tools
• Banner advertising systems
• Subscription services
and many, many more… You can find more examples over at our growing Joomla!! Extensions Directory at
http://extensions.joomla.org/ produced by our active developer community!
Joomla!! for Developers
Many companies or organizations have requirements that go beyond what is available in the basic Joomla! package or in a freely available extension.
Thankfully, Joomla! offers a powerful application framework that makes it easy for developers to create sophisticated add-ons that extend the power of Joomla! into virtually unlimited directions.
Using the core framework, developers can easily build:
• Integrated e-commerce systems
• Inventory control systems
• Data reporting tools
• Custom product catalogs
• Complex business directories
• Reservation systems
• Communication tools
• Application bridges
or any kind of application to suit a unique need. If your company or organization hires a third party Joomla! developer or builds in-house
software using the Joomla! framework, you are building on an open platform that does not tie you to any one developer or to a proprietary, closed application.
You can learn more about developing on the Joomla! framework over at our developer’s network at http://dev.joomla.org/ framework and user interface to deliver applications to your end users in a familiar, powerful environment.
. Prepare to be amazed at the amount of exciting work
. The beauty of Joomla! is that you can leverage our
So what’s the catch?
There is no catch. Joomla! is free, open and available to all under the GPL licence. We don’t claim to be perfect, and can’t promise to meet every requirement in the world. However, for many web applications, our software is perfectly suited for the job. We are adding great new
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features with each release, and, with the help and advice of our incredible user community, we plan on delivering award-winning software for years to come.
Objectives of the User Manual
The objectives of this User Manual are to:
• Help you to install and configure Joomla!
• Describe the various types of Users and what their access permissions are.
• Provide detailed instructions for both Front End and Back End inputting and site
management.
How to use the User Manual
This symbol indicates important information. This symbol indicates a Tips & Tricks entry.
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Chapter 2 – Getting Started
Introduction
Before we start, it is important to understand that a Joomla!! User has a predefined set of permissions, i.e. tasks that he can do. Therefore, in the context of managing a web site, it will depend on the way that the site’s owner wants delegate responsibilities as to what types of Joomla!! users should be set up.
For example, an owner may have only one person to manage all aspects of the web site. In which case, a Super Administrator should be created. On the other hand, a site owner may want publishing control over Content created by someone else and a separate person responsible for the Administrative tasks. In this case, an Author for content creation, a Publisher to proof read and publish the content and a Super Administrator to maintain the Template design, Component and Module configuration etc should be created.
There are no hard and fast rules. Provided you understand the permissions given to a particular type of User, you can create multiple users at whatever level best suites the management of the web site.
See Chapter 3 – Joomla!! Users You will need to understand some other key concepts and these are covered in Overview of the
installed elements of a Joomla!! Web site and Quick Start Guide later in this Chapter. Having said that, let’s get started!
System Requirements
You need to be sure that your web server, or the service provided by your web host, meets the minimum requirements before you download the Joomla!! software. These are:
• PHP 4.2.x or above - http://www.php.n et
• MySQL 3.23.x or above - http: //www.mysql.com
• Apache 1.13.19 or above - http://www.apache.org
• You must ensure that you have MySQL, XML and Zlib support built into your PHP.
Joomla! can be used with most major browsers including: Internet Explorer (version 5.5+), Netscape and FireFox. These browsers take great advantage of Joomla!'s Administrative interface.
Installing Joomla!
Getting the files
The main distribution files for Joomla! can be downloaded from http://developer.Joomla!.org
.
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The files are contained in a compressed Archive so you will need a utility program, either locally or on your host server that can "unzip" the file.
Installing Locally
Unzip the distribution file into a directory under your web server root. If you are using the Apache web server, this is typically c:apache groupapachehtdocs on Windows and /usr/local/apache/ht docs on a POSIX system but it may vary. We are assuming you have a working web server and that you know where to put files to display on the web server.
Installing Remotely
What you do to install Joomla! on a remote host is largely to do with what facilities your hosts provide and how skilled you are with server access. However, a simple and typical procedure may involve:
• Unzipping the Joomla! distribution to a local directory.
• FTP’ing the files to your host server, placing them either directly in or under a
directory under the web server root. There are many free programs available for this, such as Filezilla.
• Running the installation from your web URL, e.g. www.yourdomainname.com.
Browser Installation
Before you attempt to install Joomla!, verify that your host service meets the system requirements stated above.
Assuming they do, you are on your way to installing Joomla!.
Unzip the Joomla! distribution to a local directory.
Transfer the files to your host server, placing them either directly in or under a directory under the web server root. Ensure you preserve the folder integrity of the files.
When you have finished uploading the files and folders, go to your homepage, http://www.yoursite.com or http://yoursite.com/Joomla!_folder
. You should now see a pre-
installation check page generated by Joomla!.
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If you don't see the Check page please verify the following:
• Was everything uploaded to your web site?
• Did you remove (and back up) your old web site?
• Do you really have an Apache / MySQL / PHP Web server?
If everything checks out ok, and you still don't see the Check page, try using http://www.yourpage.com/installation/index.php page. If it doesn't show up, or you see a lot of errors and techno mumbo-jumbo, you probably don't have an Apache / MySQL / PHP Web server. Check with your host provider.
The pre-installation check page is in three parts. The first checks that your system is able to run Joomla!:
. This is the direct address for the Check
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The second part is some PHP settings:
The third part checks several file and directory permissions:
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If everything checks out ok click the "Next button". If there are some items highlighted in red, either change the relevant folders’ permission using
your FTP program or ask your host service provider to correct them for you. If it is not possible to correct them, you can still click "Next", and see what happens.
The next page displays the license for Joomla!.
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Click Next to agree the GNU/GPL Licence. The next page configures the MySQL database which Step 1 of the installation process.
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Enter the configuration of your MySQL Database. The hostname of your database is usually localhost. This means the database server is running
on the same computer as your web server. On occasions, where localhost is not a usable database server, you will need to contact your Database Administrator.
You are given the option to delete the existing tables in the nominated database and also to backup the tables. You may also install come sample data. If this is your first installation we recommend you check this option.
When you have entered your database information properly, click the "Next" Button. You will be asked to confirm the database operation.
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Click OK if you are satisfied that you can proceed. The database will be populated between this and the next step. Any errors that occurred during initialisation of the database will be displayed on the next page.
Step 2 is simply a page where you enter the name of your site.
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Enter a name for your site and click the "Next" button. Please note that special characters are usable in this information area.
Step 3 is a page to confirm the installation directory, the URL to the Joomla! site, your email address and the administrator password.
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