Joomla! 2.5
Beginner’s Guide
2
Joomla! 2.5 - Beginner’s Guide
..........................................................................About the Book! 12
......................................................................................................It is sponsored! 12
....................................................................................................It's multilingual! 13
...............................................................................................It is free of charge! 12
............................................................................It helps you to solve your tasks! 12
..........................................................................................It's collaborative work! 12
..................................................Spanish - Joomla 2.5 - Guía para principiantes! 13
.......................................................Italian - Joomla 2.5 - Guida per Principanti! 13
..........................................................German - Joomla 2.5 - Ein Anfängerbuch! 13
..................................................French - Joomla 2.5 - Le Guide Pour Débutant! 13
.............Russian - Руководство для начинающего пользователя Joomla 2.5! 14
...............................................................Danish - Joomla 2.5 - Begynder Guide! 14
...............................................................................Introduction! 16
..........................................................................................................Who am I?! 19
......................................................................................................Who are you?! 19
.....................................................................................What is this book about?! 21
........................................................................................Any further questions?! 22
....................................................................................Showcase! 24
............................Alliance for Catholic Education - University of Notre Dame! 24
.................................................3000+ Government Websites built with Joomla! 25
.................................................................................................The Eiffel Tower! 26
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Joomla! 2.5 - Beginner’s Guide
.........................................................................................................eCommerce! 27
................................................................................................................Kokoro! 28
.................................................................................................Tranquillity Blue! 29
....................................................................................................................And?! 31
..................................................................................................Any other ideas?! 34
..................................................................................Installation! 36
...................................................................................How to find Joomla Sites?! 31
............................................................................Wappalyzer Firefox Extension! 32
....................................................................Check out the website more closely! 33
...........................................................................Go ahead and ask your friends! 34
.........................................................................Minimum system requirements:! 36
.............................................................................................Installation variants! 36
......................................................................................Local Test Environment! 37
....................................................................................Production Environment! 37
.................................................................................................Stumbling stones! 38
............................................................................................Joomla web installer! 38
...................................................................................Unpublish Example Data! 46
.................................................................Structures and Terms! 50
..............................................................................................................Frontend! 50
...............................................................................................................Backend! 50
.....................................................................................................................Files! 51
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Joomla! 2.5 - Beginner’s Guide
..............................................................................................................Database! 52
...............................................................................What's New?! 60
.....................................................................................................Multilanguage! 63
.................................................................................................Types of content! 69
.................................................................................................A Typical Article! 79
.............................................................................................Elements of Joomla! 53
................................................................................New Features in Joomla 2.5! 60
...............................................................New Features compared to Joomla 1.5! 65
.....................................................................Managing Content! 69
......................................................................How to create an 'About Us' Page! 71
......................................................................................................Sample article! 82
..................................................................................................................Result! 84
..................................................................................................Media Manager! 86
......................................................................................................Contact Form! 92
...................................................Statuses, Trash and Check-Ins! 98
..................................Structure Your Content with Categories! 103
........................................Website and Content Configuration! 112
........................................................................................Global Configuration! 112
.................................................................................Templates! 119
........................................................................................Joomla and templates! 120
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Joomla! 2.5 - Beginner’s Guide
............................................................................................................Positions! 121
.................................................................................................Core Templates! 123
.................................................................................................................Styles! 124
................................................................................Navigation! 127
.....................................................................................................Breadcrumbs! 128
...................................................................................................Joomla Menus! 128
...............................................First example: a static catalog or book structure! 129
................................Second example: Linking to categories (News magazine)! 132
..............................................................Users and Permissions! 136
......................................................................................Registration and Login! 136
.......................................................................................................User groups! 140
......................................................................................................Access levels! 142
........................................................................................................User Notes! 144
................................................................................................Mass Mail Users! 145
............................................................Extension Management! 147
........................................................................................Managing extensions! 147
..........................................................................................Updating extensions! 149
..........................................................................................Installing extensions! 149
............................................................................................Finding Extensions! 150
...........................................................................................................Warnings! 150
........................................................................Core Extensions! 152
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Joomla! 2.5 - Beginner’s Guide
.............................................................................................................Banners! 154
............................................................................................................Contacts! 160
............................................................................................................Example! 160
..........................................................................................................Messaging! 162
..........................................................................................................Newsfeeds! 163
................................................................................................................Search! 169
.....................................................................................................Smart Search! 172
..........................................................................................................Activation! 172
............................................................................................................Indexing! 173
......................................................................................................Customizing! 173
.................................................................Removing the classic Joomla Search! 174
............................................................................................................Weblinks! 176
....................................................................................Modules! 178
................................................................................Similarities of all modules! 178
............................................................................................Advanced Options! 178
....................................................................................................Core modules! 178
....................................................................................Plug-Ins! 181
...................................................................................................Authentication! 181
.............................................................................................................Captcha! 182
.............................................................................................................Content! 183
...............................................................................................................Editors! 184
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Joomla! 2.5 - Beginner’s Guide
........................................................................................................Editors-xtd! 185
...........................................................................................................Extension! 186
................................................................................................................Finder! 186
........................................................................................................Quickicons! 187
................................................................................................................Search! 187
...............................................................................................................System! 188
...................................................................................................................User! 190
...........................................................Working with Templates! 192
.....................................................................................Create Your Own Style! 192
......................................................................Customizing Existing Templates! 194
..........................................................................................................Overrides! 195
.............................................................Create a New Template Using Atomic! 198
..................................................................The Beez Template! 201
.........................................................................................General Accessibility! 202
....................................................................................beez_20: Design Choice! 206
................................................................................Position of the Navigation! 207
................................................................................JavaScript and WAI ARIA! 208
...........................WAI ARIA - Landmark Roles: First Aid for the Orientation! 208
................................................................................................Adjust Font Size! 211
...........................................................................................beez5: use HTML5! 212
................................................Why SEO is important for you! 215
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Joomla! 2.5 - Beginner’s Guide
....................................................................................................In Conclusion! 221
.........................................................................................Joomla 2.5 and SEO! 215
......................................................SEO functionalities included in Joomla 2.5! 216
.........................................................Multi-Language Websites! 224
................................................................................Joomla language packages! 224
......................................................................................Language Filter plugin! 225
..............................................................................Language Switcher module! 226
...........................................................................Multi-language content items! 228
..................................................................................A multi-language website! 228
..........................................................................................Language Overrides! 231
...............................................A Joomla Website from Scratch! 234
.......................................................................................First, start with a plan! 234
...........................................................................Next, consider the technology! 235
.................................................................................Now you're ready to build! 236
....................................................Upgrade from older versions! 239
....................................................................................Update from Joomla 1.7! 239
...................................................................................Migrate from Joomla 1.5! 239
............................................................General Joomla Development Strategy! 241
.................................Earning respect and money with Joomla! 244
...........................................................................................................Why me?! 244
................................................................................................................Denial! 245
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Joomla! 2.5 - Beginner’s Guide
.............................................................................................................Findings! 249
................................Three thing you need to be aware of all the way through! 247
........................................................................................First some definitions! 248
...................................................................Household Psychology one-on-one! 249
....................................................................................Deadline first flex scope! 250
.....................................................................................How to deliver on time! 250
....................................................................................Be firm but sympathetic! 252
.........................................................................Sell and negotiate continuously! 254
..............................................................................Define roles and play them!! 254
..................................................................................How do you define roles?! 256
..................................................................................Resources! 259
.......................................................................................................Community! 259
.................................................................................................Documentation! 259
..............................................................................................Security Checklist! 259
.............................................................................................Joomla Extensions! 259
..............................................................................................Joomla Templates! 259
................................................................................................................Events! 260
........................................................................................................The Future! 260
.............................................................................................................Training! 260
........................................................................................Commercial Support! 260
..............................................................................................................Hosting! 260
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Joomla! 2.5 - Beginner’s Guide
........................................................................................................Certificates! 260
..............................................................................cocoate.com! 262
.........................................................More books from cocoate! 261
.................................Spend your holidays in Southern France! 263
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Joomla! 2.5 - Beginner’s Guide
About the Book
This book, as every book, has chapters, an outline, many screenshots and it covers the newest
technology available in the "Joomlaverse".
It is based on the successful Joomla 1.6 and 1.7 - Beginner's Guide and has been extended with more
chapters. All the existing chapters are reworked and new screenshots were taken, where it was necessary.
It is useful for readers, advertisers, authors, translators and of course the Joomla community because:
IT IS FREE OF CHARGE
It is free of charge readable on our website and downloadable as PDF
IT HELPS YOU TO SOLVE YOUR TASKS
There's a lot in the book to discover!
IT IS SPONSORED
The book is sponsored by various companies who are an important part of the Joomla community.7
Thank you: PopcliQ, JoomlaShine, CloudAccess, VMX Pro / VM Expert, Digitalflo, SourceCoast,
descartes, stackideas, savvy panda, redCOMPONENT, raramuri design, Joomlashack, iJoomer,
Sigsiu.NET GmbH, JoomlaShowroom.com, tec-promotion, ARC Technology Group, iMaqma, Rochen,
websites4u, Joomla Direct, PatVB, JoomlArt, Abivia, JoomPlace, Seblod
It is still possible to sponsor the work and advertise in the book
1
IT'S COLLABORATIVE WORK
Four additional authors besides me wrote chapters!
Thank you:
Milena Mitova2 - Why SEO is important for you
Angie Radtke3. Chapter: The Beez Template
Henk van Cann4. Chapter: Earning respect and money with Joomla
1
http://cocoate.com/j25/ad
2
http://twitter.com/completewebcare
3
http://www.der-auftritt.de/
4
http://www.2value.nl/
Monday, 30 January 2012! Page 12
Joomla! 2.5 - Beginner’s Guide
Jen Kramer5. Chapter: A Joomla 2.5 Website from Scratch
IT'S MULTILINGUAL
The book will be available in three more languages.
SPANISH - JOOMLA 2.5 - GUÍA PARA PRINCIPIANTES
Thanks a lot to the translator Isidro Baquera (Gnumla)
Thanks a lot to the sponsor
Complusoft
ITALIAN - JOOMLA 2.5 - GUIDA PER PRINCIPANTI
Thanks a lot to the translator Cinzia
It is still possible to sponsor the work and advertise in the book7.
Thanks a lot to the sponsors Sigsiu.NET, joomla.it,
6
GERMAN - JOOMLA 2.5 - EIN ANFÄNGERBUCH
Translator is me (Hagen Graf)
Thanks a lot to the sponsors Sigsiu.NET, digitalflo, tec-promotion, websites4u.ch, schwarzkünstler,
CloudAccess
It is still possible to sponsor the work and advertise in the book8.
FRENCH - JOOMLA 2.5 - LE GUIDE POUR DÉBUTANT
Thanks a lot to the translators Serge Billon9 and Simon Grange
Thanks a lot to the sponsors Sigsiu.NET, CloudAccess.
It is still possible to sponsor the work and advertise in the book11.
5
http://www.joomla4web.com/
6
http://cocoate.com/cinzia
7
http://cocoate.com/it/j25it/ad
8
http://cocoate.com/de/j25de/ad
9
http://cocoate.com/serge-billon
10
http://cocoate.com/simon-grange
10
11
http://cocoate.com/fr/j25fr/ad
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Joomla! 2.5 - Beginner’s Guide
RUSSIAN - РУКОВОДСТВО ДЛЯ НАЧИНАЮЩЕГО ПОЛЬЗОВАТЕЛЯ
JOOMLA 2.5
Thanks a lot to the translator Alexey Baskinov
Thanks a lot to the sponsor Sigsiu.NET, JoomlaArt
It is still possible to sponsor the work and advertise in the book13.
12
DANISH - JOOMLA 2.5 - BEGYNDER GUIDE
Thanks a lot to the translator Ole Bang Ottosen
It is still possible to sponsor the work and advertise in the book15.
14
We want your feedback!
Comment on the chapters in the HTML versions and provide feedback.
Get involved in the next project!
The next Joomla Version is around the corner.
Join us!
12
http://cocoate.com/ru/alexey-baskinov
13
http://cocoate.com/ru/j25ru/ad
14
http://cocoate.com/da/ole-bang-ottosen
15
http://cocoate.com/da/j25da/ad
Monday, 30 January 2012! Page 14
Joomla! 2.5 - Beginner’s Guide
Advertisement
http://www.cloudaccess.net/
Monday, 30 January 2012! Page 15
Joomla! 2.5 - Beginner’s Guide
Chapter 1
Introduction
Welcome to Joomla. It is a free system for creating websites. It is an open source project, which, like
most open source projects, is constantly in motion. It is unpredictable, sometimes indescribable, partially
controversial, quite often very sexy and, at times, a little sleepy and provincial. Nevertheless, or perhaps
because of these reasons, it has been extremely successful for six years now7and is popular with millions
of users worldwide.
Concerning the question whether to write Joomla (with a !) or Joomla (without a !) after years of
finding out people reached a consensus:
Use it once in the first instance of Joomla and then forget it!
The word Joomla is a derivative of the word Jumla7from the African language of Swahili and means
"all together".
The Project Joomla is the result of a heated discussion between the Mambo Foundation, which was
founded in August 2005, and its7 then-development team. Joomla is a development of the7 successful
system Mambo. Joomla is used all over the world for simple homepages and for complex corporate
websites as well. It is easy to install, easy to manage and very reliable.
The Joomla team has organised and reorganised itselfthroughout the last six years
From 20057to 2009, Joomla 1.0 was7further developed up to version 1.0.15 and that development
•
was officially laid off7in September 2009.
From 2005 until now, Joomla 1.5 is still being7 developed, was7 introduced as a stable version in
•
January 2008, and will officially 'end of life' (EOL) in April 2012.
From 2008 until 2011, Joomla 1.6 was developed. A stable version7has been7available since January
•
2011.
In July 2011 Joomla 1.7 was released
•
Joomla 2.5 is the first long term release (LTS) since Joomla 1.5 was released in January 2012
•
(coming soon :) )
The users of7the Joomla system remained faithful. Many7 transferred their websites from Mambo to
Joomla and they7have learned a lot over the years.
Many users have climbed aboard in the last few years7 but there are still people in the world who do not
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Joomla! 2.5 - Beginner’s Guide
know about the system. Joomla, together with Drupal and WordPress, are the most used open source
web content management system in the world.
Figure 1: Google Trend 2012-01-17 worldwide Drupal, Joomla, WordPress
In Figure 1, Joomla and WordPress are on the same avarage level according to Google search volume
trend.7Joomla and Wordpress are searched three times as7often as7Drupal.7However, the search volume
for Joomla has been declining since 2010. It was time for Joomla to start rethinking with the release of
the Joomla 1.6 version in January 2011 and Joomla 1.7 in July 2011.7
Monday, 30 January 2012! Page 17
Country
Drup
al
Joomla
WordPress
World
0.311.08
Chile
010.82
France
0.210.68
Germany
0.16
1
0.61
Italy
0.17
1
0.6
Poland
0.15
1
0.43
Russian Federation
0.310.5
Spain
0.26
11Switzerland
0.15
1
0.45
Joomla! 2.5 - Beginner’s Guide
Figure 2: Google Trend 2012-01-17 Germany - Drupal, Joomla, WordPress
Compared to the world average, the situation in e.g. Germany is different (Figure 2). Joomla has
almost twice as large of a7 search volume as WordPress and WordPress almost four times as much as
Drupal.
Here are a few statistics from Google Trends (Table 1):
Monday, 30 January 2012! Page 18
UK
0.411.65
USA
0.66
1
2.3
China
0.813.2
Joomla! 2.5 - Beginner’s Guide
Table 1 Google Trend - Drupal, Joomla, WordPress
There are7 significant national differences in the use of content management systems. In Germany,
for example, the CMS TYPO3 also7plays a role. The search volume is comparable to Joomla.
In January 2012, 2.8 % of the entire web is powered by Joomla
16
The range of Joomla websites goes from very simple homepages to complex business applications
and projects based on the Joomla Framework. What makes7Joomla so successful, and the ways in which
you can use it, will be described in this book.
WHO AM I?
My name is Hagen Graf, I'm 47 years old, and7I live in Fitou17, France. I am married7to the woman of
my dreams and have four daughters.
My work consists of many different activities such as teaching, advising, listening, testing,
programming, understanding structures,7 developing new applications,7 questioning, and always trying
something new.
Actually, my work can be done7 completely online but sometimes clients may7 have reservations
about7fully online projects,7which is why I am7on the road a lot. Being on the road means meeting clients
in different countries with different languages and cultures, long car, bus or train rides as well as very
short response times to customer enquiries, Facebook messages and tweets.
This way of working has implications for what I7once used to call7"the office".
I need to be able to have access from anywhere in the world to my e-mails, pictures, videos, tweets, and
documents. My office is located where I am.
WHO ARE YOU?
Of course I do not know exactly what you do, but many people whom I have worked with work in a
way similar to myself. Employees of larger companies however, for various reasons, often cannot or may
not work as flexibly. Your own experience with computers is probably similar to mine. Many of us started
with an older PC and a Windows system at school or at home, and then got to know from experience the
16
w3techs.com/technologies/overview/content_management/all
17
http://goo.gl/maps/3dU6
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Joomla! 2.5 - Beginner’s Guide
harsh reality of office applications, data loss, insufficient memory, and hard drive and printer
configuration adventures. The wonderful relationships between these things have been changed with the
user-centred way of Web 2.0 and the use of smart phones, but this does not necessarily make it easier.
If you do not love messing with passion at night with your operating system or telephone or sorting
your photos and music, and moving them all from one device to another, then you are probably just like
me - happy when your devices and applications are working, when you can access your data on the
Internet and all is working smoothly. If you work from a home office, a smooth work environment
becomes particularly important. Non-functioning soft- and hardware can quickly turn your situation into
a nightmare.
I distinguish between7the following types of users:
Visitors: They visit a website and they do not care7much about7the system you used for creating the
•
site.
Users: They use the website. They create content7using pre-defined procedures.
•
Website Designers or Integrators: They install a Joomla site on a server, create categories, content, links
•
and menu modules, configure templates and languages, are all-rounders and usually have the7 sole
responsibility for the website.
CSS Designers: They7often like to work7exclusively with files that have the extension .css.
•
HTML Designers: They give CSS Designers the foundation they need for their work. In Joomla,
•
they create the so-called template overrides.
Developers: They know the programming languages PHP and JavaScript and like to use them. They
•
enhance the Joomla core with additional functions.
Architects: They think about security, speed and code quality.
•
The7 website designer7 plays a special role in this list.7 He usually7 has to cover all other roles,
which7 constitutes a real challenge. As I am writing this book, I often7 find myself thinking about the
website designer.
A company, an institution, a club, an organization, yes, probably everyone, needs a web presence that
is user-friendly and flexible. A presence - one that develops over time, can easily be changed via a web
browser. This presence can replace your filing cabinet and leather address book; this presence can
communicate with different devices and it can be extended easily.
I assume your website already explains what you do or what your company does. This is your place
where you maintain your customer relations 24 hours per day, seven days a week.
Your website probably contains7a collection of applications and data summarising your activities. Your
site should also contain interfaces7to allow7other applications to use them.
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Joomla! 2.5 - Beginner’s Guide
Until a few years ago, the creation of a website was a difficult thing to do. Whilst you did not have to
be a renowned specialist, a combination of7perseverance and7having7fun with7what you are doing7were
necessary to produce appealing results. You had to create static HTML pages in an HTML editor and
then upload them via file transfer protocol to a server. To create even the7simplest interactivity such as a
contact form or a forum, you had to learn a programming language.
It is more than understandable that many people did not take this hardship on themselves and handed
over the creation of a website to a web agency or did not even start the project in the first place.
Thanks to Facebook and kits such as Google Sites, creating simple web pages has become relatively
easy7but if you want something unique, you should7become familiar with7a content management system.
Joomla offers everything!you need to!create your own, individual website.
WHAT IS THIS BOOK ABOUT?
First of all, it is about Joomla and how to use it.
Joomla is a tool with lots of possibilities and you can use the system in a huge variety of
configurations, depending on your ideas and wishes.
In order to allow comfortable access, I have structured the book as follows:
1. This Introduction
2. Showcase
3. Installation
4. Structures and Terms
5. What's New?
6. Managing Content
7. How to Create an 'About Us' Page
8. A Typical Article
9. Media Manager
10. Contact Form
11. Status, Trash and Check Ins
12. Structure Your Content with Categories
13. Website and Content Configuration
14. Templates
15. Navigation
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16. Users and Permissions
17. Extension Management
18. Core Extensions
19. Modules
20. Plug-Ins
21. Working with Templates
22. The Beez Template
23. Why SEO is important to you
24. Multi-Language Websites
25. A Joomla Website from Scratch
26. Upgrade from Older Versions
27. Earning respect and Money with Joomla
28. Resources?
Although you are a beginner, you will be able to manage7your own Joomla website via a web browser.
If you are somewhat familiar with HTML, CSS and image editing, you will be able to customize a
template for your website.
ANY FURTHER QUESTIONS?
Don't hesitate!18 Of course, I can't deliver technical support. The Joomla forums provide a wealth
of7 knowledge and you will definitely7 find answers to your questions there. If you have comments or
questions about the book, however, please feel free to leave them in the comments section below.
18
http://cocoate.com/j25
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Joomla! 2.5 - Beginner’s Guide
Advertisement
Joomla Mobile Application
http://www.ijoomer.com/
Monday, 30 January 2012! Page 23
Joomla! 2.5 - Beginner’s Guide
Chapter 2
Showcase
What do websites look like when they were created with Joomla?
This question can't be answered easily as most websites are based on the Joomla software, but the
design is created by an agency and then "transformed" into a Joomla template. Therefore, the exterior of
a website can be deceiving. Nevertheless, here are some screenshots to give you an idea.
ALLIANCE FOR CATHOLIC EDUCATION - UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE
DAME
The Alliance for Catholic Education, or ACE, uses Joomla 1.7 to manage their multifaceted web
presence. ACE is a collaborative effort of twelve different programs all working to strengthen and sustain
Catholic schools in the United States. Joomla, along with the Gantry template framework, allows ACE to
maintain twelve unique sites in one through the use of Joomla and Gantry's multiple template options
(eg: http://ace.nd.edu/teach is a unique homepage for one of the programs within the site). All of
ACE's units build off the same Joomla instance and database, maintain a strong visual connection to the
main homepage and also share the same features for all members of the organization including: an
integrated news feed, online membership, a JomSocial Network, several blogs, a job-board and an online
catalogue of publications.
Some of ACE's favorite extensions are: Yootheme's Zoo, Sh404sef, JCE, JSPT and Socialable's
Autogroup.
Future plans involve integrating a CRM (CiviCRM) to function within the Joomla framework. (Figure
1)!
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Figure 1: University of Notre Dame
Website: ace.nd.edu
Creator: CloudAccess.net, Ricky Austin
19
3000+ GOVERNMENT WEBSITES BUILT WITH JOOMLA
JoomlaGov is a showcase for Government sites powered by Joomla around the world. More than 200
countries are represented and, one month after its launch at 'J and Beyond' 2011, it contains more than
3,000 sites.
19
http://ace.nd.edu/directory/ricky-austin
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Joomla! 2.5 - Beginner’s Guide
This site is a great example of how the Joomla community20 can collaborate, to highlight the
qualities of the Joomla CMS. FFor instance, the Citizen Portal of the Federal District Government
Mexico City, Mexiko21 is well worth a look. (Figure 3).
Figure 3: JoomlaGov
Website built using Joomla, K2 & Google Maps (API version 3). The video was recorded at Joomla
Day South Africa 2011. Case Study - How we built the joomlagov.info Website - Dwight Barnard (ZA)
Website: www.joomlagov.info
Creator: raramuridesign & piezoworks.be
THE EIFFEL TOWER
Well, probably you know this building (Figure 4)!
20
http://joomlagov.info/about
21
http://www.df.gob.mx/
22
22
http://vimeo.com/32790888
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Joomla! 2.5 - Beginner’s Guide
Figure 4: The Eiffel Tower
Well, probably you know this building!
Website: tour-eiffel.fr
Creator: Mairie de Paris (paris.fr)
ECOMMERCE
A danish online shop based on Joomla and the RedShop component (Figure 5).
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Joomla! 2.5 - Beginner’s Guide
Figure 5: Trend Bazaar
Website built using Joomla, K2 & Google Maps (API version 3)
Website: www.trendbazaar.dk
Creator: redweb.dk
KOKORO
Kokoro stands for: chocolate that comes from the heart and soul. (Figure 6).
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Joomla! 2.5 - Beginner’s Guide
Figure 6: Kokoro
Website built using Joomla, K2 & Google Maps (API version 3)
Website: kokorochocolate.com
Creator: ohappens.nl
TRANQUILLITY BLUE
Tranquillity Blue is a site to showcase activites and adventures in a small coastal town on the South
West Coast of Africa. The aim was to make the site manageable by the client and flexible enough to
grow and encompass advanced functionality if needed. (Figure 7).
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Joomla! 2.5 - Beginner’s Guide
Advertisement
http://siteground.com/joomla
Monday, 30 January 2012! Page 30
Joomla! 2.5 - Beginner’s Guide
Figure 7: Tranquillity Blue
Website: www.tranquillityblue.co.za
Agency: raramuridesign.com
Design: Dwight Barnard
AND?
These websites look how websites are supposed to look. :-)
If I had not told you that they were created with Joomla, you probably would not have noticed it
consciously.
More examples can be found in an article from January 2012 in techrepublic: 15 Joomla
implementations
23
HOW TO FIND JOOMLA SITES?
23
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/webmaster/inspiration-15-joomla-implementations/1085
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I will show a few ways to find websites made with Joomla.
joomla.org
Just have a look at the project site! I found the sites featured above in the Joomla Showcase 24. You
will find 2,000 websites sorted by category. There is a site of the month, an overview with top-rated sites,
and much more (Figure 8).
Figure 8: Joomla Showcase
Google
You can search for the term com_content25. The component "content" uses this term in the URL of
the page. Nowadays, this kind of searching is not really effective because of the various search engine
optimized URLs' but the result is still impressive.
WAPPALYZER FIREFOX EXTENSION
Wappalyzer26 is a browser extension (Firefox) that identifies software on websites (Figure 10).
24
http://community.joomla.org/showcase/
25
http://www.google.de/search?q=com_content
26
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/wappalyzer/
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Figure 9: Wappalyzer
CHECK OUT THE WEBSITE MORE CLOSELY
If you are on a website and want to know whether it was created with Joomla, have a look at the
source code. In the header section, you should find this line:
<meta name="generator" content="Joomla - Open Source
Content Management" />
You can also just type the URL of the link to the administration area:
http://example.com/administrator
Here the example of the Eiffel tower site: 27:
27
http://www.tour-eiffel.fr/administrator/
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Administration of the Eiffel tower website
GO AHEAD AND ASK YOUR FRIENDS
I tweeted
I want YOUR site :) Looking for 5+ great Joomla site
examples for the showcase chapter cocoate.com/j25/
showcase plz reply a link+RT
and promand promptly received the links for the sites you can see above!
ANY OTHER IDEAS?
Do you know any other ways to of detecting Joomla sites? Feel free to leave comments28.
28
http://cocoate.com/node/10292
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Advertisement
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Chapter 3
Installation
Thanks to the web installer, Joomla can be installed in only a few minutes.
In order to install Joomla on your local PC, it is necessary to set up your "own internet", for which
you'll need a browser, a web server, a PHP environment and as well a Joomla supported database system.
We call this a LAMP stack29 (or XAMP) and a client server system. The Joomla files will be copied to this
system and configured with the Joomla web installer.
MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
an installed and functioning web server,7 like Apache (with mod_mysql, mod_xml, and mod_zlib),
•
version 2.x or Microsoft IIS 7.
the PHP scripting language, version 5.2.4.
•
the MySQL database system, version 5.0.4.
•
INSTALLATION VARIANTS
You need all the components mentioned above to install a Joomla system for yourself. PC, browser,
and Internet connection are usually available. There are a number of options for web server, PHP
interpreter, and database. You can:
set the system up locally on your PC
•
set the system up on a server in a company's Intranet
•
rent a virtual server from a provider
•
rent or purchase a server from a provider (with root access)
•
You can also have the web server and database located on computers that are physically separated
from each other.
You can also, of course, use different:
brands of web servers
•
Versions of PHP interpreters
•
29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LAMP_%28software_bundle%29
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Versions of MySQL databases
•
And on top of that, you can install and operate all these components on various operating systems.
This freedom in choice of resources can sometimes confuse a layman. Therefore, we will discuss a
few typical scenarios.
LOCAL TEST ENVIRONMENT
If you are at home or in your office, for example, and want to set up a Joomla website, you may use
any of the following operating systems.
Windows Operating System
For a Windows operating system you can use either of two web servers:.
You take a pre-configured package (XAMPP), unpack it on your computer, and everything you need
is there (http://apachefriends.org).
Linux Operating System
Here it depends on the distribution version you have. All the distributions allow simple installation
(with a click of the mouse) of the Apache, PHP, and MySQL packages. At times, depending on
distribution, they may already be pre-installed. So you can use the programs contained in the
distribution or a preconfigured package (XAMPP); extract it on your computer and everything you need
is there (http://apachefriends.org).
Mac OS X Operating System
In Mac OS X operating system, you have a default web server (Apache) in your system that you have
to activate, but unfortunately not PHP and no MySQL.
So you can use the installed Apache web server and install the missing software or the pre-configured
XAMPP package for Mac OS X. Another complete package by the name of MAMP is also very
popular with the Mac OS X environment (http://www.mamp.info).
PRODUCTION ENVIRONMENT
You have several options here as well.
Rented Virtual Server
You rent a web-space package with database, PHP support, and often also your domain name from a
provider. In this case you have a functional environment and you can install your Joomla into it. Consult
your provider as to the version choices (PHP, MySQL). Sometimes providers offer Joomla pre-installed
with various templates. IIf this is the case, all you have to do is activate Joomla with a click of the mouse
and it is ready for you.
Your Own Server
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You rent a server from a provider and install the operating system of your choice. You are the
administrator of the system and you can work on it, just like on your PC at home.
Before you venture into the wilderness of the Internet, you should first practice on your local
computer. This has the advantage that there are no connection fees, it is very fast, and you can practice
at a leisurely pace.
You may even have a small local network at home where you can install Joomla on one computer
and access it from another.
Remember that there are probably more current versions on the respective project sites on the
Internet.
STUMBLING STONES
This topic is very complex because there is a vast number of providers and an even greater number
of installed web server, PHP, MySQL versions and web space management tools. Crunchpoints during
the installation often consist of:
an activated PHP Safe Mode, preventing you to upload files,
•
'forbidden' rewrite paths with the Apache web server because the so-called Apache Rewrite Engine
•
(mod_rewrite) is not activated,
the directory permissions on Linux and OSX, which are set differently than in Windows.
•
Basically, the easiest way that almost always works, is the following:
Download the current file package from joomla.org to your home PC and unzip everything into a
•
temporary directory.
Load the unpacked files via FTP onto your rented server or to the directory of your local installation.
•
The files must be installed in the public directory. These directories are usually called htdocs, public_html
or html. If there already are other installations in that directory, you can specify a sub directory in
which your Joomla files should be installed. Many web hosts allows you to link your rented domain
name to a directory.
You have to find out the name of your database. In most cases, one or more databases are included in
•
your web hosting package. Sometimes, the names of the user, database and password are already
given; sometimes you have to set them up first. Usually you can do this in a browser-based
configuration interface. You will need the database access information for Joomla's web installer.
JOOMLA WEB INSTALLER
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Download Joomla 2.5 at joomla.org30 and unpack the files into your root folder of the web server
(e.g.: /htdocs). From now on, everything is going to go really fast because the Joomla web installer is
working for you. Go to URL http://localhost/.
Step 1 – Selecting a language
The web installer appears with a selection of languages. Choosing the language is the first of seven
installation steps. Set the desired language, and click the Next button (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Installer – Select language
Step 2 – Installation check
The Installation check (Figure 2) should help you verify whether your server environment is suitable for
the installation of Joomla or not.
30
http://www.joomla.org/download.html
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Figure 2: Installer – Installation check
It's a good sign if you see mostly green test results. Depending on your configuration, there can be
differences. The Joomla Installer considers the configuration settings of the web server (in our case
Apache), PHP, and the operating system. When using Unix Systems (Linux, Mac OS X), you have to pay
attention to file permissions. This is particularly important for the file configuration.php. This file will be
generated at the end of the installation with your personal values. If the installer can not write in the
folder, Joomla can not create the file and the installation will fail. In this case, try to configure the rights
and then click the button repeat check. Then, click the Next button and you will get to the step license.
Step 3 – License
Each software product is somehow licensed. Joomla is licensed according to the GNU General Public
License, version 2.0 (Figure 3).
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Figure 3: Installer – License
Step 4 – Database
In the fourth step database configuration, your data base parameters will be requested (Figure 4). You can
create any number of databases in your local server environment. You have a MySQL user with the
name root. The user root is the MySQL administrator and can, therefore, do everything in your MySQL
system. The password depends on your server environment (no password is needed with XAMPP, with
MAMP the password is root).
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Figure 4: Installer – database configuration
Enter the following values into your local installation:
computer name: localhost
user name: root
password: [only you know that]
Now select the database name. In a productive environment on a database server with a provider,
you probably have a fixed quota of databases and the database credentials are predefined. If you have
root permission on your MySQL server, you can enter a name of a new database. Joomla will then
create that database.
You can select whether the tables of any existing Joomla installation in this database should be
cleared or saved and marked with the prefix bak_.
The MySQL table prefix is really practical. In front of each table name generated by the web installer, it
writes the text that you typed in the appropriate field. As7a default,7the web installer suggests a randomly
created one, like w02rh_. This has a simple reason. Sometimes you7may only7be able to7get one MySQL
database from your provider. If you want to run two or more Joomla sites, you have a problem, as the
tables do not differ from each other. With the table prefix it is7 possible to distinguish several tables
(w01client_ or w02client_).7 Here, you should use the default w02rh_ . The prefix is also used to indicate
saved data (bak_); see above.
Step 5 - FTP-configuration
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In order to avoid problems with access rights and possibly turned on PHP Safe Mode, you have the
possibility to use the FTP functions of PHP for the upload and file handling. This is not necessary in a
local installation. If you have installed Joomla on a virtual server with your provider, you can enter the
FTP data provided by your ISP. If your provider allows this function, it is advisable for security reasons,
to create different FTP accounts for users and for the Joomla installation. Activate the FTP account just
for that Joomla directory (Figure 5).
Figure 5: Installer – FTP-configuration
Step 6 - Configuration
The main configuration is divided into three steps.
In the first part of the configuration the name of your site is requested. This name will appear in the
title bar of the browser window when someone accesses your site. The name is also used at various other
places, such as in confirmation emails to registered users. For our example page, I'll use the name Joomla
(Figure 6). In the second part, the name, e-mail address and administrator password are requested.
Writing down the password on a piece of paper is probably best (but do not stick it on the screen or
under the keyboard :-)).
In the third part, you specify the type of data your Joomla installation should contain.
Installation of sample data
The data is the most important thing in your installation. Joomla allows (and strongly recommends
for beginners) the installation of sample data. You will be provided with a small manual about Joomla
and many examples to experiment safely. Click the button install sample data. The installer will load the
data into your database and change the display (Figure 6). This process is somewhat unimpressive but
necessary for installing sample data. The button will disappear and a small text box will be visible.
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Figure 6: Installer – Configuration – Name, E-Mail, Password, Sample data
Click on the button NEXT and the data will be transferred.
Step 7 – Completion
In the seventh and final step you will be congratulated on having successfully installed Joomla (Figure
7). Congratulations from me as well! You will now see an advisory in bold letters appearing in the display,
prompting you to delete the directory called 'Installation'. You should follow this advisory because your
Joomla website will otherwise not run properly.
Figure 7: Installer – Completion
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Note: A file named configuration.php has been created in your document
directory. If you would like to repeat the installation, you will need to delete the
file configuration.php before deleting the installation directory. The Joomla installer will
start anew when you pull up the URL in your browser, where your Joomla files are
located.
Now that you have fully installed Joomla you can begin configuring your website and content. You
have the choice between the buttons Site (see website) and Admin (administration interface). Go ahead and
have a look at your newly created website and click on Site. In case you have not yet deleted the installation
directory, you will once again receive a friendly reminder to do so now and then refresh the page.
The result looks very impressive (Figure 8).
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Figure 8: Your website directly after installation
Have a look around, browse through a few options and try to familiarize yourself with your new site.
Many features of Joomla are being used on this website filled with sampla data. Next, we are going to
look at these in detail!
UNPUBLISH EXAMPLE DATA
If you are installing Joomla 2.5 for the first time, I recommend you also install the example data.
Take your time and explore the website and how it all comes together. The example data show you how
the website looks with content and comes with short explanations of the example content and modules.
To get a brief overview, read the 50 pages behind the menu item "Using Joomla".
Now that you have seen enough, you would probably love to configure your website according to
your needs and wishes.
How to get an empty Joomla ?
To get an empty version, you can:
Install a fresh Joomla 2.5 without example data:
•
Create a new folder in your local web directory (/htdocs) and install the new Joomla. Now you have two
complete Joomla installations. This approach is very helpful for training purposes.
Delete the example data in your administration area.
•
Unpublish the example data. Please watch the video attached, in which I am going to show you how to
•
do that.
If you decide to follow step 2 or 3, you will need to login in the administration area. There you can
delete and/or unpublish the example data and menu items.
Menu manager
Go to the Menu Manager in the Top Menu (Menus -> Top), click the check boxes on the left side
above the menu items to choose all of them, and then click the icon Unpublish. After you have done this,
you will see a red icon on each menu item (Figure 9). If you now go back to your website (refresh it), you
will notice that the top menu is no longer visible. Repeat the same procedure with the Main Menu and the
About Joomla menu. Make sure you choose all menu items, except the Home/Frontpage item. This menu
item cannot be deleted because you need a frontpage. In the lower area, you may change the number of
displayed menu items (Figure 10).
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Figure 9: Menu manager I
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Figure 10: Menu manager II
Article manager
Use the same procedure as described above. Open the article manager and choose all content items
to unpublish or delete them.
Cache
To make sure that all data will disappear from you site, you have to clear the entire cache (Site
Maintenance -> Clear Cache). Again, choose all content and delete it.
Empty Website
Your Joomla is now "empty" (Figure 11).
Figure 11: Joomla without example data
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Chapter 4
Structures and Terms
I would like to explain and clarify some structures and terms before we begin with the configuration.
FRONTEND
With the frontend we mean the areas of the website as visitors or registered users see it. A registered
user normally works only in the frontend. It is like in a store, where the goods are displayed in shop
windows and on shelves. Here you can have a look around.
BACKEND
This is your administration area, therefore, we call it just administration. You can give registered
users the right to work in your backend. This privilege is mostly limited to several employees, who should
administer some tasks on the website. You can access the administration login via /administrator.
http://localhost/administrator
There you can register with your login details and choose your preferred language. (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Joomla Administration registration
Once logged in successfully, you'll have access to the administration, which is structured according to
your user rights. (Figure 2).
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Figure 2: Administration
You may access each function either by using the combined menu tab system or by simply clicking an
icon on the start screen.
FILES
Joomla consists of hundreds of files. Images, PHP scripts, CSS files, JavaScript files and a many
more.
You probably already noticed this when you unpacked the compressed package and copied it into the
htdocs folder. Basically, you have already installed two Joomla packages: one for the frontend and one for
the backend. The 'Backend Joomla' is located in the administrator folder (Figure 3).
This folder is addressed when you call /administrator in the browser. Inside that folder are other
folders like cache, components, language, modules and templates. The specific backend files are stored in these
directories.
You will find the same folder names again outside the administrator folder. These folders contain the
frontend files. These are not really two Joomla packages, but there is a clear separation between backend
and frontend files.
For example, all files uploaded with the Media Manager will be saved in the /media folder. All files have to
be saved with a backup.
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Figure 3: Joomla 2.5 files and folder
DATABASE
Additionally to files (graphics, documents, system files, etc.) Joomla also needs a database. During the
installation procedure, the Joomla web installer creates 61 tables in your specified database (Figure 4). In
these tables, all content will be managed.
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Figure 4: The Joomla data base tables
When I say content, I mean texts and configuration settings. The tables in the screenshot are
displayed by means of phpMyAdmin. phpMyAdmin is a part of XAMPP and MAMP and is available
via http://localhost/phpMyAdmin
Usually, no changes need to be made in these tables. In case you forget your admin password,
phpMyAdmin is very helpful.
This software can also be used for backing up your database by creating a so-called SQL dump, as
your tables have to be secured regularly.
ELEMENTS OF JOOMLA
The structure of Joomla is simple, sophisticated and efficient.
Joomla assumes that you want to write an article. An article usually consists of a title, text and some
configuration settings.
Article
Articles can be displayed in single or list view. On the frontpage of your your recently installed
Joomla website you will see these four articles (Figure 5).
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Figure 5: Article on frontpage
The articles are sorted in a certain manner. The first article is displayed by using the full width of the
website. The other articles are placed below in three columns. If the articles are too long, you may insert
a read more link. This representation is a list view. By clicking on the read more link you will be redirected to
the single representation of that article (Figure 6). The type of display can be changed by setting options in
the backend, however, only by the user with corresponding access rights.
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Figure 6: single display of an article
Articles can be published (publish) or not published (unpublish). You can feature articles on your
frontpage, you can archive them or put them in the trash and retrieve them. You can copy and move
them.
Categories
In order to display articles clearly, you must create categories, and then assign an article to them.
Each article can be assigned to exactly one category (Figure 7). The categories can be nested to any depth.
Articles from one or multiple categories can be assigned to one menu item and displayed in various ways.
By clicking on the menu item, all articles from different categories will be shown. This principle is used
by online newspapers, for example. You click on Sports and get all categorized articles for this topic. If the
newspaper discerns between different forms of sports, they will use nested category trees:
Sports
•
Football
•
Handball
•
Politics
•
Domestic
•
Europe
•
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World
•
Figure 7: Category assignment
User
Users are needed to produce content. At least one user is registered on each Joomla site, namely the
one you created during the installation, with the rights to configure everything on your site. Depending
on the user's rights, he can work in frontend and/or backend to write an article. Each user requires a
username, an email address and a password. Every user can be assigned to any user group as well as to
any access level. This enables the user to create articles that are only visible to certain user groups.
Navigation
To find your way around the website, you will need navigation with corresponding links. In Joomla
we call this a menu. You may create as many menus as desired and nest them into as many different ways
as you wish. Each menu is a module which can be positioned on a provided area in the template.
Module
A module is something that you can position next to an article. A menu, for example, is a module.
The small registration block on the left side is also a module. You can create as many modules with smart
functions as you need and position them on the predefined area in the template.
Te m p la t es
A template is the graphical pattern for your website. It mostly consists of HTML and CSS files.
Joomla delivers several templates for you to choose from. Templates are configurable, which allows you
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to upload a different logo, change the background color, etc. Each template provides areas where
modules can be positioned (Figure 8).
Figure 8: Template Positions
You can group modules around one or more articles.
Plug-ins
A plug-in provides practical services but is usually invisible to the visitors of the site. A wysiwyg
editor, for example, is a plug-in. Plug-ins are extensions, which can be installed unlimited amount of
times. The core package already consists of numerous useful plug-ins.
Components
Components are the little surprise packages that help you create nearly anything on your site. You
want to have a booking system for workshops? A platform for properties? A forum? An image gallery?
You just have to install the right component!
The Joomla core package already comes with some components, e.g., the contact component, which
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enables you to integrate contact forms into your site. There are thousands of components to enhance
your Joomla system.
Options
You will need individual configuration settings for your website; we call them options. These options
are applied to the whole website, for users, categories, modules, components. You will always find an icon
named Options like, e.g., that one (Figure 9), which provides you with the possibility to see the position of
modules (Figure 8) by inserting http://localhost/index.php?tp=1
The initial tp stands for template position.
Figure 9: Options
Other structures
Other structures for user interfaces, templates and technical relations are also available. For the time
being, you are well equipped by remembering the described structures above.
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Chapter 5
What's New?
Joomla 2.5 will be released in January 2012 and it is the successor of Joomla 1.5. It will be a so called
long term release and it will be the Joomla state of the art until July 2013. The versions 1.6 and 1.7 were
short term releases and they paved the way to Joomla 2.5.
When you already upgraded your site from Joomla 1.5 to Joomla 1.7 in 2011 you probably use all the
new features introduced with Joomla 1.6 and 1.7. When you scroll down and read the list of new features
compared to Joomla 1.5 then you realize that 2011 was a very interesting year for Joomla.
But let's have a closer look at the new features for Joomla 2.5.
NEW FEATURES IN JOOMLA 2.5
The shiny new Joomla Platform
The Joomla Platform Version 11.4 is now the base of the CMS.
That means many more possibilities for third party developers e.g. image manipulation with the JImage
class and generation of HTML tables with the JGrid class. A new version of the JavaScript library
MooTools is used (1.4). If you don't know what Joomla platform is about, read Write your own App
using Joomla Platform31 and the official announcement of the Joomla Platform release32.
Find more content with Smart Search
Search is "reinvented" in Joomla 2.5 with Finder. The new finder component works with a search
index (Figure 1).
31
http://cocoate.com/node/9582
32
http://developer.joomla.org/news/378-version-11-3-of-the-joomla-platform-released.html
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Figure 1: Creating the search index
Finder pre-searches your content. Search results are scored dynamically based on the context and
frequency of search terms. The most relevant content will always be listed at the top of the results. It
suggests alternative phrases (Figure 2) and its pluggable adapter system allows to install new search
adapters which provide support for standard Joomla content and many other types of documents.
Custom search filters allows you to provide contextual searching when your visitor is looking at particular
sections of your Web site.
Figure 2: Suggestions
Spread Joomla to more Platforms by using more Databases
With Joomla 2.5 it will be possible to run Joomla on MySQL and Microsoft SQL Server and
Microsoft Azure. Drivers for PostgreSQL and Oracle seems to be very near (Getting Ready for MultiDatabase Support33).
Better Choices for Offline Mode
You can use the default offline message, disable it or create a customized message. Additionally you
can select an image for the offline mode page (Figure 3). You even have a possibility to set the site to
offline mode during installation so no unauthorized people can see it before you want them to.
33
http://community.joomla.org/blogs/community/1526-getting-ready-for-muti.html
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Figure 3: Offline mode options
User registrations with Captcha
A Captcha plugin using the reCAPTCHA service34 can be enabled (Figure 4). Once you sign up for
free with reCAPTCHA and enter your keys, you can enable Captcha on new user registrations. It could
also be used by other extensions needing Captcha.
Figure 4: Captcha
34
http://www.google.com/recaptcha
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Easier handling for simple Layouts
You can now attach an image for the intro text to use in blog and featured layouts, an image for the
full article text and up to three links for the full article layout. This means that your content creators
won’t have to fuss about an image in the text and your article format will be cleaner and more consistent.
MULTILANGUAGE
You can override the default language strings in a new manager in the backend (Figure 5).
Figure 5:Language overrides manager
User Notes
A new feature “User Notes“ allows to create notes attached to specific user accounts. Creating a user
note you can also set a date which can be used later, for example, for user-related tasks organizing. You
can have multiple notes per user and the notes can be in different categories (Figure 6).
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Figure 6: User Notes
Clean Up
Filtering for Categories in Article Manager
That is simply useful. Since Joomla 1.6 it was possible to filter categories in the article manager, but
you did not see the articles of the subcategories. Now the filter logic include the articles of the
subcategories too.
Linking New Menus with a Module
In Joomla 2.5 modules are NOT automatically created for each new menu type. This is not a bug, it's
a feature :)
Not everyone used the core menu module, but used instead ones from a custom template or third party
module. For that reason, menus did not automatically create a module in 1.6/1.7. This change confused
people and created extra work. In Joomla 2.5, if there is no module associated with the menu, there is a
link showing in the Menu Manager that you can click that will take you directly into a new module that
you can create. You then have the choice of saving this standard menu module or cancelling out and
using a different menu module.
Custom Text Filters are moved to the global configuration. They are filtering content for black
and white listed tags based on your configuration and on role permission.
You can now choose to have the administrator get a new message when a user creates an
account. This is useful when the New User Account Notification is set to Self. In that case the user
receives an email after the registration with an activation link (Figure 7). After clicking that link the
account is activated.
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Figure 7: Administrator Notification
The extensive options in “Select a Menu Item Type” are not loaded unless you need them.
You will find a good summary in form of a presentation created by Mike Carson
35
NEW FEATURES COMPARED TO JOOMLA 1.5
In comparison to Joomla 1.5 the differences are huge and there is a long list of features and
improvements.
Here is a list of the most important changes in Joomla 1.6 and 1.7
•
There will no longer be any sections. Categories can be nested as deeply as you would like
•
The access concept is totally rebuilt.
•
The existing user groups used in Joomla 1.5 are still the same in Joomla 2.5 but they can be enhanced
and renamed. Unlimited access levels can also be defined there. Users can be assigned to user groups
and user groups can then be assigned to access levels.
Multiprocessing
•
Copy and move operations, and the allocation of access levels can now be done in a batch process
35
http://www.slideshare.net/carson3511/joomla-25-new-features-and-hidden-gems
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Updates per mouse click
•
A simple feature. The system detects available updates and initiates them after a click on the
corresponding button.
Templates
•
There have been many changes in the area of templates. There are now two administrator templates
and three website templates.
Template styles
•
Sometimes you may want to display a template with different options. You may want to create a page
with a red background and another page with a blue one. Therefore, you will need template styles.
Create as many versions (styles) of a template with different settings as you like and assign them to a
menu link.
Template layouts
•
Sometimes you may want to display only the output of a component or a module in a different layout
without hacking the template. That's possible with template layouts.
Consistent user interface
•
A successful example is the general save dialogue.
Save: content will be saved, you remain in editing mode
Save & Close: content will be saved, you leave the editing mode
Save & New: content will be saved; a new, empty editing mask appears
Save as copy: content will be saved as a copy, you remain in the editing mask
Minimum requirements
•
The minimum requirements regarding your server environment and concerning your visitors' web
browsers have increased.
Browser: Internet Explorer, version 7 or higher, Firefox, version 3 or higher, Safari, version 4 or higher
Server: PHP: minimum version PHP 5.2.4, MySQL: minimum version 5.04
Legacy Mode
•
The legacy mode from Joomla 1.5 is no longer necessary. Legacy mode allowed the execution of
components originally developed for Joomla 1.0, which have 'only' been adapted to Joomla 1.5. The
procedure of adapting old components is offset by the development of 'native' Joomla 1.5 and 2.5
components, which use the Joomla Framework.
Search engine optimization
•
You can now use unicode in URLs, which means you may now use special characters like 'ö'
•
and 'ä' or Arabic or Hebrew characters in the URL.
You can allocate meta text and keywords to categories.
•
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You can combine the title of a site with the titles of its pages and decide on the order they will
•
appear.
Modules can be published time-controlled. The assignment options to menu items have been
•
extended.
Multilingualism
•
Joomla core now offers the possibility to create articles, categories and modules in several languages.
With the new language switching plug-in and module you can filter the entire site for the selected
language.
CodeMirror is the new editor, which is supplied in addition to TinyMCE. It is not a WYSIWYG editor
but offers a convenient way to work with 'code-like' content, which will be displayed in a structured
way with syntax highlighting.
Components
•
The new redirect component enables redirections to URLs in order to avoid '404 not found'
•
errors.
A new scalable search component has been introduced. It pre-searches the content, sorts results
•
by relevance, suggests alternative search phrases, processes wide range of document types, etc.
The survey component has been eliminated.
•
New Release Cycle
•
Every 18 months, a long term release of Joomla will appear.
Introduction of the Joomla platform
•
Joomla consists of two parts
the Joomla platform
•
the Joomla content management system
•
There are many more very nice little features like the possibility to place a background image into a
module or to display articles with page breaks in a tab or slider layout.
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Chapter 6
Managing Content
A content management system is made for managing content - who would have thought?!
So the next question is: What is content?
In media production and publishing, content is information and experiences that
may provide value for an end-user/audience in specific contexts (Wikipedia 36).
Ok, I see, but what is it that provides value?
This question is indeed very hard to answer and quite individual but I think you now get the idea of
content and a content management system like Joomla.
A content management system is useful for managing information that provides
value for your audience (Hagen Graf :-) ).
TYPES OF CONTENT
In core Joomla you have articles, categories, web links, banners, contacts and feeds. I am not sure whether
creating value with banners is possible but banners are also a kind of content. Modules can be used for
content creation as well. Often you may want to enrich your content with files like photos and other
media types. For this Joomla has its Media manager. This is what Joomla core provides as your toolbox to
manage all these bits and pieces to create value to your audience. I am going to cover these tools in the
next chapters.
If this isn't enough for you, you can enhance Joomla with so-called content construction kits37 like
K238, FlexiContent39 or CCK jSeblod 40 and many other extensions, but that's another book entirely. :-)
36
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Content_%28media%29
37
http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/news-production/content-construction
38
http://getk2.org
39
http://www.flexicontent.org/
40
http://www.seblod.com/
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HOW TO CREATE AN 'ABOUT US' PAGE
To give you a first real challenge, let's create a first page on your new website. It will be an about us
page on which you can write about your company, your project, or yourself. Most of the time, a page like
this contains a title, text and perhaps a few images.
Static vs. Dynamic content
An "about us" page is usually created once, is accessible via a menu link, and in the future all you will
have to do is change it as you go. It has a static character. A press release or blog entry, however, have a
dynamic character.
For static pages, in contrast to dynamic pages, the creation date and author do not really matter.
•
Static pages are usually accessible via a menu link whereas dynamic pages can be accessed through
•
lists.
The plan
The 'about us' page should consist of the following components:
a title,
•
a text,
•
an image.
•
The page should not appear on the front page.
•
We want a link to the page in the top horizontal menu (top).
•
This may sound simple at first :-). Go ahead and log into the administration interface!
Step 1 - Create content
Go to the Article Manager (Content → Article Manager). There you might still see your unpublished
sample data (Figure 1).
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Figure 1: Article manager
Click the icon to get to the appropriate form and then add the title and text. In the upper pane,
below the title, select "uncategorized" as a category. This category was created by installing the example
data. The field Featured indicates whether the content should be displayed in the featured blog layout, which is
mostly used as the front page. This still works in Joomla 2.5 but the terms can easily be misunderstood.
Select No. In the editor window, you may now enter your text. Joomla comes with the default editor
TinyMCE (Figure 2).
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Figure 2: Article edit form
Inserting an image from a URL
As a first example we are going to use an already existing image on the web.
For example, this one: http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1198/898250237_78a0e75cba_m.jpg (Figure 3)
Figure 3: Example image
Move the cursor to the position in the text at which you would like to insert the image. Click on the
image icon in the editor toolbar and paste the URL of the image to the pop-up window. Configure the
image with a left alignment and use 10 pixels vertical and horizontal space (Figure 4).
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Figure 4: Insert image
The image will appear in your editor window. Click Save and your item is stored. There are several
ways to save it:
Save - Item is saved. Form is not closed. Used for saving when you still want to continue working.
•
Save & Close - Item is saved and form will be closed.
•
Save & New - Item is saved, form will be closed and a new empty article form is called.
•
Exit the form.
•
Step 2 - Creating a Menu Link
The post has been created but is not appearing on the website. For it to appear, we need a link! Click
the New icon in the Menu manager in the top menu (Menu → Top). Click the 'Select' button next to the field
Menu item type. A window with various links will pop up. Click on the link single article (Figure 5).
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Figure 5: Assign an article to a menu item
Now you need to choose the desired article. Click the button Select / Change in the right pane (Select
Article) to select it. You will see a search box with all articles. In case you can't find your article on the
page right away, you can filter the list by typing a part of the article's title in the search box and then
clicking on the title of the correct article in the result list (Figure 6).
Figure 6: Menu type - single article - select article
Enter a title for the link "About us" and make sure that top is selected in the menu location. We can
leave the remaining options with their settings for now.
Step 3 - 'About us' on the website
If you now load the frontend website, you will discover the new link in the top menu. Click it and you
will see the about us content - congratulations on having created your first page (Figure 7).
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Figure 7: About us page
Step 4 - Image Upload
If your image is not already available on the Internet, you will need to upload it from your PC. Let's
go through the example together. Go to the Article Manager (Content → Article manager). If you can't find
your article, locate it easily by using the search box. Select the article's title and the edit form will open.
Delete the linked image from the text.
Below the editor window you will find the Image button. This button launches a dialog box to upload
an image. You can choose between existing images or upload new ones (Figure 8).
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Figure 8: Image upload
Once the image has been inserted into the text, the formatting can be changed by using the image icon
in the editor's toolbar. This separation of functions in Joomla was purposely chosen because you have the
possibility to use different editors. The Joomla Image button will always remain the same but the image
formatting in the editor might differ.
Attention: Joomla uses the images as they are. The images will not be resized!
To solve this issue, have a look at Brian Teemans blog entry: Making Joomla Idiot Proof41 - May be
FBoxBot42 is available for Joomla 2.5 too when you read these lines.
41
http://brian.teeman.net/tips-and-tricks/making-joomla-idiot-proof-part-1.html
42
http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/photos-a-images/articles-images/1162
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Joomla! 2.5 - Beginner’s Guide
A TYPICAL ARTICLE
The following items usually have to be taken into consideration when it comes to creating an article
on your website:
a text with one or more images
•
a teaser text for list views with a read more link pointing to the full article page
•
the article should appear on the front page and needs no menu link
•
nice to have: a scheduled publication date
•
nice to have: a printer-friendly version for visitors who would like to print the article
•
nice to have: an option to forward the article by email
•
Start
The article should appear on the front page of your website. If you deleted, did not install or change
your sample data, your Joomla front page will look like the one in Figure 1. It is, of course, not a bad
thing if posts should appear. :-)
Figure 1: Empty website
When you log into the administration area, you will see an icon called Add New Article.
You may either click on this icon or access the form via the main navigation Content → Article Manager →
Add New Article (Figure 2)
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Figure 2: Administration area
Article form
You are now in the article form, in which you will probably write all articles you will ever write in
Joomla. A very important place! The form is structured as in Figure 3.
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Figure 3: Entry form for contributions
The minimum requirement for an article is a title (1), a category (2), and a text (3). If you look at the
form more closely, you will notice the help texts that appear when you move the mouse across the
description of a field. I have marked the areas in the form in Figure 3 with six digits.
Title
The most important part is the title or headline. The title appears as a headline on the website
(usually in the biggest size of the HTML headline tags <h1>) and in the browser bar at the top (you can
enable or disable this behavior). The title is the foundation for the alias field below. The alias is automatically
generated by Joomla when you save the article and the way it looks is configurable as well. Basically, the
purpose of an alias is to have a simple, short and legible URL in the browser address bar, which can
easily be used in e-mails or chats as well. In the example of http://example.com/first-article - first-article
is the alias.
Category
This is about the classification or categorization of the article. Every article MUST be assigned to
a category. If you explicitly do not want to categorize the article, you can assign the category
uncategorized. This is especially useful for more static content pages like legal notices and the About Us page.
In this area, other important attributes can be configured, including State (published or not), who has Access
(Access, Permission depends on various settings), Language and Featured. Featured replaces the former attribute
frontpage and ensures that the items are in a predefined blog layout for your website frontpage. The
article ID is created after saving and consists of a serial number.
Text
In this section you can write your text, which should be of value to your audience . Sounds really
easy, doesn't it?! :-)
Technically, you are dealing with a WYSIWYG editor (What You See Is What You Get) here. The editor
converts your written text into HTML text format. Joomla uses the TinyMCE43 editor as default
configuration. TinyMCE is an independent open source project, which has so many functions that you
could write a separate book about it. (May not be a bad idea.)
It basically works like any other word processor: write text, highlight text, then click on a toolbar icon
and the function is applied or a dialog box opens.
The buttons below the input area are unusual and can be confusing at times. These buttons are Joomla
specific and only have an indirect relationship with the editor. The Joomla core comes with five of these
very practical additional buttons.
You can add more buttons by adding Joomla extensions:
1. Article: allows you to link to other existing Joomla articles
43
http://tinymce.moxiecode.com/
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2. Image: You can insert an existing image or photo from the Media Manager or upload a new
image.
3. Pagebreak: inserts a pagebreak in your article
4. Read More: allows you to stipulate where to place the read more link
5. To g g l e E d i t o r : switches the editor on and off. If it is off, you will see the HTML code of your
article.
Options
What was called Parameter in Joomla 1.5, is now called Options in Joomla 1.6, like, for example, the
Publishing Options. Here you can specify who wrote the article (Created by). The user who created the article
is usually allowed and responsible for making changes to the article later. Which name is really shown
below the title at the webpage is configured in Created by Alias. The three fields below allow you to
schedule the publishing. Simply enter the appropriate dates and Joomla takes care of the rest.
More Options
In this section you can configure many options by switching them on and off. You can change the
article layout to suit the reader's and search engine's needs. Just start experimenting - it's the best way to
learn.
Permission
The sixth and final area concerns the permissions for this article. This selection will help us in many
places in Joomla 1.6 and I will cover this in chapter Users and Permissions.
SAMPLE ARTICLE
Let's create the article outlined above together:
A text with one or more images
Just write your text. To add an image or images, there are numerous possibilities:
1. The image is already available online, for example, on Flickr44.
In this case, click the image icon in the editor toolbar and copy the image URL to the dialog box.
2. The image is already in the Joomla Media Manager.
In this case, click the image button below to select the image and insert it into your text (Figure 4).
44
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hagengraf/5186325015/sizes/s/
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Figure 4: Insert Image from media field
3. The picture is on your hard disk.
This is the most complex case. Basically, you will also use the image button below the text. There you will
find an upload dialogue through which you can upload your image "easily". Remember that Joomla will
NOT resize the image. If you upload a photo from your digital camera, it will be displayed in its full
original size (width > 3000 pixels). You have to resize the image before uploading.
If all goes well - congratulations!
If it doesn't work, this could be due to many things, such as lack of permissions in the directories of the
media manager. At best, you will get an error message.
Once you have inserted the image from the media, you can select and format it by clicking the image
icon in the editor's toolbar.
A teaser text for list views with a read more link to the full article
This is easy. Move the cursor to the position at which the read more link should appear and click on the
read more button below the text area.
The article should appear on the frontpage and needs no menu link
Select Ye s in the field Featured in Area 2.
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A scheduled publication would be nice
Avoid this at first, so you don't have to wait for the article to appear on your website :-). If you would
like to try it later with a different article, simply fill the fields Start Publishing and Finish Publishing with the
appropriate information or select the dates by clicking the calendar icon.
A printer-friendly version of the article
If you do not know at this point where the global settings are located, have a look at the chapter
Website and Content Configuration and verify the current settings. In area 5, you may switch the Show
Printer icon to 'show'.
Forwarding of the article by e-mail
Simply set the options in area 5, switch the Show Email Icon to show.
RESULT
After saving you can reload your site and will see your article on the frontpage as in Figure 5.
Figure 5: Article on the frontpage
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MEDIA MANAGER
The media manager is Joomla's little Digital Asset Management System (DAM)45. If you are
managing content, you will need a place to store the files. Files are all the images, PDFs and whatever
you decide to mention in your content. Usually these digital assets consist of the file and additional meta
data. In this case, we need an easy-to-use tool to manage our files. Let's have a look at what is possible
with the Joomla core media manager.
How it works
To me it looks more like a file manager. Everyone knows the Windows explorer or the OSX finder. In
Joomla they call it "media manager". It has a base directory where all the files are stored. You can look at
your files in two different ways using your browser: via a Thumbnail View (Figure 1) and a Detailed View
(Figure 2). It is possible to navigate through the folders by clicking on them.
Figure 1: Media Manager - Thumbnail View
Figure 2: Media Manager - Detailed View
You can create as many additional folders as you wish. In the Detailed View, you are able to delete
folders and files. You’ll find the same structure in the Joomla administration backend as you can see in
45
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_asset_management
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your FTP client (Figure 3), but you have to be careful: In core Joomla you will also find a media directory.
This directory is NOT the home of the media manager.
The home of the media manager in core Joomla is the images directory.
Figure 3: Media manager directory in ftp client
When you look in the toolbar you will discover the Options icon - go ahead and click on it (Figure 4).
Figure 4: Media manager options
If you go through the options, you will notice that you can limit file types by extension, maximum
size of a file and you can also separate images from files. Well, an image is a file, too, but I like the idea of
separating them. The thumbnail view, e.g., makes a lot more sense for images but not for non-image files.
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The biggest advantage of that separation is the possibility to Restrict Uploads to users lower than the
manager role. You can allow registered users to upload images but you do not have to give permission to
upload other files. This is, in some cases, very useful. The next options you see are MIME46 types,
nowadays often called Internet Media Type. If you are a Windows user, you usually only distinguish
different file types by their extension. Internet Media Type is another way to recognize the type of a file
even without a file extension. You can permit or forbid as many file types as desired.
The Flash Uploader is one of the most sophisticated features that is often forgotten about. In
Joomla 1.5 it didn't always work properly but the version coming with Joomla 2.5 is excellent for
uploading more than one file at a time. The Flash Uploader simply works and is easy to use! Try it! (Figure
5).
Figure 5: Media manager Flash Uploader
As you notice, the Joomla media manager is no rocket science47 but it is a reliable, easy to use tool to
manage your images and other files.
If you need a more sophisticated product, Joomla offers other solutions in the extension directory in
the category File Management 48.
Media manager and the editor
Now you know about the central place of your files but how can you manage to connect them to
your content?
46
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mime_type
47
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=rocket+science
48
http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/core-enhancements/file-management
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Anywhere you see an editor in Joomla, it is usually possible to add media from the media manager by
clicking the image button below. We have already talked about this in Chapter A Typical Article (Figure
6).
Figure 6: Media manager in content areas
Media Manager in other places
There are other places where the media manager plays a role, like in categories. It is possible to link
an image to a category (Figure 7).
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Figure 7: Media manager in category
This image will appear in a list of categories if you configure it in the Menu Items Options.
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CONTACT FORM
With a contact form the following question arises: "Is this content?". I think it is and have, therefore,
written it as a sub chapter of the Managing Content chapter.
On a contact form it first becomes obvious that something like a CMS is being used. Manually
created HTML pages cannot send emails as this requires a script language like PHP, for example, and a
configured server. PHP scripts can be embedded as contact forms into HTML pages, but then that part
of the website will often look different from the rest of the site. In Joomla the contact form is already
integrated and you "only" have to configure it.
Ususally, if your Joomla is running on a web server at your provider, you won't have problems with
sending emails. Locally, it's a bit more difficult because you would have to set up a mail server first.
Generally, this is not a problem but it isn't really necessary. ;-)
Joomla sends emails in different ways. You will see an overview of this in Global Configuration → Server
(Figure 1). Naturally, you would use the standard activated PHP Mail function (read more: We bs it e an d
Content Configuration).
Figure 1: Mail Server Settings
Creating a contact
In order to include a contact on your site you need at least:
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a contact category
•
a contact
•
a link in a menu
•
Maybe you still have a category from the example data (Sample-data contact). If not, go ahead and
create one. In the next step you will create a new contact. To do so, open Components → Contacts in your
administration area and click on the icon New. Then fill in the appearing form (Figure 2). I have labeled
some areas in the screenshot for better orientation.
Figure 2: Create contact
1. The first and last name of the contact person, or the name of the department or company if it is
not a person. The contact can be connected with an existing user account. He has to be assigned to a
category, should be public (State = Published) and presumably not appear on the frontpage (Featured =
No).
2. The text area can be used for additonal information, e.g. opening hours or jurisdiction.
3. The Publishing Options relate to the user who can later make changes to that content, who created
the content, and the timing for publishing. The latter is used rather seldomly for 'normal' websites.
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4. In Contact Details there are numerous fields available, which you can choose to fill in or leave
blank.
5. In Display Options you decide which fields will be displayed. This area is important as you specify
here whether a contact form will be shown or not (Show Contact Form). You can also specify whether
the sender should receive an email copy and you'll be able to configure some spam protection settings
(Banned E-Mail, Banned Subject, etc). Against "real" spammers, however, this protection is rather
"pathetic".
6. In the field Contact Redirect, you can enter another email adress to which the contents of the form
should be sent.
7. The Metadata Options are, like the Publishing Options, available on each single page (Read
more: Why SEO is important for you).
Creating a menu item
You now have a contact but still no form on your website. That is exactly what we are going to create
in this next step. Due to the fact that you can link nestable categories to contacts, you may either have a
single contact form or many of them. It is definitely possible to create a contact form for each employee
of a big company like Volkswagen (approx. 370,000 employees). How does such a dynamic CMS display
this on a website?
To manage this, Joomla has its own Menu Manager with different layouts. In the Menu Manager, you get
to decide whether you want to have a list of contacts or categories or just a single contact form. At first
glance this may seem somewhat confusing but it is well thought out and helpful.
Let's link a single form in the menu for the contact we have just created. Open Menus - Top and click
the New icon. You need three things for a menu link:
1. the Menu Item Type (type of link) for displaying the site and, depending on your choice, a contact or a
category
2. a text displayed as a link
3. the menu, in which the link should appear
For number 1, click on the Select button next to the field Menu Item Type. A window will open and you
will see a choice of types. Click Single Contact (Figure 3).
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Figure 3: Choice of menu types
The window will close again. Since you only want one contact, you will now have to choose the
contact in Required Settings (Figure 4).
Figure 4: Choose contact
At last, insert the text for the link (Menu Title) and then save everything. The menu is already
registered correctly by opening the form. On your website, an additonal link in the Top Menu should be
appearing, which is linked to the corresponding contact (Figure 5). You can get to the actual contact form
by clicking the plus sign in the right field. Now you can send messages via your website.
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Figure 5: Contact at website
Figure 6: Contact form
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Chapter 8
Statuses, Trash and Check-Ins
In Joomla your content can have several statuses. Depending on the type of content there can be a
minimum of three statuses: published, unpublished and trash. What does that mean? After saving
your fresh content for the first time, it exists in the Joomla database and depending on its status, it will
appear (or not) in different areas of your website.
The usual life cycle of content in Joomla is:
1. unpublished until you are finished with editing and reviewing
2. published or scheduled (and possibly featured on the frontpage)
3. still published but may be removed from the frontpage
4. archived
Sometimes it is necessary to unpublish content and sometimes you may put it into the trash. The
content itself will, of course, continue to exist. It has not been deleted. You can filter most of the tables
in the administration interface by the desired statuses and assign different statuses to your content as
often as you would like.
Unpublished
No website visitor is able to see the content. It is the phase in which you edit and review your
content.
Published
It depends on the users’ and visitors’ permissions whether they will be able to view the content but
generally the content on your website should be visible because it has been published!
Featured
The featured 'feature' is a switch you can use for your most important and latest content and is usually
shown at the frontpage. It is an additional status because it is only relevant to articles. This is why it is
possible for an article to be unpublished and featured.
Archived
There will come a time when you'll start thinking about an archive for your articles. Just set the status
to archived and you've almost created an archive. Joomla knows the creation date of your articles and
offers an archive module to be shown on your site. The archive module is included in the example data.
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If it is not available, just create one in Modules → New →Archived Articles. Your articles will then be shown
like in Figure 1. Read more in chapter Modules.
Figure 1: Joomla Archive
Tra sh
The second last status is trash. If a content item ends up here it still exists and can be retrieved. You
can place modules, menu items, categories, articles, contacts, and even more content in your trash. You
can see the contents of your trash can by filtering it (Figure 2).
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Figure 2: Trash
In the filtered view the Tras h icon changes to Empty trash. This is your opportunity to delete content.
Check In
The Check In icon in Joomla may not be the kind you know from Foursquare49 or other locationbased services. It is a security feature for editing your content. As soon as a user starts editing content,
Joomla locks this content for all other users. The advantage of this behavior is that changes by another
user cannot be overwritten. That's a very convient feature. One big problem, however, appears when the
user editing the content accidentally closes the browser window, allows the session to expire or the power
plant shuts off the power or ... you get my point :-).
Then the content is locked and no one else can edit it!
No one else (except a user with proper permission, e.g. you as the administrator) can check in the
content again to allow others to edit it. Unfortunately, you will only notice unchecked content by a small
lock being displayed near the title (Figure 2) or by a cry for help from one of your users :-).
49
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foursquare_%28social_network%29
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