Joomla! Documentation - User contributions [en]

Setting up page width

2014-05-30T07:01:36Z

Danielt686:

Some templates provide the opportunity to select the type of page width, through its parameter settings. In case this does not meet the requirements, the template manager also allows the modification of the cascading style sheets. It is in those files, usually with the extension .css, that most, if not all, of the style (graphical) attributes are defined.

'''What is CSS?'''

CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheet. HTML tags specify the graphical flow of the elements, be it text, images or flash animations, on a webpage. CSS allows us to define the appearances of those html tags with their content, somewhere, so that other pages, if want be, may adhere to. This brings along consistency throughout a website. The cascading effect stipulates that the style of a tag (parent) may be inherited by other tags (children) inside it.

'''CSS Statements'''

The definition of an html tag is as follows:

tagname { attribute: value; attribute: value; }

Tagname may be any html tag but for the sake of setting up page width, what is of interest to us is an html tag that gives structure to a webpage. Some webpages are constructed from div tags while others are constructed on table tags. Usually, the tag has a 'width' attribute. You set up a page width by varying the value of the 'width' attribute.

Sometimes, html tags are not defined directly. They are given an id or a class name and CSS refers to those specific tags by their ids or their class names.

The definition of an id in CSS is as follows:

#idname { attribute: value; attribute: value; }

while the definition of a class in CSS is as follows:

.classname { attribute: value; attribute: value; }

Again setting up a page width means modifying the value of the 'width' attribute of any one of these definitions.

For example, the syntax could be by not including the parenthesis,

div {width:50%;}

This will make the width of the element to be 50% of its initial.

More information can be found from w3schools [http://www.w3schools.com/cssref/pr_dim_width.asp here]

'''Value of the 'width' attribute'''

The value of the 'width' attribute may be in pixels or percentage. Pixels are fixed values; hence in this case, the width does not vary according to window resizing or changing screen resolutions. Percentage usually means that the width is a fraction of the width of its container. So if we have a screen resolution of 1024 pixels by 768 pixels and our page width is set to 80% of the browser window container, our page would be approximately 820 pixels (80% of 1024) provided that the window browser is open at its fullest.

Setting up page width

2014-05-30T06:59:40Z

Danielt686:

Some templates provide the opportunity to select the type of page width, through its parameter settings. In case this does not meet the requirements, the template manager also allows the modification of the cascading style sheets. It is in those files, usually with the extension .css, that most, if not all, of the style (graphical) attributes are defined.

'''What is CSS?'''

CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheet. HTML tags specify the graphical flow of the elements, be it text, images or flash animations, on a webpage. CSS allows us to define the appearances of those html tags with their content, somewhere, so that other pages, if want be, may adhere to. This brings along consistency throughout a website. The cascading effect stipulates that the style of a tag (parent) may be inherited by other tags (children) inside it.

'''CSS Statements'''

The definition of an html tag is as follows:

tagname { attribute: value; attribute: value; }

Tagname may be any html tag but for the sake of setting up page width, what is of interest to us is an html tag that gives structure to a webpage. Some webpages are constructed from div tags while others are constructed on table tags. Usually, the tag has a 'width' attribute. You set up a page width by varying the value of the 'width' attribute.

Sometimes, html tags are not defined directly. They are given an id or a class name and CSS refers to those specific tags by their ids or their class names.

The definition of an id in CSS is as follows:

#idname { attribute: value; attribute: value; }

while the definition of a class in CSS is as follows:

.classname { attribute: value; attribute: value; }

Again setting up a page width means modifying the value of the 'width' attribute of any one of these definitions.

For example, the syntax could be by not including the parenthesis,

div {width:50%;}

This will make the width of the page or section to be 50% of its initial.

'''Value of the 'width' attribute'''

The value of the 'width' attribute may be in pixels or percentage. Pixels are fixed values; hence in this case, the width does not vary according to window resizing or changing screen resolutions. Percentage usually means that the width is a fraction of the width of its container. So if we have a screen resolution of 1024 pixels by 768 pixels and our page width is set to 80% of the browser window container, our page would be approximately 820 pixels (80% of 1024) provided that the window browser is open at its fullest.

Setting up page width

2014-05-30T06:57:13Z

Danielt686:

{{review}}
Some templates provide the opportunity to select the type of page width, through its parameter settings. In case this does not meet the requirements, the template manager also allows the modification of the cascading style sheets. It is in those files, usually with the extension .css, that most, if not all, of the style (graphical) attributes are defined.

'''What is CSS?'''

CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheet. HTML tags specify the graphical flow of the elements, be it text, images or flash animations, on a webpage. CSS allows us to define the appearances of those html tags with their content, somewhere, so that other pages, if want be, may adhere to. This brings along consistency throughout a website. The cascading effect stipulates that the style of a tag (parent) may be inherited by other tags (children) inside it.

'''CSS Statements'''

The definition of an html tag is as follows:

tagname { attribute: value; attribute: value; }

Tagname may be any html tag but for the sake of setting up page width, what is of interest to us is an html tag that gives structure to a webpage. Some webpages are constructed from div tags while others are constructed on table tags. Usually, the tag has a 'width' attribute. You set up a page width by varying the value of the 'width' attribute.

Sometimes, html tags are not defined directly. They are given an id or a class name and CSS refers to those specific tags by their ids or their class names.

The definition of an id in CSS is as follows:

#idname { attribute: value; attribute: value; }

while the definition of a class in CSS is as follows:

.classname { attribute: value; attribute: value; }

Again setting up a page width means modifying the value of the 'width' attribute of any one of these definitions.

For example, the syntax could be by not including the parenthesis,

img.(imagename) {width:50%;}

This will make the width of the image to be 50% of the container that it is held in.

'''Value of the 'width' attribute'''

The value of the 'width' attribute may be in pixels or percentage. Pixels are fixed values; hence in this case, the width does not vary according to window resizing or changing screen resolutions. Percentage usually means that the width is a fraction of the width of its container. So if we have a screen resolution of 1024 pixels by 768 pixels and our page width is set to 80% of the browser window container, our page would be approximately 820 pixels (80% of 1024) provided that the window browser is open at its fullest.

Archived:Starting with Joomla! FAQs

2014-05-30T06:01:53Z

Danielt686: /* Why cannot I edit my content from the front end? */

{{review}}
==How do I eliminate the pathway or breadcrumbs?==

The pathway or breadcrumb is a hierarchical trail that shows your current location on the site. The breadcrumb follows the Section, Category, Content Item hierarchy and a site's home page is always listed as the root of the hierarchy as "Home".

An example is as follows; You are currently reading a content item "New Page". This content item is a member of the "Pages " category. In the turn the pages category is a member of the "Books" section. In this case the breadcrumb for that page would look like: "Home >> Books >> Pages >> New Page".

{{JVer|1.0}}

If you wish to eliminate the pathway entirely, edit your template html (index) file. Usually it will look like this:
<div id="pathway">
<?php mosPathWay(); ?>
</div>

If you wish to eliminate it on a specific page, such as just the home page, you can modify the template to look like this:
<source lang=php>
if($option != "" && $option != "com_frontpage") {
?>
<div id="pathway">
<?php mosPathWay(); ?>
</div>
<?php } ?>
</source>
Keep in mind: The first line says that if the option in the url does not equal com_frontpage (!="com_frontpage") display the pathway. In php ! means not.

==How do I exit the wrapper?==

(needs permission or rewrite)

==How do I get rid of the Newsflash or other module?==

To disable the newsflash (or any other) module from being displayed on the front end of the website, you first need to log into the administrative back end.

* Once in the back end, on the top menu click Extensions => Module Manager.
* Locate the Newsflash module. You may need to navigate to another page as there are many modules and they are not all displayed on the first page.
* Click the "Next" or "Previous" links at the bottom of the page until the module is located.
* Once the module is located, click on the icon next for this module name in the "Published" column.

The icon should change to a red "dot" which indicates that the module is now unpublished and invisible on the site’s front end.

==How do I control what items appear in my newsflashes?==

Newsflash is a module that displays content from specific sections and/or categories.

* In the administrative back end from the top menu select “Modules => Site Modules”.
* Click on “Newsflash” to edit the module.
* Go to the parameters section of the page.
* Next to the “Category” parameter click on the drop down menu to select which category of content items will be displayed by this module. (In older versions of Joomla! the section and/or category id numbers have to be manually entered).
* Click the "Save" button to make your changes permanent.

==How do I change the image(s) in my template?==

One common template change is to use your own graphic/image. Simple graphics (not banners) are usually linked in your template's html file. Simply change the reference to the image of your choice in the your template's html file.

{{JVer|1.0}}

In the adminstrative interface do this by going to Site =>Template manager and then selecting your template. Click the icon for html.

Keep in mind that if it is a different size than the original image this may change the appearance of the site in unexpected ways.

Additional information:

The images for a given template are generally located in this folder:
/templates/templatename/images (Substitute the name of the template you are using in place of "templatename").

A trick for finding the name of the image is to put your cursor over it and click right. Select view image. This will display the image and give its full url. Sometimes the images are background images. This is viewable in Firefox or you can look for the background tag in your page source.

How to upload an image:

There are many ways to upload images. Which one you use will depend on your host and server.

1. You can use the media manager.
2. You can use an FTP client.
3. You can use a cPanel file manager.
4. You can use various extensions that allow uploading.

==How do I change the introductory text for weblinks?==

By default Joomla! 1.0.x uses the 'We are out on the web ..." introductory text. If you wish to change you have two options.
1. In your menu link to the weblinks component, add introductory text to the parameters. This replaces the default text. Note: to see all of the parameters you need to create the component link and then edit it.

2. Change your language file (e.g. english.php). It is found in _WEBLINKS_DESC.

==Why can't I edit my content from the front end?==

The most common cause of this problem is the item is "checked out." Either the item is being edited by another user or (more commonly) that the last time someone opened (edited) the file it was not closed properly (or saved).

If you were the person that last edited the article, log into the back end of the site, go to the content manager and find the article in question. It will have a lock next to its name. Open the file and then save it (or cancel). When the content list is reloaded the lock should be gone.

Alternatively, someone with superadministrator privileges can use Global Checkin to checkin all checked out items. If using this option, make sure that no one is actively editing a file or their work may be lost.

It is possible to check in your own items that you may have accidentally locked if a link to checkin is available. This may be called something else. You can add this link to a menu by creating a URL link like this: index.php?option=com_user&task=CheckIn

Note: It is important that whenever you open an article for editing you should close it using either "save" (floppy icon) or "cancel" (red x icon) when finished with your edits. Failure to do so will cause this lock as described above.

==How do I link from inside content to another content item?==

The simple answer is that you get the page URL you want to link to and then make a link using whatever text editor you are using or (if you have no wysiwyg) with html.

The more complicated answer is that some text editors have fancier links managers. A number of these editors are available in the Joomla! Extensions Directory.

==How is access control set up in Joomla!?==

Joomla! has a limited access control system. By default there are the following groups:
Front End Only

* Public
* Registered
* Author
* Publisher

Back End

* Manager
* Administrator
* Super Administrator

There are two basic ways that access control is used:

* To control the ability of users to see modules, content and menu items;
* To control the actions that users can take.

Access to content, modules and menu links

All groups except Public and Registered are considered "Special."

When creating content or setting parameters for modules, you can set access to: Public, Registered or Special.

These groups are hierarchical. Groups further down the list have all the rights of those above them.

Control of privileges to create and edit content and modify administrative settings.

{| border = "1"
!Group !! Front End !! Back End
|-
!Public
|Can view public pages
|None
|-
!Registered
|Same permissions as "Public"
Can view content and modules limited to registered.
Can submit weblinks
|None
|-
!Author
|Same permissions as "Registered"
Can submit but not publish content.
Can edit his own content once published.
|None
|-
!Editor
|Same permissions as "Author"
Edit any content.
|None
|-
!Publisher
|Same permissions as "Editor"
Can publish and edit any content.
|None
|-
!Manager
|Same permissions as as "Publisher"
|Limited
|-
!Administrator
|Same permissions as "Publisher"
|Most privileges
|-
!Super Administrator
|Same permissions as "Publisher"
|All privileges
|}
Each group can view the content and modules at the same level or above on this table.

There is no way to create additional access groups without modifying Joomla!'s core files.

There are some extensions available which provide additional access control capabilities.

You can learn more about access control here: http://help.joomla.org/images/User_manual/user_manual_v1%200%201_10%2021%2006.pdf

==Where are the web pages?==

If you are coming from a traditional website made up of separate html pages, you may well wonder where the pages are.

In Joomla! almost everything that you would normally think of as a web page is actually stored in a MySQL database. When you create a new page, your content is stored in a database record, not in a separate file.

Then when your site is viewed, Joomla! calls up different items from your database and puts them together to make what is displayed to the user.

One exception is that your images are usually stored in the images directory and not the database.

Your MySQL database usually is created by you during the installation process (unless you use a Fantastico or a similar installer that will create the database automatically). If you have a control panel on a linux host, you can usually access MySQL through a program called phpAdmin. This will allow you to view your database.

For a short tutorial on converting a static HTML web site to Joomla!, see [[Converting an existing website to a Joomla! website]].

==What determines what is shown on my frontpage?==

Frontpage is a component that is part of the core of Joomla!, like the front page of a newspaper, it shows (usually) multiple pieces of content arranged in some way.

When you install Joomla! the front page component is by default set as the homepage of your site (that is it is the first link on your Main Menu) but front page does not have to be your "home" page.

What exactly appears on the front page and how it is laid out is controlled in two ways. First, if you open the menu link in your menu manager in the back end there are numerous parameters that control the number of items shown, the number of columns etc.

To control which items are shown you must also indicate that an item should be placed on the front page by editing the parameters for the content item. In the back end this will be indicated by an icon in the front page column of the list of content items/articles.

In addition, you can use the front page manager (in the content menu of the backend) to control the publication dates and other variables for content items that are on the front page.

==What determines my home page?==

Your "homepage" in a traditional html site--the page that shows when you type mydomain.com for example-- would be the page displaying that is in the index.html file.

Joomla! is a database driven CMS so it does not have html pages, but rather pulls up the pieces of pages from a mysql database.

When you install Joomla! by default it has a menu link to the frontpage component as the home page. However, any content or component or other link can be used as the "home" page. The default page is controlled using the Main Menu.

Changing the default page.

{{JVer|1.0}}

The "page" that shows when a user navigates to mydomain.com is the page created by clicking on the first link on the Main Menu. The link can be called anything (Home, Bob it does not matter), that is the page that will show.

This menu can be displayed anywhere and can be displayed vertically or horizontally or not at all. The menu does not even need to be published.

{{JVer|1.5}}

The "page" that shows is determined by the Default item, which is indicated by a yellow star. This may be on any menu. For example, you may Go to Menu ==>Main Menu. Select the item you would like as the homepage and click the default icon. (Make sure the link is published and set to public).

==What are section, categories, content items and articles?==

Joomla! is a content management system. Sections and categories allow you to organize your content.

The basic structure is:
Sections include Categories.
Categories include content items (1.0)/articles (1.5).

Section A
: Category A1
:: content items/articles
: Category A2
:: content items/articles
: Category A3
:: content items/articles

Section B
: Category B1
:: content items
: Category B2
:: content items
: Category B3
:: content items

Section C

: Category C1
:: content items
: Category C2
:: content items
: Category C3
:: content items

The content items/articles are what you would think of as web pages in a traditional html site.

Both section and category "pages" can be created to serve (more or less) as the home pages for the categories and sections, respectively.

Although it makes sense to organize your work into categories and sections, you do not need to show these to your users. Using your menus, you can link directly to sections, categories and content items. You can also select numerous options for the display of content associated with each type of link.

==What are components, modules and plugins?==

'''Components'''

Content elements or applications that are usually displayed in the center of the main content area of a template. This depends on the design of the template in use. Components are core elements of Joomla!’s functionality. These core elements include Content, Banners, Contact, News Feeds, Polls and Web Links. Members of the Joomla! community produce third party Joomla! components on a continuous basis. They are freely available to download from http://extensions.joomla.org/ and a number of other web sites. See also Modules.

'''Plugins'''

A plugin is a small, task-oriented function that intercepts content before it is displayed and manipulates it in some way. Joomla! provides a number of Plugins in the core distribution, e.g. WYSIWYG editors, but there are many other Plugins available for specific tasks. Some 3rd Party developer components have their own Plugins which need to be installed in order to make the component work properly.

'''Modules'''

Modules extend the capabilities of Joomla! giving the software new functionality. Modules are small content items that can be displayed anywhere that your template allows it to be displayed by assigning them to positions and pages through the module manager in the administrative interface. Modules are installed in the Admin Section. Joomla! modules may include: Main Menu, Top menu, Template Chooser, Polls, Newsflash, Hit Counter, etc. Members of the Joomla! Community produce Joomla! modules on a continuous basis. Many are freely available at http://forge.joomla.org/ for download.

In addition, some 3rd party components, modules and mambots themselves have plugins.

==How do I change the favicon?==

Favicon is the favorites icon that is associated with your site and appears in the browser address bar. Both Joomla! 1.0.x and 1.5.x come with a default favicon that displays the Joomla! Logo. You may change that as long as your new favicon is in the ICO format and sized 16×16 pixels. Here's how to do it:

{{JVer|1.0}}

* Upload your new favicon into Joomla!'s /images/ folder.
* Delete Joomla!'s default /images/favicon.ico file and rename your file into favicon.ico OR
* Go to your site's back-end and change the name of the favicon file that's being loaded at Site > Global Configuration > Site > Favourites Site Icon (make sure configuration.php is writable before you commit your changes).

{{JVer|1.5}}

Unlike the 1.0.x series, the only name you are allowed to use for your favicon is favicon.ico but you are offered the flexibility to associate different favicons with different templates. You only need to upload your favicon.ico into the main folders of your front-end and back-end templates, which are found in the /templates/ and the /administrator/templates/ folders respectively, overwriting any favicon files that came with your templates.

However, if you'd rather use a single favicon.ico for all your templates, just upload it into Joomla!'s main folder (that's where your index.php resides) and into the /administrator/ folder. Make sure you delete all favicon.ico files found in the template folders mentioned above because Joomla! will check your template folder first for the favicon.ico file.

'''Note'''

To see the new favicon you will need to empty your browser cache.

==Why do the pop ups in my WYSIWYG editor not work or show gibberish?==

Depending on the editor, this problem may occur when trying to edit the html, insert tables or perform a similar function that requires javascript.

Most likely the problem with the livesite...

You look in your site configuration (General Configuration, select the Server tab) you will see that the livesite is given. Usually it is either www.mydomain.com or mydomain.com.

When you log into your site, you must log in from the exact livesite. if you don't the javascript in your editor will not work.

One way to deal with this is to put a redirect from, for example, mydomain.com to www.mydomain.com so that you and your users always login from the correct url. You can do this with .htaccess.

==What are positions?==

Site templates divides the "pages" displayed on a site into a series of positions, each with a different name.

{{JVer|1.0}}

You can view the location of positions in your default template from the administrator go to Site =>Preview=>Inline with Positions.

You can only preview the default template.

You can annotate your positions through the administrator (backend). Go to Site=>Template Manage=>Module Positions.

{{JVer|1.5}}

Extensions => Templates.
Select the template you wish to preview and click the edit icon.
Click the preview icon.

You can add or remove positions by modifying your template html.

You assign a module to a position using the module manager.

{{JVer|1.0}}

Modules=>Site Modules==>edit the module
On the left side of the page, on the third line, there is a drop down menu that lets you select the position.

{{JVer|1.5}}

In the module manager, edit the module. In the left column select all, none or the specific pages you would like it to appear on.

Notes:
Modules that are not pubished (1.0) or enabled (1.5) will not display.
Modules can be assigned to unused positions (positions not in the template) if you want to have them published but not displayed in a position (for example, if you want to display a module in content using {mosloadposition} (1.0) or {loadposition} (1.5)).
Multiple modules may be assigned to the same position. They will be displayed in the order shown for modules in that position in the module manager.
If you want to display a module in more than one position, use the module manager to create another copy.
1.0 copy the module and assign the copy to the second position.
1.5 use the new icon and create another instance of the module.

==Why are the backgrounds of my WYSIWYG editor fields colored?==

The simple answer as to why this happens is in the term 'WYSIWYG'. Content editors like TinyMCE attempt to allow users to see what the text they're entering will look like when it appears on the front-end of the website. To this end, they show the text against the color or image specified in the template_css.css file of whatever template the front-end of the website is using.

This often presents a problem for users when their website is designed to appear as a lighter content pane floating over a darker-colored background. The darker background is what appears in the editor windows, making the text almost impossible to see. In such cases, it may be necessary to tell the editor not to use the template_css.css file as a reference, but rather to use a different css file instead.

Note [added by mod]: Some editors (such as JCE and FCK) have configuration interfaces that allow you to override the template_css file or to ignore template classes. You may wish to explore this option before trying the solution below.

Step 1: Create a customized CSS file.
The first thing you'll need to do is to write a customized .css file for your editor. It doesn't have to be very complicated, and you can use the file below for reference (Many thanks to jxl, who wrote the sample file).

'''Note: Changes to the image urls would be need to use this file in 1.5'''
<source lang=CSS>
/* CSS Document */

/* Editor Assigned Styles */
/*make sure that any styles you put here also exist in your template_css.css file or they will have no effect in the front end */

p.rightalign {
text-align: right;
}

.red {
color: #c00;
}

.green {
color: #0c0;
}

.highlight {
background-color: Yellow;
color: Blue;
padding: 0;
}
p.code {
background-color: #ddd;
border: 1px solid #bbb;
}

.small {
color: #999999;
font-size: 10px;
}

/* Body Tag for Background Color and Font Specs. */

body {
font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Sans Serif;
font-size: 12px;
color: #333333;
background: #ffffff;
}

/* Optional Basic Stuff you can use to make everything look like it does on the site itself */
/* you can get this stuff right out of your template_css.css file, or you can just leave it out */

ul
{
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
list-style: none;
}

li
{
line-height: 16px;
padding-left: 16px;
padding-top: 0px;
background-image: url(../images/arrow.png); /* use the real image path that you have on your site. An absolute path is OK */
background-repeat: no-repeat;
background-position: 0px 2px;
}

td {
text-align: left;
font-size: 12px;
}

a, a:link, a:visited {
color: #c64934; text-decoration: none;
font-weight: bold;
}

a:hover {
color: #900; text-decoration: none;
font-weight: bold;
}
</source>

Make careful note of the comments in the file above. The first section is comprised of text classes; you'll want to go into your template's template_css.css file and find the text classes (.highlight, .small, etc.) it specifies that you'll be likely to use in your content and make sure to copy them into the editor_content.css file as well. The same is true of the styles defined in the last section (a:hover, td, ul, etc.).

The key part that fixes the background issue is the 'body' style specified in the middle. You can change parts of this to match your template if you like, but leave the 'background' rule set to #FFFFFF. This will make the editor windows white, as opposed to the dark background color of your site template.

Incidentally, if your website uses a background IMAGE in addition to a color, the same thing applies.

Also, if this is too much work, you CAN just copy and paste your template's template_css.css file into a new CSS file and change the BODY style so that the background is set to #FFFFFF. This is less neat and orderly, but you'll be sure you have all of the classes and such defined properly this way.

When you've finished, save your new CSS file as editor_content.css

Step 2: Upload your CSS file to the correct directory.

You'll use an FTP client for this, which hopefully you're already doing. If Joomla! is in a separate folder, you'll navigate to:

joomla/templates/[the template you're using]/css/

If you don't have Joomla! in a separate folder, just go to whatever directory houses your Joomla! files. The key is to make sure you're in the correct front-end template folder for your website. Upload your editor_content.css file to the CSS folder under this template directory.

Note that in most cases, the only other file in this directory is a file called 'template_css.css'. If you see that file, you're probably in the right place. Also, note that there is a 'css' directory in joomla/templates/ as well, but this IS NOT the directory you're looking for. You want the css directory under the template you're using.

Step 3: Point your Editor to the new CSS.

Now go back to your site and into the administration area. Click on 'Mambots" and "Site Mambots" to see the list of Mambots currently in use in your website. Check TinyMCE WYSIWYG (or whatever WYSIWYG editor you're using) and then 'Edit' to open the editing pane for the editor.

Look to the right side under 'Parameters' and scroll down until you see the option entitled 'Template CSS Classes'. Click the radio button to 'no'. Right under this is a field entitled 'Custom CSS Classes'. In this field type:

templates/[template you're using]/css/editor_content.css

Then save and exit.

This should correct the background issue in your editor. If it doesn't, you've either set up your editor_content.css file incorrectly or you've uploaded the file to the wrong directory.

==How do you install an extension?==

Before starting it always is wise to read the documentation associated with an extension. Most extensions have homepages and forums, and it is a good idea to look at them first. If there is a README file included with the extension, you should read it.

For most extensions and most users, the procedure will be:

{{JVer|1.0}}

* Download the extension to your local machine
* From the backend of your joomla site (adminsitration) select Installers and then the type of extension (module, component, mambot/plugin, site template, administrative template, language
* Browse for the package file
* Click the install icon
* Follow any instructions

{{JVer|1.5}}

* Download the extension to your local machine
* From the backend of your joomla site (adminsitration) select Extensions.
* Browse for the package file
* Click the install icon
* Follow any instructions

There are some situations in which this procedure will not work.

Sometimes you need to unzip the file locally prior to installing. If you get an error saying that the file is not in the correct format, the need to unzip is a common cause of this. After unzipping try installing the individual items. Note that the files you upload using the installed still need to be zipped.

Sometimes you cannot use the automated installer. For example, very large extensions may exceed the maximum upload size allowed by your host.

In this case, unzip all of the files locally. Then transfer the files to a folder in the the install directory(for example administrator/components/com_installer/components) for the type of extension you are installing (using FTP). Then use the installer, but select "install from directory" indicating the correct folder name.

For modules and mambots/plugins to work, you must make sure that they are pubished (1.0) or enabled (1.5).

==Why doesn't the pdf of my page show the images?==

Images are not supported in Joomla! 1.0.x in the pdf creation script. Images are supported in Joomla! 1.5.

==How do I make a menu link that is not clickable?==

To make a menu link that does not connect to anything (is not clickable) use the link type Separator/Placeholder

==What does a simple Joomla! installation include?==

If you simply install Joomla! without any modifications or extensions, the following (incomplete) list of features will be included.

* Content component which allows creation and display of "content items" usually in the middle of the page.
* Front page component, which displays multiple recent content items designated as "front page" in the content manager. Configurable for layout and number of items.
* Weblinks component for entering and displaying a list of weblinks.
* Media manager for uploading and managing images and other media.
* User manager (administrative end) and user registration module (front end).
* Newsflash module for displaying specific content items as "newsflashes."
* Modules for latest items, most popular, and related items.
* A simple poll component
* A menu system
* A choice of several templates for your site[/li]
* Installers for third party extensions (templates, components, modules and plugins/mambots).
* The TinyMCE wysiwyg editor. 1.5 Also includes xStandard Lite
* Administrative interface for managing your site

<noinclude>[[Category:FAQ]]</noinclude>

Dealing with a problem user

2014-05-30T05:09:40Z

Danielt686:

[[Category: Tips and tricks]][[Category: Tips and tricks 1.5]]

The best method of dealing with a problem user is ''not'' to delete the account. It is better to simply block them from logging in. This is true for a few different reasons:

* First, it is temporary, so it can be used to suspend rather than ban.
* Second, if you are requiring your users to authenticate via email and you are not allowing duplicate email addresses, it will make it slightly more difficult for them to simply recreate their account or create a new account.

== Blocking Access ==

# From the ''Main Administrator Screen'' (http://www.example.com/administrator), click '''User Manager'''. [[Image:User-Manager.png]]
# Locate the problem user using the filter. The easiest way to do this if you have a large number of users is to type part of their name, user name, or email address in the search box and click '''Go'''. [[Image:Search-Box.png]]
# Select the user by '''placing a checkmark next to their name'''. [[Image:Select-User.png]]
# At the top right of the screen, click '''Edit'''. [[Image:Click-Edit.png]]
# On the lefthand side of the screen, towards the bottom, select the '''Yes''' radio button next to '''Block User'''. [[Image:Block-User.png]]
# At the top right of the screen, click '''Save'''. [[Image:Click-Save.png]]
# Visually verify the user is blocked by looking for both the ''Successfully saved User'' message at the top of the screen, as well as the icon with the white X in a red circle under the '''Enabled''' column. [[Image:Verify-Disabled.png]]

== Blocking By IP Address ==

While there are some [http://extensions.joomla.org extensions] that will allow for blocking by IP address, Joomla! does not include this functionality by default. Additionally, please note that as discussed in the [http://docs.joomla.org/Security_and_Performance_FAQs Security and Performance FAQs,] this method is ''not'' recommended because it is less effective for the following reasons:
* First, because the problem user may not actually be the owner of the IP address.
* Second, because most IP addresses are non-static, so they will change periodically. For example, if the person is using a wireless laptop, and simply moves to a different wireless router, they will end up with a new IP address.

[[Category:Tutorials]][[Category:User Management]]

Web developers

2014-05-30T03:56:40Z

Danielt686: /* Getting started with content */

{{stub}}
{{Chunk:Web developer profile}}

==What is Joomla! and why should I be interested?==

Joomla! is the second most popular Content Management System in the world according to [http://cmscrawler.com/completelist CMS Crawler], and is freely available to download and install. Released under the General Public License v2 and above - read more at [[Extensions_and_GPL#About_Joomla.21_and_the_GPL]], anybody can work with all parts of the Joomla! CMS, make changes, customise it to fit their needs, and use it for commercial projects.

The world of website design is rapidly moving towards dynamically served content and away from static websites - Joomla! is well equipped to meet these needs and has the added bonus of a vibrant, enthusiastic community and a phenomenal amount of extensions, allowing you to extend the basic Joomla! installation in a multitude of ways - from creating social networks to ecommerce stores, corporate websites to intranets.

Once you understand the basics of how Joomla! works, it is quick and easy to learn how to extend it through writing custom components, adapting existing code, and creating your own templates.

==Where do I get started?==

Firstly, see if there are any Joomla! User Groups near you, or a Joomla!Day event you could attend. Having a community of people you can talk to or ask questions of is really helpful in the process of learning how to use any new system. It often saves hours, if not days of fiddling or researching to just ask the question and have someone give you an answer (or advise where to find the answer).

[http://community.joomla.org/user-groups.html Find your nearest User Group]

[http://events.joomla.org/joomla-days.html Find your nearest Joomla!Day event]

Next, create yourself an account on the Joomla! forums. While the forums are user to user support, there are a LOT of users, and a lot of experienced users for that matter. Make sure you take the time to read the posting guidelines at the top of the forums before you post, and include all the relevant information.

While you're here, see if you might be able to help someone else. Good practice is to answer one post for every post you make asking for help, as a minimum.

[http://forum.joomla.org/ Visit the Joomla! forums]

Next, create yourself an account here on the Joomla! Documentation Project. Newcomers are a great help with documentation, as you often see things with a 'fresh pair of eyes' and can identify mistakes or pick up errors easier.

Just click on the link in the top right, and create your account. If you find any documentation that needs updating or reviewing, simply log in, edit the appropriate item, and submit your revisions. Likewise if you can add any examples (especially to coding/API related documentation) you can do this too!

==How do I style a Joomla! website to be like my graphics visuals?==

==Getting started with content==
{{review}}
Content is simple to use and manage with Joomla!. This can be done if you are the administrator by using the content manager in the control panel. There are different types of content that can be used.

The 'article' is one type of content. This is usually a piece of text that can be displayed on a portion of the page. It can also include pictures, another type of content, or other links to internal or external sites.

You can also upload pictures and videos to use on your website. As long as the content is there in the server side, it can be embedded or linked to be displayed on your page. It can also work with articles to be placed along with text or just a stand-alone piece of content.

==Finding extensions to keep your client happy!==
{{review}}
There are many extensions for Joomla! that will help you to create a website that will fit your client's needs. These can be found [http://extensions.joomla.org/ here]. An extension can be easy to find. They are separated by category and contain small descriptions to let you know if they suite your needs. They also have in-depth descriptions once clicked on and usually have tutorials on how they can be used. There is also a rating system based on other users to give you a better idea of the quality of the extension. This makes things user friendly and helps in making sure that the user gets what they are looking for.

==Search engine optimisation with Joomla!==

==Joomla! Security Guide==

* [[:Category:Security_Checklist|Joomla! Security Checklist]]
* [[Security and Performance FAQs]]
* [[Top 10 Stupidest Administrator Tricks]]

;Joomla! Security Forums

* [http://forum.joomla.org/viewforum.php?f=372 Joomla! Security Announcements]
* [http://forum.joomla.org/viewforum.php?f=432 Joomla! 1.5 Security Forum]
* [http://forum.joomla.org/viewforum.php?f=267 Joomla! 1.0 Security Forum]

==See also==
* [[Developers]]

[[Category:Joomla! user profiles]]

Web developers

2014-05-30T03:46:59Z

Danielt686: /* Getting started with content */

{{stub}}
{{Chunk:Web developer profile}}

==What is Joomla! and why should I be interested?==

Joomla! is the second most popular Content Management System in the world according to [http://cmscrawler.com/completelist CMS Crawler], and is freely available to download and install. Released under the General Public License v2 and above - read more at [[Extensions_and_GPL#About_Joomla.21_and_the_GPL]], anybody can work with all parts of the Joomla! CMS, make changes, customise it to fit their needs, and use it for commercial projects.

The world of website design is rapidly moving towards dynamically served content and away from static websites - Joomla! is well equipped to meet these needs and has the added bonus of a vibrant, enthusiastic community and a phenomenal amount of extensions, allowing you to extend the basic Joomla! installation in a multitude of ways - from creating social networks to ecommerce stores, corporate websites to intranets.

Once you understand the basics of how Joomla! works, it is quick and easy to learn how to extend it through writing custom components, adapting existing code, and creating your own templates.

==Where do I get started?==

Firstly, see if there are any Joomla! User Groups near you, or a Joomla!Day event you could attend. Having a community of people you can talk to or ask questions of is really helpful in the process of learning how to use any new system. It often saves hours, if not days of fiddling or researching to just ask the question and have someone give you an answer (or advise where to find the answer).

[http://community.joomla.org/user-groups.html Find your nearest User Group]

[http://events.joomla.org/joomla-days.html Find your nearest Joomla!Day event]

Next, create yourself an account on the Joomla! forums. While the forums are user to user support, there are a LOT of users, and a lot of experienced users for that matter. Make sure you take the time to read the posting guidelines at the top of the forums before you post, and include all the relevant information.

While you're here, see if you might be able to help someone else. Good practice is to answer one post for every post you make asking for help, as a minimum.

[http://forum.joomla.org/ Visit the Joomla! forums]

Next, create yourself an account here on the Joomla! Documentation Project. Newcomers are a great help with documentation, as you often see things with a 'fresh pair of eyes' and can identify mistakes or pick up errors easier.

Just click on the link in the top right, and create your account. If you find any documentation that needs updating or reviewing, simply log in, edit the appropriate item, and submit your revisions. Likewise if you can add any examples (especially to coding/API related documentation) you can do this too!

==How do I style a Joomla! website to be like my graphics visuals?==

==Getting started with content==
{{review}}
Content is simple to use and manage with Joomla!. This can be done if you are the administrator by using the content manager in the control panel. There are different types of content that can be used.

The article is one type of content. This is usually a piece of text that can be displayed on a portion of the page. It can also include pictures, another type of content, or other links to internal or external sites.

==Finding extensions to keep your client happy!==
{{review}}
There are many extensions for Joomla! that will help you to create a website that will fit your client's needs. These can be found [http://extensions.joomla.org/ here]. An extension can be easy to find. They are separated by category and contain small descriptions to let you know if they suite your needs. They also have in-depth descriptions once clicked on and usually have tutorials on how they can be used. There is also a rating system based on other users to give you a better idea of the quality of the extension. This makes things user friendly and helps in making sure that the user gets what they are looking for.

==Search engine optimisation with Joomla!==

==Joomla! Security Guide==

* [[:Category:Security_Checklist|Joomla! Security Checklist]]
* [[Security and Performance FAQs]]
* [[Top 10 Stupidest Administrator Tricks]]

;Joomla! Security Forums

* [http://forum.joomla.org/viewforum.php?f=372 Joomla! Security Announcements]
* [http://forum.joomla.org/viewforum.php?f=432 Joomla! 1.5 Security Forum]
* [http://forum.joomla.org/viewforum.php?f=267 Joomla! 1.0 Security Forum]

==See also==
* [[Developers]]

[[Category:Joomla! user profiles]]

Web developers

2014-05-30T03:15:25Z

Danielt686: /* Finding extensions to keep your client happy! */

{{stub}}
{{Chunk:Web developer profile}}

==What is Joomla! and why should I be interested?==

Joomla! is the second most popular Content Management System in the world according to [http://cmscrawler.com/completelist CMS Crawler], and is freely available to download and install. Released under the General Public License v2 and above - read more at [[Extensions_and_GPL#About_Joomla.21_and_the_GPL]], anybody can work with all parts of the Joomla! CMS, make changes, customise it to fit their needs, and use it for commercial projects.

The world of website design is rapidly moving towards dynamically served content and away from static websites - Joomla! is well equipped to meet these needs and has the added bonus of a vibrant, enthusiastic community and a phenomenal amount of extensions, allowing you to extend the basic Joomla! installation in a multitude of ways - from creating social networks to ecommerce stores, corporate websites to intranets.

Once you understand the basics of how Joomla! works, it is quick and easy to learn how to extend it through writing custom components, adapting existing code, and creating your own templates.

==Where do I get started?==

Firstly, see if there are any Joomla! User Groups near you, or a Joomla!Day event you could attend. Having a community of people you can talk to or ask questions of is really helpful in the process of learning how to use any new system. It often saves hours, if not days of fiddling or researching to just ask the question and have someone give you an answer (or advise where to find the answer).

[http://community.joomla.org/user-groups.html Find your nearest User Group]

[http://events.joomla.org/joomla-days.html Find your nearest Joomla!Day event]

Next, create yourself an account on the Joomla! forums. While the forums are user to user support, there are a LOT of users, and a lot of experienced users for that matter. Make sure you take the time to read the posting guidelines at the top of the forums before you post, and include all the relevant information.

While you're here, see if you might be able to help someone else. Good practice is to answer one post for every post you make asking for help, as a minimum.

[http://forum.joomla.org/ Visit the Joomla! forums]

Next, create yourself an account here on the Joomla! Documentation Project. Newcomers are a great help with documentation, as you often see things with a 'fresh pair of eyes' and can identify mistakes or pick up errors easier.

Just click on the link in the top right, and create your account. If you find any documentation that needs updating or reviewing, simply log in, edit the appropriate item, and submit your revisions. Likewise if you can add any examples (especially to coding/API related documentation) you can do this too!

==How do I style a Joomla! website to be like my graphics visuals?==

==Getting started with content==

==Finding extensions to keep your client happy!==
{{review}}
There are many extensions for Joomla! that will help you to create a website that will fit your client's needs. These can be found [http://extensions.joomla.org/ here]. An extension can be easy to find. They are separated by category and contain small descriptions to let you know if they suite your needs. They also have in-depth descriptions once clicked on and usually have tutorials on how they can be used. There is also a rating system based on other users to give you a better idea of the quality of the extension. This makes things user friendly and helps in making sure that the user gets what they are looking for.

==Search engine optimisation with Joomla!==

==Joomla! Security Guide==

* [[:Category:Security_Checklist|Joomla! Security Checklist]]
* [[Security and Performance FAQs]]
* [[Top 10 Stupidest Administrator Tricks]]

;Joomla! Security Forums

* [http://forum.joomla.org/viewforum.php?f=372 Joomla! Security Announcements]
* [http://forum.joomla.org/viewforum.php?f=432 Joomla! 1.5 Security Forum]
* [http://forum.joomla.org/viewforum.php?f=267 Joomla! 1.0 Security Forum]

==See also==
* [[Developers]]

[[Category:Joomla! user profiles]]

Absolute Basics of How a Component Functions

2014-05-30T02:25:47Z

Danielt686:

{{review}}
This document describes the absolute basics of how a component functions in the most basic ways. It is written for beginner developers to read to help them understand how a basic Joomla! component works.

==Entering the Platform==
You enter the Joomla! Platform by making calls to index.php. Joomla! is designed mainly to deliver the results of component files. When you call a page link, like index.php?option=com_<name>, the Joomla! Platform tries to find and load the file components/com_<name>/<name>.php from whichever folder you have installed Joomla! into. So, if your component is 'com_read' you should have a 'com_read' folder and a file named 'read.php' inside of it. I will call this file the 'base file'. It is in this file that you make the decision whether to use an old flat model (returning the HTML code for the requested page) or to use a Model-View-Controller (MVC) pattern.

This MVC model, walks over two legs: a file and a class. The Joomla! Platform will usually look for a given file and, if found, tries to register a specific class within this file. If either one is missing the call will fail.

==Your controller.php File==
You start all the fireworks by including a reference to a controller file in your base file. The controller file can be named anything you want, but by convention it is called 'controller.php'. In your base file (<name>.php), the following code is typical:

<source lang="php">
require_once(JPATH_COMPONENT . '/controller.php');
</source>

Your controller.php file can be created anywhere you want because you are referencing it by path. If you have written the code exactly as shown above, it should be created in the same location where your base file is located because JPATH_COMPONENT holds the path where the executing component base file is.

So create controller.php and make a reference to the controller library inside by importing it with:

<source lang="php">
jimport('joomla.application.component.controller');
</source>

Now that you have controller.php included and the base JControllerLegacy class imported, you have to define a class that extends the JControllerLegacy base class. This is the class leg mentioned earlier. It is here where your action will happen. You can name this class as you like but, by convention, it is named after your component so you write:

<source lang="php">
class <Name>Controller extends JControllerLegacy
{
}
</source>

In this stage you have your first two files, the base file and the controller file. The base file loads the controller and the controller defines a class. So far so good and easy. The next step is to create an object of this class and to put it to work. So add the following lines to your base file:

<source lang="php">
// Get an instance of the controller prefixed by <name>
$controller = JControllerLegacy::getInstance('<Name>');

// Perform the Request task
$controller->execute(JFactory::getApplication()->input->getCmd('task'));

// Redirect if set by the controller
$controller->redirect();
</source>

From this point on things start happening by themselves. Up to now you were able to name files/classes (except for the base one) and store them where you want because you were including the files by path/name and calling your classes by name within your code. (Well, only one file and only one class actually, but you could do it!) From now on the Joomla! Platform will begin loading your files and calling your classes automatically, so you must be careful where you put your files, what you name them, and what classes you define. A single letter mismatch will make Joomla! fail.

==Getting the Data==
Where does the Joomla! Platform get the data to play? Well, the answer is easy: from the request, be it a GET request or a POST request. But you have NOT written anything else in the request except option=com_<name>. Where does the 'task' in the execute call come from? Do you really have a meaningful 'task' variable?

Yes, and therein lies a 'problem': Whether you pass a request or not, Joomla! will use its defaults to complete a request, making some errors difficult to spot.

The controller->execute() call will make the Joomla! Platform try to do a request that, in this case, will be the default task 'display', because you have not specified otherwise.

<source lang="php">
class <Name>Controller extends JControllerLegacy

{
function display()
{
echo 'displaying';
}
}

</source>

If your request contained a 'task=jump' parameter the controller would have tried to call a method (function) named 'jump' in your controller class:

<source lang="php">

class <Name>Controller extends JControllerLegacy
{
function jump()
{
echo 'jumping';
}
}

</source>

==The View==
Up to now you have delved into the controller part of the model. This is a new point of decision. You can stop here or go a step further and enter the view part.

The different tasks given to the controller are methods in the controller.php file. All the needed variables are available from the Platform, so you will be able to retrieve them easily.

There is nothing that forces you to use the 'task' variable to drive the call because you can pass the value of any variable as the parameter to the execute method call. But in order to stick to the non-written rules, 'task' is usually used and as it is treated specially by the system, it is a good idea to stick with it.

To trigger the views, you have to call the __construct() method of JControllerLegacy. Do this by inserting, in your method, a call to parent::__construct() as in the last line. At a minimum, your controller file should contain the following:

<source lang="php">

jimport('joomla.application.component.controller');

class <name>Controller extends JControllerLegacy
{
}
</source>

'''What's a view?'''
A view is a subset of data. It's the same concept as views in SQL parlance. You deliver different parts of your data with different views. So you could have a detailed data view and a resumed data view, the later presenting a subset of the whole data presented in the former.

As you can have multiple views, Joomla! uses the 'views' folder in your component's base directory to keep things tidy. This folder is only a placeholder for your views. This means that you need to create a views folder with a hierarchy that looks like this:

<name> base folder
controller.php
<component_name>.php
'views' folder
view1 folder
view2 folder
...

Inside the views folder, other folders hold the files that build each view. The Joomla! Platform includes a file named view.html.php that should exist in your view folder. A bit messy, I know, so I'll try to explain.

When you built your request, you included a variable named 'view' that tells the MVC model what view you want. Or, if you did not include it, you need to include it now because there is no such a thing as a default view. So your URL is something like:

<code><nowiki>http://example.com/index.php?option=com_<name>&view=<myview>[&task=<mytask>]</nowiki></code>

The task part may or may not exist. Remember that if you omit it, you are defaulting to task=display. With this URL Joomla! is importing a file located at <site root dir>/components/<name>/views/<myview>/view.html.php. If this file or the path does not exist, Joomla! will fail. By simply swapping the value of the view, you deliver different views of your data.

Every request for a view requires that you also specify the format in which you are serving the view. There exist several well known formats such as html (the default one if none is specified), rss, etc. or you can use your own. If no format is specified in the request with the 'format=<myformat>' parameter a default value of 'html' is used.

The 'html' format makes the Joomla! Platform wrap the response in whatever template your site is using so that you get a fully built HTML page. This way, with very little effort from you, you get back your page fully loaded with modules or whatever you had configured.

The specific format you are using needs to be included in the middle part of the name of the file in your view folder (The file we talked about a few lines before 'view.html.php'). If you use a different format like 'rss' your file should be named after it like view.rss.php. Get it?

As mentioned before, you can have formats other than html and Joomla! will not wrap the template on them. You could have a 'pdf' format to deliver your data in pdf format or even an 'ajax' format to deliver ajax responses to the front-end easily. Just construct your URL like

<code><nowiki>http://example.com/index.php?option=com_<name>&view=<myview>&format=ajax</nowiki></code>

to make the Joomla! Platform look for and load the file view.ajax.php located at <site root dir>/components/<name>/views/<myview>/ from which you can echo anything you want. It's that easy.

Anyway, to achieve your goal, you will need some code inside the view.<format>.php file. You have the view file, now you need the view class. You have to extend the JView class with your own class following the strict rules mentioned before. In this case, your class name must be built by concatenating the component name, the word 'View', and the view name. So your class name will be a capitalized <name>View<myview>. If your component is named 'travels' and your view is named 'detail' (URL ...?option=com_travels&view=detail) your view class must be:

<source lang="php">

class TravelsViewDetail extends JViewLegacy
{
function display($tpl=null)
{
echo 'blah, blah';
}
}

</source>

Within this class, you only have to feed the data you want to display for your component under this specific case. You can do this directly by delivering the HTML code directly, or through calls to echo inside php tags, or be more subtle and use a layout (more on this later).

Can you have other functions besides display? I don't know. This is something that the gurus must answer. Where does the display function come from? Again, I don't know. Hope that someone else can help here.

Now you can go a bit further. Up to this point, you have a distributed Platform that dissects your request in such a way that allows you to create small and very specific files to react only to specific types of requests. In this way, the files that you must process can be very small and adjusted to the situation you are treating. This will speed up the global response time of the system by not loading a bunch of code that will never be used with these kinds of requests.

Having reached this point, you can dissect a bit more and have another layer of detail: the final layout for the data you deliver.

A layout is a way to present the data for the view. The same data can be delivered under different visual aspects so that the same preparation code (inside the display function of your view class) can present the same data in different ways simply using different files. You 'inject' the view data into the layout template and use the template code to visually format it for presenting to the user.

As before, if you do not specify a layout, the 'default' layout will be used. To use layouts you need to create a new folder under the related view folder named 'tmpl' and create a file named <mylayout>.php, nothing more, nothing less. If you are using the default layout this file will be named 'default.php'.

The desired layout can be specified in the request by means of a 'layout=<mylayout>' variable or can be injected in the call if you manage to get the layout you want to use from other sources.

To use a layout, your view class must call 'parent::display();' and pass the layout template name as a parameter. So your class should be:

<source lang="php">

class <Name>View<Viewname> extends JViewLegacy
{
function display($tpl=null)
{
// Prepare the data
$data1 = ....
$data2 = ....
$moredata[] = array....

// Inject the data
$this->variablename = $data1;
$this->variablename2 = $data2;
$this->variablename3 = $moredata;

// Call the layout template. If no tpl value is set Joomla! will look for a default.php file
$tpl = 'myTemplate';
parent::display($tpl);
}
}
</source>

This way, Joomla! will look for a file named 'myTemplate.php' in the 'tmpl' folder of the given view. Inside this template file you get a '$this' object that has access to the variables you have injected by means of '$this->variablename' that you can use in your constructions to deliver your HTML *FINAL* code.

As you will have determined by now, you can have different layout files in your tmpl folder, which can easily drive your output with simple, small, very specific files.

If you have been observant, you will have noticed that you have not 'used' the 'model' part of MVC model. Here you have the last point of decision. You can go without this part or fully apply the model, but I think I will keep this tale for another session, for I am sure that I have already abused my audience.

[[Category:Tutorials]]
[[Category:Explanations]]
[[Category:Component Development]]
[[Category:Beginner Development]]
[[Category:Development Recommended Reading]]

Archived:Add article title to read more link

2014-05-14T14:30:47Z

Danielt686:

Some people want to add the article title to the readmore link. To achieve this you can use a [[How_to_override_the_output_from_the_Joomla!_core|template override]].

If they are not already there, in your template folder:
# Create a new folder called 'html'.
# In that folder, create a folder called 'com_content'.
# And in that folder, create three folders called "category", "frontpage" and "article"

Then locate the following files:
*(joomla)/components/com_content/views/category/tmpl/blog_item.php
*(joomla)/components/com_content/views/featured/tmpl/default_item.php
*(joomla)/components/com_content/views/article/tmpl/default.php

Copy the files to their respective locations in the template's html file:
*(yourtemplate)/html/com_content/category/blog_item.php
*(yourtemplate)/html/com_content/featured/default_item.php
*(yourtemplate)/html/com_content/article/default.php

Open these files. Towards the bottom of each of these files you should see something like:
<source lang='php'>
<a class="btn" href="<?php echo $link; ?>"> 
<?php if (!$params->get('access-view')) :
echo JText::_('COM_CONTENT_REGISTER_TO_READ_MORE');
elseif ($readmore = $this->item->alternative_readmore) :
echo $readmore;
if ($params->get('show_readmore_title', 0) != 0) :
echo JHtml::_('string.truncate', ($this->item->title), $params->get('readmore_limit'));
endif;
elseif ($params->get('show_readmore_title', 0) == 0) :
echo JText::sprintf('COM_CONTENT_READ_MORE_TITLE');
else :
echo JText::_('COM_CONTENT_READ_MORE');
echo JHtml::_('string.truncate', ($this->item->title), $params->get('readmore_limit'));
endif; ?>
</a>
</source>

Change the line
<source lang='php'>echo JText::sprintf('COM_CONTENT_READ_MORE_TITLE');</source>
into
<source lang='php'>echo JText::sprintf('COM_CONTENT_READ_MORE_TITLE', $this->item->title);</source>

The “Read more” link should now look like this:
'''Read more: (Article title)'''

<noinclude>[[Category:Tips and tricks]]
[[Category:Tips and tricks 2.5]]
[[Category:Article Management]]
[[Category:FAQ]]
[[Category:Tutorials]]
</noinclude>

Archived:Installer

2014-05-14T13:09:57Z

Danielt686:

{{review}}

===Using the the Joomla! Installer===
Once your files have been uploaded to the hosting space using an [[Using_an_FTP_client_to_upload_files|FTP client]], it is time to install Joomla!.

First open an Internet Browser and type in the address of your new Joomla! website. For example:

<source lang="html4strict">yourdomain.com</source> or if you are running from your local server, type:
<source lang="html4strict"> http://localhost/name-of-your-joomla-site </source>

If you are planning to install and use Joomla! on your personal computer then refer to [[J2.5:Use_Joomla!_on_your_own_computer|here]].

'''Screen 1:'''
After the correct address is entered, the image below will appear. Joomla! has redirected you to the /installation subdirectory. In this step you can choose the default language (English) or anyother one.

[[Image:Installer_Lang.jpg]]

'''Screen 2:'''
Click 'Next' and Joomla! displays the Pre-Installation Checklist. Specific details relating to PHP settings are outlined here. To proceed with the installation, all the lights should be green and set to Yes.

[[Image:Installer_PreCheck.jpg]]

'''Explanation about terms:''' (TECHNICAL REVIEW NEEDED OF THIS EXPLANATION) (Links to definitions were put on the terms)

*[http://www.php.net/manual/en/intro-whatis.php PHP] version must be 4.3.10 or greater than 4.3.10
*[http://www.zlib.net/ Zlib Compression] Support
*[http://www.xml.com/pub/a/98/10/guide0.html?page=2#AEN58 XML] support
*[http://www.mysql.com/about/ MySQL] support
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UTF-8#Description MB Language (Multibyte Language)] is Default
*[http://www.php.net/manual/en/mbstring.overload.php MB String Overload] Off
*Writable configuration.php

'''Recommended settings for the actual column:'''

*Safe Mode is off
*Display Errors is on
*File Uploads is on
*Magic Quotes Runtime is off
*Register Globals is off
*Output Buffering is off
*Session Auto Start is off

'''Screen 3:'''
Click 'Next' and the licence prompt below will appear.[[wikipedia:GNU/GPL|GNU/GPL]]

[[Image:Installer_GNUGPL.jpg]]

'''Screen 4:'''
Click 'Next' to enter the Database configurations. Guidelines are provided on the right-hand side to assist in completing the text fields properly. Please note that all data must be entered correctly to avoid errors. The fields to fill are:
*Host name:
*Username:
*Password:
*Database name:

Note that you need to create a database. This can be done through your MySQL manager in your webhost or through the default phpMyAdmin application on WAMP(Windows, Apache, MySQL, PHP) server application. Databases created through your web host usually take 15-20 minutes to set up so it is best so set them up while you are transferring files to your server rather than waiting until this step.

[[Image:Installer_Database.jpg]]

'''Screen 5:'''
Click 'Next' to enter the FTP settings. This allows Joomla! to operate in a more secure way, eliminating the need for PHP to handle file upload requests. Note: The FTP layer is not necessary but advised for additional site security.

[[Image:Installer_FTP.jpg]]

'''Screen 6:'''
Click 'Next' to enter the Main Configuration details. Here you fill in
*Site name:
*Your E-mail:
*Admin password:
*Confirm admin password:

Notice: To install sample data (modules, articles, sections, categories) you can press the install sample data button before you click the next step. This will give you a functional Joomla! site with pre-populated content to work from.

[[Image:Installer_MainConfig.jpg]]

'''Screen 7:'''
Click 'Next' and a warning to delete the installation directory will appear. Once that is done (most likely using [[Using_an_FTP_client_to_upload_files|FTP client]], click either the 'View Site' tab or the 'Administrator' tab to continue using Joomla!.

Archived:Installer

2014-05-14T12:10:00Z

Danielt686:

{{review}}

===Using the the Joomla! Installer===
Once your files have been uploaded to the hosting space using an [[Using_an_FTP_client_to_upload_files|FTP client]], it is time to install Joomla!.

First open an Internet Browser and type in the address of your new Joomla! website. For example:

<source lang="html4strict">yourdomain.com</source> or if you are running from your local server, type:
<source lang="html4strict"> http://localhost/name-of-your-joomla-site </source>

'''Screen 1:'''
After the correct address is entered, the image below will appear. Joomla! has redirected you to the /installation subdirectory. In this step you can choose the default language (English) or anyother one.

[[Image:Installer_Lang.jpg]]

'''Screen 2:'''
Click 'Next' and Joomla! displays the Pre-Installation Checklist. Specific details relating to PHP settings are outlined here. To proceed with the installation, all the lights should be green and set to Yes.

[[Image:Installer_PreCheck.jpg]]

'''Explanation about terms:''' (TECHNICAL REVIEW NEEDED OF THIS EXPLANATION) (Links to definitions were put on the terms)

*[http://www.php.net/manual/en/intro-whatis.php PHP] version must be 4.3.10 or greater than 4.3.10
*[http://www.zlib.net/ Zlib Compression] Support
*[http://www.xml.com/pub/a/98/10/guide0.html?page=2#AEN58 XML] support
*[http://www.mysql.com/about/ MySQL] support
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UTF-8#Description MB Language (Multibyte Language)] is Default
*[http://www.php.net/manual/en/mbstring.overload.php MB String Overload] Off
*Writable configuration.php

'''Recommended settings for the actual column:'''

*Safe Mode is off
*Display Errors is on
*File Uploads is on
*Magic Quotes Runtime is off
*Register Globals is off
*Output Buffering is off
*Session Auto Start is off

'''Screen 3:'''
Click 'Next' and the licence prompt below will appear.[[wikipedia:GNU/GPL|GNU/GPL]]

[[Image:Installer_GNUGPL.jpg]]

'''Screen 4:'''
Click 'Next' to enter the Database configurations. Guidelines are provided on the right-hand side to assist in completing the text fields properly. Please note that all data must be entered correctly to avoid errors. The fields to fill are:
*Host name:
*Username:
*Password:
*Database name:

Note that you need to create a database. This can be done through your MySQL manager in your webhost or through the default phpMyAdmin application on WAMP(Windows, Apache, MySQL, PHP) server application. Databases created through your web host usually take 15-20 minutes to set up so it is best so set them up while you are transferring files to your server rather than waiting until this step.

[[Image:Installer_Database.jpg]]

'''Screen 5:'''
Click 'Next' to enter the FTP settings. This allows Joomla! to operate in a more secure way, eliminating the need for PHP to handle file upload requests. Note: The FTP layer is not necessary but advised for additional site security.

[[Image:Installer_FTP.jpg]]

'''Screen 6:'''
Click 'Next' to enter the Main Configuration details. Here you fill in
*Site name:
*Your E-mail:
*Admin password:
*Confirm admin password:

Notice: To install sample data (modules, articles, sections, categories) you can press the install sample data button before you click the next step. This will give you a functional Joomla! site with pre-populated content to work from.

[[Image:Installer_MainConfig.jpg]]

'''Screen 7:'''
Click 'Next' and a warning to delete the installation directory will appear. Once that is done (most likely using [[Using_an_FTP_client_to_upload_files|FTP client]], click either the 'View Site' tab or the 'Administrator' tab to continue using Joomla!.

Archived:Installer

2014-05-14T11:49:21Z

Danielt686:

{{review}}

===Using the the Joomla! Installer===
Once your files have been uploaded to the hosting space using an [[Using_an_FTP_client_to_upload_files|FTP client]], it is time to install Joomla!.

First open an Internet Browser and type in the address of your new Joomla! website. For example:

<source lang="html4strict">yourdomain.com</source> or if you are running from your local server, type:
<source lang="html4strict"> http://localhost/name-of-your-joomla-site </source>

'''Screen 1:'''
After the correct address is entered, the image below will appear. Joomla! has redirected you to the /installation subdirectory. In this step you can choose the default language (English) or anyother one.

[[Image:Installer_Lang.jpg]]

'''Screen 2:'''
Click 'Next' and Joomla! displays the Pre-Installation Checklist. Specific details relating to PHP settings are outlined here. To proceed with the installation, all the lights should be green and set to Yes.

[[Image:Installer_PreCheck.jpg]]

'''Explanation about terms:''' (TECHNICAL REVIEW NEEDED OF THIS EXPLANATION) (Add links on the terms to definitions)

*PHP version must be 4.3.10 or greater than 4.3.10
*Zlib Compression Support
*XML support
*MySQL support
*MB Language is Default
*MB String Overload Off
*Writable configuration.php

'''Recommended settings for the actual column:'''

*Safe Mode is off
*Display Errors is on
*File Uploads is on
*Magic Quotes Runtime is off
*Register Globals is off
*Output Buffering is off
*Session Auto Start is off

'''Screen 3:'''
Click 'Next' and the licence prompt below will appear.[[wikipedia:GNU/GPL|GNU/GPL]]

[[Image:Installer_GNUGPL.jpg]]

'''Screen 4:'''
Click 'Next' to enter the Database configurations. Guidelines are provided on the right-hand side to assist in completing the text fields properly. Please note that all data must be entered correctly to avoid errors. The fields to fill are:
*Host name:
*Username:
*Password:
*Database name:

Note that you need to create a database. This can be done through your MySQL manager in your webhost or through the default phpMyAdmin application on WAMP(Windows, Apache, MySQL, PHP) server application. Databases created through your web host usually take 15-20 minutes to set up so it is best so set them up while you are transferring files to your server rather than waiting until this step.

[[Image:Installer_Database.jpg]]

'''Screen 5:'''
Click 'Next' to enter the FTP settings. This allows Joomla! to operate in a more secure way, eliminating the need for PHP to handle file upload requests. Note: The FTP layer is not necessary but advised for additional site security.

[[Image:Installer_FTP.jpg]]

'''Screen 6:'''
Click 'Next' to enter the Main Configuration details. Here you fill in
*Site name:
*Your E-mail:
*Admin password:
*Confirm admin password:

Notice: To install sample data (modules, articles, sections, categories) you can press the install sample data button before you click the next step. This will give you a functional Joomla! site with pre-populated content to work from.

[[Image:Installer_MainConfig.jpg]]

'''Screen 7:'''
Click 'Next' and a warning to delete the installation directory will appear. Once that is done (most likely using [[Using_an_FTP_client_to_upload_files|FTP client]], click either the 'View Site' tab or the 'Administrator' tab to continue using Joomla!.

Archived:Add article title to read more link

2014-05-14T11:03:02Z

Danielt686:

{{review}}

Some people want to add the article title to the readmore link. To achieve this you can use a [[How_to_override_the_output_from_the_Joomla!_core|template override]].

If they are not already there, in your template folder:
# Create a new folder called 'html'.
# In that folder, create a folder called 'com_content'.
# And in that folder, create three folders called "category", "frontpage" and "article"

Then locate the following files:
*(joomla)/components/com_content/views/category/tmpl/blog_item.php
*(joomla)/components/com_content/views/featured/tmpl/default_item.php
*(joomla)/components/com_content/views/article/tmpl/default.php

Copy the files to their respective locations in the template's html file:
*(yourtemplate)/html/com_content/category/blog_item.php
*(yourtemplate)/html/com_content/featured/default_item.php
*(yourtemplate)/html/com_content/article/default.php

Open these files. Towards the bottom of each of these files you should see something like:
<source lang='php'>
<a class="btn" href="<?php echo $link; ?>"> 
<?php if (!$params->get('access-view')) :
echo JText::_('COM_CONTENT_REGISTER_TO_READ_MORE');
elseif ($readmore = $this->item->alternative_readmore) :
echo $readmore;
if ($params->get('show_readmore_title', 0) != 0) :
echo JHtml::_('string.truncate', ($this->item->title), $params->get('readmore_limit'));
endif;
elseif ($params->get('show_readmore_title', 0) == 0) :
echo JText::sprintf('COM_CONTENT_READ_MORE_TITLE');
else :
echo JText::_('COM_CONTENT_READ_MORE');
echo JHtml::_('string.truncate', ($this->item->title), $params->get('readmore_limit'));
endif; ?>
</a>
</source>

Change the line
<source lang='php'>echo JText::sprintf('COM_CONTENT_READ_MORE_TITLE');</source>
into
<source lang='php'>echo JText::sprintf('COM_CONTENT_READ_MORE_TITLE', $this->item->title);</source>

The “Read more” link should now look like this:
'''Read more: (Article title)'''

<noinclude>[[Category:Tips and tricks]]
[[Category:Tips and tricks 2.5]]
[[Category:Article Management]]
[[Category:FAQ]]
[[Category:Tutorials]]
</noinclude>

Content creators

2014-05-14T10:53:32Z

Danielt686: /* Content Metadata */

{{incomplete}}{{version|2.5,3.1}}
{{Chunk:Content creator profile}}
==Creating Content==
Joomla! can use a variety of WYSIWYG editors for content creation, which gives you flexibility in how you put together content. The default editors are covered below; however, other editors are available, most without cost, and can offer a great range of functionality. If, for instance, you plan to create content in word processing software like Microsoft Office Word or OpenOffice Writer, you may want to look at an editor like JCK, which offers the ability to "Paste from Word" so it automatically cleans up some of the unnecessary formatting generated by those programs. Other editors may offer better management of multimedia content, like video, audio, and Flash. It is important to choose the best editor for your needs. Keep in mind, you can also load more than one editor into Joomla! and assign the most appropriate editor to each user individually, overriding the default editor as needed.

===Content Layout===
Content layout is partially controlled by the Joomla! template that is in use for your site. This controls where you can place content on the page through defined module positions. For instance, many templates include a ''left'' module that places content in a column running down the left side of the page. Module positions are individual to each template and can be highly varied.

Within any given position, including the main content area, you can layout content through html and/or css controls as you would on any web page. You may use tables, divs, paragraphs, ''etc'', to create whatever layout you need. Generally, you do this through the WYSIWYG editor in Joomla, although it can also be done through stylesheets that are made part of the template.

===Content Workflow===
Content workflow is the process of how your content will be published. When creating or editing content, you have the option to control the steps it takes to finish it. This will often involve constant editing of content until satisfaction is reached. A system that allows you to version your files and keep important information such as creation dates, are just some examples of having efficient work flow. The Joomla! content manager shows you the revision numbers and by whom the while was created or edited. When you are finally ready to make your content public, you can publish it immediately or at a certain date and time. You will always be able to edit your content at anytime and you can also choose to hide your content if you feel it is not ready to be used.
{{review}}

===Content Metadata===
Metadata is a set of data that gives information about other data. It can also be described as attributes of the data. For example, the author, the date created, the language the content is written in, and the file size, are all examples of metadata. The content metadata can be automated, or manually inserted based on the content creator. When creating content using Joomla!, you are allowed to give your own metadata. This is inserted via the "Meta Description" and "Meta Keywords" boxes in the "Publishing" tab, when creating or editing content.
{{review}}

==Content Editors==
With a typical Joomla! installation, in particular version 1.5x, three optional (Published/Unpublished) editors are included. These editors are the TinyMCE wysiwyg (what you see is what you get), the XStandard Lite text editor, and a generic text editor. For the 1.0x series, the TinyMCE wysiwyg editor and a generic text editor are included. These editors can be set as the site default in Global Configuration, or per user in either the User Manager by an administrator or by the user themselves in their user profile ("Your Details") in the Front-end. Each of these editors have distinct functionality, parameters, as well as controls. For additional information not covered here, please see any references cited in the respective section.

===TinyMCE (1.0x and 1.5x)===
The TinyMCE editor is the default wysiwyg editor plugin that ships with Joomla!. This editor is used to create content or articles in which the content or article can be viewed as it will appear once completed, while being written. The TinyMCE editor is the default editor set within the Global Configuration parameters. However, a user can set this parameter in their respective profile using the Your Details User Menu menu item, or by an administrator via the User Manager in the Back-end. See the [[jhelp:screen.config.15|Global Configuration]] and the [[jhelp:screen.users.15|User Manager]] Help Screens for more information.

====TinyMCE functionality and parameters====
The functions available for use with the TinyMCE editor is rather extensive and cannot be covered entirely here, in particular with regards of usage. However, some of the basic functions and parameters will be briefly covered. See the reference link below for more information regarding additional functions and controls. First and foremost, the TinyMCE editor has two Functionality configurations which control the behavior of the editor. These configurations are "Simple" and "Advanced". The "Simple" configuration is relatively similar to a simple text editor with the exception of a few basic controls. These controls pertain to text formatting, operations, and lists. Specifically, text can be formatted as bold, italic, underlined and be given a strikethrough. With regards to inserting lists, both ordered and unordered lists can be created.
The functions available under the "Advanced" functionality configuration allow far more control over content creation. For example, inserting images, formatting text, creating anchors, tables and more. Additionally, template defined CSS classes can be used, as well as end-user defined or Custom CSS classes. This setting can be found in the parameters section of the plugin editor, via the Plugin Manager. To achieve this functionality, simply create the CSS classes file, select the 'No' radio button for "Template CSS classes", and enter the path to your file in the "Custom CSS classes" text entry field, similar to templates/current_template/css/custom_css.css. In addition to end-user defined CSS classes, lower level and advanced level parameters regarding editor behavior, can be chosen. These include, RTL (right to left) formatting, Relative and Absolute Urls, Language, Date and Time format, and more.

===CodeMirror===
CodeMirror is not a WYSIWYG editor. The option is found in the Global Configuration and User Manager Add/Edit screens from the backend, or chosen by the user in their respective profile launches a simple text editor for creating and submitting content. Using this option, requires that users have a basic understanding of the HyperText Markup Language (HTML) to create and submit content. See references below for more information regarding the use of HTML tags used during the creation of content or articles.
====References:====
*http://www.w3schools.com/tags/default.asp 
*http://htmldog.com/reference/htmltags/ 
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTML

===Joomla! specific editor functions===
====Pagebreak====
The Pagebreak function adds the ability to insert a Table of Contents for articles spanning multiple pages. Placing the cursor at the chosen location of the Pagebreak and clicking the "Pagebreak" icon in the lower editor panel launches a configuration screen in which the Page Title and TOC alias may be entered. This function is available for use in both the wysiwyg and text type editors. For those who choose using HTML over the wysiwyg to insert the Pagebreak, the available code(s) are listed in the Content - Pagebreak plugin editor screen, accessed via the Plugin Manager.

====Read more...====

To use the '''Read more...''' function:

#Position the edit cursor at the place in the text where you want the read-more message to appear.
#Click the '''Read more''' button below the text box. The read-more message tag is inserted.
#The read-more message tag can be selected, and moved or deleted.

==Creating and submitting an article from the back-end==
Most content or articles can be created from the Front-end by any user belonging to the 'Author' group. This group is allowed to create and edit their own content; in some instances, a user may be given priviledges to access the Administrative Backend. Whether as a Manager, Administrator, or Super Administrator. For all intents and purposes, the following will be written from a Manager(s) perspective. Most likely the access to the back-end could be reserved for those belonging to the editors or publishers group and not normal authors, however in the interest of content creation, those operations reserved for Managers will be briefly covered. More information regarding specific tasks within those mentioned below can be found in their respective Help Screens.

===Article Manager===
The article manager can be reached by selecting Content->Article Manager from the Administrator's Toolbar in the backend administrator (http://www.yoursite.com/administrator).

====Finding Articles====
From the article manager you can see all of the articles that have been created on your site. Between the Article Manager toolbar and the list of articles you will see the filter bar. The filter bar will help you quickly find articles on your site by either searching for a string of text in the title of an article or by drilling down into content using the dropdown selectors.

=====Using the Filter search box=====
If you know the name of the article you are trying to find, or if you know part of the name of the article, you can use the Filter search box to locate the article. Type some characters from the article title into the filter search box and hit go. The text box is NOT case sensitive. After hitting go you will see a list of all articles on your site containing the search string.

=====Using the Selectors=====
There are currently 4 content selectors (Joomla 1.5.14): Section, Category, Author, State. (Sections will be removed from 1.6 in favor of Nested Categories)
* '''Section''' - Select from the Sections on your site to see all content in that section.
* '''Category''' - Select from the Categories on your site to see all content in that category. This selector can be used in conjunction with the Section box, so if you select a Section first you will then only see categories from that section in the Category Selector.
* '''Author''' - Select an Author to see only the content from that Author. This can be combined with the previous selectors so that you can see only content from the selected Author in a particular Section and/or Category.
* '''State''' - This will allow you to see only Published, Unpublished, or Archived articles. This can be used in conjunction with any or all of the previous selectors.

====Article Manager Toolbar====
The article manager toolbar is located above the filter bar and below the Administrator toolbar. It contains the following options:

* Unarchive - Unarchive any archived articles that you have a placed a checkmark next to them in the Article Manger.
* Archive - Archive any articles that you have a placed a checkmark next to them in the Article Manger.
* Publish - Publish (make viewable on the site) any articles with a checkmark next to them in the Article Manager.
* Unpublish - Unpublish (hide on the site) any any articles with a checkmark next to them in the Article Manager.
* Move - Move any checked articles to another Section/Category.
* Copy - Make a copy of any checked articles.
* Trash - Move checked articles into the trash.
* Edit - Edit the selected article.
* New - Create a new article.
* Parameters - This brings up a panel with configuration options for articles.
* Help - This will bring up the help page for the Article Manager. This page contains similar information to this wiki page.

[[Category:Joomla! user profiles]]

Content creators

2014-05-14T10:41:13Z

Danielt686:

{{incomplete}}{{version|2.5,3.1}}
{{Chunk:Content creator profile}}
==Creating Content==
Joomla! can use a variety of WYSIWYG editors for content creation, which gives you flexibility in how you put together content. The default editors are covered below; however, other editors are available, most without cost, and can offer a great range of functionality. If, for instance, you plan to create content in word processing software like Microsoft Office Word or OpenOffice Writer, you may want to look at an editor like JCK, which offers the ability to "Paste from Word" so it automatically cleans up some of the unnecessary formatting generated by those programs. Other editors may offer better management of multimedia content, like video, audio, and Flash. It is important to choose the best editor for your needs. Keep in mind, you can also load more than one editor into Joomla! and assign the most appropriate editor to each user individually, overriding the default editor as needed.

===Content Layout===
Content layout is partially controlled by the Joomla! template that is in use for your site. This controls where you can place content on the page through defined module positions. For instance, many templates include a ''left'' module that places content in a column running down the left side of the page. Module positions are individual to each template and can be highly varied.

Within any given position, including the main content area, you can layout content through html and/or css controls as you would on any web page. You may use tables, divs, paragraphs, ''etc'', to create whatever layout you need. Generally, you do this through the WYSIWYG editor in Joomla, although it can also be done through stylesheets that are made part of the template.

===Content Workflow===
Content workflow is the process of how your content will be published. When creating or editing content, you have the option to control the steps it takes to finish it. This will often involve constant editing of content until satisfaction is reached. A system that allows you to version your files and keep important information such as creation dates, are just some examples of having efficient work flow. The Joomla! content manager shows you the revision numbers and by whom the while was created or edited. When you are finally ready to make your content public, you can publish it immediately or at a certain date and time. You will always be able to edit your content at anytime and you can also choose to hide your content if you feel it is not ready to be used.
{{review}}

===Content Metadata===
{{stub|section}}

==Content Editors==
With a typical Joomla! installation, in particular version 1.5x, three optional (Published/Unpublished) editors are included. These editors are the TinyMCE wysiwyg (what you see is what you get), the XStandard Lite text editor, and a generic text editor. For the 1.0x series, the TinyMCE wysiwyg editor and a generic text editor are included. These editors can be set as the site default in Global Configuration, or per user in either the User Manager by an administrator or by the user themselves in their user profile ("Your Details") in the Front-end. Each of these editors have distinct functionality, parameters, as well as controls. For additional information not covered here, please see any references cited in the respective section.

===TinyMCE (1.0x and 1.5x)===
The TinyMCE editor is the default wysiwyg editor plugin that ships with Joomla!. This editor is used to create content or articles in which the content or article can be viewed as it will appear once completed, while being written. The TinyMCE editor is the default editor set within the Global Configuration parameters. However, a user can set this parameter in their respective profile using the Your Details User Menu menu item, or by an administrator via the User Manager in the Back-end. See the [[jhelp:screen.config.15|Global Configuration]] and the [[jhelp:screen.users.15|User Manager]] Help Screens for more information.

====TinyMCE functionality and parameters====
The functions available for use with the TinyMCE editor is rather extensive and cannot be covered entirely here, in particular with regards of usage. However, some of the basic functions and parameters will be briefly covered. See the reference link below for more information regarding additional functions and controls. First and foremost, the TinyMCE editor has two Functionality configurations which control the behavior of the editor. These configurations are "Simple" and "Advanced". The "Simple" configuration is relatively similar to a simple text editor with the exception of a few basic controls. These controls pertain to text formatting, operations, and lists. Specifically, text can be formatted as bold, italic, underlined and be given a strikethrough. With regards to inserting lists, both ordered and unordered lists can be created.
The functions available under the "Advanced" functionality configuration allow far more control over content creation. For example, inserting images, formatting text, creating anchors, tables and more. Additionally, template defined CSS classes can be used, as well as end-user defined or Custom CSS classes. This setting can be found in the parameters section of the plugin editor, via the Plugin Manager. To achieve this functionality, simply create the CSS classes file, select the 'No' radio button for "Template CSS classes", and enter the path to your file in the "Custom CSS classes" text entry field, similar to templates/current_template/css/custom_css.css. In addition to end-user defined CSS classes, lower level and advanced level parameters regarding editor behavior, can be chosen. These include, RTL (right to left) formatting, Relative and Absolute Urls, Language, Date and Time format, and more.

===CodeMirror===
CodeMirror is not a WYSIWYG editor. The option is found in the Global Configuration and User Manager Add/Edit screens from the backend, or chosen by the user in their respective profile launches a simple text editor for creating and submitting content. Using this option, requires that users have a basic understanding of the HyperText Markup Language (HTML) to create and submit content. See references below for more information regarding the use of HTML tags used during the creation of content or articles.
====References:====
*http://www.w3schools.com/tags/default.asp 
*http://htmldog.com/reference/htmltags/ 
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTML

===Joomla! specific editor functions===
====Pagebreak====
The Pagebreak function adds the ability to insert a Table of Contents for articles spanning multiple pages. Placing the cursor at the chosen location of the Pagebreak and clicking the "Pagebreak" icon in the lower editor panel launches a configuration screen in which the Page Title and TOC alias may be entered. This function is available for use in both the wysiwyg and text type editors. For those who choose using HTML over the wysiwyg to insert the Pagebreak, the available code(s) are listed in the Content - Pagebreak plugin editor screen, accessed via the Plugin Manager.

====Read more...====

To use the '''Read more...''' function:

#Position the edit cursor at the place in the text where you want the read-more message to appear.
#Click the '''Read more''' button below the text box. The read-more message tag is inserted.
#The read-more message tag can be selected, and moved or deleted.

==Creating and submitting an article from the back-end==
Most content or articles can be created from the Front-end by any user belonging to the 'Author' group. This group is allowed to create and edit their own content; in some instances, a user may be given priviledges to access the Administrative Backend. Whether as a Manager, Administrator, or Super Administrator. For all intents and purposes, the following will be written from a Manager(s) perspective. Most likely the access to the back-end could be reserved for those belonging to the editors or publishers group and not normal authors, however in the interest of content creation, those operations reserved for Managers will be briefly covered. More information regarding specific tasks within those mentioned below can be found in their respective Help Screens.

===Article Manager===
The article manager can be reached by selecting Content->Article Manager from the Administrator's Toolbar in the backend administrator (http://www.yoursite.com/administrator).

====Finding Articles====
From the article manager you can see all of the articles that have been created on your site. Between the Article Manager toolbar and the list of articles you will see the filter bar. The filter bar will help you quickly find articles on your site by either searching for a string of text in the title of an article or by drilling down into content using the dropdown selectors.

=====Using the Filter search box=====
If you know the name of the article you are trying to find, or if you know part of the name of the article, you can use the Filter search box to locate the article. Type some characters from the article title into the filter search box and hit go. The text box is NOT case sensitive. After hitting go you will see a list of all articles on your site containing the search string.

=====Using the Selectors=====
There are currently 4 content selectors (Joomla 1.5.14): Section, Category, Author, State. (Sections will be removed from 1.6 in favor of Nested Categories)
* '''Section''' - Select from the Sections on your site to see all content in that section.
* '''Category''' - Select from the Categories on your site to see all content in that category. This selector can be used in conjunction with the Section box, so if you select a Section first you will then only see categories from that section in the Category Selector.
* '''Author''' - Select an Author to see only the content from that Author. This can be combined with the previous selectors so that you can see only content from the selected Author in a particular Section and/or Category.
* '''State''' - This will allow you to see only Published, Unpublished, or Archived articles. This can be used in conjunction with any or all of the previous selectors.

====Article Manager Toolbar====
The article manager toolbar is located above the filter bar and below the Administrator toolbar. It contains the following options:

* Unarchive - Unarchive any archived articles that you have a placed a checkmark next to them in the Article Manger.
* Archive - Archive any articles that you have a placed a checkmark next to them in the Article Manger.
* Publish - Publish (make viewable on the site) any articles with a checkmark next to them in the Article Manager.
* Unpublish - Unpublish (hide on the site) any any articles with a checkmark next to them in the Article Manager.
* Move - Move any checked articles to another Section/Category.
* Copy - Make a copy of any checked articles.
* Trash - Move checked articles into the trash.
* Edit - Edit the selected article.
* New - Create a new article.
* Parameters - This brings up a panel with configuration options for articles.
* Help - This will bring up the help page for the Article Manager. This page contains similar information to this wiki page.

[[Category:Joomla! user profiles]]

Content creators

2014-05-14T10:40:01Z

Danielt686: /* Content workflow */

{{incomplete}}{{version|2.5,3.1}}
{{Chunk:Content creator profile}}
==Creating Content==
Joomla! can use a variety of WYSIWYG editors for content creation, which gives you flexibility in how you put together content. The default editors are covered below; however, other editors are available, most without cost, and can offer a great range of functionality. If, for instance, you plan to create content in word processing software like Microsoft Office Word or OpenOffice Writer, you may want to look at an editor like JCK, which offers the ability to "Paste from Word" so it automatically cleans up some of the unnecessary formatting generated by those programs. Other editors may offer better management of multimedia content, like video, audio, and Flash. It is important to choose the best editor for your needs. Keep in mind, you can also load more than one editor into Joomla! and assign the most appropriate editor to each user individually, overriding the default editor as needed.

===Content layout===
Content layout is partially controlled by the Joomla! template that is in use for your site. This controls where you can place content on the page through defined module positions. For instance, many templates include a ''left'' module that places content in a column running down the left side of the page. Module positions are individual to each template and can be highly varied.

Within any given position, including the main content area, you can layout content through html and/or css controls as you would on any web page. You may use tables, divs, paragraphs, ''etc'', to create whatever layout you need. Generally, you do this through the WYSIWYG editor in Joomla, although it can also be done through stylesheets that are made part of the template.

===Content Workflow===
Content workflow is the process of how your content will be published. When creating or editing content, you have the option to control the steps it takes to finish it. This will often involve constant editing of content until satisfaction is reached. A system that allows you to version your files and keep important information such as creation dates, are just some examples of having efficient work flow. The Joomla! content manager shows you the revision numbers and by whom the while was created or edited. When you are finally ready to make your content public, you can publish it immediately or at a certain date and time. You will always be able to edit your content at anytime and you can also choose to hide your content if you feel it is not ready to be used.
{{review}}

===Content Metadata===
{{stub|section}}

==Content Editors==
With a typical Joomla! installation, in particular version 1.5x, three optional (Published/Unpublished) editors are included. These editors are the TinyMCE wysiwyg (what you see is what you get), the XStandard Lite text editor, and a generic text editor. For the 1.0x series, the TinyMCE wysiwyg editor and a generic text editor are included. These editors can be set as the site default in Global Configuration, or per user in either the User Manager by an administrator or by the user themselves in their user profile ("Your Details") in the Front-end. Each of these editors have distinct functionality, parameters, as well as controls. For additional information not covered here, please see any references cited in the respective section.

===TinyMCE (1.0x and 1.5x)===
The TinyMCE editor is the default wysiwyg editor plugin that ships with Joomla!. This editor is used to create content or articles in which the content or article can be viewed as it will appear once completed, while being written. The TinyMCE editor is the default editor set within the Global Configuration parameters. However, a user can set this parameter in their respective profile using the Your Details User Menu menu item, or by an administrator via the User Manager in the Back-end. See the [[jhelp:screen.config.15|Global Configuration]] and the [[jhelp:screen.users.15|User Manager]] Help Screens for more information.

====TinyMCE functionality and parameters====
The functions available for use with the TinyMCE editor is rather extensive and cannot be covered entirely here, in particular with regards of usage. However, some of the basic functions and parameters will be briefly covered. See the reference link below for more information regarding additional functions and controls. First and foremost, the TinyMCE editor has two Functionality configurations which control the behavior of the editor. These configurations are "Simple" and "Advanced". The "Simple" configuration is relatively similar to a simple text editor with the exception of a few basic controls. These controls pertain to text formatting, operations, and lists. Specifically, text can be formatted as bold, italic, underlined and be given a strikethrough. With regards to inserting lists, both ordered and unordered lists can be created.
The functions available under the "Advanced" functionality configuration allow far more control over content creation. For example, inserting images, formatting text, creating anchors, tables and more. Additionally, template defined CSS classes can be used, as well as end-user defined or Custom CSS classes. This setting can be found in the parameters section of the plugin editor, via the Plugin Manager. To achieve this functionality, simply create the CSS classes file, select the 'No' radio button for "Template CSS classes", and enter the path to your file in the "Custom CSS classes" text entry field, similar to templates/current_template/css/custom_css.css. In addition to end-user defined CSS classes, lower level and advanced level parameters regarding editor behavior, can be chosen. These include, RTL (right to left) formatting, Relative and Absolute Urls, Language, Date and Time format, and more.

===CodeMirror===
CodeMirror is not a WYSIWYG editor. The option is found in the Global Configuration and User Manager Add/Edit screens from the backend, or chosen by the user in their respective profile launches a simple text editor for creating and submitting content. Using this option, requires that users have a basic understanding of the HyperText Markup Language (HTML) to create and submit content. See references below for more information regarding the use of HTML tags used during the creation of content or articles.
====References:====
*http://www.w3schools.com/tags/default.asp 
*http://htmldog.com/reference/htmltags/ 
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTML

===Joomla! specific editor functions===
====Pagebreak====
The Pagebreak function adds the ability to insert a Table of Contents for articles spanning multiple pages. Placing the cursor at the chosen location of the Pagebreak and clicking the "Pagebreak" icon in the lower editor panel launches a configuration screen in which the Page Title and TOC alias may be entered. This function is available for use in both the wysiwyg and text type editors. For those who choose using HTML over the wysiwyg to insert the Pagebreak, the available code(s) are listed in the Content - Pagebreak plugin editor screen, accessed via the Plugin Manager.

====Read more...====

To use the '''Read more...''' function:

#Position the edit cursor at the place in the text where you want the read-more message to appear.
#Click the '''Read more''' button below the text box. The read-more message tag is inserted.
#The read-more message tag can be selected, and moved or deleted.

==Creating and submitting an article from the back-end==
Most content or articles can be created from the Front-end by any user belonging to the 'Author' group. This group is allowed to create and edit their own content; in some instances, a user may be given priviledges to access the Administrative Backend. Whether as a Manager, Administrator, or Super Administrator. For all intents and purposes, the following will be written from a Manager(s) perspective. Most likely the access to the back-end could be reserved for those belonging to the editors or publishers group and not normal authors, however in the interest of content creation, those operations reserved for Managers will be briefly covered. More information regarding specific tasks within those mentioned below can be found in their respective Help Screens.

===Article Manager===
The article manager can be reached by selecting Content->Article Manager from the Administrator's Toolbar in the backend administrator (http://www.yoursite.com/administrator).

====Finding Articles====
From the article manager you can see all of the articles that have been created on your site. Between the Article Manager toolbar and the list of articles you will see the filter bar. The filter bar will help you quickly find articles on your site by either searching for a string of text in the title of an article or by drilling down into content using the dropdown selectors.

=====Using the Filter search box=====
If you know the name of the article you are trying to find, or if you know part of the name of the article, you can use the Filter search box to locate the article. Type some characters from the article title into the filter search box and hit go. The text box is NOT case sensitive. After hitting go you will see a list of all articles on your site containing the search string.

=====Using the Selectors=====
There are currently 4 content selectors (Joomla 1.5.14): Section, Category, Author, State. (Sections will be removed from 1.6 in favor of Nested Categories)
* '''Section''' - Select from the Sections on your site to see all content in that section.
* '''Category''' - Select from the Categories on your site to see all content in that category. This selector can be used in conjunction with the Section box, so if you select a Section first you will then only see categories from that section in the Category Selector.
* '''Author''' - Select an Author to see only the content from that Author. This can be combined with the previous selectors so that you can see only content from the selected Author in a particular Section and/or Category.
* '''State''' - This will allow you to see only Published, Unpublished, or Archived articles. This can be used in conjunction with any or all of the previous selectors.

====Article Manager Toolbar====
The article manager toolbar is located above the filter bar and below the Administrator toolbar. It contains the following options:

* Unarchive - Unarchive any archived articles that you have a placed a checkmark next to them in the Article Manger.
* Archive - Archive any articles that you have a placed a checkmark next to them in the Article Manger.
* Publish - Publish (make viewable on the site) any articles with a checkmark next to them in the Article Manager.
* Unpublish - Unpublish (hide on the site) any any articles with a checkmark next to them in the Article Manager.
* Move - Move any checked articles to another Section/Category.
* Copy - Make a copy of any checked articles.
* Trash - Move checked articles into the trash.
* Edit - Edit the selected article.
* New - Create a new article.
* Parameters - This brings up a panel with configuration options for articles.
* Help - This will bring up the help page for the Article Manager. This page contains similar information to this wiki page.

[[Category:Joomla! user profiles]]