Joomla! Documentation - User contributions [en]

Subform form field type

2021-06-29T21:24:14Z

Enav:

<noinclude><languages /></noinclude>
<translate>
The '''subform''' form field type provides a method for using XML forms inside one another or reuse forms inside an existing form.</translate>
<translate>
If attribute '''multiple''' is set to '''true''' then the included form will be '''repeatable'''.</translate>

<translate>
The Field has two "predefined" layouts for displaying the subform as either a '''table''' or as a '''div''' container, as well as support for custom layouts.</translate>

<translate>
An example XML '''field''' definition for '''single''' mode:</translate>

<source lang="xml"><field name="field-name" type="subform"
formsource="path/to/exampleform.xml"
label="Subform Field" description="Subform Field Description" /></source>

<translate>
An example XML '''field''' definition for '''multiple''' mode:</translate>

<source lang="xml"><field name="field-name" type="subform"
formsource="path/to/exampleform.xml" multiple="true"
label="Subform Field" description="Subform Field Description" /></source>

<translate>
Example XML of ''exampleform.xml''</translate>

<source lang="xml"><?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<form>
<field name="example_text" type="text" label="Example Text" />
<field name="example_textarea" type="textarea" label="Example Textarea" cols="40" rows="8" />
</form></source>

<translate>
An example XML of ''exampleform.xml'' with ''fieldsets''</translate>

<source lang="xml"><?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<form>
<fieldset name="section1" label="Section1">
<field name="example_text" type="text" label="Example Text" />
<field name="example_textarea" type="textarea" label="Example Textarea" cols="40" rows="8" />
</fieldset>
<fieldset name="section2" label="Section2">
<field name="example_list" type="list" default="1" class="advancedSelect" label="Example List">
<option value="1">JYES</option>
<option value="0">JNO</option>
</field>
</fieldset>
</form></source>

<translate> The subform XML may also be specified inline as an alternative to placing the subform XML in a separate file. The following example illustrates this:</translate>

<source lang="xml"><?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<field
name="field-name"
type="subform"
label="Subform Field"
description="Subform Field Description"
multiple="true"
min="1"
max="10"
>
<form>
<field
name="example_text"
type="text"
label="Example Text"
/>
<field
name="example_textarea"
type="textarea"
label="Example Textarea"
cols="40"
rows="8"
/>
</form>
</field></source>

<translate>

Field attributes:</translate>
<translate>

* '''type''' (mandatory) must be ''subform''.</translate>
<translate>

* '''name''' (mandatory) is the unique name of the field.</translate>
<translate>

* '''label''' (mandatory) (translatable) is the descriptive title of the field.</translate>
<translate>

* '''description''' (optional) (translatable) is text that will be shown as a tooltip when the user moves the mouse over the drop-down box.</translate>
<translate>

* '''required''' (optional) The field must be filled before submitting the form.</translate>
<translate>

* '''message''' (optional) The error message that will be displayed instead of the default message.</translate>
<translate>

* '''default''' (optional) is the default value, JSON string.</translate>
<translate>

* '''formsource''' (mandatory) the form source to be included. A relative path to the xml file (relative to the root folder for the installed Joomla site) or a valid form name which can be found by ''JForm::getInstance()''.</translate>
<translate>

* '''multiple''' (optional) whether the subform fields are repeatable or not.</translate>
<translate>

* '''min''' (optional) count of minimum repeating in multiple mode. Default: ''0''.</translate>
<translate>

* '''max''' (optional) count of maximum repeating in multiple mode. Default: ''1000''.</translate>
<translate>

* '''groupByFieldset''' (optional) whether to group the subform fields by its fieldset (''true'' or ''false''). Default: ''false''.</translate>
<translate>

* '''buttons''' (optional) which buttons to show in multiple mode. Default: ''add,remove,move''.</translate>
<translate>

* '''layout''' (optional) the name of the layout to use when displaying '''subform''' fields.</translate>
<translate>

* '''validate''' (optional) should be set to ''SubForm'' (note that this is case-sensitive!) to ensure that fields in the subform are individually validated. Default: Fields in the subform are not validated, even if validation rules are specified.
</translate>

<translate>

Available layouts:</translate>
<translate>

* '''joomla.form.field.subform.default''' render the subform in a div container, without support of repeating. Default for single mode.</translate>
<translate>

* '''joomla.form.field.subform.repeatable''' render the subform in a div container, used for multiple mode. Support groupByFieldset.</translate>
<translate>

* '''joomla.form.field.subform.repeatable-table''' render the subform as a table, used for multiple mode. Supports groupByFieldset. By default each field is rendered as a table column, but if ''groupByFieldset=true'' then each fieldset is rendered as a table column.</translate>

<translate>

'''Be aware'''</translate>

<translate>

If your field in the subform has additional JavaScript logic then it may not work in '''multiple''' mode, because do not see the fields which added by the subform field dynamically. If it happened then you need to adjust your field to support it.</translate>
<translate>

Next example may help:</translate>

<source lang="javascript">jQuery(document).ready(function(){
... here the code for setup your field as usual...

jQuery(document).on('subform-row-add', function(event, row){
... here is the code to set up the fields in the new row ...
})
});
</source>
<translate>


Because of this some extra Joomla! fields may not work for now.</translate>

<translate>
==Fields Validation and Filters== 
</translate>
<translate> The subform form field does not provide the Validation and Filters for child fields.</translate>

<translate>Addition: Since a security fix in Joomla 3.9.7 the <code>filter="example"</code> attributes in subform child fields are supported and the fields will be validated; '''but NOT''' in custom form fields that extend the <code>JFormFieldSubform</code> class. You have to adapt such custom fields yourself!
===Beware!=== 
'''All extensions that use subform fields MUST add an attribute <code>filter</code> to their subform child fields of type <code>editor</code>, <code>textarea</code>, <code>text</code> (maybe others, too) since Joomla 3.9.7 like it's common for "normal" JForm fields, if you want to allow HTML input. Otherwise the validation falls back to STRING, which is the common behavior for "normal" JForm fields.'''
Examples:
</translate>
<source lang="xml">
filter="safehtml"
filter="JComponentHelper::filterText"
filter="raw" (bad decision in most cases)
</source>
<translate>

== Example == 
</translate>

<translate>
'''Problem '''</translate>

<translate>
After adding new rows selects are not "chosen".</translate>

<translate>

'''Solution '''
</translate>

<translate>
Here is an example how to reinit jQuery Chosen on newly added repeated rows:</translate>

<source lang="javascript">jQuery(document).ready(function(){
jQuery(document).on('subform-row-add', function(event, row){
jQuery(row).find('select').chosen();
})
});
</source>

<translate>
Or a PHP snippet to be used in e.g. your plugin in **onBeforeCompileHead** method or in your component view.</translate>

<source lang="php">
$doc = JFactory::getDocument();
$js = '
jQuery(document).on(\'subform-row-add\', function(event, row){
jQuery(row).find(\'select\').chosen();
})
';
$doc->addScriptDeclaration($js);
</source>

<translate>
So newly added rows now are "chosen" now </translate>

'''Problem'''

Subform data not getting stored to database on custom component.

'''Solution'''

Add the following line to the beginning of your corresponding table class:

<source lang="php">
protected $_jsonEncode = array('fieldnamehere');
</source>

More information [https://joomla.stackexchange.com/questions/19163/subform-multiple-data-not-saving Here].

<translate>
== See also == </translate>
<translate>

* [[S:MyLanguage/Standard form field types|List of standard form field types]]
</translate>

<noinclude>
[[Category:Standard form field types{{#translation:}}]]
</noinclude>

Using nested sets

2016-06-21T00:47:20Z

Enav: added relevant sources of information

Starting with version 11.1 the Joomla Platform now includes native support for storing and retrieving hierarchical information in the form of "nested sets" in database tables. This support is used in the implementation of menus and categories in the core Joomla CMS from version 1.6 onwards, but can of course be used in your own extensions too. This document assumes that you are already familiar with using the [[:Category:JTable|JTable]], [[:Category:JDatabase|JDatabase]] and JDatabaseQuery classes to interact with a database, either the Joomla database itself, or some external database.

==Introduction==
In the nested sets model each data item is stored as a row in the database table in the normal manner. However, additional columns are present in the table to express the hierarchical relationship between the data items. Each data item is referred to as a node and the collection of nodes can be thought of as forming a tree. Nodes can have zero, one or many child nodes. A node that has no children is referred to as a leaf node. A child node can itself have children and this nesting can carry on to arbitrary depth. The table is assumed to hold a single tree with a single node being allocated as the root node. If you need to be able to store multiple trees then simply make the root node of each such tree a child node under the single root node and adjust your code to take this into account.

As each node contains columns labelled "lft" and "rgt" for "left" and "right" respectively, it is tempting to think that the data structure is a binary tree. However, these columns do not store node ids as they are not links to other nodes in the tree, but instead store sequence information. More information can be found on the theory behind nested sets here<ref>[[wikipedia:Nested set model]].</ref> The term "nested sets" is a little inaccurate as a set is, stricly speaking, an unordered collection of objects. In the Joomla implementation the order of nodes under a parent node is preserved and API calls are available to manipulate the order. A better term would perhaps be "nested ordered sets".

It should be noted that certain operations, such as inserting a new node, can be expensive in terms of disk access when dealing with a large tree and applications should be designed with this in mind.

==Getting Started==
The essential class is JTableNested, which extends the base JTable class, so instead of extending JTable you should extend your table class from JTableNested instead.

Your table must include a number of standard columns that are required for JTableNested to maintain the tree structure successfully. These are:-

* id (primary key)
* parent_id
* lft
* rgt
* level
* title
* alias
* access
* path

The primary key does not need to be called "id", but it is required. Other columns must have the names listed above.

For example, a suitable MySQL command to create a basic table compatible with JTableNested would be
<source lang="sql">
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `#__nestedsets` (
`id` int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
`parent_id` int(10) unsigned NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
`lft` int(11) NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
`rgt` int(11) NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
`level` int(10) unsigned NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
`title` varchar(255) NOT NULL,
`alias` varchar(255) NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
`access` tinyint(3) unsigned NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
`path` varchar(255) NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
PRIMARY KEY (`id`),
KEY `idx_left_right` (`lft`,`rgt`)
) DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8;
</source>
You will, of course, need to add further columns for your specific data requirements. For the purposes of this documentation a column called "payload" will be used to indicate this custom data.

==Instantiating the table object==
You instantiate the nested sets table object in exactly the same way as you would for a regular table object. For example, if your table class file is located in a <tt>/tables</tt> directory in your component area, you could use code like this:
<source lang="php">
JTable::addIncludePath(JPATH_COMPONENT . '/tables');
$table = JTable::getInstance('nestedsets', 'Table');
</source>
This will instantiate your table class called 'TableNestedSets' in the file 'nestedsets.php'. Remember to extend from JTableNested instead of JTable:
<source lang="php">
class TableNestedSets extends JTableNested
{
// Your properties and methods go here.
}
</source>

==Adding a root node==
The quickest way to add a root node to an otherwise empty table is to use code like this, which can be added to your table class:
<source lang="php">
/**
* Add the root node to an empty table.
*
* @return mixed The id of the new root node or false on error.
*/
public function addRoot()
{
$db = JFactory::getDbo();

$query = $db->getQuery(true)
->insert('#__profiles')
->set('parent_id = 0')
->set('lft = 0')
->set('rgt = 1')
->set('level = 0')
->set('title = ' . $db->quote('root'))
->set('alias = ' . $db->quote('root'))
->set('access = 1')
->set('path = ' . $db->quote(''));
$db->setQuery($query);

if(!$db->execute())
{
return false;
}

return $db->insertid();
}
</source>

It is perfectly reasonable to store payload data in the root node. For example, you might like to store component configuration data in the payload column of the root node.

==Getting the root node id==
To determine the id of the root node use the <tt>getRootId</tt> method. For example, in this example if the root node is not found, it is created.
<source lang="php">
$rootId = $table->getRootId();

if ($rootId === false)
{
$rootId = $table->addRoot();
}
</source>

==Updating a node==
Updating the payload data in a node is done in exactly the same way as you would update a record in a regular database table using the JTable class. Given an array of data fields, this code binds it to the table object, checks its validity then stores it in the database table.
<source lang="php">
$table->bind($data_array);
$table->check();
$table->store();
</source>
Updating a node in such a way that it alters the structure of the tree, for example, by moving a node from one location to another, is a little more involved and is described below. There are also some convenience methods for publishing/unpublished a node and these are also described in more detail below.

==Adding a new node==
Adding a new node to the table is done in a similar way to adding a row to a normal Joomla table. Data is bound to the Joomla table object using the bind method, followed by calls to check and store. These methods have been overridden in the JTableNested class to provide the additional functionality required for storing nested sets.

However, in order to determine where in the tree the new node is to be inserted, you need to make a call to the <tt>setLocation</tt> method. The setLocation method takes two arguments, the first is the id of a "reference" node in the tree. The new node will be inserted relative to this node with the relationship being specified by the second argument. Possible values for this relationship are:
* '''before''' - the new node will be inserted before the reference node but at the same level.
* '''after''' - the new node will be inserted after the reference node but at the same level.
* '''first-child''' - the new node will be inserted as the first child node of the reference node.
* '''last-child''' - the new node will be inserted as the last child node of the reference node.

In this example a new node is inserted as the first child of the reference node.
<source lang="php">
// Given an array of data fields in $data_array and a reference node id in $reference_id,
// this code will add the new node as the first child of the reference node.

// Get the table object.
// Note that in a model you can replace this with $table = $this->getTable();
$table = JTable::getInstance('yourtable');

// Specify where to insert the new node.
$table->setLocation($reference_id, 'first-child');

// Bind data to the table object.
$table->bind($data_array);

// Force a new node to be created.
$table->id = 0;

// Check that the node data is valid.
$table->check();

// Store the node in the database table.
$table->store();
</source>
In order to maintain the integrity of the data structure, the table is locked during a node insertion operation. Bear in mind that adding a new node to a large table is an expensive operation so the table could potentially be locked for a considerable period. You may need to take this into account when designing your application.

==Retrieving a single node by id==
If you know the id of a node then retrieving it can be done in the same way that you would retrieve a row in a regular Joomla table. For example,
<source lang="php">
// Get the node id from the request.
$id = JRequest::getInt('id');

// Get the node from the table.
$table->load($id);
</source>

==Is it a leaf node?==
A leaf node is one that has no child nodes beneath it. To determine if a node is a leaf node you can use code like the following:
<source lang="php">
// If $id is the id of a node, determine if it is a leaf node.
if ($table->isLeaf($id))
{
echo 'This is a leaf node';
}
else
{
echo 'This is NOT a leaf node';
}
</source>

==Retrieving a subtree==
To retrieve an entire subtree given the id of the base node of the subtree, you can use code like the following
<source lang="php">
// If $id is the id of a node, retrieve the subtree with this node as its root.
$subtree = $table->getTree($id);
print_r($subtree);
</source>
This will retrieve an array of all the nodes in the subtree. The array is one-dimensional and lists the nodes in preorder traversal order<ref>[[wikipedia:Tree traversal]]</ref>. Note that if your table is large calling getTree() from the root node will retrieve the entire table and very likely run you out of memory, so use it with caution.

==Retrieving a path==
To retrieve all the nodes along the path leading to a specified node, you can use code like this:
<source lang="php">
$pathNodes = $table->getPath($id);
print_r($pathNodes);
</source>
This will retrieve a one-dimensional array of all the nodes from the root node along the path leading to the specified node.

==Publish or unpublish a node or an entire branch==
Supporting the publish/unpublish feature is a little more involved than with a regular flat database table as the state of parent and child nodes must also be taken into account. Fortunately, the overridden publish and unpublish methods provided by JTableNested make the management of publish/unpublish almost transparent.

To publish or unpublish one or more nodes use code like the following:
<source lang="php">
// $ids can be a single node id, or an array of node ids.
// 0 = unpublish, 1 = publish
$state = 1;
$userId = JFactory::getUser()->id;

if ($table->publish($id, $state, $userId))
{
echo 'State changed successfully';
}
else
{
echo 'State not changed';
}
</source>
The publish method respects rows checked out by other users and will attempt to checkin rows that it can after adjustments are made. The method will not allow you to set a publishing state higher than any ancestor node and will not allow you to set a publishing state on a node with a checked out child.

TODO: Using publish/unpublish with checkin/out requires some additional columns in the table. The documentation should be updated to reflect that.

==Changing the order of nodes in a branch==
There are a number of different ways of moving a node to a new location in the tree.

To move a node one position before or after its current position, but keeping it at the same level, you can use the orderUp or orderDown methods using code like the following:
<source lang="php">
if ($table->orderUp($id))
{
echo 'Success';
}
else
{
echo 'Failed to move node';
}
</source>

More generally, you can move a node by more than one position at a time using the <tt>move</tt> method. For example, the following code moves the node 2 positions before its current position, at the same level.
<source lang="php">
// Get the node id to be moved from the request.
$key = $this->_tbl_key;
$this->$key = JRequest::getInt('id');

// Set the direction and magnitude of the move.
// Negative indicates "before", positive "after"
$delta = -2;

// Do the move.
// Notice that the node id is not passed as an argument to
// move; it must already be set in the table object.
if ($table->move($delta))
{
echo 'Success';
}
else
{
echo 'Failed to move node';
}
</source>

In the most general case, a node can be moved to an arbitrary position in the tree using the <tt>moveByReference</tt> method. This is very similar to adding a completely new node to the tree in that you need to specify the location to move the node to by reference to some other node.

In this example a new node is inserted as the last child of the reference node.
<source lang="php">
// Determine the reference node id.
$reference_id = JRequest::getInt('reference');

// Determine the relationship with the reference node. Possible values are:-
// before - the new node will be inserted before the reference node but at the same level.
// after - the new node will be inserted after the reference node but at the same level.
// first-child - the new node will be inserted as the first child node of the reference node.
// last-child - the new node will be inserted as the last child node of the reference node.
$relation = 'last-child';

// Determine the node to be moved.
$node_id = JRequest::getInt('id');

// Do the move.
if ($table->moveByReference($reference_id, $relation, $node_id))
{
echo 'Success';
}
else
{
echo 'Failed to move node';
}
</source>

==Deleting a node==
Deleting a node given its node id is very simple as the following example illustrates:
<source lang="php">
// Determine the node id from the request.
$node_id = JFactory::getApplication()->input->get('id');

// Delete the node.
if ($table->delete($node_id))
{
echo 'Node deleted';
}
else
{
echo 'Failed to delete node';
}
</source>
Note that this operation will also delete all child nodes of the node being deleted, if any are present.

==References==
<references/>
<noinclude>[[Category:Platform 11.1]][[Category:Development Tips and Tricks]]</noinclude>

==See Also==
* [https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/joomla-dev-cms/pkHm7F5yer8 How are the "lft" and "rgt" fields calculated (google groups thread)]
* [https://www.sitepoint.com/hierarchical-data-database/ Storing Hierarchical Data in a Database]

Understanding Output Overrides

2014-08-23T19:51:35Z

Enav: /* Supporting Media Files Override */

{{version/tutor|1.5,2.5,3.1}}
[[Category:Development]] [[Category:Templates]] [[Category:Overrides]] [[Category:Tips and tricks 1.5]]
This was a Developer Blog post by Andrew Eddie, initially copied to the wiki with minor edits by Alan Langford.
== Introduction ==
There are many competing requirements for Web designers ranging from accessibility to legislative to personal preferences. Rather than trying to over-parameterise views, or trying to aim for some sort of line of best fit, or, worse, sticking its head in the sand, Joomla! has added the potential for the designer to take over control of virtually all the output that is generated.

Joomla! has been criticized by some for not giving due attention to accessibility or being archaic in their approach to Web standards. However, with 1.5, the responsibility--and, more importantly, the power--to control output is back in the designer's hands.

In addition, except for files that are provided in the Joomla! distribution itself, these methods for customisation eliminate the need for designers and developers to "hack" core files that could change when the site is updated to a new version. Because they are contained within the template, they can be deployed to the Website without having to worry about changes being accidentally overwritten when your System Administrator upgrades the site.

The aim of this tutorial is to introduce the fours areas of the output of Joomla! that are able to be customised by the template designer.

Not interested in all the theory? Jump straight to the cheat sheet below.

== MVC 101 ==
MVC can be a scary acronym. It stands for Model-View-Controller and the concepts behind MVC are responsible for the extra flexibility that is now afforded to the designer. While parts of the theory can be rather involved and complicated, the only part that the designer need worry about is the V for View. This is the part that is concerned with output.

Different extensions display output in different ways.

Components, as you already know, are fairly complex and have the ability to display different information in different ways. For example, the Articles Component (com_content) is able to display a single article, or articles in a category, or categories in a section. Each of the ways of representing the different types of data (an article, or a category, or a section) is called a "view" (this comes from our MVC terminology). Most components will have many views. However, the view doesn't actually display the output. This is left up to what we call a "layout" and it is possible for a view to have a variety of layouts.

The main thing to remember here is that components can have multiple views, and each view can have one or more layouts. Each view assembles a fixed set of information, but each layout can display that information in different ways. For example, the Category view in the Articles component assembles a number of articles. These articles could be displayed in a list or in a table (and probably other ways as well). So this view may have a "list" layout and a "table" layout to choose from.

Modules, on the other hand, are very simple. They generally display one thing one way. Modules don't really have views but they do support a layout. Some developers might even support a choice of layout through module parameters.
=== Template versus Layout ===
It is very important to distinguish between the role of templates and the role of layouts. The template sets up a structural framework for the page of the Web site. Within this framework are positions for modules and a component to display. What actually gets displayed is governed by the module layout, or the combination of view and layout in the case of the component.

The following image shows the structural layout of a typical Joomla! template (rhuk_milkyway, the default for 1.5). The module positions are displayed by adding tp=1 to the URL (eg, index.php?tp=1). You can clearly see where the module output is contained within the overall template, as well as the main component output starting in the lower-centre region. However, what is actually output in those regions is controlled by the layouts.

[[Image:FrontpageTemplatePositions.png|Typical Joomla! screenshot with template positions shown.]]

=== Ancillary Customisation ===
While not strictly related to the MVC, there are two other important areas to consider when looking at customising the output of Joomla!.

=== Ancillary Customisation:Chrome ===
In addition to layouts, modules have what we call "chrome". Chrome is the style(s) with which a module is to display. Most developers, designers and probably some end-users will be familiar with the different built-in styles for modules (raw, xhtml, etc). It is also possible to define your own chrome styles for modules depending on the designer result. For example, you could design a chrome to display all the modules in a particular position in a fancy Javascript collapsing blind arrangement.

In the screenshot above, you can just make out the names of some of the built-in module chrome used (rounded, none and xhtml).

Note the potential plural. A module or component can have multiple chrome styles applied to it. For example, When the global template setting "preview module positions" is enabled and the page is loaded with ?tp=1 at the end of the url the chrome "outline" is added to all modules and the component. This is in addition to their regular chrome styling. The default chrome settings can be found in the template/system/html/modules.php file and additional chrome styles may be added by adding your own modules.php file to your template.

Chrome styles are functions and are written in this manner:
<source lang="php">
/*
* foobar (outputs foo before module content and bar after)
*/
function modChrome_foobar($module, &$params, &$attribs)
{
echo '<h1>Foo</h1>';
echo $module->content;
echo '<h1>Bar</h1>';
}
</source>

Use $module->content to access the content generated by the module. You may access the module parameters and attributes by using the appropriate variables passed to this function.

=== Ancillary Customisation:Pagination ===
The second area has to do with controlling the pagination controls when viewing lists of data. We will look at that in more detail later.

== Component Output Types and Layout Overrides ==

To understand layout overrides we must first understand the file structure of a component. While there are many parts to a component, all fulfilling different roles and responsibilities, we want to look just in the /views/ directory. Here is the partial structure for two of the com_content views:
<pre>
/components
/com_content
/views
/articles
/tmpl
default.php (this is a layout)
form.php (this is a layout)
view.html.php (this is the view that outputs the HTML)
view.pdf.php (this is the view that outputs the PDF)
/category
/tmpl
blog.php (layout)
blog_items.php (a sub-layout
default.php (layout)
view.html.php (HTML view)
view.feed.php (RSS feed)
</pre>
So what you see here is that under the /views/ directory, each view is placed in a directory of its own. The content component actually has three other views not shown: archive, frontpage and section.
=== Output Types ===
Under the /articles/ directory we have a number of files. There is almost always a file called view.html.php. This is what we call the view file, but there can be more than one depending on the type of output to produce. It has a specific naming convention, view.output_type.php, where the output type can be html, feed, pdf, raw or error (for more information see JDocument in the API reference and look in the directory /libraries/joomla/document/). What this means is when we want html output for this particular view, the view.html.php file is used. When we want the RSS output, the view.feed.php file is used.

The affect of these different output types is most apparent when the Global Configuration setting for Search Engine Friendly URLs is set to Yes, Use Apache mod_rewrite is set to Yes, and Add suffix to URLs is also set to Yes. When this is done, the site URLs will look something like this:

<pre>
http://domain/sports.html
http://domain/sports.feed
http://domain/sports/rowing.html
http://domain/sports/rowing.pdf
</pre>
The exact URL will vary depending on how you set up your site but the point here is to show that sports.html will use the category view's view.html.php file to, and that sports.feed will display the RSS feed for the category using view.feed.php. It should be noted that you cannot currently customise feed or PDF output types. However, you can customise the html output type and this is where layouts come into play.

=== Layouts ===
Under the view directory there is a /tmpl/ directory in which the layout files reside. Each PHP file in this directory represents a layout. For example, article/tmpl/default.php is the default layout for an article whereas article/tmpl/form.php is the edit form for an article; category/tmpl/default.php is the default layout for a category whereas category/tmpl/blog.php displays the list of article differently.

The relationship between component views and layout is most plainly seen when adding a new menu item. The next screenshot represents the typical display of the New Menu Item page. Having clicked on Articles (which represents com_content), the tree expands to show the list of views and each layout within the view.

[[Image:Menu_item_type_articles.png|Screenshot of creating a new menu item fro an article.]]

You will notice that while there are extra files in some of the /tmpl/ directories (like pagebreak.php in the article view), they are missing from the list. This is due to instructions in the XML file for the layout (for example, pagebreak.xml) to hide the layout (or even the view) from the menu item list. However, this is another broad topic which will be covered in another tutorial.

Armed with all that knowledge of how all the parts relate to each other, we are now ready to actually create our layout overrides.

=== Copying or Creating Layout Files ===

Layout overrides only work within the active template and are located under the /html/ directory in the template. For example, the overrides for rhuk_milkyway are located under /templates/rhuk_milkyway/html/, for the JA Purity template under /templates/ja_purity/html/ and for Beez under /templates/beez/html/.

It is important to understand that if you create overrides in one template, they will not be available in other templates. For example, rhuk_milkyway has no component layout overrides at all. When you use this template you are seeing the raw output from all components. When you use the Beez template, almost every piece of component output is being controlled by the layout overrides in the template. JA Purity is in between having overrides for some components and only some views of those components.

The layout overrides must be placed in particular way. Using Beez as an example you will see the following structure:
<pre>
/templates
/beez
/html
/com_content (this directory matches the component directory name)
/articles (this directory matches the view directory name)
default.php (this file matches the layout file name)
form.php
</pre>

The structure for component overrides is quite simple: /html/com_component_name/view_name/layout_file_name.php. Let's look at a few examples.

The rhuk_milkyway template does not have any layout overrides for any components. If we want to override the default layout for an article, first we need to copy this file:

/components/com_content/views/article/tmpl/default.php

to this location, creating the appropriate directories in the event they don't already exist:

/templates/rhuk_milkyway/html/com_content/article/default.php

If we wanted to override the blog layout in the category view, we would copy this file:

/components/com_content/views/category/tmpl/blog.php

to:

/templates/rhuk_milkyway/html/com_content/category/blog.php

Once the files are copied, you are free to customise these files as much or as little as required or desired. You do not have to honour parameter settings if you don't want to.
=== Overriding Sub-Layouts ===

In some views you will see that some of the layouts have a group of files that start with the same name. The category view has an example of this. The blog layout actually has three parts: the main layout file blog.php and two sub-layout files, blog_item.php and blog_links.php. You can see where these sub-layouts are loaded in the blog.php file using the loadTemplate method, for example:
<source lang="php">
echo $this->loadTemplate('item');
// or
echo $this->loadTemplate('links');
</source>
When loading sub-layouts, the view already knows what layout you are in, so you don't have to provide the prefix (that is, you load just 'item', not 'blog_item').

What is important to note here is that it is possible to override just a sub-layout without copying the whole set of files. For example, if you were happy with the Joomla! default output for the blog layout, but just wanted to customise the item sub-layout, you could just copy:

/components/com_content/views/category/tmpl/blog_item.php

to:

/templates/rhuk_milkyway/html/com_content/category/blog_item.php

When Joomla! is parsing the view, it will automatically know to load blog.php from com_content natively and blog_item.php from your template overrides.
== Module Layout Overrides ==

Modules, like components, are set up in a particular directory structure.
<pre>
/modules
/mod_latest_news
/tmpl
default.php (the layout)
helper.php (a helper file containing data logic)
mod_latest_news.php (the main module file)
mod_latest_news.xml (the installation XML file)
</pre>
Similar to components, under the main module directory (in the example, mod_latest_news) there is a /tmpl/ directory. There is usually only one layout file but depending on who wrote the module, and how it is written, there could be more.

As for components, the layout override for a module must be placed in particular way. Using Beez as an example again, you will see the following structure:
<pre>
/templates
/beez
/html
/mod_latest_news (this directory matches the module directory name)
default.php (this file matches the layout file name)
</pre>
The structure for module overrides is again quite simple: /html/mod_module_name/layout_file_name.php.
=== Copying or Creating Layout Files ===

The rhuk_milkyway template does not have any layout overrides for any modules. If we want to override the default layout for Latest News module, we need to copy this file:

/modules/mod_latest_news/tmpl/default.php

to this location, creating the approriate directories in the event they don't already exist:

/templates/rhuk_milkyway/html/mod_latest_news/default.php

You need to take a little care with overriding module layout because there are a number of different ways that modules can or have been designed so you need to treat each one individually.

== Module Chrome ==

Joomla! 1.0 had a number of fixed styles that could display a list of modules in a particular position. These where represented by numbers:

* 0 (the default) displayed modules in a vertical table
* 1 displayed them in a horizontal table
* -1 displayed the raw module output
* -2 displayed the modules in a XHTML compatible format with the title in a H3 tag.
* -3 displayed modules in a set of nested DIVs that allowed for rounded-corner techniques

It was a great system except for two things:

# Nobody could remember which number was which, and
# You couldn't expand on the styles.

Well, in 1.5, the numbers are still recognised, but more commonly the style is represented as a word. As well as that, the syntax for displaying a module position was changed. For example, this snippet displays each module in the left position in the xhtml style:
<source lang="php">
<jdoc:include type="modules" name="left" style="xhtml" />
</source>
The built-in styles that are now available are:

* table (was 0 and is the default)
* horz (was 1)
* none (was -1)
* xhtml (was -2)
* rounded (was -3)
* outline (new - used to preview module positions - see screenshot above)

In the source code, these styles are referred to as "chrome". The default chrome is in the system template of the default Joomla! install:

/templates/system/html/modules.php

This file is maintained by the project so you should never modify it. You will lose your changes when you upgrade your Joomla! installation.

To create your own chrome, or module styles, create or edit modules.php under the templates /html/ directory. (This is the same directory we have been talking about for component and module layout overrides).

The rhuk_milkyway template provides some extra chrome as an example. (It provides an example style called "slider"). This can be found in the following file:

/templates/rhuk_milkyway/html/modules.php

Creating your own chrome is easy. Let's look at example that displays the module in a Definition List (a set of DL's, DT's and DD's).

Just add the following function to the /html/modules.php file in your default template directory (create it if it does not exist):
<source lang="php">
/*
* Module chrome that wraps the module in a definition list
*/
function modChrome_dlist($module, &$params, &$attribs)
{ ?>
<dl class="<?php echo $params->get('moduleclass_sfx'); ?>">
<?php if ($module->showtitle != 0) : ?>
<dt>
<?php echo $module->title; ?>
</dt>
<?php endif; ?>
<dd>
<?php echo $module->content; ?>
</dd>
</dl>
<?php
}
</source>
We will be calling the style "dlist", so the name of the function needs to be modChrome_dlist.

The function must take the three arguments as shown for the module object, the module parameters, and lastly the $attribs is an array of all the attributes in the jdoc XML tag.

There are three main properties in the module object to be concerned with:

* showtitle tells you whether to show the title of the module of not
* title is the title of the module
* content is the output of the module (from its layout)

This is a very simple case and you can, of course, design more complex styles, possibly using custom atrributes in the XML tag.

== Pagination Links Overrides ==

The final override we will look at is the pagination override. This override can control the display of items-per-page and the pagination links used with lists of information, as shown in the following screenshot.

[[Image:Article_list_pagination.png|Typical Joomla! page showing a paginated list.]]

The rhuk_milkyway template provides a well-commented example for this override. The file is found here:

/templates/rhuk_milkyway/html/pagination.php

When the pagination list is required, Joomla! will look for this file in the default templates. If it is found, it will be loaded and the display functions it contains will be used.

There are four functions that can be used:

pagination_list_footer

This function is responsible for showing the select list for the number of items to display per page.

pagination_list_render

This function is responsible for showing the list of page number links as well at the Start, End, Previous and Next links.

pagination_item_active

This function displays the links to other page numbers other than the "current" page.

pagination_item_inactive

This function displays the current page number, usually not hyperlinked.

== Media Files Override ==

This method allows 3rd party developers to override CSS and JS files that where inserted using the functions <code>JHtml::script()</code> or <code>JHtml::stylesheet()</code> and are stored inside the Joomla media folder.

=== Supporting Media Files Override ===

For this example we have a module called <code>mod_test</code>, this module have a CSS file installed at:

/media/mod_test/css/mystyle.css

That file should be inserted using the following functions and parameters:

JHtml::stylesheet('mod_test/mystyle.css', false, true, false);

Note that the 3rd parameter (true) is the one that makes the Joomla API to look for an override file inside your current template folder.

The override file must be placed as follow at your current template folder:

/templates/my_template/css/mod_test/mystyle.css

== Cheat Sheet ==
Using the rhuk_milkyway template as an example, here is a brief summary of the principles we've looked at.
=== Customise the Component Output ===
To override a component layout (for example the default layout in the article view), copy:

/components/com_content/views/article/tmpl/default.php

to:

/templates/rhuk_milkyway/html/com_content/article/default.php

Read more about [[#Component Output Types and Layout Overrides|component output]].

=== Customise the Module Output ===
To override a module layout (for example the Latest News module using the rhuk_milkyway template), copy:

/modules/mod_latest_news/tmpl/default.php

to:

/templates/rhuk_milkyway/html/mod_latest_news/default.php

Read more about [[#Module Layout Overrides|module output]].

=== Add New Module Styles ===
To add new module styles (chrome), add them to the following file:

/templates/rhuk_milkyway/html/modules.php

Read more about [[#Module Chrome|module chrome]].

=== Customise the Pagination Links ===
To customise the way the items-per-page selector and pagination links display, edit the following file:

/templates/rhuk_milkyway/html/pagination.php

Read more about [[#Pagination Links Overrides|pagination]].

== Conclusion ==
Joomla! 1.5, through the use of an MVC paradigm has greatly improved the flexibility that is afforded to Web site designers. By way of a few simple principles, like copying certain files to certain places in your template, the designer is able to override almost all the output generated by Joomla!.

Understanding Output Overrides

2014-08-23T19:50:55Z

Enav: /* Supporting Media Files Override */

{{version/tutor|1.5,2.5,3.1}}
[[Category:Development]] [[Category:Templates]] [[Category:Overrides]] [[Category:Tips and tricks 1.5]]
This was a Developer Blog post by Andrew Eddie, initially copied to the wiki with minor edits by Alan Langford.
== Introduction ==
There are many competing requirements for Web designers ranging from accessibility to legislative to personal preferences. Rather than trying to over-parameterise views, or trying to aim for some sort of line of best fit, or, worse, sticking its head in the sand, Joomla! has added the potential for the designer to take over control of virtually all the output that is generated.

Joomla! has been criticized by some for not giving due attention to accessibility or being archaic in their approach to Web standards. However, with 1.5, the responsibility--and, more importantly, the power--to control output is back in the designer's hands.

In addition, except for files that are provided in the Joomla! distribution itself, these methods for customisation eliminate the need for designers and developers to "hack" core files that could change when the site is updated to a new version. Because they are contained within the template, they can be deployed to the Website without having to worry about changes being accidentally overwritten when your System Administrator upgrades the site.

The aim of this tutorial is to introduce the fours areas of the output of Joomla! that are able to be customised by the template designer.

Not interested in all the theory? Jump straight to the cheat sheet below.

== MVC 101 ==
MVC can be a scary acronym. It stands for Model-View-Controller and the concepts behind MVC are responsible for the extra flexibility that is now afforded to the designer. While parts of the theory can be rather involved and complicated, the only part that the designer need worry about is the V for View. This is the part that is concerned with output.

Different extensions display output in different ways.

Components, as you already know, are fairly complex and have the ability to display different information in different ways. For example, the Articles Component (com_content) is able to display a single article, or articles in a category, or categories in a section. Each of the ways of representing the different types of data (an article, or a category, or a section) is called a "view" (this comes from our MVC terminology). Most components will have many views. However, the view doesn't actually display the output. This is left up to what we call a "layout" and it is possible for a view to have a variety of layouts.

The main thing to remember here is that components can have multiple views, and each view can have one or more layouts. Each view assembles a fixed set of information, but each layout can display that information in different ways. For example, the Category view in the Articles component assembles a number of articles. These articles could be displayed in a list or in a table (and probably other ways as well). So this view may have a "list" layout and a "table" layout to choose from.

Modules, on the other hand, are very simple. They generally display one thing one way. Modules don't really have views but they do support a layout. Some developers might even support a choice of layout through module parameters.
=== Template versus Layout ===
It is very important to distinguish between the role of templates and the role of layouts. The template sets up a structural framework for the page of the Web site. Within this framework are positions for modules and a component to display. What actually gets displayed is governed by the module layout, or the combination of view and layout in the case of the component.

The following image shows the structural layout of a typical Joomla! template (rhuk_milkyway, the default for 1.5). The module positions are displayed by adding tp=1 to the URL (eg, index.php?tp=1). You can clearly see where the module output is contained within the overall template, as well as the main component output starting in the lower-centre region. However, what is actually output in those regions is controlled by the layouts.

[[Image:FrontpageTemplatePositions.png|Typical Joomla! screenshot with template positions shown.]]

=== Ancillary Customisation ===
While not strictly related to the MVC, there are two other important areas to consider when looking at customising the output of Joomla!.

=== Ancillary Customisation:Chrome ===
In addition to layouts, modules have what we call "chrome". Chrome is the style(s) with which a module is to display. Most developers, designers and probably some end-users will be familiar with the different built-in styles for modules (raw, xhtml, etc). It is also possible to define your own chrome styles for modules depending on the designer result. For example, you could design a chrome to display all the modules in a particular position in a fancy Javascript collapsing blind arrangement.

In the screenshot above, you can just make out the names of some of the built-in module chrome used (rounded, none and xhtml).

Note the potential plural. A module or component can have multiple chrome styles applied to it. For example, When the global template setting "preview module positions" is enabled and the page is loaded with ?tp=1 at the end of the url the chrome "outline" is added to all modules and the component. This is in addition to their regular chrome styling. The default chrome settings can be found in the template/system/html/modules.php file and additional chrome styles may be added by adding your own modules.php file to your template.

Chrome styles are functions and are written in this manner:
<source lang="php">
/*
* foobar (outputs foo before module content and bar after)
*/
function modChrome_foobar($module, &$params, &$attribs)
{
echo '<h1>Foo</h1>';
echo $module->content;
echo '<h1>Bar</h1>';
}
</source>

Use $module->content to access the content generated by the module. You may access the module parameters and attributes by using the appropriate variables passed to this function.

=== Ancillary Customisation:Pagination ===
The second area has to do with controlling the pagination controls when viewing lists of data. We will look at that in more detail later.

== Component Output Types and Layout Overrides ==

To understand layout overrides we must first understand the file structure of a component. While there are many parts to a component, all fulfilling different roles and responsibilities, we want to look just in the /views/ directory. Here is the partial structure for two of the com_content views:
<pre>
/components
/com_content
/views
/articles
/tmpl
default.php (this is a layout)
form.php (this is a layout)
view.html.php (this is the view that outputs the HTML)
view.pdf.php (this is the view that outputs the PDF)
/category
/tmpl
blog.php (layout)
blog_items.php (a sub-layout
default.php (layout)
view.html.php (HTML view)
view.feed.php (RSS feed)
</pre>
So what you see here is that under the /views/ directory, each view is placed in a directory of its own. The content component actually has three other views not shown: archive, frontpage and section.
=== Output Types ===
Under the /articles/ directory we have a number of files. There is almost always a file called view.html.php. This is what we call the view file, but there can be more than one depending on the type of output to produce. It has a specific naming convention, view.output_type.php, where the output type can be html, feed, pdf, raw or error (for more information see JDocument in the API reference and look in the directory /libraries/joomla/document/). What this means is when we want html output for this particular view, the view.html.php file is used. When we want the RSS output, the view.feed.php file is used.

The affect of these different output types is most apparent when the Global Configuration setting for Search Engine Friendly URLs is set to Yes, Use Apache mod_rewrite is set to Yes, and Add suffix to URLs is also set to Yes. When this is done, the site URLs will look something like this:

<pre>
http://domain/sports.html
http://domain/sports.feed
http://domain/sports/rowing.html
http://domain/sports/rowing.pdf
</pre>
The exact URL will vary depending on how you set up your site but the point here is to show that sports.html will use the category view's view.html.php file to, and that sports.feed will display the RSS feed for the category using view.feed.php. It should be noted that you cannot currently customise feed or PDF output types. However, you can customise the html output type and this is where layouts come into play.

=== Layouts ===
Under the view directory there is a /tmpl/ directory in which the layout files reside. Each PHP file in this directory represents a layout. For example, article/tmpl/default.php is the default layout for an article whereas article/tmpl/form.php is the edit form for an article; category/tmpl/default.php is the default layout for a category whereas category/tmpl/blog.php displays the list of article differently.

The relationship between component views and layout is most plainly seen when adding a new menu item. The next screenshot represents the typical display of the New Menu Item page. Having clicked on Articles (which represents com_content), the tree expands to show the list of views and each layout within the view.

[[Image:Menu_item_type_articles.png|Screenshot of creating a new menu item fro an article.]]

You will notice that while there are extra files in some of the /tmpl/ directories (like pagebreak.php in the article view), they are missing from the list. This is due to instructions in the XML file for the layout (for example, pagebreak.xml) to hide the layout (or even the view) from the menu item list. However, this is another broad topic which will be covered in another tutorial.

Armed with all that knowledge of how all the parts relate to each other, we are now ready to actually create our layout overrides.

=== Copying or Creating Layout Files ===

Layout overrides only work within the active template and are located under the /html/ directory in the template. For example, the overrides for rhuk_milkyway are located under /templates/rhuk_milkyway/html/, for the JA Purity template under /templates/ja_purity/html/ and for Beez under /templates/beez/html/.

It is important to understand that if you create overrides in one template, they will not be available in other templates. For example, rhuk_milkyway has no component layout overrides at all. When you use this template you are seeing the raw output from all components. When you use the Beez template, almost every piece of component output is being controlled by the layout overrides in the template. JA Purity is in between having overrides for some components and only some views of those components.

The layout overrides must be placed in particular way. Using Beez as an example you will see the following structure:
<pre>
/templates
/beez
/html
/com_content (this directory matches the component directory name)
/articles (this directory matches the view directory name)
default.php (this file matches the layout file name)
form.php
</pre>

The structure for component overrides is quite simple: /html/com_component_name/view_name/layout_file_name.php. Let's look at a few examples.

The rhuk_milkyway template does not have any layout overrides for any components. If we want to override the default layout for an article, first we need to copy this file:

/components/com_content/views/article/tmpl/default.php

to this location, creating the appropriate directories in the event they don't already exist:

/templates/rhuk_milkyway/html/com_content/article/default.php

If we wanted to override the blog layout in the category view, we would copy this file:

/components/com_content/views/category/tmpl/blog.php

to:

/templates/rhuk_milkyway/html/com_content/category/blog.php

Once the files are copied, you are free to customise these files as much or as little as required or desired. You do not have to honour parameter settings if you don't want to.
=== Overriding Sub-Layouts ===

In some views you will see that some of the layouts have a group of files that start with the same name. The category view has an example of this. The blog layout actually has three parts: the main layout file blog.php and two sub-layout files, blog_item.php and blog_links.php. You can see where these sub-layouts are loaded in the blog.php file using the loadTemplate method, for example:
<source lang="php">
echo $this->loadTemplate('item');
// or
echo $this->loadTemplate('links');
</source>
When loading sub-layouts, the view already knows what layout you are in, so you don't have to provide the prefix (that is, you load just 'item', not 'blog_item').

What is important to note here is that it is possible to override just a sub-layout without copying the whole set of files. For example, if you were happy with the Joomla! default output for the blog layout, but just wanted to customise the item sub-layout, you could just copy:

/components/com_content/views/category/tmpl/blog_item.php

to:

/templates/rhuk_milkyway/html/com_content/category/blog_item.php

When Joomla! is parsing the view, it will automatically know to load blog.php from com_content natively and blog_item.php from your template overrides.
== Module Layout Overrides ==

Modules, like components, are set up in a particular directory structure.
<pre>
/modules
/mod_latest_news
/tmpl
default.php (the layout)
helper.php (a helper file containing data logic)
mod_latest_news.php (the main module file)
mod_latest_news.xml (the installation XML file)
</pre>
Similar to components, under the main module directory (in the example, mod_latest_news) there is a /tmpl/ directory. There is usually only one layout file but depending on who wrote the module, and how it is written, there could be more.

As for components, the layout override for a module must be placed in particular way. Using Beez as an example again, you will see the following structure:
<pre>
/templates
/beez
/html
/mod_latest_news (this directory matches the module directory name)
default.php (this file matches the layout file name)
</pre>
The structure for module overrides is again quite simple: /html/mod_module_name/layout_file_name.php.
=== Copying or Creating Layout Files ===

The rhuk_milkyway template does not have any layout overrides for any modules. If we want to override the default layout for Latest News module, we need to copy this file:

/modules/mod_latest_news/tmpl/default.php

to this location, creating the approriate directories in the event they don't already exist:

/templates/rhuk_milkyway/html/mod_latest_news/default.php

You need to take a little care with overriding module layout because there are a number of different ways that modules can or have been designed so you need to treat each one individually.

== Module Chrome ==

Joomla! 1.0 had a number of fixed styles that could display a list of modules in a particular position. These where represented by numbers:

* 0 (the default) displayed modules in a vertical table
* 1 displayed them in a horizontal table
* -1 displayed the raw module output
* -2 displayed the modules in a XHTML compatible format with the title in a H3 tag.
* -3 displayed modules in a set of nested DIVs that allowed for rounded-corner techniques

It was a great system except for two things:

# Nobody could remember which number was which, and
# You couldn't expand on the styles.

Well, in 1.5, the numbers are still recognised, but more commonly the style is represented as a word. As well as that, the syntax for displaying a module position was changed. For example, this snippet displays each module in the left position in the xhtml style:
<source lang="php">
<jdoc:include type="modules" name="left" style="xhtml" />
</source>
The built-in styles that are now available are:

* table (was 0 and is the default)
* horz (was 1)
* none (was -1)
* xhtml (was -2)
* rounded (was -3)
* outline (new - used to preview module positions - see screenshot above)

In the source code, these styles are referred to as "chrome". The default chrome is in the system template of the default Joomla! install:

/templates/system/html/modules.php

This file is maintained by the project so you should never modify it. You will lose your changes when you upgrade your Joomla! installation.

To create your own chrome, or module styles, create or edit modules.php under the templates /html/ directory. (This is the same directory we have been talking about for component and module layout overrides).

The rhuk_milkyway template provides some extra chrome as an example. (It provides an example style called "slider"). This can be found in the following file:

/templates/rhuk_milkyway/html/modules.php

Creating your own chrome is easy. Let's look at example that displays the module in a Definition List (a set of DL's, DT's and DD's).

Just add the following function to the /html/modules.php file in your default template directory (create it if it does not exist):
<source lang="php">
/*
* Module chrome that wraps the module in a definition list
*/
function modChrome_dlist($module, &$params, &$attribs)
{ ?>
<dl class="<?php echo $params->get('moduleclass_sfx'); ?>">
<?php if ($module->showtitle != 0) : ?>
<dt>
<?php echo $module->title; ?>
</dt>
<?php endif; ?>
<dd>
<?php echo $module->content; ?>
</dd>
</dl>
<?php
}
</source>
We will be calling the style "dlist", so the name of the function needs to be modChrome_dlist.

The function must take the three arguments as shown for the module object, the module parameters, and lastly the $attribs is an array of all the attributes in the jdoc XML tag.

There are three main properties in the module object to be concerned with:

* showtitle tells you whether to show the title of the module of not
* title is the title of the module
* content is the output of the module (from its layout)

This is a very simple case and you can, of course, design more complex styles, possibly using custom atrributes in the XML tag.

== Pagination Links Overrides ==

The final override we will look at is the pagination override. This override can control the display of items-per-page and the pagination links used with lists of information, as shown in the following screenshot.

[[Image:Article_list_pagination.png|Typical Joomla! page showing a paginated list.]]

The rhuk_milkyway template provides a well-commented example for this override. The file is found here:

/templates/rhuk_milkyway/html/pagination.php

When the pagination list is required, Joomla! will look for this file in the default templates. If it is found, it will be loaded and the display functions it contains will be used.

There are four functions that can be used:

pagination_list_footer

This function is responsible for showing the select list for the number of items to display per page.

pagination_list_render

This function is responsible for showing the list of page number links as well at the Start, End, Previous and Next links.

pagination_item_active

This function displays the links to other page numbers other than the "current" page.

pagination_item_inactive

This function displays the current page number, usually not hyperlinked.

== Media Files Override ==

This method allows 3rd party developers to override CSS and JS files that where inserted using the functions <code>JHtml::script()</code> or <code>JHtml::stylesheet()</code> and are stored inside the Joomla media folder.

=== Supporting Media Files Override ===

For this example we have a module called <code>mod_test</code>, this module have a CSS files installed at the path:

/media/mod_test/css/mystyle.css

That file should be inserted using the following functions and parameters:

JHtml::stylesheet('mod_test/mystyle.css', false, true, false);

Note that the 3rd parameter (true) is the one that makes the Joomla API to look for an override file inside your current template folder.

The override file must be placed as follow at your current template folder:

/templates/my_template/css/mod_test/mystyle.css

== Cheat Sheet ==
Using the rhuk_milkyway template as an example, here is a brief summary of the principles we've looked at.
=== Customise the Component Output ===
To override a component layout (for example the default layout in the article view), copy:

/components/com_content/views/article/tmpl/default.php

to:

/templates/rhuk_milkyway/html/com_content/article/default.php

Read more about [[#Component Output Types and Layout Overrides|component output]].

=== Customise the Module Output ===
To override a module layout (for example the Latest News module using the rhuk_milkyway template), copy:

/modules/mod_latest_news/tmpl/default.php

to:

/templates/rhuk_milkyway/html/mod_latest_news/default.php

Read more about [[#Module Layout Overrides|module output]].

=== Add New Module Styles ===
To add new module styles (chrome), add them to the following file:

/templates/rhuk_milkyway/html/modules.php

Read more about [[#Module Chrome|module chrome]].

=== Customise the Pagination Links ===
To customise the way the items-per-page selector and pagination links display, edit the following file:

/templates/rhuk_milkyway/html/pagination.php

Read more about [[#Pagination Links Overrides|pagination]].

== Conclusion ==
Joomla! 1.5, through the use of an MVC paradigm has greatly improved the flexibility that is afforded to Web site designers. By way of a few simple principles, like copying certain files to certain places in your template, the designer is able to override almost all the output generated by Joomla!.

Understanding Output Overrides

2014-08-23T18:57:59Z

Enav: adding media files override tutorial

{{version/tutor|1.5,2.5,3.1}}
[[Category:Development]] [[Category:Templates]] [[Category:Overrides]] [[Category:Tips and tricks 1.5]]
This was a Developer Blog post by Andrew Eddie, initially copied to the wiki with minor edits by Alan Langford.
== Introduction ==
There are many competing requirements for Web designers ranging from accessibility to legislative to personal preferences. Rather than trying to over-parameterise views, or trying to aim for some sort of line of best fit, or, worse, sticking its head in the sand, Joomla! has added the potential for the designer to take over control of virtually all the output that is generated.

Joomla! has been criticized by some for not giving due attention to accessibility or being archaic in their approach to Web standards. However, with 1.5, the responsibility--and, more importantly, the power--to control output is back in the designer's hands.

In addition, except for files that are provided in the Joomla! distribution itself, these methods for customisation eliminate the need for designers and developers to "hack" core files that could change when the site is updated to a new version. Because they are contained within the template, they can be deployed to the Website without having to worry about changes being accidentally overwritten when your System Administrator upgrades the site.

The aim of this tutorial is to introduce the fours areas of the output of Joomla! that are able to be customised by the template designer.

Not interested in all the theory? Jump straight to the cheat sheet below.

== MVC 101 ==
MVC can be a scary acronym. It stands for Model-View-Controller and the concepts behind MVC are responsible for the extra flexibility that is now afforded to the designer. While parts of the theory can be rather involved and complicated, the only part that the designer need worry about is the V for View. This is the part that is concerned with output.

Different extensions display output in different ways.

Components, as you already know, are fairly complex and have the ability to display different information in different ways. For example, the Articles Component (com_content) is able to display a single article, or articles in a category, or categories in a section. Each of the ways of representing the different types of data (an article, or a category, or a section) is called a "view" (this comes from our MVC terminology). Most components will have many views. However, the view doesn't actually display the output. This is left up to what we call a "layout" and it is possible for a view to have a variety of layouts.

The main thing to remember here is that components can have multiple views, and each view can have one or more layouts. Each view assembles a fixed set of information, but each layout can display that information in different ways. For example, the Category view in the Articles component assembles a number of articles. These articles could be displayed in a list or in a table (and probably other ways as well). So this view may have a "list" layout and a "table" layout to choose from.

Modules, on the other hand, are very simple. They generally display one thing one way. Modules don't really have views but they do support a layout. Some developers might even support a choice of layout through module parameters.
=== Template versus Layout ===
It is very important to distinguish between the role of templates and the role of layouts. The template sets up a structural framework for the page of the Web site. Within this framework are positions for modules and a component to display. What actually gets displayed is governed by the module layout, or the combination of view and layout in the case of the component.

The following image shows the structural layout of a typical Joomla! template (rhuk_milkyway, the default for 1.5). The module positions are displayed by adding tp=1 to the URL (eg, index.php?tp=1). You can clearly see where the module output is contained within the overall template, as well as the main component output starting in the lower-centre region. However, what is actually output in those regions is controlled by the layouts.

[[Image:FrontpageTemplatePositions.png|Typical Joomla! screenshot with template positions shown.]]

=== Ancillary Customisation ===
While not strictly related to the MVC, there are two other important areas to consider when looking at customising the output of Joomla!.

=== Ancillary Customisation:Chrome ===
In addition to layouts, modules have what we call "chrome". Chrome is the style(s) with which a module is to display. Most developers, designers and probably some end-users will be familiar with the different built-in styles for modules (raw, xhtml, etc). It is also possible to define your own chrome styles for modules depending on the designer result. For example, you could design a chrome to display all the modules in a particular position in a fancy Javascript collapsing blind arrangement.

In the screenshot above, you can just make out the names of some of the built-in module chrome used (rounded, none and xhtml).

Note the potential plural. A module or component can have multiple chrome styles applied to it. For example, When the global template setting "preview module positions" is enabled and the page is loaded with ?tp=1 at the end of the url the chrome "outline" is added to all modules and the component. This is in addition to their regular chrome styling. The default chrome settings can be found in the template/system/html/modules.php file and additional chrome styles may be added by adding your own modules.php file to your template.

Chrome styles are functions and are written in this manner:
<source lang="php">
/*
* foobar (outputs foo before module content and bar after)
*/
function modChrome_foobar($module, &$params, &$attribs)
{
echo '<h1>Foo</h1>';
echo $module->content;
echo '<h1>Bar</h1>';
}
</source>

Use $module->content to access the content generated by the module. You may access the module parameters and attributes by using the appropriate variables passed to this function.

=== Ancillary Customisation:Pagination ===
The second area has to do with controlling the pagination controls when viewing lists of data. We will look at that in more detail later.

== Component Output Types and Layout Overrides ==

To understand layout overrides we must first understand the file structure of a component. While there are many parts to a component, all fulfilling different roles and responsibilities, we want to look just in the /views/ directory. Here is the partial structure for two of the com_content views:
<pre>
/components
/com_content
/views
/articles
/tmpl
default.php (this is a layout)
form.php (this is a layout)
view.html.php (this is the view that outputs the HTML)
view.pdf.php (this is the view that outputs the PDF)
/category
/tmpl
blog.php (layout)
blog_items.php (a sub-layout
default.php (layout)
view.html.php (HTML view)
view.feed.php (RSS feed)
</pre>
So what you see here is that under the /views/ directory, each view is placed in a directory of its own. The content component actually has three other views not shown: archive, frontpage and section.
=== Output Types ===
Under the /articles/ directory we have a number of files. There is almost always a file called view.html.php. This is what we call the view file, but there can be more than one depending on the type of output to produce. It has a specific naming convention, view.output_type.php, where the output type can be html, feed, pdf, raw or error (for more information see JDocument in the API reference and look in the directory /libraries/joomla/document/). What this means is when we want html output for this particular view, the view.html.php file is used. When we want the RSS output, the view.feed.php file is used.

The affect of these different output types is most apparent when the Global Configuration setting for Search Engine Friendly URLs is set to Yes, Use Apache mod_rewrite is set to Yes, and Add suffix to URLs is also set to Yes. When this is done, the site URLs will look something like this:

<pre>
http://domain/sports.html
http://domain/sports.feed
http://domain/sports/rowing.html
http://domain/sports/rowing.pdf
</pre>
The exact URL will vary depending on how you set up your site but the point here is to show that sports.html will use the category view's view.html.php file to, and that sports.feed will display the RSS feed for the category using view.feed.php. It should be noted that you cannot currently customise feed or PDF output types. However, you can customise the html output type and this is where layouts come into play.

=== Layouts ===
Under the view directory there is a /tmpl/ directory in which the layout files reside. Each PHP file in this directory represents a layout. For example, article/tmpl/default.php is the default layout for an article whereas article/tmpl/form.php is the edit form for an article; category/tmpl/default.php is the default layout for a category whereas category/tmpl/blog.php displays the list of article differently.

The relationship between component views and layout is most plainly seen when adding a new menu item. The next screenshot represents the typical display of the New Menu Item page. Having clicked on Articles (which represents com_content), the tree expands to show the list of views and each layout within the view.

[[Image:Menu_item_type_articles.png|Screenshot of creating a new menu item fro an article.]]

You will notice that while there are extra files in some of the /tmpl/ directories (like pagebreak.php in the article view), they are missing from the list. This is due to instructions in the XML file for the layout (for example, pagebreak.xml) to hide the layout (or even the view) from the menu item list. However, this is another broad topic which will be covered in another tutorial.

Armed with all that knowledge of how all the parts relate to each other, we are now ready to actually create our layout overrides.

=== Copying or Creating Layout Files ===

Layout overrides only work within the active template and are located under the /html/ directory in the template. For example, the overrides for rhuk_milkyway are located under /templates/rhuk_milkyway/html/, for the JA Purity template under /templates/ja_purity/html/ and for Beez under /templates/beez/html/.

It is important to understand that if you create overrides in one template, they will not be available in other templates. For example, rhuk_milkyway has no component layout overrides at all. When you use this template you are seeing the raw output from all components. When you use the Beez template, almost every piece of component output is being controlled by the layout overrides in the template. JA Purity is in between having overrides for some components and only some views of those components.

The layout overrides must be placed in particular way. Using Beez as an example you will see the following structure:
<pre>
/templates
/beez
/html
/com_content (this directory matches the component directory name)
/articles (this directory matches the view directory name)
default.php (this file matches the layout file name)
form.php
</pre>

The structure for component overrides is quite simple: /html/com_component_name/view_name/layout_file_name.php. Let's look at a few examples.

The rhuk_milkyway template does not have any layout overrides for any components. If we want to override the default layout for an article, first we need to copy this file:

/components/com_content/views/article/tmpl/default.php

to this location, creating the appropriate directories in the event they don't already exist:

/templates/rhuk_milkyway/html/com_content/article/default.php

If we wanted to override the blog layout in the category view, we would copy this file:

/components/com_content/views/category/tmpl/blog.php

to:

/templates/rhuk_milkyway/html/com_content/category/blog.php

Once the files are copied, you are free to customise these files as much or as little as required or desired. You do not have to honour parameter settings if you don't want to.
=== Overriding Sub-Layouts ===

In some views you will see that some of the layouts have a group of files that start with the same name. The category view has an example of this. The blog layout actually has three parts: the main layout file blog.php and two sub-layout files, blog_item.php and blog_links.php. You can see where these sub-layouts are loaded in the blog.php file using the loadTemplate method, for example:
<source lang="php">
echo $this->loadTemplate('item');
// or
echo $this->loadTemplate('links');
</source>
When loading sub-layouts, the view already knows what layout you are in, so you don't have to provide the prefix (that is, you load just 'item', not 'blog_item').

What is important to note here is that it is possible to override just a sub-layout without copying the whole set of files. For example, if you were happy with the Joomla! default output for the blog layout, but just wanted to customise the item sub-layout, you could just copy:

/components/com_content/views/category/tmpl/blog_item.php

to:

/templates/rhuk_milkyway/html/com_content/category/blog_item.php

When Joomla! is parsing the view, it will automatically know to load blog.php from com_content natively and blog_item.php from your template overrides.
== Module Layout Overrides ==

Modules, like components, are set up in a particular directory structure.
<pre>
/modules
/mod_latest_news
/tmpl
default.php (the layout)
helper.php (a helper file containing data logic)
mod_latest_news.php (the main module file)
mod_latest_news.xml (the installation XML file)
</pre>
Similar to components, under the main module directory (in the example, mod_latest_news) there is a /tmpl/ directory. There is usually only one layout file but depending on who wrote the module, and how it is written, there could be more.

As for components, the layout override for a module must be placed in particular way. Using Beez as an example again, you will see the following structure:
<pre>
/templates
/beez
/html
/mod_latest_news (this directory matches the module directory name)
default.php (this file matches the layout file name)
</pre>
The structure for module overrides is again quite simple: /html/mod_module_name/layout_file_name.php.
=== Copying or Creating Layout Files ===

The rhuk_milkyway template does not have any layout overrides for any modules. If we want to override the default layout for Latest News module, we need to copy this file:

/modules/mod_latest_news/tmpl/default.php

to this location, creating the approriate directories in the event they don't already exist:

/templates/rhuk_milkyway/html/mod_latest_news/default.php

You need to take a little care with overriding module layout because there are a number of different ways that modules can or have been designed so you need to treat each one individually.

== Module Chrome ==

Joomla! 1.0 had a number of fixed styles that could display a list of modules in a particular position. These where represented by numbers:

* 0 (the default) displayed modules in a vertical table
* 1 displayed them in a horizontal table
* -1 displayed the raw module output
* -2 displayed the modules in a XHTML compatible format with the title in a H3 tag.
* -3 displayed modules in a set of nested DIVs that allowed for rounded-corner techniques

It was a great system except for two things:

# Nobody could remember which number was which, and
# You couldn't expand on the styles.

Well, in 1.5, the numbers are still recognised, but more commonly the style is represented as a word. As well as that, the syntax for displaying a module position was changed. For example, this snippet displays each module in the left position in the xhtml style:
<source lang="php">
<jdoc:include type="modules" name="left" style="xhtml" />
</source>
The built-in styles that are now available are:

* table (was 0 and is the default)
* horz (was 1)
* none (was -1)
* xhtml (was -2)
* rounded (was -3)
* outline (new - used to preview module positions - see screenshot above)

In the source code, these styles are referred to as "chrome". The default chrome is in the system template of the default Joomla! install:

/templates/system/html/modules.php

This file is maintained by the project so you should never modify it. You will lose your changes when you upgrade your Joomla! installation.

To create your own chrome, or module styles, create or edit modules.php under the templates /html/ directory. (This is the same directory we have been talking about for component and module layout overrides).

The rhuk_milkyway template provides some extra chrome as an example. (It provides an example style called "slider"). This can be found in the following file:

/templates/rhuk_milkyway/html/modules.php

Creating your own chrome is easy. Let's look at example that displays the module in a Definition List (a set of DL's, DT's and DD's).

Just add the following function to the /html/modules.php file in your default template directory (create it if it does not exist):
<source lang="php">
/*
* Module chrome that wraps the module in a definition list
*/
function modChrome_dlist($module, &$params, &$attribs)
{ ?>
<dl class="<?php echo $params->get('moduleclass_sfx'); ?>">
<?php if ($module->showtitle != 0) : ?>
<dt>
<?php echo $module->title; ?>
</dt>
<?php endif; ?>
<dd>
<?php echo $module->content; ?>
</dd>
</dl>
<?php
}
</source>
We will be calling the style "dlist", so the name of the function needs to be modChrome_dlist.

The function must take the three arguments as shown for the module object, the module parameters, and lastly the $attribs is an array of all the attributes in the jdoc XML tag.

There are three main properties in the module object to be concerned with:

* showtitle tells you whether to show the title of the module of not
* title is the title of the module
* content is the output of the module (from its layout)

This is a very simple case and you can, of course, design more complex styles, possibly using custom atrributes in the XML tag.

== Pagination Links Overrides ==

The final override we will look at is the pagination override. This override can control the display of items-per-page and the pagination links used with lists of information, as shown in the following screenshot.

[[Image:Article_list_pagination.png|Typical Joomla! page showing a paginated list.]]

The rhuk_milkyway template provides a well-commented example for this override. The file is found here:

/templates/rhuk_milkyway/html/pagination.php

When the pagination list is required, Joomla! will look for this file in the default templates. If it is found, it will be loaded and the display functions it contains will be used.

There are four functions that can be used:

pagination_list_footer

This function is responsible for showing the select list for the number of items to display per page.

pagination_list_render

This function is responsible for showing the list of page number links as well at the Start, End, Previous and Next links.

pagination_item_active

This function displays the links to other page numbers other than the "current" page.

pagination_item_inactive

This function displays the current page number, usually not hyperlinked.

== Media Files Override ==

This method allows 3rd party developers to override CSS and JS files that where inserted using the functions <code>JHtml::script()</code> or <code>JHtml::stylesheet()</code> and are stored inside the Joomla media folder.

== Supporting Media Files Override ==

For this example we have a module called <code>mod_test</code>, this module have a CSS files installed at the path:

/media/mod_test/css/mystyle.css

That file should be inserted using the following functions and parameters:

JHtml::stylesheet('mod_test/mystyle.css', false, true, false);

Note that the 3rd parameter (true) is the one that makes the Joomla API to look for an override file inside your current template folder.

The override file must be placed as follow at your current template folder:

/templates/my_template/css/mod_test/mystyle.css

== Cheat Sheet ==
Using the rhuk_milkyway template as an example, here is a brief summary of the principles we've looked at.
=== Customise the Component Output ===
To override a component layout (for example the default layout in the article view), copy:

/components/com_content/views/article/tmpl/default.php

to:

/templates/rhuk_milkyway/html/com_content/article/default.php

Read more about [[#Component Output Types and Layout Overrides|component output]].

=== Customise the Module Output ===
To override a module layout (for example the Latest News module using the rhuk_milkyway template), copy:

/modules/mod_latest_news/tmpl/default.php

to:

/templates/rhuk_milkyway/html/mod_latest_news/default.php

Read more about [[#Module Layout Overrides|module output]].

=== Add New Module Styles ===
To add new module styles (chrome), add them to the following file:

/templates/rhuk_milkyway/html/modules.php

Read more about [[#Module Chrome|module chrome]].

=== Customise the Pagination Links ===
To customise the way the items-per-page selector and pagination links display, edit the following file:

/templates/rhuk_milkyway/html/pagination.php

Read more about [[#Pagination Links Overrides|pagination]].

== Conclusion ==
Joomla! 1.5, through the use of an MVC paradigm has greatly improved the flexibility that is afforded to Web site designers. By way of a few simple principles, like copying certain files to certain places in your template, the designer is able to override almost all the output generated by Joomla!.

Adding JavaScript

2014-07-20T07:00:17Z

Enav: /* Ask me why */

{{version/tutor|1.5,2.5,3.1}}

JavaScript (also known as ECMAScript) is a scripting language primarily used in client-side web site development to extend and enhance an end-user's experience. Joomla provides developers with easy-to-use mechanisms to include JavaScript in their extensions using existing API methods.

There are a number of methods for including JavaScript in your Joomla extensions; some of these are described below.

==Usage==

There are three methods for embedding JavaScript into your code using the Joomla API; [http://api.joomla.org/1.5/Joomla-Framework/Document/JDocument.html#addScriptDeclaration JDocument::addScriptDeclaration], [http://api.joomla.org/1.5/Joomla-Framework/Document/JDocument.html#addScript JDocument::addScript] and [http://api.joomla.org/1.5/Joomla-Framework/HTML/JHTML.html#script script]. These methods should be called either in your component's View class (<yourcomponent>/views/<yourview>/view.html.php) or template script (<yourcomponent>/views/<yourview>/tmpl/<yourtemplate>.php or in the case of a module, in its template script (<yourmodule>/tmpl/<yourtemplate>.php).

===Inline JavaScript===

Blocks of JavaScript code can be declared directly within a component or module's display template using the [http://api.joomla.org/1.5/Joomla-Framework/Document/JDocument.html JDocument] class' [http://api.joomla.org/1.5/Joomla-Framework/Document/JDocument.html#addScriptDeclaration addScriptDeclaration] method:

<source lang="php">
<?php
$document = JFactory::getDocument();
$document->addScriptDeclaration('
window.event("domready", function() {
alert("An inline JavaScript Declaration");
});
');
?>
</source>

===External JavaScript===

Alternatively, you may wish to separate your JavaScript into a separate file. Separating your JavaScript into an external file can make your template code easier to read especially if the JavaScript is lengthy or complex.

There are two ways to include a JavaScript file using the Joomla API. The first involves using the [http://api.joomla.org/1.5/Joomla-Framework/Document/JDocument.html JDocument] class' [http://api.joomla.org/1.5/Joomla-Framework/Document/JDocument.html#addScript addScript] method:

<source lang="php">
<?php
$document = JFactory::getDocument();
$document->addScript('/media/system/js/sample.js');
?>
</source>

The second uses the [http://api.joomla.org/1.5/Joomla-Framework/HTML/JHTML.html JHTML] class' [http://api.joomla.org/1.5/Joomla-Framework/HTML/JHTML.html#script script] method:

<source lang="php">
<?php
// Add the path parameter if the path is different than 'media/system/js/'
JHTML::script('sample.js', 'templates/custom/js/');
?>
</source>

API has changed in 3.x, so the second parameter cannot be a string. If you really need to use this method, you must include the absolute link to your javacript file:

<source lang="php">
<?php
JHtml::script(Juri::base() . 'templates/custom/js/sample.js');
?>
</source>

==Description==
The Joomla API's [http://api.joomla.org/1.5/Joomla-Framework/Document/JDocument.html#addScriptDeclaration JDocument::addScriptDeclaration], [http://api.joomla.org/1.5/Joomla-Framework/Document/JDocument.html#addScript JDocument::addScript] and [http://api.joomla.org/1.5/Joomla-Framework/HTML/JHTML.html#script script] methods embed JavaScript into Joomla's index.php via the jdoc head tag:

<source lang="html4strict">
<jdoc:include type="head"/>
</source>

Using the [http://api.joomla.org/1.5/Joomla-Framework/Document/JDocument.html#addScript JDocument::addScript] or [http://api.joomla.org/1.5/Joomla-Framework/HTML/JHTML.html#script script] methods to embed JavaScript includes would result in the index.php rendering the following HTML:

<source lang="html4strict">
<head>
...
<script type="text/javaScript" src="/media/system/js/sample.js"></script>
...
</head>
</source>

Calling the class method [http://api.joomla.org/1.5/Joomla-Framework/Document/JDocument.html#addScriptDeclaration JDocument::addScriptDeclaration] would render the following HTML:

<source lang="html4strict">
<head>
...
<script type="text/javaScript">
window.addEvent("domready", function() {
alert("Embedded block of JS here");
});
</script>
...
</head>
</source>

Using these methods is highly recommended as it clearly differentiates another scripting language (JavaScript) from the main PHP code, ensures all JavaScript is correctly embedded between the <head></head> tags and, in the case of JDocument::addScript and JHTML::script ensures that a JavaScript file is included only once (I.e. there is no .js file duplication).

== Using a JavaScript Framework ==

A Javascript framework provides developers with generic functionality for handling various coding tasks in a familiar, consistent and platform-independent way. A framework enables the developer to forget about the intricacies of implementing a certain function in different web browsers and focus on the requirements of the software.

Two [[Javascript Frameworks]] are provided as part of Joomla 3.x; jQuery and Mootools. jQuery is a newly introduced framework which integrates with Joomla's new Bootstrap HTML framework; Mootools is Joomla's legacy Javascript library which is now superseded by jQuery and is included for backwards compatibility with 3rd party extensions.

In nearly all cases you should use a framework when developing Javascript in your extensions or templates and including one is very simple with Joomla's API.

===Joomla 3.x jQuery ===
Please see the guide on [[Javascript_Frameworks|Javascript Frameworks in Joomla 3.x]] for information about including a framework in Joomla 3.x

=== Joomla 1.5/2.5 Mootools ===

Unless you are maintaining Javascript code which leverages Mootools or you are developing an extension for Joomla 2.5 or earlier it is recommended you use jQuery instead.

Firstly, you will need to include the Mootools code in your extension. To include the Mootools framework in your extension, you add the following code to your view.html.php or tmpl file:

FOR JOOMLA 1.5
<source lang="php">
JHTML::_('behavior.mootools');
</source>

FOR JOOMLA 2.5
<source lang="php">
JHtml::_('behavior.framework');
</source>

The above code results in the same outcome as the similar jQuery framework statement; that is it ensures Mootools is included correctly and only once.

Then using Mootools is almost identical to jQuery:

<source lang="php">
JFactory::getDocument()->addScriptDeclaration('
window.addEvent("domready", function() {
alert($("list").getElements("li").length);
});
');
</source>

More information about Mootools is available at http://mootools.net/. For API documentation, visit http://mootools.net/docs/core.

== Important notes for 3rd party developers ==

If you are creating a custom template override or extension that needs to add a custom JS file, make sure to add important dependencies such as Jquery or Mootools before your custom JS files. JS framework fiels msut be always loaded before any other files to make sure they get executed the first, otherwise other files that load before the frameworks they need are likely to end in JS exceptions.

Some templates like Protostar or Beez insert all the dependencies you need using functions like

JHtml::_('bootstrap.framework');

To load Jquery + Bootstrap but your should not relay in this fact on your extensions or custom templates overrides, always make sure your extension or custom override load the dependencies you need before the template does it, I will explain why later:

For example if you got a custom template override that need to insert a JS file with some Jquery scripts that does fancy things on all the pages where that template override is being used. In that case you should declare this on the top section of that override file:

JHtml::_('jquery.framework');
$doc->addScript('templates/'.$this->template.'/js/fancy-script.js');

If you are developing a 3rd party extension that you plan to put on the Joomla! extension directory you should do something like this:

if($params->get('add_extension_resources', false))
{
JHtml::_('jquery.framework');
$doc->addScript('media/com_fancy/js/fancy-script.js');
}

The conditional clause to decide whether to add or not the extension resources is '''strongly encouraged''' and considered a '''good practice''' because it gives flexibility to 3rd party developers who don't want to use your extension resources and use custom/modified files without having to battle with Joomla! using workarounds and hacks to be able to remove your original extensions resources in order to avoid duplicates and conflicts.

==== Ask me why ====

If you check the source code of the index.php from the Protostar template, you can see that the statements

JHtml::_('bootstrap.framework');

is added way before the statement

<jdoc:include type="head" />

this can make you think that the framework files and your 3rd party files using methods like

$doc->addScript('templates/'.$this->template.'/js/fancy-script.js');
$doc->addScript('media/com_fancy/js/fancy-script.js');

will be added in the right order at the right spot, '''but that is not the case''', because extension files and template override files are processed '''first''' and the index.php file of your current template is processed the '''last'''. This will cause that your custom JS files get inserted first and the framework files inserted from the template get inserted after.

This happens because the Joomla API (such as $doc->addScript) uses an array to store the JS files paths and they get rendered in the document in the same order they where inserted into that array (FIFO stack), also once a file path is inserted on the array and another API call tries to insert the same file this action is ignored to avid duplicates, it also means that the order of the files is not altered when the same files is attempted to be inserted several times.

Having said that doing this

JHtml::_('jquery.framework');
$doc->addScript('templates/'.$this->template.'/js/fancy-script.js');

at your custom templates overrides and extension, is '''required''' and does not cause harm or conflict with the call

JHtml::_('bootstrap.framework');

at your template index.php file.

== See Also ==

[[JHtmlBehavior::framework/11.1| JHtmlBehaviour::framework method]] from the Joomla! Framework 11.1 documentation

[[Ajax using MooTools]]

[[Adding Javascript moo.fx to your component]]

== External Links ==
http://api.joomla.org/Joomla-Platform/HTML/JHtmlBehavior.html#methodframework

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JavaScript

http://www.w3schools.com/js/default.asp

http://mootools.net/

http://jquery.com/

[[Category:Templates]]
[[Category:Modules]]
[[Category:Components]]
[[Category:Plugins]]
[[Category:Tutorials]]
[[Category:JavaScript]]

Adding JavaScript

2014-07-20T06:52:43Z

Enav: add important notes

{{version/tutor|1.5,2.5,3.1}}

JavaScript (also known as ECMAScript) is a scripting language primarily used in client-side web site development to extend and enhance an end-user's experience. Joomla provides developers with easy-to-use mechanisms to include JavaScript in their extensions using existing API methods.

There are a number of methods for including JavaScript in your Joomla extensions; some of these are described below.

==Usage==

There are three methods for embedding JavaScript into your code using the Joomla API; [http://api.joomla.org/1.5/Joomla-Framework/Document/JDocument.html#addScriptDeclaration JDocument::addScriptDeclaration], [http://api.joomla.org/1.5/Joomla-Framework/Document/JDocument.html#addScript JDocument::addScript] and [http://api.joomla.org/1.5/Joomla-Framework/HTML/JHTML.html#script script]. These methods should be called either in your component's View class (<yourcomponent>/views/<yourview>/view.html.php) or template script (<yourcomponent>/views/<yourview>/tmpl/<yourtemplate>.php or in the case of a module, in its template script (<yourmodule>/tmpl/<yourtemplate>.php).

===Inline JavaScript===

Blocks of JavaScript code can be declared directly within a component or module's display template using the [http://api.joomla.org/1.5/Joomla-Framework/Document/JDocument.html JDocument] class' [http://api.joomla.org/1.5/Joomla-Framework/Document/JDocument.html#addScriptDeclaration addScriptDeclaration] method:

<source lang="php">
<?php
$document = JFactory::getDocument();
$document->addScriptDeclaration('
window.event("domready", function() {
alert("An inline JavaScript Declaration");
});
');
?>
</source>

===External JavaScript===

Alternatively, you may wish to separate your JavaScript into a separate file. Separating your JavaScript into an external file can make your template code easier to read especially if the JavaScript is lengthy or complex.

There are two ways to include a JavaScript file using the Joomla API. The first involves using the [http://api.joomla.org/1.5/Joomla-Framework/Document/JDocument.html JDocument] class' [http://api.joomla.org/1.5/Joomla-Framework/Document/JDocument.html#addScript addScript] method:

<source lang="php">
<?php
$document = JFactory::getDocument();
$document->addScript('/media/system/js/sample.js');
?>
</source>

The second uses the [http://api.joomla.org/1.5/Joomla-Framework/HTML/JHTML.html JHTML] class' [http://api.joomla.org/1.5/Joomla-Framework/HTML/JHTML.html#script script] method:

<source lang="php">
<?php
// Add the path parameter if the path is different than 'media/system/js/'
JHTML::script('sample.js', 'templates/custom/js/');
?>
</source>

API has changed in 3.x, so the second parameter cannot be a string. If you really need to use this method, you must include the absolute link to your javacript file:

<source lang="php">
<?php
JHtml::script(Juri::base() . 'templates/custom/js/sample.js');
?>
</source>

==Description==
The Joomla API's [http://api.joomla.org/1.5/Joomla-Framework/Document/JDocument.html#addScriptDeclaration JDocument::addScriptDeclaration], [http://api.joomla.org/1.5/Joomla-Framework/Document/JDocument.html#addScript JDocument::addScript] and [http://api.joomla.org/1.5/Joomla-Framework/HTML/JHTML.html#script script] methods embed JavaScript into Joomla's index.php via the jdoc head tag:

<source lang="html4strict">
<jdoc:include type="head"/>
</source>

Using the [http://api.joomla.org/1.5/Joomla-Framework/Document/JDocument.html#addScript JDocument::addScript] or [http://api.joomla.org/1.5/Joomla-Framework/HTML/JHTML.html#script script] methods to embed JavaScript includes would result in the index.php rendering the following HTML:

<source lang="html4strict">
<head>
...
<script type="text/javaScript" src="/media/system/js/sample.js"></script>
...
</head>
</source>

Calling the class method [http://api.joomla.org/1.5/Joomla-Framework/Document/JDocument.html#addScriptDeclaration JDocument::addScriptDeclaration] would render the following HTML:

<source lang="html4strict">
<head>
...
<script type="text/javaScript">
window.addEvent("domready", function() {
alert("Embedded block of JS here");
});
</script>
...
</head>
</source>

Using these methods is highly recommended as it clearly differentiates another scripting language (JavaScript) from the main PHP code, ensures all JavaScript is correctly embedded between the <head></head> tags and, in the case of JDocument::addScript and JHTML::script ensures that a JavaScript file is included only once (I.e. there is no .js file duplication).

== Using a JavaScript Framework ==

A Javascript framework provides developers with generic functionality for handling various coding tasks in a familiar, consistent and platform-independent way. A framework enables the developer to forget about the intricacies of implementing a certain function in different web browsers and focus on the requirements of the software.

Two [[Javascript Frameworks]] are provided as part of Joomla 3.x; jQuery and Mootools. jQuery is a newly introduced framework which integrates with Joomla's new Bootstrap HTML framework; Mootools is Joomla's legacy Javascript library which is now superseded by jQuery and is included for backwards compatibility with 3rd party extensions.

In nearly all cases you should use a framework when developing Javascript in your extensions or templates and including one is very simple with Joomla's API.

===Joomla 3.x jQuery ===
Please see the guide on [[Javascript_Frameworks|Javascript Frameworks in Joomla 3.x]] for information about including a framework in Joomla 3.x

=== Joomla 1.5/2.5 Mootools ===

Unless you are maintaining Javascript code which leverages Mootools or you are developing an extension for Joomla 2.5 or earlier it is recommended you use jQuery instead.

Firstly, you will need to include the Mootools code in your extension. To include the Mootools framework in your extension, you add the following code to your view.html.php or tmpl file:

FOR JOOMLA 1.5
<source lang="php">
JHTML::_('behavior.mootools');
</source>

FOR JOOMLA 2.5
<source lang="php">
JHtml::_('behavior.framework');
</source>

The above code results in the same outcome as the similar jQuery framework statement; that is it ensures Mootools is included correctly and only once.

Then using Mootools is almost identical to jQuery:

<source lang="php">
JFactory::getDocument()->addScriptDeclaration('
window.addEvent("domready", function() {
alert($("list").getElements("li").length);
});
');
</source>

More information about Mootools is available at http://mootools.net/. For API documentation, visit http://mootools.net/docs/core.

== Important notes for 3rd party developers ==

If you are creating a custom template override or extension that needs to add a custom JS file, make sure to add important dependencies such as Jquery or Mootools before your custom JS files. JS framework fiels msut be always loaded before any other files to make sure they get executed the first, otherwise other files that load before the frameworks they need are likely to end in JS exceptions.

Some templates like Protostar or Beez insert all the dependencies you need using functions like

JHtml::_('bootstrap.framework');

To load Jquery + Bootstrap but your should not relay in this fact on your extensions or custom templates overrides, always make sure your extension or custom override load the dependencies you need before the template does it, I will explain why later:

For example if you got a custom template override that need to insert a JS file with some Jquery scripts that does fancy things on all the pages where that template override is being used. In that case you should declare this on the top section of that override file:

JHtml::_('jquery.framework');
$doc->addScript('templates/'.$this->template.'/js/fancy-script.js');

If you are developing a 3rd party extension that you plan to put on the Joomla! extension directory you should do something like this:

if($params->get('add_extension_resources', false))
{
JHtml::_('jquery.framework');
$doc->addScript('media/com_fancy/js/fancy-script.js');
}

The conditional clause to decide whether to add or not the extension resources is '''strongly encouraged''' and considered a '''good practice''' because it gives flexibility to 3rd party developers who don't want to use your extension resources and use custom/modified files without having to battle with Joomla! using workarounds and hacks to be able to remove your original extensions resources in order to avoid duplicates and conflicts.

==== Ask me why ====

If you check the source code of the index.php from the Protostar template, you can see that the statements

JHtml::_('bootstrap.framework');

is added way before the statement

<jdoc:include type="head" />

this can make you think that the framework files and your 3rd party files using methods like

$doc->addScript('templates/'.$this->template.'/js/fancy-script.js');
$doc->addScript('media/com_fancy/js/fancy-script.js');

will be added in the right order at the right spot, '''but that is not the case''', because extension files and template override files are processed '''first''' and the index.php file of your current template is processed the '''last''', which will cause that your custom JS files get inserted before the framework files inserted from the template.

This happens because the Joomla API (addScript function and others )uses an array to store the JS files paths and they get rendered in the document in the same order they where inserted into that array, also once a file path is inserted on the array and another API call tries to insert the same file this action is ignored to avid duplicates, it also means that the order of the files is not altered on that array when you try to add the same JS file several times.

Having said that doing this

JHtml::_('jquery.framework');
$doc->addScript('templates/'.$this->template.'/js/fancy-script.js');

at your custom templates overrides and extension is '''required''' and does not cause harm or conflict with the call

JHtml::_('bootstrap.framework');

at your template index.php file.

== See Also ==

[[JHtmlBehavior::framework/11.1| JHtmlBehaviour::framework method]] from the Joomla! Framework 11.1 documentation

[[Ajax using MooTools]]

[[Adding Javascript moo.fx to your component]]

== External Links ==
http://api.joomla.org/Joomla-Platform/HTML/JHtmlBehavior.html#methodframework

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JavaScript

http://www.w3schools.com/js/default.asp

http://mootools.net/

http://jquery.com/

[[Category:Templates]]
[[Category:Modules]]
[[Category:Components]]
[[Category:Plugins]]
[[Category:Tutorials]]
[[Category:JavaScript]]

How do you recover or reset your admin password?

2014-07-12T04:52:24Z

Enav: /* Change the Password in the Database */

{{version|2.5,3.1}}
{{tip|This page is only for Joomla! 2.5 and higher versions. If you are still using Joomla! 1.5 instructions can be [[J1.5:How_do_you_recover_or_reset_your_admin_password%3F|found here]].|title=Joomla! 1.5 Password Recovery}}

Normally, you can add, edit and delete users and passwords from the back-end User Manager. To do this, you must be logged in as a member of the Super Administrator group.

In some situations, this may not be possible. For example, your site may have been "hacked" and had the passwords or users changed. Or perhaps the person who knew the passwords is no longer available. Or maybe you have forgotten the password that was used.

In these cases, it is still possible to alter the Joomla! database so you can log back in as a Super Administrator. These are the possible methods available to Joomla! administrators.

== Method 1: Configuration.php file ==
If you have access to your configuration.php file for the Joomla installation on your server, can recover the password using the following method.

1.) Using an FTP program connect to your site. Find the configuration.php file and look at the file permissions. If the permissions are 444 or some other value, then change the permissions of the configuration.php file to 644. This will help prevent issues when uploading the changed configuration.php file later in this process.

2.) Download the configuration file.

3.) Open the configuration.php file that was downloaded in a text editor such as notepad++ and add this line

public $root_user='myname';

to the bottom of the list where myname is a username with administrator access that you know the password for. An username that is Author level or higher can also be used in place of a username with administrator access.

4.) Save the configuration.php file and upload it back to the site. You may leave the permissions on the configuration.php file at 644.

This user will now be a temporary super administrator.

5.) Login to the back end and change the password of the administrator user you don't have the password for or create a new super admin user.
If you create the new user you may want to block or delete the old user depending on your circumstances.

6.) When finished, make sure to use the "Click here to try to do it automatically" link that appears in the alert box to remove the line that was added to the configuration.php file. If using the link was not successful, then go back and delete the added line from your configuration.php file using a text editor. Upload the configuration.php file back to the site.

7.) Using your FTP program verify the file permissions of the configuration.php file, they should be 444. If you manually removed the added line, then change the file permissions on the configuration.php file to 444.

If you have no users who know their passwords and you can't utilize front end registration you may need to make a change in your database as outlined below in this document.

== Method 2: Direct Editing of Database ==
If the methods above did not work, you have two other options, both of which require working with the MySQL database directly.

===Change the Password in the Database===
If the admin user is still defined, the simplest option is to change the password in the database to a known value. This requires that you have access to the MySQL database using phpMyAdmin or another client.
{{warning|These instructions show how to manually change a password to the word - "secret"|title=Make sure you change your password once you regain access}}

# Navigate to phpMyAdmin and select the database for the Joomla! site in the left-hand drop-down list box. This will show the database tables on the left side of the screen.
# Find and click on the table with "_users" appended in the list of tables (note: you may have a prefix that is not jos_, simply go to the _users table for your prefix).
# Click on the "Browse" button in the top toolbar. This will show all of the users that are set up for this site.
# Find the user whose password you want to change and press the Edit icon for this row.
# A form will display that allows you to edit the password field. Copy the value <source lang="sql">d2064d358136996bd22421584a7cb33e:trd7TvKHx6dMeoMmBVxYmg0vuXEA4199</source> into the password field and press the ''Go'' button. phpMyAdmin should display the message "Affected rows: 1". At this point, the password should be changed to '''"secret"'''.
# Log in with this user and password and change the password of this user to a secure value. Check all of the users using the User Manager to make sure they are legitimate. If you have been hacked, you may want to change all of the passwords on the site.

===Add a New Super Administrator User===
If changing the password won't work, or you aren't sure which user is a member of the Super Administrator group, you can use this method to create a new user.

# Navigate to phpMyAdmin and select the database for the Joomla! site in the left-hand drop-down list box. This will show the database tables on the left side of the screen.
# Press the "SQL" button in the toolbar to run an SQL query on the selected database. This will display a field called "Run SQL query/queries on database <your database>".
# Delete any text in this field and copy and paste the following query below and press the ''Go'' button to execute the query and add the new Administrator user to the table.
# Use the SQL query below to add another administrator account.

{{warning|The following code uses jos31_ as the table name prefix which is only an example table prefix. The prefix when you first installed Joomla is '''RANDOM''' or what you set it specifically too. You will need to change all occurrences of '''jos31_'''(your install set prefix) found in the code below to the prefix your installation is using. |title=Make sure you match your db table prefix!}}

'''SQL code for use with Joomla 2.5.x {{JVer|2.5}} 3.1.x {{JVer|3.1}} '''

<source lang="sql">INSERT INTO `jos31_users`
(`name`, `username`, `password`, `params`)
VALUES ('Administrator2', 'admin2',
'd2064d358136996bd22421584a7cb33e:trd7TvKHx6dMeoMmBVxYmg0vuXEA4199', '');
INSERT INTO `jos31_user_usergroup_map` (`user_id`,`group_id`)
VALUES (LAST_INSERT_ID(),'8');
</source>

At this point, you should be able to log into the back end of Joomla! with the username of "admin2" and password of "secret". After logging in, go to the User Manager and change the password to a new secure value and add a valid e-mail address to the account. If there is a chance you have been "hacked", be sure to check that all users are legitimate, especially any members of the Super Administrator group.

{{warning|Warning: The password values shown on this page are public knowledge and are only for recovery. Your site may be hacked if you do not change the password to a secure value after logging in. Be sure you change the password to a secure value after logging in.}}

The examples above change the password to "secret". Two other possible values are shown below:
<pre>
- password = "this is the MD5 and salted hashed password"
------------------------------------------------------
- admin = 433903e0a9d6a712e00251e44d29bf87:UJ0b9J5fufL3FKfCc0TLsYJBh2PFULvT
- secret = d2064d358136996bd22421584a7cb33e:trd7TvKHx6dMeoMmBVxYmg0vuXEA4199
- OU812 = 5e3128b27a2c1f8eb53689f511c4ca9e:J584KAEv9d8VKwRGhb8ve7GdKoG7isMm
</pre>

<noinclude>[[Category:FAQ]][[Category:Administration FAQ]][[Category:Getting Started FAQ]] [[Category:User Management]]</noinclude>

Git branching quickstart

2014-06-24T02:14:30Z

Enav: /* Step 1: Create a fork */

This document provides a quick step by step (using command line), on how to get a branch quickly up and running.

== Step 1: Create a fork ==

# Create a GitHub account (https://www.github.com - "Sign Up for free" link on the top right)
# Create a fork of the Joomla repository you want to modify:
## Make sure you are logged into your GitHub account
## Go to https://github.com/joomla/joomla-cms/ (Joomla! CMS) or https://github.com/joomla-framework/ (Joomla! Framework)
## Click on the "Fork" button on the top right and wait while the process ends.
# You now have a fork of the Joomla repo on GitHub under '''...github.com/yourusername/joomla-....'''

== Step 2: Create a working copy ==
You can create a single working copy for your projects or many working copy's. In general Git branching allows you to work on multiple projects in a single working copy relatively easily. If you want to work on concurrent projects you may wish to have multiple working copies. You can work out the flow that works best for you. Complete these instructions per working copy:

# Go to your fork on GitHub (e.g. <nowiki>http://github.com/yourname/joomla-cms</nowiki>)
# By default a "Read+Write Access" link should be selected. If you have set up SSH keys, then use this option. If you haven't then HTTPS should be selected. Copy the link by highlighting or selecting the "copy to clipboard" option.
# Open a terminal on your platform (Windows: GIT BASH link; Mac: Terminal; Linux: Your favourite terminal emulator)
# Use the following command to clone the repository into the target directory: <pre>git clone <paste copied URL here> <path to target directory></pre>. It should look something like this: <pre>git clone https://github.com/pasamio/joomla-cms.git /Users/pasamio/joomla-cms</pre>. Git will automatically create the path to the directory if it doesn't exist.
# Change to your target directory: <pre>cd <path to target directory></pre>, e.g. <pre>cd /Users/pasamio/joomla-cms</pre>.
# Add a remote for the Joomla repository for this fork. Go to https://github.com/joomla/joomla-cms/ and copy the "Git Read-Only" link.
# Add the remote to your working copy by doing this: <pre>git remote add joomla <copied URL></pre> it should look like this: <pre>git remote add joomla git://github.com/joomla/joomla-cms.git</pre>.

At this point we've cloned your repository (it will be the remote known as 'origin') and add a remote for the Joomla Project repository you're working on (as 'joomla').

== Step 3: Creating a new branch ==
Each time you start working on a new feature/bug fix/concept, I suggest that you start a new branch. Branching and merging in Git is easier than in Subversion with many conflicts around the same changes being made in two places handled automatically. Each branch can contain a particular project that you are working on and you can easily switch between branches in the same working copy. Because Git is designed to be distributed, you can commit changes to work in a branch prior to switch branches without having to push this to the wider world.

# Before creating a new branch, I always do a fetch to make sure I have the latest changes: <pre>git fetch --all</pre>
# From here any updates will have been downloaded from all repositories, most importantly Joomla.
# Create and checkout a new branch with the following: <pre>git checkout -b <yourbranchname> joomla/master</pre>
# At this point you can create changes and make commits. When you are ready to push back to GitHub, use the following: <pre>git push -u origin</pre>

This may ask for your GitHub username and password if you are using the HTTP protocol. If you are using the SSH protocol it may ask you for the passphrase for your SSH key. The "-u" option is used to mark this as the "upstream" version and will track against this branch. This means in future you can "git push" and "git pull" to receive updates from this remote and branch automatically (if you're working on your own, you'll likely only be doing a 'git push').

Now you've created a new branch and set it up to push and pull from your server. You can then use this branch to make a pull request.

== Step 4: Merging with master ==
After a while it will become necessary to merge down changes from the upstream repository. This may be because those changes conflict with other changes in the repository (making a pull request "unmergeable"), because you need/want updates from the repository to continue working or just to keep the delta of changes small between your commits.

You have two major options. The first is to use a simple merge. This will attempt to pick up the changes from the remote repository and merge them locally automatically. This may result in a conflict with your work which you will be required to merge manually (just like what would happen with Subversion if there is a conflict).

You can merge either by doing an explicit "git merge" or by doing a "git pull". Doing a "git pull" is like doing a "git fetch" followed by a "git merge" and will ensure you're merging the latest changes from the remote repository: <pre>git merge joomla master</pre>

This will pull down the latest changes from the repository and merge them. You may get a notice that there is a conflict you need to resolve. Once you've resolved the conflict, you will need to do a commit to mark those changes.

== Step 5: Squashing commits ==
The last step you might need to do is to squash your commits. Squashing commits takes many commits and makes them into a single commit. This helps with keeping the history clean and concise. It also helps later on tracking down changes.

Instead of repeating some already well written documentation, here I'll refer to the Git book:
http://git-scm.com/book/en/Git-Tools-Rewriting-History#Squashing-Commits

[[Category:Development]]
[[Category:GitHub]]

Technical requirements

2013-11-26T02:06:10Z

Enav: /* Joomla 3.x {{JVer|3.x}} */

{{RightTOC}}
More details can be found on [http://www.joomla.org/about-joomla/technical-requirements.html Joomla.org].

==Joomla 3.x {{JVer|3.x}}==
<section begin=Joomla 3.x />
{| class="wikitable" border="1"
!Software
!Recommended
!Minimum
|-
|PHP (Magic Quotes GPC off)
|5.4 +
|5.3.10 +
|-
| colspan=3 style="background-color:#e1e1e1;" | Supported Databases:
|-
|MySQL<ref name="MySQL6.0">Joomla is not yet compatible with MySQL 6.x.</ref> (InnoDB support required)
|5.1 +
|5.1 +
|-
|MSSQL
|10.50.1600.1 +
|10.50.1600.1 +
|-
|PostgreSQL
|8.3.18 +
|8.3.18 +
|-
| colspan=3 style="background-color:#e1e1e1;" | Supported Web Servers:
|-
|Apache(with mod_mysql, mod_xml, and mod_zlib)<ref name="mod_rewrite">In order to use [[SEF URLs]], you will need to have the Apache mod_rewrite extension installed.</ref><ref name="PHPFileHandler">The [http://www.suphp.org mod_suphp] extension or [http://httpd.apache.org/mod_fcgid mod_fcgid] extension is recommended to enable Joomla to upload and execute files using secure file permissions.</ref>
|2.x+
|2.x+
|-
|Nginx
|1.1
|1.0
|-
|Microsoft IIS
|7
|7
|}
<section end=Joomla 3.x />

==Joomla 2.5.x {{JVer|2.5}}==

{| class="wikitable" border="1"
!Software
!Recommended
!Minimum
|-
|PHP
|5.4+
|5.2.4+
|-
| colspan=3 style="background-color:#e1e1e1;" | Supported Databases:
|-
|MySQL<ref name="MySQL6.0" />
|5.0.4+
|5.0.4+
|-
| colspan=3 style="background-color:#e1e1e1;" | Supported Web Servers:
|-
|Apache (with mod_mysql, mod_xml, and mod_zlib)<ref name="mod_rewrite" /><ref name="PHPFileHandler" />
|2.x+
|2.x+
|-
|Nginx
|1.1
|1.0
|-
|Microsoft IIS<ref name="MSIIS">For Microsoft IIS you need MySQL 5.1 or newer.</ref>
|7
|7
|}

==Joomla 1.5.x {{JVer|1.5}}==

{| class="wikitable" border="1"
!Software
!Recommended
!Minimum
!Not supported<ref name="NotTested">The Joomla! Project has not tested support for versions of software listed in this column. The Joomla! CMS may function properly on these versions of software, but official support is not provided.</ref>
|-
|PHP<ref>Do not use PHP 4.3.9, 4.4.2 or 5.0.4. These releases have known bugs that will interfere with installation. Zend Optimizer 2.5.10 for PHP 4.4.x also has serious bugs and you should ask your host to upgrade to a newer version. Joomla! versions 1.5.15 + are compatible with PHP 5.3. Note that the OpenID library is not yet compatible with PHP 5.3.</ref>
|5.2
|4.3.10
|5.4+
|-
| colspan=4 style="background-color:#e1e1e1;" | Supported Databases:
|-
|MySQL<ref name="MySQL6.0" />
|4.1.x+
|3.23
|
|-
| colspan=4 style="background-color:#e1e1e1;" | Supported Web Servers:
|-
|Apache (with mod_mysql, mod_xml, and mod_zlib)<ref name="mod_rewrite" /><ref name="PHPFileHandler" />
|2.x+
|1.3
|
|-
|Microsoft IIS<ref name="IIS">For Microsoft IIS (depending on your setup) you may need the following:
*PHP 5.2 - Installation instructions
*MySQL 5.1 - Installation instructions
*Microsoft URL Rewrite Module - Required for SEO URLs only. For more information, [http://learn.iis.net/page.aspx/460/using-url-rewrite-module/ click here]. For information about using ISAPI, [[SEO_and_IIS_ISAPI|click here]].
*FastCGI - [http://www.iis.net/downloads/default.aspx?tabid=34&g=6&i=1521 Download for IIS6]. [http://www.iis.net/downloads/default.aspx?tabid=34&i=1299&g=6 Download for IIS7].
For further assistance using Microsoft IIS, visit the [[jforum:429|Joomla IIS forum]].
</ref>
|7
|6
|
|}

==References==
<references />
<noinclude>
[[Category:Joomla! 1.5]]
[[Category:Joomla! 1.6]]
[[Category:Joomla! 1.7]]
[[Category:Joomla! 2.5]]
[[Category:Joomla! 3.0]]</noinclude>

J3.x:How to turn off magic quotes gpc

2013-10-19T02:43:39Z

Enav: /* Yet Another Solution For Shared Hosts */

== For MAMP ==
Steps:
* Go to MAMP application >> Preferences (button) >> PHP (tab) >> Choose 5.3.1 or greater >> choose OK.
* Go to the MAMP folder >> bin >> php >> php5.3.6 >> conf >> edit php.ini >> add "magic_quotes_gpc = Off" a few lines above "magic_quotes_sybase = Off".
* Restart MAMP's servers.

<br>
== For most mainstream hosting companies running a CGI-Webinterface ==
Steps:
* Create a php.ini or php5.ini file with the following:
<pre>magic_quotes_gpc = Off
extension=pdo.so
extension=pdo_mysql.so</pre>

* Put it in your Joomla 3 root. Then change the htaccess.txt in your Joomla 3 root to .htaccess. Add the following lines to the .htaccess file (at the top), don't forget to change php.ini to php5.ini when applicable :
<pre><IfModule mod_suphp.c>
suPHP_ConfigPath /home/myusername/public_html/yourJ3folder
<Files php.ini>
order allow,deny
deny from all
</Files>
</IfModule></pre>

Change "myusername" and "yourJ3folder" to your respective folders. The "/home/myusername/public_html/yourJ3folder" can be found via the Global Configuration:

In Joomla backend > System > System Information > [Directory Permissions], the folder is usually the same as the log directory (but without /logs at the end).

<br>
== .htaccess for some hosts ==

For some hosts, add "php_flag magic_quotes_gpc off" to the .htaccess file
<noinclude>[[Category:Server configurations]]</noinclude>

== Yet Another Solution For Shared Hosts ==

* create a <code>php.ini</code> file at your Joomla! root.
* Add this content to the file and save
magic_quotes_gpc = Off
magic_quotes_runtime = Off
magic_quotes_sybase = Off
extension=pdo.so
extension=pdo_mysql.so
* Edit your <code>.htaces</code> file and add this line at the top and save the file
<code>SetEnv PHPRC /home/youruser/public_html/php.ini</code>
* Test if the error message goes away

source : http://stackoverflow.com/questions/517008/how-to-turn-off-magic-quotes-on-shared-hosting

J3.x:How to turn off magic quotes gpc

2013-10-19T02:42:32Z

Enav:

== For MAMP ==
Steps:
* Go to MAMP application >> Preferences (button) >> PHP (tab) >> Choose 5.3.1 or greater >> choose OK.
* Go to the MAMP folder >> bin >> php >> php5.3.6 >> conf >> edit php.ini >> add "magic_quotes_gpc = Off" a few lines above "magic_quotes_sybase = Off".
* Restart MAMP's servers.

<br>
== For most mainstream hosting companies running a CGI-Webinterface ==
Steps:
* Create a php.ini or php5.ini file with the following:
<pre>magic_quotes_gpc = Off
extension=pdo.so
extension=pdo_mysql.so</pre>

* Put it in your Joomla 3 root. Then change the htaccess.txt in your Joomla 3 root to .htaccess. Add the following lines to the .htaccess file (at the top), don't forget to change php.ini to php5.ini when applicable :
<pre><IfModule mod_suphp.c>
suPHP_ConfigPath /home/myusername/public_html/yourJ3folder
<Files php.ini>
order allow,deny
deny from all
</Files>
</IfModule></pre>

Change "myusername" and "yourJ3folder" to your respective folders. The "/home/myusername/public_html/yourJ3folder" can be found via the Global Configuration:

In Joomla backend > System > System Information > [Directory Permissions], the folder is usually the same as the log directory (but without /logs at the end).

<br>
== .htaccess for some hosts ==

For some hosts, add "php_flag magic_quotes_gpc off" to the .htaccess file
<noinclude>[[Category:Server configurations]]</noinclude>

== Yet Another Solution For Shared Hosts ==

* create a <code>php.ini</code> file at your Joomla! root.
* Add this content to the file and save
<code>
magic_quotes_gpc = Off
magic_quotes_runtime = Off
magic_quotes_sybase = Off
extension=pdo.so
extension=pdo_mysql.so
</code>
* Edit your <code>.htaces</code> file and add this line at the top and save the file
<code>SetEnv PHPRC /home/youruser/public_html/php.ini</code>
* Test if the error message goes away

source : http://stackoverflow.com/questions/517008/how-to-turn-off-magic-quotes-on-shared-hosting

Cachehandler form field type

2013-09-03T13:05:45Z

Enav: Created page with "provides a list of available cache handling options. * '''type''' (mandatory) must be ''editor''. * '''name''' (mandatory) is the unique name of the parameter. * '''label''' ..."

provides a list of available cache handling options.

* '''type''' (mandatory) must be ''editor''.
* '''name''' (mandatory) is the unique name of the parameter.
* '''label''' (mandatory) (translatable) is the descriptive title of the field.
* '''description''' description text for the form field.
* '''filter''' filter to apply, normally use "word".

Example XML Definition
<source type="xml">
<field name="cache_handler"
type="cachehandler"
default=""
label="COM_CONFIG_FIELD_CACHE_HANDLER_LABEL"
description="COM_CONFIG_FIELD_CACHE_HANDLER_DESC"
filter="word">
</field>
</source>

How do you recover or reset your admin password?

2013-08-26T10:39:44Z

Enav: /* Direct Editing of Database {{JVer/multi|1.5,2.5,3.1}} */

{{version|1.5,2.5,3.1}}
Normally, you can add, edit and delete users and passwords from the back-end User Manager. To do this, you must be logged in as a member of the Super Administrator group.

In some situations, this may not be possible. For example, your site may have been "hacked" and had the passwords or users changed. Or perhaps the person who knew the passwords is no longer available. Or maybe you have forgotten the password that was used.

In these cases, it is still possible to fix up the Joomla! database so you can log back in as a Super Administrator. There are possible methods discussed below.

== Joomla! {{JVer/multi|2.5,3.1}} ==
If you have access to your configuration.php file for the Joomla installation on your server, can recover the password using the following method.

1.) Using an FTP program connect to your site. Find the configuration.php file and look at the file permissions. If the permissions are 444 or some other value, then change the permissions of the configuration.php file to 644. This will help prevent issues when uploading the changed configuration.php file later in this process.

2.) Download the configuration file.

3.) Open the configuration.php file that was downloaded in a text editor such as notepad++ and add this line

public $root_user='myname';

to the bottom of the list where myname is a username with administrator access that you know the password for. An username that is Author level or higher can also be used in place of a username with administrator access.

4.) Save the configuration.php file and upload it back to the site. You may leave the permissions on the configuration.php file at 644.

This user will now be a temporary super administrator.

5.) Login to the back end and change the password of the administrator user you don't have the password for or create a new super admin user.
If you create the new user you may want to block or delete the old user depending on your circumstances.

6.) When finished, make sure to use the "Click here to try to do it automatically" link that appears in the alert box to remove the line that was added to the configuration.php file. If using the link was not successful, then go back and delete the added line from your configuration.php file using a text editor. Upload the configuration.php file back to the site.

7.) Using your FTP program verify the file permissions of the configuration.php file, they should be 444. If you manually removed the added line, then change the file permissions on the configuration.php file to 444.

If you have no users who know their passwords and you can't utilize front end registration you may need to make a change in your database as outlined below in this document.

== Use the Lost Password Feature {{JVer|1.5}} ==

If you have access to the email address that was used for the admin user, and you have made the "lost password" feature available on the front end, the simplest thing is to do is to use the "lost password" Front-end function. The site will send an e-mail to the user's e-mail address and allow you to change the password. Note: This method will not work in 1.6 or later.

== Direct Editing of Database {{JVer/multi|1.5,2.5,3.1}} ==
If the methods above did not work, you have two other options, both of which require working with the MySQL database directly.

===Change the Password in the Database===
If the admin user is still defined, the simplest option is to change the password in the database to a known value. This requires that you have access to the MySQL database using phpMyAdmin or another client.

# Navigate to phpMyAdmin and select the database for the Joomla! site in the left-hand drop-down list box. This will show the database tables on the left side of the screen.
# Click on the table "jos_users" in the list of tables (note: you may have a prefix that is not jos_, simply go to the _users table for your prefix).
# Click on the "Browse" button in the top toolbar. This will show all of the users that are set up for this site.
# Find the user whose password you want to change and press the Edit icon for this row.
# A form will display that allows you to edit the password field. Copy the value <source lang="sql">d2064d358136996bd22421584a7cb33e:trd7TvKHx6dMeoMmBVxYmg0vuXEA4199</source> into the password field and press the ''Go'' button. phpMyAdmin should display the message "Affected rows: 1". At this point, the password should be changed to "secret".
# Log in with this user and password and change the password of this user to a secure value. Check all of the users using the User Manager to make sure they are legitimate. If you have been hacked, you may want to change all of the passwords on the site.

===Add a New Super Administrator User===
If changing the password won't work, or you aren't sure which user is a member of the Super Administrator group, you can use this method to create a new user.

# Navigate to phpMyAdmin and select the database for the Joomla! site in the left-hand drop-down list box. This will show the database tables on the left side of the screen.
# Press the "SQL" button in the toolbar to run an SQL query on the selected database. This will display a field called "Run SQL query/queries on database <your database>".
# Delete any text in this field and copy and paste one of the following queries and press the ''Go'' button to execute the query and add the new Administrator user to the table.
# Use the 1.6 query version for a site based upon Joomla 1.6.xx and use the 1.5 query version for a site based upon Joomla 1.5.xx.

'''NOTE:''' '''''The following code uses jos_ as the table name prefix which is the Joomla default table prefix If you elected to change this prefix when you first installed Joomla, you will need to change jos_ to the prefix you used.'''''

'''SQL code for use with Joomla 2.5.x {{JVer|2.5}} 3.1.x {{JVer|3.1}} '''

<source lang="sql">INSERT INTO `jos_users`
(`name`, `username`, `password`, `params`)
VALUES ('Administrator2', 'admin2',
'd2064d358136996bd22421584a7cb33e:trd7TvKHx6dMeoMmBVxYmg0vuXEA4199', '');
INSERT INTO `jos_user_usergroup_map` (`user_id`,`group_id`)
VALUES (LAST_INSERT_ID(),'8');
</source>

'''SQL code for use with Joomla 1.5.xx {{JVer|1.5}}'''

<source lang="sql">INSERT INTO `jos_users`
(`name`, `username`, `password`, `usertype`, `gid`, `params`)
VALUES ('Administrator2', 'admin2',
'd2064d358136996bd22421584a7cb33e:trd7TvKHx6dMeoMmBVxYmg0vuXEA4199',
'Super Administrator', 25, '');
INSERT INTO `jos_core_acl_aro`
VALUES (NULL, 'users', LAST_INSERT_ID(), 0, 'Administrator2', 0);
INSERT INTO `jos_core_acl_groups_aro_map`
VALUES (25, '', LAST_INSERT_ID());
</source>

At this point, you should be able to log into the back end of Joomla! with the username of "admin2" and password of "secret". After logging in, go to the User Manager and change the password to a new secure value and add a valid e-mail address to the account. If there is a chance you have been "hacked", be sure to check that all users are legitimate, especially any members of the Super Administrator group.

{{warning|Warning: The password values shown on this page are public knowledge and are only for recovery. Your site may be hacked if you do not change the password to a secure value after logging in. Be sure you change the password to a secure value after logging in.}}

The examples above change the password to "secret". Two other possible values are shown below:
<pre>
- password = "this is the MD5 and salted hashed password"
------------------------------------------------------
- admin = 433903e0a9d6a712e00251e44d29bf87:UJ0b9J5fufL3FKfCc0TLsYJBh2PFULvT
- secret = d2064d358136996bd22421584a7cb33e:trd7TvKHx6dMeoMmBVxYmg0vuXEA4199
- OU812 = 5e3128b27a2c1f8eb53689f511c4ca9e:J584KAEv9d8VKwRGhb8ve7GdKoG7isMm
</pre>

<noinclude>[[Category:FAQ]][[Category:Administration FAQ]][[Category:Getting Started FAQ]][[Category:Version 1.5 FAQ]][[Category:User Management]]</noinclude>

Constants

2013-08-14T19:55:50Z

Enav: /* Difference between JPATH_SITE, JPATH_ROOT, and JPATH_BASE */

These constants are defined for use in Joomla and [[extensions|extensions]]:-

{| class="wikitable"
|-
|JPATH_ADMINISTRATOR
|The path to the administrator folder.
|-
|JPATH_BASE
|The path to the installed Joomla! site.
|-
|JPATH_CACHE
|The path to the cache folder.
|-
|JPATH_COMPONENT
|The path to the current component being executed.
|-
|JPATH_COMPONENT_ADMINISTRATOR
|The path to the administration folder of the current component being executed.
|-
|JPATH_COMPONENT_SITE
|The path to the site folder of the current component being executed.
|-
|JPATH_CONFIGURATION
|The path to folder containing the configuration.php file.
|-
|JPATH_INSTALLATION
|The path to the installation folder.
|-
|JPATH_LIBRARIES
|The path to the libraries folder.
|-
|JPATH_PLUGINS
|The path to the plugins folder.
|-
|JPATH_ROOT
|The path to the installed Joomla! site.
|-
|JPATH_SITE
|The path to the installed Joomla! site.
|-
|JPATH_THEMES
|The path to the templates folder.
|-
|JPATH_XMLRPC
|The path to the XML-RPC Web service folder.(1.5 only)
|}

These constants are defined in <code>_path_/includes/defines.php</code> except JPATH_BASE which is defined in <code>_path_/index.php</code>.

Note: These paths are the absolute paths of these locations within the file system, NOT the path you'd use in a URL.

For URL paths, try using [[JURI/base|JURI::base()]].

== Difference between JPATH_SITE, JPATH_ROOT, and JPATH_BASE ==
''JPATH_SITE'' is meant to represent the root path of the JSite application, just as ''JPATH_ADMINISTRATOR'' is mean to represent the root path of the JAdministrator application.

''JPATH_BASE'' is the root path for the current requested application.... so if you are in the administrator application:
:JPATH_BASE == JPATH_ADMINISTRATOR

If you are in the site application:
:JPATH_BASE == JPATH_SITE

If you are in the installation application:
:JPATH_BASE == JPATH_INSTALLATION.

JPATH_ROOT is the root path for the Joomla install and does not depend upon any application.

== Consideration ==

Using JPATH_COMPONENT and JPATH_COMPONENT_ADMINISTRATOR sounds great, but it has one big disadvantage: it immediately breaks all attempts to reuse the model from another component. That's something to keep in mind.

<noinclude>[[Category:Development]]</noinclude>
[[Category:References]][[Category:Module Development]]
[[Category:Plugin Development]]
[[Category:Component Development]]

Chunk:Configuring Eclipse IDE for PHP development - Configuration

2013-08-03T16:06:28Z

Enav: /* Colors */

== Configuration ==

=== Installing more extensions ===

For your Eclipse IDE you will need to install more extension for PHP development and other tools to help you in your project development journey, follow this steps and indications:

*On Eclipse go to: "Toolbar --> help --> install new software"
*You are now on the "Install" window, click the drop-down list "Work with" and set it to "--All Available Sites--"
*In the list expand the nodes and find the following packages to install:
Note: You can also use the search box, but for some reason (maybe a bug) Eclipse IDE hangs for few seconds on every search.

** goto "Web, XML, and Java EE Development" and select
*** PHP Development Tools (PDT) SDK Feature
*** JavaScript Development Tools
*** Eclipse Web Developer Tools
** goto "General Purpose Tools" and select
***Remote System Explorer End-User Runtime

*Press "Next>" and follow the installation wizard and restart Eclipse if needed
*On Eclipse go to: "Toolbar --> help --> install new software"
*Press the "Add" button and add this new repository, name it "xtext plugin"

http://download.eclipse.org/modeling/tmf/xtext/updates/composite/releases/

*Press the "Add" button and add this new repository, name it "LESS plugin"

http://www.normalesup.org/~simonet/soft/ow/update/

*Press "Ok" and wait until eclipse fetches all the new elements
*In the selection box next to the "Add" button select the "LESS plugin ..." repository
*On the list below find the "LESS" option and check it

*Press "Next>" and follow the installation wizard and restart Eclipse if needed

Those are all the extension to install for now, they should be enough to do local and remote PHP development, nonetheless you can experiment and tray all the extensions you want.

=== Configuring the perspectives and views ===

In this case we need to configure Eclipse for PHP development, so you should add the following perspectives:

*Go to: "Toolbar --> windows --> open perspective --> others --> debug"
*Go to: "Toolbar --> windows --> open perspective --> others --> php"
*Switch to the "PHP perspective"
*Go to: "Toolbar --> windows --> show view --> others --> remote systems"
*Drag the view from the tab and drop it next to the "PHP explorer" view

Now you can explore local and remote PHP project, how to configure this tools will be explained in [[Setting_up_your_workstation_for_PHP_development | this]] series of articles, but for now leave it for the future.

=== Configuring the editors ===

These are some of the configuration you can do to your editors to improve the user experience:

==== Display white spaces ====

Some people like to see the white spaces represented in the editor to do so:

*Go to "Toolbar --> window --> preferences --> general --> editors --> text editors"
*Set "show whitespace characters" to check

==== Colors ====

To highlight some the parts of the code with stronger colors, follow this steps:

*Go to "Toolbar --> window --> preferences --> general --> editors --> text editors --> annotations "
**On the list find "java scrip occurrences" and set the color value to "#FFFF5A"
**On the list find "matching tags" and set the color value to "#FFFF5A"
**On the list find "php elements read occurrences" and set the color value to "#FFFF5A"

*Go to "Toolbar --> window --> preferences --> general --> editors --> structured text editor"
**Find the list "Appearance color options"
**On the list find "Matching brackets highlight" and set the color value to "#0000FF"

*Go to "Toolbar --> window --> preferences --> javascript --> editor"
**Find the list "Appearance color options"
**On the list find "Matching brackets highlight" and set the color value to "#0000FF"

*Go to "Toolbar --> window --> preferences --> javascript --> editor --> syntax coloring"
**Find the list "Element"
**On the list find "javascript --> functions" enable the option and set the color value to "#1E90FF"
**On the list find "javascript --> function declarations" enable the option and set the color value to "#1E90FF"
**On the list find "javascript --> local variable declaration" enable the option and set the color value to "#A52A2A"
**On the list find "javascript --> local variable references" enable the option and set the color value to "#A52A2A"
**On the list find "javascript --> parameter variables" enable the option and set the color value to "#A52A2A"

*Go to "Toolbar --> window --> preferences --> php --> editor --> syntax coloring"
**Find the list "Syntax element"

**On the list find "classes" and set the color value to "#1E90FF"

**On the list find "functions" and set the color value to "#1E90FF"
**On the list find "methods" and set the color value to "#1E90FF"
**On the list find "variable" and set the color value to "#A52A2A"

==== Spell checking ====

If you want that eclipse assist you on check the grammar of your text, enable this option.

*Go to "Toolbar --> window --> preferences --> general --> editors --> spelling"
**Find and enable "enable spell checking

==== Code folding ====

Code folding is a nice feature of some editor, it allow you to fold the code in certain data structures like functions, classes and other structures such as classes, conditionals and iterators, we are going to fold all the possible except classes content to be able to check and study PHP files quickly

*Go to "Toolbar --> window --> preferences --> general --> editors --> structured text editors"
**Clink on the tab "appearance"
**Find and enable "enable folding"

*Go to "Toolbar --> window --> preferences --> javascript --> editor --> folding"
**Find and enable "enable folding"
**Find and enable "comments"
**Find and enable "header comments"
**Find and enable "members"

*Go to "Toolbar --> window --> preferences --> php --> editor --> code folding"
**Find and enable "enable folding"
**Find and enable "functions"
**Find and enable "phpdoc"
**Find and enable "header phpdoc"

==== code cleaning ====

Eclipse provides some nice utilities to automatically clean the source code of some extra garbage such as cleaning empty lines, deleting unnecessary trials spaces, formatting to the code and more. To activate some of this features follow these instructions:

*Go to "Toolbar --> window --> preferences --> javascript --> editor --> content assist --> save actions"
**Find and enable "Additional actions"
**Press the button "Configure"
**Find the tab "code organizing"
**Find and enable "remove trailing whitespaces" and also select "all lines"
**Press the button "ok"

*Go to "Toolbar --> window --> preferences --> php --> editor --> save actions"
**Find and enable "Remove trailing whitespaces" and also select "all lines"

*Go to "Toolbar --> window --> preferences --> javascript --> editor --> save actions"
**Find and enable "Perform the selected actions on save"
**Find and enable "Additional actions"
**Press the button "Configure..."
**Select the tab "Code organizing"
**Find and enable "Remove trailing whitespaces"
**Find and select "All lines"
**Press "ok" to continue

*If you are done doing configurations press "OK" to save and close the preferences window

Chunk:Configuring Eclipse IDE for PHP development - Configuration

2013-08-03T15:55:36Z

Enav: /* code cleaning */

== Configuration ==

=== Installing more extensions ===

For your Eclipse IDE you will need to install more extension for PHP development and other tools to help you in your project development journey, follow this steps and indications:

*On Eclipse go to: "Toolbar --> help --> install new software"
*You are now on the "Install" window, click the drop-down list "Work with" and set it to "--All Available Sites--"
*In the list expand the nodes and find the following packages to install:
Note: You can also use the search box, but for some reason (maybe a bug) Eclipse IDE hangs for few seconds on every search.

** goto "Web, XML, and Java EE Development" and select
*** PHP Development Tools (PDT) SDK Feature
*** JavaScript Development Tools
*** Eclipse Web Developer Tools
** goto "General Purpose Tools" and select
***Remote System Explorer End-User Runtime

*Press "Next>" and follow the installation wizard and restart Eclipse if needed
*On Eclipse go to: "Toolbar --> help --> install new software"
*Press the "Add" button and add this new repository, name it "xtext plugin"

http://download.eclipse.org/modeling/tmf/xtext/updates/composite/releases/

*Press the "Add" button and add this new repository, name it "LESS plugin"

http://www.normalesup.org/~simonet/soft/ow/update/

*Press "Ok" and wait until eclipse fetches all the new elements
*In the selection box next to the "Add" button select the "LESS plugin ..." repository
*On the list below find the "LESS" option and check it

*Press "Next>" and follow the installation wizard and restart Eclipse if needed

Those are all the extension to install for now, they should be enough to do local and remote PHP development, nonetheless you can experiment and tray all the extensions you want.

=== Configuring the perspectives and views ===

In this case we need to configure Eclipse for PHP development, so you should add the following perspectives:

*Go to: "Toolbar --> windows --> open perspective --> others --> debug"
*Go to: "Toolbar --> windows --> open perspective --> others --> php"
*Switch to the "PHP perspective"
*Go to: "Toolbar --> windows --> show view --> others --> remote systems"
*Drag the view from the tab and drop it next to the "PHP explorer" view

Now you can explore local and remote PHP project, how to configure this tools will be explained in [[Setting_up_your_workstation_for_PHP_development | this]] series of articles, but for now leave it for the future.

=== Configuring the editors ===

These are some of the configuration you can do to your editors to improve the user experience:

==== Display white spaces ====

Some people like to see the white spaces represented in the editor to do so:

*Go to "Toolbar --> window --> preferences --> general --> editors --> text editors"
*Set "show whitespace characters" to check

==== Colors ====

To highlight some the parts of the code with stronger colors, follow this steps:

*Go to "Toolbar --> window --> preferences --> general --> editors --> text editors --> annotations "
**On the list find "java scrip occurrences" and set the color value to "#FFFF5A"
**On the list find "matching tags" and set the color value to "#FFFF5A"
**On the list find "php elements read occurrences" and set the color value to "#FFFF5A"

*Go to "Toolbar --> window --> preferences --> general --> editors --> structured text editor"
**Find the list "Appearance color options"
**On the list find "Matching brackets highlight" and set the color value to "#0000FF"

*Go to "Toolbar --> window --> preferences --> javascript --> editor"
**Find the list "Appearance color options"
**On the list find "Matching brackets highlight" and set the color value to "#0000FF"

*Go to "Toolbar --> window --> preferences --> javascript --> editor --> syntax coloring"
**Find the list "Element"
**On the list find "javascript --> functions" enable the option and set the color value to "#1E90FF"
**On the list find "javascript --> function declarations" enable the option and set the color value to "#1E90FF"
**On the list find "javascript --> local variable declaration" enable the option and set the color value to "#A52A2A"
**On the list find "javascript --> local variable references" enable the option and set the color value to "#A52A2A"
**On the list find "javascript --> parameter variables" enable the option and set the color value to "#A52A2A"

*Go to "Toolbar --> window --> preferences --> php --> editor --> syntax coloring"
**Find the list "Syntax element"
**On the list find "functions" and set the color value to "#1E90FF"
**On the list find "methods" and set the color value to "#1E90FF"
**On the list find "variable" and set the color value to "#A52A2A"

==== Spell checking ====

If you want that eclipse assist you on check the grammar of your text, enable this option.

*Go to "Toolbar --> window --> preferences --> general --> editors --> spelling"
**Find and enable "enable spell checking

==== Code folding ====

Code folding is a nice feature of some editor, it allow you to fold the code in certain data structures like functions, classes and other structures such as classes, conditionals and iterators, we are going to fold all the possible except classes content to be able to check and study PHP files quickly

*Go to "Toolbar --> window --> preferences --> general --> editors --> structured text editors"
**Clink on the tab "appearance"
**Find and enable "enable folding"

*Go to "Toolbar --> window --> preferences --> javascript --> editor --> folding"
**Find and enable "enable folding"
**Find and enable "comments"
**Find and enable "header comments"
**Find and enable "members"

*Go to "Toolbar --> window --> preferences --> php --> editor --> code folding"
**Find and enable "enable folding"
**Find and enable "functions"
**Find and enable "phpdoc"
**Find and enable "header phpdoc"

==== code cleaning ====

Eclipse provides some nice utilities to automatically clean the source code of some extra garbage such as cleaning empty lines, deleting unnecessary trials spaces, formatting to the code and more. To activate some of this features follow these instructions:

*Go to "Toolbar --> window --> preferences --> javascript --> editor --> content assist --> save actions"
**Find and enable "Additional actions"
**Press the button "Configure"
**Find the tab "code organizing"
**Find and enable "remove trailing whitespaces" and also select "all lines"
**Press the button "ok"

*Go to "Toolbar --> window --> preferences --> php --> editor --> save actions"
**Find and enable "Remove trailing whitespaces" and also select "all lines"

*Go to "Toolbar --> window --> preferences --> javascript --> editor --> save actions"
**Find and enable "Perform the selected actions on save"
**Find and enable "Additional actions"
**Press the button "Configure..."
**Select the tab "Code organizing"
**Find and enable "Remove trailing whitespaces"
**Find and select "All lines"
**Press "ok" to continue

*If you are done doing configurations press "OK" to save and close the preferences window

Chunk:Configuring Eclipse IDE for PHP development - Configuration

2013-08-03T15:53:15Z

Enav: /* code cleaning */

== Configuration ==

=== Installing more extensions ===

For your Eclipse IDE you will need to install more extension for PHP development and other tools to help you in your project development journey, follow this steps and indications:

*On Eclipse go to: "Toolbar --> help --> install new software"
*You are now on the "Install" window, click the drop-down list "Work with" and set it to "--All Available Sites--"
*In the list expand the nodes and find the following packages to install:
Note: You can also use the search box, but for some reason (maybe a bug) Eclipse IDE hangs for few seconds on every search.

** goto "Web, XML, and Java EE Development" and select
*** PHP Development Tools (PDT) SDK Feature
*** JavaScript Development Tools
*** Eclipse Web Developer Tools
** goto "General Purpose Tools" and select
***Remote System Explorer End-User Runtime

*Press "Next>" and follow the installation wizard and restart Eclipse if needed
*On Eclipse go to: "Toolbar --> help --> install new software"
*Press the "Add" button and add this new repository, name it "xtext plugin"

http://download.eclipse.org/modeling/tmf/xtext/updates/composite/releases/

*Press the "Add" button and add this new repository, name it "LESS plugin"

http://www.normalesup.org/~simonet/soft/ow/update/

*Press "Ok" and wait until eclipse fetches all the new elements
*In the selection box next to the "Add" button select the "LESS plugin ..." repository
*On the list below find the "LESS" option and check it

*Press "Next>" and follow the installation wizard and restart Eclipse if needed

Those are all the extension to install for now, they should be enough to do local and remote PHP development, nonetheless you can experiment and tray all the extensions you want.

=== Configuring the perspectives and views ===

In this case we need to configure Eclipse for PHP development, so you should add the following perspectives:

*Go to: "Toolbar --> windows --> open perspective --> others --> debug"
*Go to: "Toolbar --> windows --> open perspective --> others --> php"
*Switch to the "PHP perspective"
*Go to: "Toolbar --> windows --> show view --> others --> remote systems"
*Drag the view from the tab and drop it next to the "PHP explorer" view

Now you can explore local and remote PHP project, how to configure this tools will be explained in [[Setting_up_your_workstation_for_PHP_development | this]] series of articles, but for now leave it for the future.

=== Configuring the editors ===

These are some of the configuration you can do to your editors to improve the user experience:

==== Display white spaces ====

Some people like to see the white spaces represented in the editor to do so:

*Go to "Toolbar --> window --> preferences --> general --> editors --> text editors"
*Set "show whitespace characters" to check

==== Colors ====

To highlight some the parts of the code with stronger colors, follow this steps:

*Go to "Toolbar --> window --> preferences --> general --> editors --> text editors --> annotations "
**On the list find "java scrip occurrences" and set the color value to "#FFFF5A"
**On the list find "matching tags" and set the color value to "#FFFF5A"
**On the list find "php elements read occurrences" and set the color value to "#FFFF5A"

*Go to "Toolbar --> window --> preferences --> general --> editors --> structured text editor"
**Find the list "Appearance color options"
**On the list find "Matching brackets highlight" and set the color value to "#0000FF"

*Go to "Toolbar --> window --> preferences --> javascript --> editor"
**Find the list "Appearance color options"
**On the list find "Matching brackets highlight" and set the color value to "#0000FF"

*Go to "Toolbar --> window --> preferences --> javascript --> editor --> syntax coloring"
**Find the list "Element"
**On the list find "javascript --> functions" enable the option and set the color value to "#1E90FF"
**On the list find "javascript --> function declarations" enable the option and set the color value to "#1E90FF"
**On the list find "javascript --> local variable declaration" enable the option and set the color value to "#A52A2A"
**On the list find "javascript --> local variable references" enable the option and set the color value to "#A52A2A"
**On the list find "javascript --> parameter variables" enable the option and set the color value to "#A52A2A"

*Go to "Toolbar --> window --> preferences --> php --> editor --> syntax coloring"
**Find the list "Syntax element"
**On the list find "functions" and set the color value to "#1E90FF"
**On the list find "methods" and set the color value to "#1E90FF"
**On the list find "variable" and set the color value to "#A52A2A"

==== Spell checking ====

If you want that eclipse assist you on check the grammar of your text, enable this option.

*Go to "Toolbar --> window --> preferences --> general --> editors --> spelling"
**Find and enable "enable spell checking

==== Code folding ====

Code folding is a nice feature of some editor, it allow you to fold the code in certain data structures like functions, classes and other structures such as classes, conditionals and iterators, we are going to fold all the possible except classes content to be able to check and study PHP files quickly

*Go to "Toolbar --> window --> preferences --> general --> editors --> structured text editors"
**Clink on the tab "appearance"
**Find and enable "enable folding"

*Go to "Toolbar --> window --> preferences --> javascript --> editor --> folding"
**Find and enable "enable folding"
**Find and enable "comments"
**Find and enable "header comments"
**Find and enable "members"

*Go to "Toolbar --> window --> preferences --> php --> editor --> code folding"
**Find and enable "enable folding"
**Find and enable "functions"
**Find and enable "phpdoc"
**Find and enable "header phpdoc"

==== code cleaning ====

Eclipse provides some nice utilities to automatically clean the source code of some extra garbage such as cleaning empty lines, deleting unnecessary trials spaces, formatting to the code and more. To activate some of this features follow these instructions:

*Go to "Toolbar --> window --> preferences --> javascript --> editor --> content assist --> save actions"
**Find and enable "Additional actions"
**Press the button "Configure"
**Find the tab "code organizing"
**Find and enable "remove trailing whitespaces" and also select "all lines"
**Press the button "ok"

*Go to "Toolbar --> window --> preferences --> php --> editor --> save actions"
**Find and enable "Remove trailing whitespaces" and also select "all lines"

*Go to "Toolbar --> window --> preferences --> javascript --> editor --> save actions"
**Find and enable "Perform the selected actions on save"
**Find and enable "Additional actions"
**Press the button "Configure..."
**Select the tab "Code organizing"
**Find and enable "Remove trailing whitespaces"
**Find and select "All lines"
**Press "ok" to close exit

*If you are done doing configurations press "OK" to save and close the preferences window

Chunk:Configuring Eclipse IDE for PHP development - Configuration

2013-08-03T15:52:31Z

Enav: /* code cleaning */

== Configuration ==

=== Installing more extensions ===

For your Eclipse IDE you will need to install more extension for PHP development and other tools to help you in your project development journey, follow this steps and indications:

*On Eclipse go to: "Toolbar --> help --> install new software"
*You are now on the "Install" window, click the drop-down list "Work with" and set it to "--All Available Sites--"
*In the list expand the nodes and find the following packages to install:
Note: You can also use the search box, but for some reason (maybe a bug) Eclipse IDE hangs for few seconds on every search.

** goto "Web, XML, and Java EE Development" and select
*** PHP Development Tools (PDT) SDK Feature
*** JavaScript Development Tools
*** Eclipse Web Developer Tools
** goto "General Purpose Tools" and select
***Remote System Explorer End-User Runtime

*Press "Next>" and follow the installation wizard and restart Eclipse if needed
*On Eclipse go to: "Toolbar --> help --> install new software"
*Press the "Add" button and add this new repository, name it "xtext plugin"

http://download.eclipse.org/modeling/tmf/xtext/updates/composite/releases/

*Press the "Add" button and add this new repository, name it "LESS plugin"

http://www.normalesup.org/~simonet/soft/ow/update/

*Press "Ok" and wait until eclipse fetches all the new elements
*In the selection box next to the "Add" button select the "LESS plugin ..." repository
*On the list below find the "LESS" option and check it

*Press "Next>" and follow the installation wizard and restart Eclipse if needed

Those are all the extension to install for now, they should be enough to do local and remote PHP development, nonetheless you can experiment and tray all the extensions you want.

=== Configuring the perspectives and views ===

In this case we need to configure Eclipse for PHP development, so you should add the following perspectives:

*Go to: "Toolbar --> windows --> open perspective --> others --> debug"
*Go to: "Toolbar --> windows --> open perspective --> others --> php"
*Switch to the "PHP perspective"
*Go to: "Toolbar --> windows --> show view --> others --> remote systems"
*Drag the view from the tab and drop it next to the "PHP explorer" view

Now you can explore local and remote PHP project, how to configure this tools will be explained in [[Setting_up_your_workstation_for_PHP_development | this]] series of articles, but for now leave it for the future.

=== Configuring the editors ===

These are some of the configuration you can do to your editors to improve the user experience:

==== Display white spaces ====

Some people like to see the white spaces represented in the editor to do so:

*Go to "Toolbar --> window --> preferences --> general --> editors --> text editors"
*Set "show whitespace characters" to check

==== Colors ====

To highlight some the parts of the code with stronger colors, follow this steps:

*Go to "Toolbar --> window --> preferences --> general --> editors --> text editors --> annotations "
**On the list find "java scrip occurrences" and set the color value to "#FFFF5A"
**On the list find "matching tags" and set the color value to "#FFFF5A"
**On the list find "php elements read occurrences" and set the color value to "#FFFF5A"

*Go to "Toolbar --> window --> preferences --> general --> editors --> structured text editor"
**Find the list "Appearance color options"
**On the list find "Matching brackets highlight" and set the color value to "#0000FF"

*Go to "Toolbar --> window --> preferences --> javascript --> editor"
**Find the list "Appearance color options"
**On the list find "Matching brackets highlight" and set the color value to "#0000FF"

*Go to "Toolbar --> window --> preferences --> javascript --> editor --> syntax coloring"
**Find the list "Element"
**On the list find "javascript --> functions" enable the option and set the color value to "#1E90FF"
**On the list find "javascript --> function declarations" enable the option and set the color value to "#1E90FF"
**On the list find "javascript --> local variable declaration" enable the option and set the color value to "#A52A2A"
**On the list find "javascript --> local variable references" enable the option and set the color value to "#A52A2A"
**On the list find "javascript --> parameter variables" enable the option and set the color value to "#A52A2A"

*Go to "Toolbar --> window --> preferences --> php --> editor --> syntax coloring"
**Find the list "Syntax element"
**On the list find "functions" and set the color value to "#1E90FF"
**On the list find "methods" and set the color value to "#1E90FF"
**On the list find "variable" and set the color value to "#A52A2A"

==== Spell checking ====

If you want that eclipse assist you on check the grammar of your text, enable this option.

*Go to "Toolbar --> window --> preferences --> general --> editors --> spelling"
**Find and enable "enable spell checking

==== Code folding ====

Code folding is a nice feature of some editor, it allow you to fold the code in certain data structures like functions, classes and other structures such as classes, conditionals and iterators, we are going to fold all the possible except classes content to be able to check and study PHP files quickly

*Go to "Toolbar --> window --> preferences --> general --> editors --> structured text editors"
**Clink on the tab "appearance"
**Find and enable "enable folding"

*Go to "Toolbar --> window --> preferences --> javascript --> editor --> folding"
**Find and enable "enable folding"
**Find and enable "comments"
**Find and enable "header comments"
**Find and enable "members"

*Go to "Toolbar --> window --> preferences --> php --> editor --> code folding"
**Find and enable "enable folding"
**Find and enable "functions"
**Find and enable "phpdoc"
**Find and enable "header phpdoc"

==== code cleaning ====

Eclipse provides some nice utilities to automatically clean the source code of some extra garbage such as cleaning empty lines, deleting unnecessary trials spaces, formatting to the code and more. To activate some of this features follow these instructions:

*Go to "Toolbar --> window --> preferences --> javascript --> editor --> content assist --> save actions"
**Find and enable "Additional actions"
**Press the button "Configure"
**Find the tab "code organizing"
**Find and enable "remove trailing whitespaces" and also select "all lines"
**Press the button "ok"

*Go to "Toolbar --> window --> preferences --> php --> editor --> save actions"
**Find and enable "Remove trailing whitespaces" and also select "all lines"

*Go to "Toolbar --> window --> preferences --> javascript --> editor --> save actions"
**Find and enable "Perform the selected actions on save"
**Find and enable "Additional actions"
**Press the button "Configure..."
**Select the tab "Code organizing"
**Find and enable "Remove trailing whitespaces"
**Find and select "All lines"
**Press "ok" to close exit

User:Enav/Beginners

2013-07-28T07:33:01Z

Enav: /* Understanding How Joomla! Works */

{{RightTOC}}

Welcome to Joomla!, a leading open source Content Management System (CMS) platform. Joomla! is a well-tested, extensible and effective tool supported by a very active and friendly community of developers and users.

This page contain information and list of articles to help you understand the basics of Joomla!, and be able to create and configure your very own Joomla! website in a short time.

== Short Intro To Joomla! CMS ==

In the past websites works using a bunch of linked HTML files, working with websites like this become a really hard task because the huge amount of files an administrator had to deal with very time the website needed an update. Nowadays most modern websites runs over Content Management Systems (CMS), some of this this systems runs using dynamic languages like PHP and databases like MySQL databases, this way a CMS can store and manage huge amount of information just clean and easy.

Joomla! is a very flexible CMS that runs on PHP and uses MySQL databases to store the data. Thanks to Joomla! people around the world can create a wide range of types of websites. Managing the information of your Joomla! website is as easy as managing your email account. Joomla! have many nice features such as multilingual support and a very flexible template system. Most modern Joomla! templates are ready to be nicely rendered on computers, tablets and phones allowing million of new user to access and read the information of your website in a comfortable way.

== Play With Joomla! ==

The fastest way to learn about Joomla! is to start paying with it right away. Visit the demo page and take few minutes to see the demo content and play with the configurations.

<div style="text-align:center">Yes right here---> [http://demo.Joomla.org/ Joomla! demo page]</div>

The first 2 terms you need to learn are "Frontend" and "Backend", the Frontent is the part that shows your site content and the Backend is the part that contains all the administrative tools and pages that let you manage your Joomla! website. To access to your Joomla! site Backend you just need to add the "/administrators" to your Joomla! site path in the browser address bar i.e.:

http://www.example.com/administrator

Now that you know how Joomla! looks and feel in the frontend and backend is time to you to learn what kind of magic you can do with this new tool of yours.

Note: On the demo page you can chose to use a free trial hosting account, when the trial period expires if you chose to contract a paid hosting account with them, the Joomla! Project will receive a royalty for the transaction, consider this option if you would like to support the project.

== What You Can Do With It? ==

Joomla! is a CMS, a system to manage content, To make a small analogy you can [[How_Joomla!_compares_to_an_operating_system | compare Joomla! with a computer operative system]], for example, on your computer the operative system manages the resources of your computer, also you can install applications to do more things on your computer, in this order of ideas Joomla! is the one in charge to manage the data and you can install "extensions" to extend and enhance the functions of Joomla!.

Joomla! comes by default with a bunch of extensions pre-installed and pre-configured to make Joomla! works as a news magazine website, but you can manually configure your Joomla! site to easily make it works as a:

* Blog site
* Company or Government site
* Contact directory
* Online catalog

Now if your interest is to create more complex sites like:

* eCommerce sites with shopping cart
* Support sites with forums and ticket systems
* News sites with paid subscription system and comment systems
* e-learning sites with paid subscription systems

Then you need to install 3rd party extensions to make your Joomla! site work the way you need. Lots and lots of extensions are available for free with no cost at all at the Joomla! extension directory, others extensions are commercial, this means that you need to pay a fee to have the right to use them or have tech support from their developers. this is always a nice way to support developer and their extensions that you may find useful for your site.

Here at [http://extensions.Joomla.org/ The Joomla! Extension Directory] you have thousands of extensions to chose from, take some time to visit the directory and do few searches for the sake to get familiarized with it, you may need to use some more extensions in the future if you decide to [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYtbEmO_JC4 pimp up] your Joomla! site.

Maybe one of your clients clients or your boss is asking you for a web solution with a very specific set of requirements and the information so far does not help you to determine if Joomla! is suitable for the job, in order to help you to save some time feel free to visit the Joomla! community people and make your questions to any friendly human around:

{{Chunk:Community contacts}}

== Short Introduction On How Joomla! Works ==

[[File:Diagram generic page layout 20130419.png | frame | right | Generic page layout]]

If you are new to this world of websites and webpages is important to learn some few new term and understand their meaning in order grow a technical vocabulary that will let you communicate in an efficient way with other website administrator, web developer and web designers.

A webpage is a document, as any document like a memo or love letter it have parts, this parts are the header, the content and the footer, this are the same basic structures present in most webpages on internet. The given illustration shows the basic layout of a common webpage indicating it parts.

Joomla! is a CMS that is able to render webpages dynamically it means that the webpages that you can see from your Joomla! website are not static files stored in a disk, instead Joomla! uses PHP and databases to fetch the stored information, then process such information and renders and deliver a webpage almost instantly. For instance if you visit the [http://demo.Joomla.org/ Joomla! demo] the first page you will see is the "home page" home page is the name of the first page where Internet visitors land when they visit a website.

Joomla! have tow well defined sections the "Frontend" and the "Backend", as explained before the Frontend is the part of the website that any visitor can see and the Backend is the administrative part that is restricted for administrators or users with privileges. In the Joomla! Backend you can manage your website content, edit lots of configurations and install new stuff for your Joomla! website.

As said before to visit your Joomla! Backend put "/administratior" after your website address just like this

http://www.example.com/administrator

Joomla! is a very flexible systems and it internal elements are designed with a modular perspective that let users and developers reuse certain things over and over, just like a Lego bricks you can plug and configure several Joomla! elements in certain order and fashion to have a particular outcome.

If you take a look at any Joomla! website you will most likely see a menu at the header, a bunch of

In Joomla! the visual location and position of those chunks of data described in the previous list are defined by the current template layout, also the template determines the styles and presentation of the information in general.

Now you may wonder what is used to render each of those chunks of data, and the answer is modules and components. Joomla! depends on extensions (components, modules, plugins) to render chunks of information that have certain characteristics, for example, for small and compact chunks of data like header, main menu, side content and footer Joomla! uses modules which are meant to be used for that purpose. For the main content of the page that is normally a large and dynamic chunk of data, the extension in use are components.

Finally the last extension to describe is the plugin. Plugins are categorized depending on the job they do, some plugins modify the page information, some plugins enhance the Joomla functions and other plugins add new functions to Joomla!. For example the classic "Read more" link/button that is visible under some articles lists is generated by a content plugin, there is also a plugin that let users login in a Joomla! site using their Gmail account login information, that kind of plugin is called authentication plugin.

In resume:

* Templates: Defines the page layout and styles.
* Component: Used to render large chucks of dynamic data.
* Modules: Used to render normally small and static chunks of data.
* Plugins: Used to manipulate data, enhance functions or/and add new functions.

Both the frontend and the backend uses templates and extensions. Is a normal thing that many Joomla! sites uses different templates on the Frontend and leave the Backend with the default administrative template but you can always install a custom 3rd party template in both sides. More information about extensions [[Extension_types_(general_definitions) | Here]].

Note: Most developers creates extensions based on how the default administrative template looks and works you may experience bugs and visual glitches with 3rd party administrative templates, so we recommend the use of the default Joomla! administrative template, also most tutorials and documentation screenshots in general are based on the default Joomla! administrative template.

== Installing Joomla! ==

If you already have a working Joomla! installation or you want to keep using the demo sites, then skip this section.

Now that you had enough fun playing with the Joomla! demo site you may want to go the next level and start messing around with extensions and templates to see how they do in your own server.

* [[Beginners/Installing Joomla! on a rented web server | Installing Joomla! on a rented web server]]
* [[Beginners/Installing Joomla! on a local web server | Installing Joomla! on a local web server]]

== Learning to Use Joomla! ==

Now that you have a working Joomla! site, you will want to start filling it with your own content and making it look just the way you want. Before that you need to learn how to work with Joomla!, follow the [[Getting Started with Joomla!]] tutorial.

If you still hungry for more information go ahead and check the the [[Complete Joomla! Guide]].

== Start Creating Your Joomla! Site ==

Now that you know the basics of Joomla! operations and configurations is time to create a real website. The following tutorials will teach you how properly set up your Joomla! installation to work in certain ways.

* Creating a News site with Joomla!
* Creating a Blog site with Joomla!
* Creating a Community site with Joomla!
* Creating an Institutional site with Joomla!
* Creating an eCommerce site with Joomla!

== Keep Your Joomla! Site Secure ==

Security is always a big concern on the web, to make sure you are using best security practices take a read to the following articles:

* [[Security Checklist]]
* [[Security and Performance FAQs]]
* [[Top 10 Stupidest Administrator Tricks]]

If you have any security concern or question visit the Security section of the Joomla! forums or visit the Joomla! community at:

{{Chunk:Community contacts}}

== Getting Help ==

The Joomla! community is composed by large groups of people from all around the world, you can get help from many ways contacting our community people at the Joomla! forums, instant messaging or social networks.

Follow this tips to get the best help and faster solution to most of your answers:

* Most common questions are already answered, do a quick internet search using short phrases. If your problem is an error, copy and paste the error message on your search to see the related search matches.
* Have a quick look at our [FAQs] page.
* If you can't find and answer, contact our community people and make your questions on the forums, IRC or the social networks, pleas be nice, give us details about your problem and Joomla! version.
* And hey hang around, try to help others or simply make new friends, the more people the stronger our community will be.

The Joomla! forums are among the busiest support forums in the world with around 1500 post each day, they are a great place to get help, you can also meet other Joomla! users on:

{{Chunk:Community_contacts}}

== Tutorials and Howtos ==

Note for collaborator: List bellow any tutorials or howtos for non-expert audience, keep the content short and friendly as much as possible.

* How To Backup And Restore Your Joomla! Site
* How To Recover Your Joomla! Administration Password

== More ==

Come [[User:Enav/Beginners/more | Here]] to see some information and archived articles.

[[Category:Landing Pages]]
[[Category:Joomla! user profiles]]
[[Category:Beginners]]

User:Enav/Beginners

2013-07-28T06:42:49Z

Enav: /* Play With Joomla! */

{{RightTOC}}

Welcome to Joomla!, a leading open source Content Management System (CMS) platform. Joomla! is a well-tested, extensible and effective tool supported by a very active and friendly community of developers and users.

This page contain information and list of articles to help you understand the basics of Joomla!, and be able to create and configure your very own Joomla! website in a short time.

== Short Intro To Joomla! CMS ==

In the past websites works using a bunch of linked HTML files, working with websites like this become a really hard task because the huge amount of files an administrator had to deal with very time the website needed an update. Nowadays most modern websites runs over Content Management Systems (CMS), some of this this systems runs using dynamic languages like PHP and databases like MySQL databases, this way a CMS can store and manage huge amount of information just clean and easy.

Joomla! is a very flexible CMS that runs on PHP and uses MySQL databases to store the data. Thanks to Joomla! people around the world can create a wide range of types of websites. Managing the information of your Joomla! website is as easy as managing your email account. Joomla! have many nice features such as multilingual support and a very flexible template system. Most modern Joomla! templates are ready to be nicely rendered on computers, tablets and phones allowing million of new user to access and read the information of your website in a comfortable way.

== Play With Joomla! ==

The fastest way to learn about Joomla! is to start paying with it right away. Visit the demo page and take few minutes to see the demo content and play with the configurations.

<div style="text-align:center">Yes right here---> [http://demo.Joomla.org/ Joomla! demo page]</div>

The first 2 terms you need to learn are "Frontend" and "Backend", the Frontent is the part that shows your site content and the Backend is the part that contains all the administrative tools and pages that let you manage your Joomla! website. To access to your Joomla! site Backend you just need to add the "/administrators" to your Joomla! site path in the browser address bar i.e.:

http://www.example.com/administrator

Now that you know how Joomla! looks and feel in the frontend and backend is time to you to learn what kind of magic you can do with this new tool of yours.

Note: On the demo page you can chose to use a free trial hosting account, when the trial period expires if you chose to contract a paid hosting account with them, the Joomla! Project will receive a royalty for the transaction, consider this option if you would like to support the project.

== What You Can Do With It? ==

Joomla! is a CMS, a system to manage content, To make a small analogy you can [[How_Joomla!_compares_to_an_operating_system | compare Joomla! with a computer operative system]], for example, on your computer the operative system manages the resources of your computer, also you can install applications to do more things on your computer, in this order of ideas Joomla! is the one in charge to manage the data and you can install "extensions" to extend and enhance the functions of Joomla!.

Joomla! comes by default with a bunch of extensions pre-installed and pre-configured to make Joomla! works as a news magazine website, but you can manually configure your Joomla! site to easily make it works as a:

* Blog site
* Company or Government site
* Contact directory
* Online catalog

Now if your interest is to create more complex sites like:

* eCommerce sites with shopping cart
* Support sites with forums and ticket systems
* News sites with paid subscription system and comment systems
* e-learning sites with paid subscription systems

Then you need to install 3rd party extensions to make your Joomla! site work the way you need. Lots and lots of extensions are available for free with no cost at all at the Joomla! extension directory, others extensions are commercial, this means that you need to pay a fee to have the right to use them or have tech support from their developers. this is always a nice way to support developer and their extensions that you may find useful for your site.

Here at [http://extensions.Joomla.org/ The Joomla! Extension Directory] you have thousands of extensions to chose from, take some time to visit the directory and do few searches for the sake to get familiarized with it, you may need to use some more extensions in the future if you decide to [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYtbEmO_JC4 pimp up] your Joomla! site.

Maybe one of your clients clients or your boss is asking you for a web solution with a very specific set of requirements and the information so far does not help you to determine if Joomla! is suitable for the job, in order to help you to save some time feel free to visit the Joomla! community people and make your questions to any friendly human around:

{{Chunk:Community contacts}}

== Understanding How Joomla! Works ==

[[File:Diagram generic page layout 20130419.png | frame | right | Generic page layout]]

To keep this introductory article short and friendly as much as possible we will say that Joomla! have two main parts, the Frontend and the Backend, as explained before the Frontend shows the site content that any visitor can see and the Backend is the administrative part that is normally restricted for users with privileges such as administrators.

Taking a quick look at the average website we can conclude that most of them have this basic layout:

* Header
* Main menu
* Main content
* Side content (left or right of main content)
* Footer

In Joomla! the visual location and position of those chunks of data described in the previous list are defined by the current template layout, also the template determines the styles and presentation of the information in general.

Now you may wonder what is used to render each of those chunks of data, and the answer is modules and components. Joomla! depends on extensions (components, modules, plugins) to render chunks of information that have certain characteristics, for example, for small and compact chunks of data like header, main menu, side content and footer Joomla! uses modules which are meant to be used for that purpose. For the main content of the page that is normally a large and dynamic chunk of data, the extension in use are components.

Finally the last extension to describe is the plugin. Plugins are categorized depending on the job they do, some plugins modify the page information, some plugins enhance the Joomla functions and other plugins add new functions to Joomla!. For example the classic "Read more" link/button that is visible under some articles lists is generated by a content plugin, there is also a plugin that let users login in a Joomla! site using their Gmail account login information, that kind of plugin is called authentication plugin.

In resume:

* Templates: Defines the page layout and styles.
* Component: Used to render large chucks of dynamic data.
* Modules: Used to render normally small and static chunks of data.
* Plugins: Used to manipulate data, enhance functions or/and add new functions.

Both the frontend and the backend uses templates and extensions. Is a normal thing that many Joomla! sites uses different templates on the Frontend and leave the Backend with the default administrative template but you can always install a custom 3rd party template in both sides. More information about extensions [[Extension_types_(general_definitions) | Here]].

Note: Most developers creates extensions based on how the default administrative template looks and works you may experience bugs and visual glitches with 3rd party administrative templates, so we recommend the use of the default Joomla! administrative template, also most tutorials and documentation screenshots in general are based on the default Joomla! administrative template.

== Installing Joomla! ==

If you already have a working Joomla! installation or you want to keep using the demo sites, then skip this section.

Now that you had enough fun playing with the Joomla! demo site you may want to go the next level and start messing around with extensions and templates to see how they do in your own server.

* [[Beginners/Installing Joomla! on a rented web server | Installing Joomla! on a rented web server]]
* [[Beginners/Installing Joomla! on a local web server | Installing Joomla! on a local web server]]

== Learning to Use Joomla! ==

Now that you have a working Joomla! site, you will want to start filling it with your own content and making it look just the way you want. Before that you need to learn how to work with Joomla!, follow the [[Getting Started with Joomla!]] tutorial.

If you still hungry for more information go ahead and check the the [[Complete Joomla! Guide]].

== Start Creating Your Joomla! Site ==

Now that you know the basics of Joomla! operations and configurations is time to create a real website. The following tutorials will teach you how properly set up your Joomla! installation to work in certain ways.

* Creating a News site with Joomla!
* Creating a Blog site with Joomla!
* Creating a Community site with Joomla!
* Creating an Institutional site with Joomla!
* Creating an eCommerce site with Joomla!

== Keep Your Joomla! Site Secure ==

Security is always a big concern on the web, to make sure you are using best security practices take a read to the following articles:

* [[Security Checklist]]
* [[Security and Performance FAQs]]
* [[Top 10 Stupidest Administrator Tricks]]

If you have any security concern or question visit the Security section of the Joomla! forums or visit the Joomla! community at:

{{Chunk:Community contacts}}

== Getting Help ==

The Joomla! community is composed by large groups of people from all around the world, you can get help from many ways contacting our community people at the Joomla! forums, instant messaging or social networks.

Follow this tips to get the best help and faster solution to most of your answers:

* Most common questions are already answered, do a quick internet search using short phrases. If your problem is an error, copy and paste the error message on your search to see the related search matches.
* Have a quick look at our [FAQs] page.
* If you can't find and answer, contact our community people and make your questions on the forums, IRC or the social networks, pleas be nice, give us details about your problem and Joomla! version.
* And hey hang around, try to help others or simply make new friends, the more people the stronger our community will be.

The Joomla! forums are among the busiest support forums in the world with around 1500 post each day, they are a great place to get help, you can also meet other Joomla! users on:

{{Chunk:Community_contacts}}

== Tutorials and Howtos ==

Note for collaborator: List bellow any tutorials or howtos for non-expert audience, keep the content short and friendly as much as possible.

* How To Backup And Restore Your Joomla! Site
* How To Recover Your Joomla! Administration Password

== More ==

Come [[User:Enav/Beginners/more | Here]] to see some information and archived articles.

[[Category:Landing Pages]]
[[Category:Joomla! user profiles]]
[[Category:Beginners]]

User:Enav/Beginners

2013-07-28T06:07:02Z

Enav: /* Short intro to Joomla! CMS */

{{RightTOC}}

Welcome to Joomla!, a leading open source Content Management System (CMS) platform. Joomla! is a well-tested, extensible and effective tool supported by a very active and friendly community of developers and users.

This page contain information and list of articles to help you understand the basics of Joomla!, and be able to create and configure your very own Joomla! website in a short time.

== Short Intro To Joomla! CMS ==

In the past websites works using a bunch of linked HTML files, working with websites like this become a really hard task because the huge amount of files an administrator had to deal with very time the website needed an update. Nowadays most modern websites runs over Content Management Systems (CMS), some of this this systems runs using dynamic languages like PHP and databases like MySQL databases, this way a CMS can store and manage huge amount of information just clean and easy.

Joomla! is a very flexible CMS that runs on PHP and uses MySQL databases to store the data. Thanks to Joomla! people around the world can create a wide range of types of websites. Managing the information of your Joomla! website is as easy as managing your email account. Joomla! have many nice features such as multilingual support and a very flexible template system. Most modern Joomla! templates are ready to be nicely rendered on computers, tablets and phones allowing million of new user to access and read the information of your website in a comfortable way.

== Play With Joomla! ==

The fastest way to learn about Joomla! is to start paying with it right away. Visit the demo page and take few minutes to see the demo content and play with the configurations.

<div style="text-align:center">Yes right here---> [http://demo.Joomla.org/ Joomla! demo page]</div>

The first 2 terms you need to learn are "Frontend" and "Backend", the Frontent is the part that shows your site content and the Backend is the part that contains all the administrative tools and pages that let you manage your Joomla! website. To access to your Joomla! site Backend you just need to add the "/administrators" to your Joomla! site path in the browser address bar i.e.:

www.example.com/administrator

Now that you know how Joomla! looks and feel in the frontend and backend is time to you to learn what kind of magic you can do with this new tool of yours.

Note: On the demo page you can chose to use a free trial hosting account, when the trial period expires if you chose to contract a paid hosting account with them, the Joomla! Project will receive a royalty for the transaction, consider this option if you would like to support the project.

== What You Can Do With It? ==

Joomla! is a CMS, a system to manage content, To make a small analogy you can [[How_Joomla!_compares_to_an_operating_system | compare Joomla! with a computer operative system]], for example, on your computer the operative system manages the resources of your computer, also you can install applications to do more things on your computer, in this order of ideas Joomla! is the one in charge to manage the data and you can install "extensions" to extend and enhance the functions of Joomla!.

Joomla! comes by default with a bunch of extensions pre-installed and pre-configured to make Joomla! works as a news magazine website, but you can manually configure your Joomla! site to easily make it works as a:

* Blog site
* Company or Government site
* Contact directory
* Online catalog

Now if your interest is to create more complex sites like:

* eCommerce sites with shopping cart
* Support sites with forums and ticket systems
* News sites with paid subscription system and comment systems
* e-learning sites with paid subscription systems

Then you need to install 3rd party extensions to make your Joomla! site work the way you need. Lots and lots of extensions are available for free with no cost at all at the Joomla! extension directory, others extensions are commercial, this means that you need to pay a fee to have the right to use them or have tech support from their developers. this is always a nice way to support developer and their extensions that you may find useful for your site.

Here at [http://extensions.Joomla.org/ The Joomla! Extension Directory] you have thousands of extensions to chose from, take some time to visit the directory and do few searches for the sake to get familiarized with it, you may need to use some more extensions in the future if you decide to [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYtbEmO_JC4 pimp up] your Joomla! site.

Maybe one of your clients clients or your boss is asking you for a web solution with a very specific set of requirements and the information so far does not help you to determine if Joomla! is suitable for the job, in order to help you to save some time feel free to visit the Joomla! community people and make your questions to any friendly human around:

{{Chunk:Community contacts}}

== Understanding How Joomla! Works ==

[[File:Diagram generic page layout 20130419.png | frame | right | Generic page layout]]

To keep this introductory article short and friendly as much as possible we will say that Joomla! have two main parts, the Frontend and the Backend, as explained before the Frontend shows the site content that any visitor can see and the Backend is the administrative part that is normally restricted for users with privileges such as administrators.

Taking a quick look at the average website we can conclude that most of them have this basic layout:

* Header
* Main menu
* Main content
* Side content (left or right of main content)
* Footer

In Joomla! the visual location and position of those chunks of data described in the previous list are defined by the current template layout, also the template determines the styles and presentation of the information in general.

Now you may wonder what is used to render each of those chunks of data, and the answer is modules and components. Joomla! depends on extensions (components, modules, plugins) to render chunks of information that have certain characteristics, for example, for small and compact chunks of data like header, main menu, side content and footer Joomla! uses modules which are meant to be used for that purpose. For the main content of the page that is normally a large and dynamic chunk of data, the extension in use are components.

Finally the last extension to describe is the plugin. Plugins are categorized depending on the job they do, some plugins modify the page information, some plugins enhance the Joomla functions and other plugins add new functions to Joomla!. For example the classic "Read more" link/button that is visible under some articles lists is generated by a content plugin, there is also a plugin that let users login in a Joomla! site using their Gmail account login information, that kind of plugin is called authentication plugin.

In resume:

* Templates: Defines the page layout and styles.
* Component: Used to render large chucks of dynamic data.
* Modules: Used to render normally small and static chunks of data.
* Plugins: Used to manipulate data, enhance functions or/and add new functions.

Both the frontend and the backend uses templates and extensions. Is a normal thing that many Joomla! sites uses different templates on the Frontend and leave the Backend with the default administrative template but you can always install a custom 3rd party template in both sides. More information about extensions [[Extension_types_(general_definitions) | Here]].

Note: Most developers creates extensions based on how the default administrative template looks and works you may experience bugs and visual glitches with 3rd party administrative templates, so we recommend the use of the default Joomla! administrative template, also most tutorials and documentation screenshots in general are based on the default Joomla! administrative template.

== Installing Joomla! ==

If you already have a working Joomla! installation or you want to keep using the demo sites, then skip this section.

Now that you had enough fun playing with the Joomla! demo site you may want to go the next level and start messing around with extensions and templates to see how they do in your own server.

* [[Beginners/Installing Joomla! on a rented web server | Installing Joomla! on a rented web server]]
* [[Beginners/Installing Joomla! on a local web server | Installing Joomla! on a local web server]]

== Learning to Use Joomla! ==

Now that you have a working Joomla! site, you will want to start filling it with your own content and making it look just the way you want. Before that you need to learn how to work with Joomla!, follow the [[Getting Started with Joomla!]] tutorial.

If you still hungry for more information go ahead and check the the [[Complete Joomla! Guide]].

== Start Creating Your Joomla! Site ==

Now that you know the basics of Joomla! operations and configurations is time to create a real website. The following tutorials will teach you how properly set up your Joomla! installation to work in certain ways.

* Creating a News site with Joomla!
* Creating a Blog site with Joomla!
* Creating a Community site with Joomla!
* Creating an Institutional site with Joomla!
* Creating an eCommerce site with Joomla!

== Keep Your Joomla! Site Secure ==

Security is always a big concern on the web, to make sure you are using best security practices take a read to the following articles:

* [[Security Checklist]]
* [[Security and Performance FAQs]]
* [[Top 10 Stupidest Administrator Tricks]]

If you have any security concern or question visit the Security section of the Joomla! forums or visit the Joomla! community at:

{{Chunk:Community contacts}}

== Getting Help ==

The Joomla! community is composed by large groups of people from all around the world, you can get help from many ways contacting our community people at the Joomla! forums, instant messaging or social networks.

Follow this tips to get the best help and faster solution to most of your answers:

* Most common questions are already answered, do a quick internet search using short phrases. If your problem is an error, copy and paste the error message on your search to see the related search matches.
* Have a quick look at our [FAQs] page.
* If you can't find and answer, contact our community people and make your questions on the forums, IRC or the social networks, pleas be nice, give us details about your problem and Joomla! version.
* And hey hang around, try to help others or simply make new friends, the more people the stronger our community will be.

The Joomla! forums are among the busiest support forums in the world with around 1500 post each day, they are a great place to get help, you can also meet other Joomla! users on:

{{Chunk:Community_contacts}}

== Tutorials and Howtos ==

Note for collaborator: List bellow any tutorials or howtos for non-expert audience, keep the content short and friendly as much as possible.

* How To Backup And Restore Your Joomla! Site
* How To Recover Your Joomla! Administration Password

== More ==

Come [[User:Enav/Beginners/more | Here]] to see some information and archived articles.

[[Category:Landing Pages]]
[[Category:Joomla! user profiles]]
[[Category:Beginners]]

User:Enav/Beginners

2013-07-28T06:06:45Z

Enav: /* What Can I Do With It? */

{{RightTOC}}

Welcome to Joomla!, a leading open source Content Management System (CMS) platform. Joomla! is a well-tested, extensible and effective tool supported by a very active and friendly community of developers and users.

This page contain information and list of articles to help you understand the basics of Joomla!, and be able to create and configure your very own Joomla! website in a short time.

== Short intro to Joomla! CMS ==

In the past websites works using a bunch of linked HTML files, working with websites like this become a really hard task because the huge amount of files an administrator had to deal with very time the website needed an update. Nowadays most modern websites runs over Content Management Systems (CMS), some of this this systems runs using dynamic languages like PHP and databases like MySQL databases, this way a CMS can store and manage huge amount of information just clean and easy.

Joomla! is a very flexible CMS that runs on PHP and uses MySQL databases to store the data. Thanks to Joomla! people around the world can create a wide range of types of websites. Managing the information of your Joomla! website is as easy as managing your email account. Joomla! have many nice features such as multilingual support and a very flexible template system. Most modern Joomla! templates are ready to be nicely rendered on computers, tablets and phones allowing million of new user to access and read the information of your website in a comfortable way.

== Play With Joomla! ==

The fastest way to learn about Joomla! is to start paying with it right away. Visit the demo page and take few minutes to see the demo content and play with the configurations.

<div style="text-align:center">Yes right here---> [http://demo.Joomla.org/ Joomla! demo page]</div>

The first 2 terms you need to learn are "Frontend" and "Backend", the Frontent is the part that shows your site content and the Backend is the part that contains all the administrative tools and pages that let you manage your Joomla! website. To access to your Joomla! site Backend you just need to add the "/administrators" to your Joomla! site path in the browser address bar i.e.:

www.example.com/administrator

Now that you know how Joomla! looks and feel in the frontend and backend is time to you to learn what kind of magic you can do with this new tool of yours.

Note: On the demo page you can chose to use a free trial hosting account, when the trial period expires if you chose to contract a paid hosting account with them, the Joomla! Project will receive a royalty for the transaction, consider this option if you would like to support the project.

== What You Can Do With It? ==

Joomla! is a CMS, a system to manage content, To make a small analogy you can [[How_Joomla!_compares_to_an_operating_system | compare Joomla! with a computer operative system]], for example, on your computer the operative system manages the resources of your computer, also you can install applications to do more things on your computer, in this order of ideas Joomla! is the one in charge to manage the data and you can install "extensions" to extend and enhance the functions of Joomla!.

Joomla! comes by default with a bunch of extensions pre-installed and pre-configured to make Joomla! works as a news magazine website, but you can manually configure your Joomla! site to easily make it works as a:

* Blog site
* Company or Government site
* Contact directory
* Online catalog

Now if your interest is to create more complex sites like:

* eCommerce sites with shopping cart
* Support sites with forums and ticket systems
* News sites with paid subscription system and comment systems
* e-learning sites with paid subscription systems

Then you need to install 3rd party extensions to make your Joomla! site work the way you need. Lots and lots of extensions are available for free with no cost at all at the Joomla! extension directory, others extensions are commercial, this means that you need to pay a fee to have the right to use them or have tech support from their developers. this is always a nice way to support developer and their extensions that you may find useful for your site.

Here at [http://extensions.Joomla.org/ The Joomla! Extension Directory] you have thousands of extensions to chose from, take some time to visit the directory and do few searches for the sake to get familiarized with it, you may need to use some more extensions in the future if you decide to [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYtbEmO_JC4 pimp up] your Joomla! site.

Maybe one of your clients clients or your boss is asking you for a web solution with a very specific set of requirements and the information so far does not help you to determine if Joomla! is suitable for the job, in order to help you to save some time feel free to visit the Joomla! community people and make your questions to any friendly human around:

{{Chunk:Community contacts}}

== Understanding How Joomla! Works ==

[[File:Diagram generic page layout 20130419.png | frame | right | Generic page layout]]

To keep this introductory article short and friendly as much as possible we will say that Joomla! have two main parts, the Frontend and the Backend, as explained before the Frontend shows the site content that any visitor can see and the Backend is the administrative part that is normally restricted for users with privileges such as administrators.

Taking a quick look at the average website we can conclude that most of them have this basic layout:

* Header
* Main menu
* Main content
* Side content (left or right of main content)
* Footer

In Joomla! the visual location and position of those chunks of data described in the previous list are defined by the current template layout, also the template determines the styles and presentation of the information in general.

Now you may wonder what is used to render each of those chunks of data, and the answer is modules and components. Joomla! depends on extensions (components, modules, plugins) to render chunks of information that have certain characteristics, for example, for small and compact chunks of data like header, main menu, side content and footer Joomla! uses modules which are meant to be used for that purpose. For the main content of the page that is normally a large and dynamic chunk of data, the extension in use are components.

Finally the last extension to describe is the plugin. Plugins are categorized depending on the job they do, some plugins modify the page information, some plugins enhance the Joomla functions and other plugins add new functions to Joomla!. For example the classic "Read more" link/button that is visible under some articles lists is generated by a content plugin, there is also a plugin that let users login in a Joomla! site using their Gmail account login information, that kind of plugin is called authentication plugin.

In resume:

* Templates: Defines the page layout and styles.
* Component: Used to render large chucks of dynamic data.
* Modules: Used to render normally small and static chunks of data.
* Plugins: Used to manipulate data, enhance functions or/and add new functions.

Both the frontend and the backend uses templates and extensions. Is a normal thing that many Joomla! sites uses different templates on the Frontend and leave the Backend with the default administrative template but you can always install a custom 3rd party template in both sides. More information about extensions [[Extension_types_(general_definitions) | Here]].

Note: Most developers creates extensions based on how the default administrative template looks and works you may experience bugs and visual glitches with 3rd party administrative templates, so we recommend the use of the default Joomla! administrative template, also most tutorials and documentation screenshots in general are based on the default Joomla! administrative template.

== Installing Joomla! ==

If you already have a working Joomla! installation or you want to keep using the demo sites, then skip this section.

Now that you had enough fun playing with the Joomla! demo site you may want to go the next level and start messing around with extensions and templates to see how they do in your own server.

* [[Beginners/Installing Joomla! on a rented web server | Installing Joomla! on a rented web server]]
* [[Beginners/Installing Joomla! on a local web server | Installing Joomla! on a local web server]]

== Learning to Use Joomla! ==

Now that you have a working Joomla! site, you will want to start filling it with your own content and making it look just the way you want. Before that you need to learn how to work with Joomla!, follow the [[Getting Started with Joomla!]] tutorial.

If you still hungry for more information go ahead and check the the [[Complete Joomla! Guide]].

== Start Creating Your Joomla! Site ==

Now that you know the basics of Joomla! operations and configurations is time to create a real website. The following tutorials will teach you how properly set up your Joomla! installation to work in certain ways.

* Creating a News site with Joomla!
* Creating a Blog site with Joomla!
* Creating a Community site with Joomla!
* Creating an Institutional site with Joomla!
* Creating an eCommerce site with Joomla!

== Keep Your Joomla! Site Secure ==

Security is always a big concern on the web, to make sure you are using best security practices take a read to the following articles:

* [[Security Checklist]]
* [[Security and Performance FAQs]]
* [[Top 10 Stupidest Administrator Tricks]]

If you have any security concern or question visit the Security section of the Joomla! forums or visit the Joomla! community at:

{{Chunk:Community contacts}}

== Getting Help ==

The Joomla! community is composed by large groups of people from all around the world, you can get help from many ways contacting our community people at the Joomla! forums, instant messaging or social networks.

Follow this tips to get the best help and faster solution to most of your answers:

* Most common questions are already answered, do a quick internet search using short phrases. If your problem is an error, copy and paste the error message on your search to see the related search matches.
* Have a quick look at our [FAQs] page.
* If you can't find and answer, contact our community people and make your questions on the forums, IRC or the social networks, pleas be nice, give us details about your problem and Joomla! version.
* And hey hang around, try to help others or simply make new friends, the more people the stronger our community will be.

The Joomla! forums are among the busiest support forums in the world with around 1500 post each day, they are a great place to get help, you can also meet other Joomla! users on:

{{Chunk:Community_contacts}}

== Tutorials and Howtos ==

Note for collaborator: List bellow any tutorials or howtos for non-expert audience, keep the content short and friendly as much as possible.

* How To Backup And Restore Your Joomla! Site
* How To Recover Your Joomla! Administration Password

== More ==

Come [[User:Enav/Beginners/more | Here]] to see some information and archived articles.

[[Category:Landing Pages]]
[[Category:Joomla! user profiles]]
[[Category:Beginners]]

User:Enav/Beginners

2013-07-28T06:03:56Z

Enav: /* Installing Joomla! */

{{RightTOC}}

Welcome to Joomla!, a leading open source Content Management System (CMS) platform. Joomla! is a well-tested, extensible and effective tool supported by a very active and friendly community of developers and users.

This page contain information and list of articles to help you understand the basics of Joomla!, and be able to create and configure your very own Joomla! website in a short time.

== Short intro to Joomla! CMS ==

In the past websites works using a bunch of linked HTML files, working with websites like this become a really hard task because the huge amount of files an administrator had to deal with very time the website needed an update. Nowadays most modern websites runs over Content Management Systems (CMS), some of this this systems runs using dynamic languages like PHP and databases like MySQL databases, this way a CMS can store and manage huge amount of information just clean and easy.

Joomla! is a very flexible CMS that runs on PHP and uses MySQL databases to store the data. Thanks to Joomla! people around the world can create a wide range of types of websites. Managing the information of your Joomla! website is as easy as managing your email account. Joomla! have many nice features such as multilingual support and a very flexible template system. Most modern Joomla! templates are ready to be nicely rendered on computers, tablets and phones allowing million of new user to access and read the information of your website in a comfortable way.

== Play With Joomla! ==

The fastest way to learn about Joomla! is to start paying with it right away. Visit the demo page and take few minutes to see the demo content and play with the configurations.

<div style="text-align:center">Yes right here---> [http://demo.Joomla.org/ Joomla! demo page]</div>

The first 2 terms you need to learn are "Frontend" and "Backend", the Frontent is the part that shows your site content and the Backend is the part that contains all the administrative tools and pages that let you manage your Joomla! website. To access to your Joomla! site Backend you just need to add the "/administrators" to your Joomla! site path in the browser address bar i.e.:

www.example.com/administrator

Now that you know how Joomla! looks and feel in the frontend and backend is time to you to learn what kind of magic you can do with this new tool of yours.

Note: On the demo page you can chose to use a free trial hosting account, when the trial period expires if you chose to contract a paid hosting account with them, the Joomla! Project will receive a royalty for the transaction, consider this option if you would like to support the project.

== What Can I Do With It? ==

Joomla! is a CMS, a system to manage content, To make a small analogy you can [[How_Joomla!_compares_to_an_operating_system | compare Joomla! with a computer operative system]], for example, on your computer the operative system manages the resources of your computer, also you can install applications to do more things on your computer, in this order of ideas Joomla! is the one in charge to manage the data and you can install "extensions" to extend and enhance the functions of Joomla!.

Joomla! comes by default with a bunch of extensions pre-installed and pre-configured to make Joomla! works as a news magazine website, but you can manually configure your Joomla! site to easily make it works as a:

* Blog site
* Company or Government site
* Contact directory
* Online catalog

Now if your interest is to create more complex sites like:

* eCommerce sites with shopping cart
* Support sites with forums and ticket systems
* News sites with paid subscription system and comment systems
* e-learning sites with paid subscription systems

Then you need to install 3rd party extensions to make your Joomla! site work the way you need. Lots and lots of extensions are available for free with no cost at all at the Joomla! extension directory, others extensions are commercial, this means that you need to pay a fee to have the right to use them or have tech support from their developers. this is always a nice way to support developer and their extensions that you may find useful for your site.

Here at [http://extensions.Joomla.org/ The Joomla! Extension Directory] you have thousands of extensions to chose from, take some time to visit the directory and do few searches for the sake to get familiarized with it, you may need to use some more extensions in the future if you decide to [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYtbEmO_JC4 pimp up] your Joomla! site.

Maybe one of your clients clients or your boss is asking you for a web solution with a very specific set of requirements and the information so far does not help you to determine if Joomla! is suitable for the job, in order to help you to save some time feel free to visit the Joomla! community people and make your questions to any friendly human around:

{{Chunk:Community contacts}}

== Understanding How Joomla! Works ==

[[File:Diagram generic page layout 20130419.png | frame | right | Generic page layout]]

To keep this introductory article short and friendly as much as possible we will say that Joomla! have two main parts, the Frontend and the Backend, as explained before the Frontend shows the site content that any visitor can see and the Backend is the administrative part that is normally restricted for users with privileges such as administrators.

Taking a quick look at the average website we can conclude that most of them have this basic layout:

* Header
* Main menu
* Main content
* Side content (left or right of main content)
* Footer

In Joomla! the visual location and position of those chunks of data described in the previous list are defined by the current template layout, also the template determines the styles and presentation of the information in general.

Now you may wonder what is used to render each of those chunks of data, and the answer is modules and components. Joomla! depends on extensions (components, modules, plugins) to render chunks of information that have certain characteristics, for example, for small and compact chunks of data like header, main menu, side content and footer Joomla! uses modules which are meant to be used for that purpose. For the main content of the page that is normally a large and dynamic chunk of data, the extension in use are components.

Finally the last extension to describe is the plugin. Plugins are categorized depending on the job they do, some plugins modify the page information, some plugins enhance the Joomla functions and other plugins add new functions to Joomla!. For example the classic "Read more" link/button that is visible under some articles lists is generated by a content plugin, there is also a plugin that let users login in a Joomla! site using their Gmail account login information, that kind of plugin is called authentication plugin.

In resume:

* Templates: Defines the page layout and styles.
* Component: Used to render large chucks of dynamic data.
* Modules: Used to render normally small and static chunks of data.
* Plugins: Used to manipulate data, enhance functions or/and add new functions.

Both the frontend and the backend uses templates and extensions. Is a normal thing that many Joomla! sites uses different templates on the Frontend and leave the Backend with the default administrative template but you can always install a custom 3rd party template in both sides. More information about extensions [[Extension_types_(general_definitions) | Here]].

Note: Most developers creates extensions based on how the default administrative template looks and works you may experience bugs and visual glitches with 3rd party administrative templates, so we recommend the use of the default Joomla! administrative template, also most tutorials and documentation screenshots in general are based on the default Joomla! administrative template.

== Installing Joomla! ==

If you already have a working Joomla! installation or you want to keep using the demo sites, then skip this section.

Now that you had enough fun playing with the Joomla! demo site you may want to go the next level and start messing around with extensions and templates to see how they do in your own server.

* [[Beginners/Installing Joomla! on a rented web server | Installing Joomla! on a rented web server]]
* [[Beginners/Installing Joomla! on a local web server | Installing Joomla! on a local web server]]

== Learning to Use Joomla! ==

Now that you have a working Joomla! site, you will want to start filling it with your own content and making it look just the way you want. Before that you need to learn how to work with Joomla!, follow the [[Getting Started with Joomla!]] tutorial.

If you still hungry for more information go ahead and check the the [[Complete Joomla! Guide]].

== Start Creating Your Joomla! Site ==

Now that you know the basics of Joomla! operations and configurations is time to create a real website. The following tutorials will teach you how properly set up your Joomla! installation to work in certain ways.

* Creating a News site with Joomla!
* Creating a Blog site with Joomla!
* Creating a Community site with Joomla!
* Creating an Institutional site with Joomla!
* Creating an eCommerce site with Joomla!

== Keep Your Joomla! Site Secure ==

Security is always a big concern on the web, to make sure you are using best security practices take a read to the following articles:

* [[Security Checklist]]
* [[Security and Performance FAQs]]
* [[Top 10 Stupidest Administrator Tricks]]

If you have any security concern or question visit the Security section of the Joomla! forums or visit the Joomla! community at:

{{Chunk:Community contacts}}

== Getting Help ==

The Joomla! community is composed by large groups of people from all around the world, you can get help from many ways contacting our community people at the Joomla! forums, instant messaging or social networks.

Follow this tips to get the best help and faster solution to most of your answers:

* Most common questions are already answered, do a quick internet search using short phrases. If your problem is an error, copy and paste the error message on your search to see the related search matches.
* Have a quick look at our [FAQs] page.
* If you can't find and answer, contact our community people and make your questions on the forums, IRC or the social networks, pleas be nice, give us details about your problem and Joomla! version.
* And hey hang around, try to help others or simply make new friends, the more people the stronger our community will be.

The Joomla! forums are among the busiest support forums in the world with around 1500 post each day, they are a great place to get help, you can also meet other Joomla! users on:

{{Chunk:Community_contacts}}

== Tutorials and Howtos ==

Note for collaborator: List bellow any tutorials or howtos for non-expert audience, keep the content short and friendly as much as possible.

* How To Backup And Restore Your Joomla! Site
* How To Recover Your Joomla! Administration Password

== More ==

Come [[User:Enav/Beginners/more | Here]] to see some information and archived articles.

[[Category:Landing Pages]]
[[Category:Joomla! user profiles]]
[[Category:Beginners]]

User:Enav/Beginners

2013-07-28T05:51:55Z

Enav: /* Short intro to Joomla!? */

{{RightTOC}}

Welcome to Joomla!, a leading open source Content Management System (CMS) platform. Joomla! is a well-tested, extensible and effective tool supported by a very active and friendly community of developers and users.

This page contain information and list of articles to help you understand the basics of Joomla!, and be able to create and configure your very own Joomla! website in a short time.

== Short intro to Joomla! CMS ==

In the past websites works using a bunch of linked HTML files, working with websites like this become a really hard task because the huge amount of files an administrator had to deal with very time the website needed an update. Nowadays most modern websites runs over Content Management Systems (CMS), some of this this systems runs using dynamic languages like PHP and databases like MySQL databases, this way a CMS can store and manage huge amount of information just clean and easy.

Joomla! is a very flexible CMS that runs on PHP and uses MySQL databases to store the data. Thanks to Joomla! people around the world can create a wide range of types of websites. Managing the information of your Joomla! website is as easy as managing your email account. Joomla! have many nice features such as multilingual support and a very flexible template system. Most modern Joomla! templates are ready to be nicely rendered on computers, tablets and phones allowing million of new user to access and read the information of your website in a comfortable way.

== Play With Joomla! ==

The fastest way to learn about Joomla! is to start paying with it right away. Visit the demo page and take few minutes to see the demo content and play with the configurations.

<div style="text-align:center">Yes right here---> [http://demo.Joomla.org/ Joomla! demo page]</div>

The first 2 terms you need to learn are "Frontend" and "Backend", the Frontent is the part that shows your site content and the Backend is the part that contains all the administrative tools and pages that let you manage your Joomla! website. To access to your Joomla! site Backend you just need to add the "/administrators" to your Joomla! site path in the browser address bar i.e.:

www.example.com/administrator

Now that you know how Joomla! looks and feel in the frontend and backend is time to you to learn what kind of magic you can do with this new tool of yours.

Note: On the demo page you can chose to use a free trial hosting account, when the trial period expires if you chose to contract a paid hosting account with them, the Joomla! Project will receive a royalty for the transaction, consider this option if you would like to support the project.

== What Can I Do With It? ==

Joomla! is a CMS, a system to manage content, To make a small analogy you can [[How_Joomla!_compares_to_an_operating_system | compare Joomla! with a computer operative system]], for example, on your computer the operative system manages the resources of your computer, also you can install applications to do more things on your computer, in this order of ideas Joomla! is the one in charge to manage the data and you can install "extensions" to extend and enhance the functions of Joomla!.

Joomla! comes by default with a bunch of extensions pre-installed and pre-configured to make Joomla! works as a news magazine website, but you can manually configure your Joomla! site to easily make it works as a:

* Blog site
* Company or Government site
* Contact directory
* Online catalog

Now if your interest is to create more complex sites like:

* eCommerce sites with shopping cart
* Support sites with forums and ticket systems
* News sites with paid subscription system and comment systems
* e-learning sites with paid subscription systems

Then you need to install 3rd party extensions to make your Joomla! site work the way you need. Lots and lots of extensions are available for free with no cost at all at the Joomla! extension directory, others extensions are commercial, this means that you need to pay a fee to have the right to use them or have tech support from their developers. this is always a nice way to support developer and their extensions that you may find useful for your site.

Here at [http://extensions.Joomla.org/ The Joomla! Extension Directory] you have thousands of extensions to chose from, take some time to visit the directory and do few searches for the sake to get familiarized with it, you may need to use some more extensions in the future if you decide to [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYtbEmO_JC4 pimp up] your Joomla! site.

Maybe one of your clients clients or your boss is asking you for a web solution with a very specific set of requirements and the information so far does not help you to determine if Joomla! is suitable for the job, in order to help you to save some time feel free to visit the Joomla! community people and make your questions to any friendly human around:

{{Chunk:Community contacts}}

== Understanding How Joomla! Works ==

[[File:Diagram generic page layout 20130419.png | frame | right | Generic page layout]]

To keep this introductory article short and friendly as much as possible we will say that Joomla! have two main parts, the Frontend and the Backend, as explained before the Frontend shows the site content that any visitor can see and the Backend is the administrative part that is normally restricted for users with privileges such as administrators.

Taking a quick look at the average website we can conclude that most of them have this basic layout:

* Header
* Main menu
* Main content
* Side content (left or right of main content)
* Footer

In Joomla! the visual location and position of those chunks of data described in the previous list are defined by the current template layout, also the template determines the styles and presentation of the information in general.

Now you may wonder what is used to render each of those chunks of data, and the answer is modules and components. Joomla! depends on extensions (components, modules, plugins) to render chunks of information that have certain characteristics, for example, for small and compact chunks of data like header, main menu, side content and footer Joomla! uses modules which are meant to be used for that purpose. For the main content of the page that is normally a large and dynamic chunk of data, the extension in use are components.

Finally the last extension to describe is the plugin. Plugins are categorized depending on the job they do, some plugins modify the page information, some plugins enhance the Joomla functions and other plugins add new functions to Joomla!. For example the classic "Read more" link/button that is visible under some articles lists is generated by a content plugin, there is also a plugin that let users login in a Joomla! site using their Gmail account login information, that kind of plugin is called authentication plugin.

In resume:

* Templates: Defines the page layout and styles.
* Component: Used to render large chucks of dynamic data.
* Modules: Used to render normally small and static chunks of data.
* Plugins: Used to manipulate data, enhance functions or/and add new functions.

Both the frontend and the backend uses templates and extensions. Is a normal thing that many Joomla! sites uses different templates on the Frontend and leave the Backend with the default administrative template but you can always install a custom 3rd party template in both sides. More information about extensions [[Extension_types_(general_definitions) | Here]].

Note: Most developers creates extensions based on how the default administrative template looks and works you may experience bugs and visual glitches with 3rd party administrative templates, so we recommend the use of the default Joomla! administrative template, also most tutorials and documentation screenshots in general are based on the default Joomla! administrative template.

== Installing Joomla! ==

If you already have a working Joomla! installation or you want to keep using the demo sites, then skip this section.

Now that you had enough fun playing with the Joomla! demo site you may want to go the next level and start messing around with extensions and templates to see how they do in your very own server.

* [[Beginners/Installing Joomla! on a rented web server | Installing Joomla! on a rented web server]]
* [[Beginners/Installing Joomla! on a local web server | Installing Joomla! on a local web server]]

== Learning to Use Joomla! ==

Now that you have a working Joomla! site, you will want to start filling it with your own content and making it look just the way you want. Before that you need to learn how to work with Joomla!, follow the [[Getting Started with Joomla!]] tutorial.

If you still hungry for more information go ahead and check the the [[Complete Joomla! Guide]].

== Start Creating Your Joomla! Site ==

Now that you know the basics of Joomla! operations and configurations is time to create a real website. The following tutorials will teach you how properly set up your Joomla! installation to work in certain ways.

* Creating a News site with Joomla!
* Creating a Blog site with Joomla!
* Creating a Community site with Joomla!
* Creating an Institutional site with Joomla!
* Creating an eCommerce site with Joomla!

== Keep Your Joomla! Site Secure ==

Security is always a big concern on the web, to make sure you are using best security practices take a read to the following articles:

* [[Security Checklist]]
* [[Security and Performance FAQs]]
* [[Top 10 Stupidest Administrator Tricks]]

If you have any security concern or question visit the Security section of the Joomla! forums or visit the Joomla! community at:

{{Chunk:Community contacts}}

== Getting Help ==

The Joomla! community is composed by large groups of people from all around the world, you can get help from many ways contacting our community people at the Joomla! forums, instant messaging or social networks.

Follow this tips to get the best help and faster solution to most of your answers:

* Most common questions are already answered, do a quick internet search using short phrases. If your problem is an error, copy and paste the error message on your search to see the related search matches.
* Have a quick look at our [FAQs] page.
* If you can't find and answer, contact our community people and make your questions on the forums, IRC or the social networks, pleas be nice, give us details about your problem and Joomla! version.
* And hey hang around, try to help others or simply make new friends, the more people the stronger our community will be.

The Joomla! forums are among the busiest support forums in the world with around 1500 post each day, they are a great place to get help, you can also meet other Joomla! users on:

{{Chunk:Community_contacts}}

== Tutorials and Howtos ==

Note for collaborator: List bellow any tutorials or howtos for non-expert audience, keep the content short and friendly as much as possible.

* How To Backup And Restore Your Joomla! Site
* How To Recover Your Joomla! Administration Password

== More ==

Come [[User:Enav/Beginners/more | Here]] to see some information and archived articles.

[[Category:Landing Pages]]
[[Category:Joomla! user profiles]]
[[Category:Beginners]]

User:Enav/Beginners

2013-07-28T05:42:46Z

Enav: /* Short intro to Joomla!? */

{{RightTOC}}

Welcome to Joomla!, a leading open source Content Management System (CMS) platform. Joomla! is a well-tested, extensible and effective tool supported by a very active and friendly community of developers and users.

This page contain information and list of articles to help you understand the basics of Joomla!, and be able to create and configure your very own Joomla! website in a short time.

== Short intro to Joomla!? ==

In the past websites works using a bunch of linked HTML files, working with websites like this become a really hard task because the huge amount of files an administrator had to deal with very time the website needed an update. Nowadays most modern websites runs over Content Management Systems (CMS), some of this this systems runs using dynamic languages like PHP and databases like MySQL databases, this way a CMS can store and manage huge amount of information just clean and easy.

Joomla! is a very flexible CMS that runs on PHP and uses MySQL databases to store the data. Thanks to Joomla! people around the world can create a wide range of types of websites. Managing the information of your Joomla! website is as easy as managing your email account. Joomla! have many nice features such as multilingual support and a very flexible template system. Most modern Joomla! templates are ready to be nicely rendered on computers, tablets and phones allowing million of new user to access and read the information of your website in a comfortable way.

== Play With Joomla! ==

The fastest way to learn about Joomla! is to start paying with it right away. Visit the demo page and take few minutes to see the demo content and play with the configurations.

<div style="text-align:center">Yes right here---> [http://demo.Joomla.org/ Joomla! demo page]</div>

The first 2 terms you need to learn are "Frontend" and "Backend", the Frontent is the part that shows your site content and the Backend is the part that contains all the administrative tools and pages that let you manage your Joomla! website. To access to your Joomla! site Backend you just need to add the "/administrators" to your Joomla! site path in the browser address bar i.e.:

www.example.com/administrator

Now that you know how Joomla! looks and feel in the frontend and backend is time to you to learn what kind of magic you can do with this new tool of yours.

Note: On the demo page you can chose to use a free trial hosting account, when the trial period expires if you chose to contract a paid hosting account with them, the Joomla! Project will receive a royalty for the transaction, consider this option if you would like to support the project.

== What Can I Do With It? ==

Joomla! is a CMS, a system to manage content, To make a small analogy you can [[How_Joomla!_compares_to_an_operating_system | compare Joomla! with a computer operative system]], for example, on your computer the operative system manages the resources of your computer, also you can install applications to do more things on your computer, in this order of ideas Joomla! is the one in charge to manage the data and you can install "extensions" to extend and enhance the functions of Joomla!.

Joomla! comes by default with a bunch of extensions pre-installed and pre-configured to make Joomla! works as a news magazine website, but you can manually configure your Joomla! site to easily make it works as a:

* Blog site
* Company or Government site
* Contact directory
* Online catalog

Now if your interest is to create more complex sites like:

* eCommerce sites with shopping cart
* Support sites with forums and ticket systems
* News sites with paid subscription system and comment systems
* e-learning sites with paid subscription systems

Then you need to install 3rd party extensions to make your Joomla! site work the way you need. Lots and lots of extensions are available for free with no cost at all at the Joomla! extension directory, others extensions are commercial, this means that you need to pay a fee to have the right to use them or have tech support from their developers. this is always a nice way to support developer and their extensions that you may find useful for your site.

Here at [http://extensions.Joomla.org/ The Joomla! Extension Directory] you have thousands of extensions to chose from, take some time to visit the directory and do few searches for the sake to get familiarized with it, you may need to use some more extensions in the future if you decide to [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYtbEmO_JC4 pimp up] your Joomla! site.

Maybe one of your clients clients or your boss is asking you for a web solution with a very specific set of requirements and the information so far does not help you to determine if Joomla! is suitable for the job, in order to help you to save some time feel free to visit the Joomla! community people and make your questions to any friendly human around:

{{Chunk:Community contacts}}

== Understanding How Joomla! Works ==

[[File:Diagram generic page layout 20130419.png | frame | right | Generic page layout]]

To keep this introductory article short and friendly as much as possible we will say that Joomla! have two main parts, the Frontend and the Backend, as explained before the Frontend shows the site content that any visitor can see and the Backend is the administrative part that is normally restricted for users with privileges such as administrators.

Taking a quick look at the average website we can conclude that most of them have this basic layout:

* Header
* Main menu
* Main content
* Side content (left or right of main content)
* Footer

In Joomla! the visual location and position of those chunks of data described in the previous list are defined by the current template layout, also the template determines the styles and presentation of the information in general.

Now you may wonder what is used to render each of those chunks of data, and the answer is modules and components. Joomla! depends on extensions (components, modules, plugins) to render chunks of information that have certain characteristics, for example, for small and compact chunks of data like header, main menu, side content and footer Joomla! uses modules which are meant to be used for that purpose. For the main content of the page that is normally a large and dynamic chunk of data, the extension in use are components.

Finally the last extension to describe is the plugin. Plugins are categorized depending on the job they do, some plugins modify the page information, some plugins enhance the Joomla functions and other plugins add new functions to Joomla!. For example the classic "Read more" link/button that is visible under some articles lists is generated by a content plugin, there is also a plugin that let users login in a Joomla! site using their Gmail account login information, that kind of plugin is called authentication plugin.

In resume:

* Templates: Defines the page layout and styles.
* Component: Used to render large chucks of dynamic data.
* Modules: Used to render normally small and static chunks of data.
* Plugins: Used to manipulate data, enhance functions or/and add new functions.

Both the frontend and the backend uses templates and extensions. Is a normal thing that many Joomla! sites uses different templates on the Frontend and leave the Backend with the default administrative template but you can always install a custom 3rd party template in both sides. More information about extensions [[Extension_types_(general_definitions) | Here]].

Note: Most developers creates extensions based on how the default administrative template looks and works you may experience bugs and visual glitches with 3rd party administrative templates, so we recommend the use of the default Joomla! administrative template, also most tutorials and documentation screenshots in general are based on the default Joomla! administrative template.

== Installing Joomla! ==

If you already have a working Joomla! installation or you want to keep using the demo sites, then skip this section.

Now that you had enough fun playing with the Joomla! demo site you may want to go the next level and start messing around with extensions and templates to see how they do in your very own server.

* [[Beginners/Installing Joomla! on a rented web server | Installing Joomla! on a rented web server]]
* [[Beginners/Installing Joomla! on a local web server | Installing Joomla! on a local web server]]

== Learning to Use Joomla! ==

Now that you have a working Joomla! site, you will want to start filling it with your own content and making it look just the way you want. Before that you need to learn how to work with Joomla!, follow the [[Getting Started with Joomla!]] tutorial.

If you still hungry for more information go ahead and check the the [[Complete Joomla! Guide]].

== Start Creating Your Joomla! Site ==

Now that you know the basics of Joomla! operations and configurations is time to create a real website. The following tutorials will teach you how properly set up your Joomla! installation to work in certain ways.

* Creating a News site with Joomla!
* Creating a Blog site with Joomla!
* Creating a Community site with Joomla!
* Creating an Institutional site with Joomla!
* Creating an eCommerce site with Joomla!

== Keep Your Joomla! Site Secure ==

Security is always a big concern on the web, to make sure you are using best security practices take a read to the following articles:

* [[Security Checklist]]
* [[Security and Performance FAQs]]
* [[Top 10 Stupidest Administrator Tricks]]

If you have any security concern or question visit the Security section of the Joomla! forums or visit the Joomla! community at:

{{Chunk:Community contacts}}

== Getting Help ==

The Joomla! community is composed by large groups of people from all around the world, you can get help from many ways contacting our community people at the Joomla! forums, instant messaging or social networks.

Follow this tips to get the best help and faster solution to most of your answers:

* Most common questions are already answered, do a quick internet search using short phrases. If your problem is an error, copy and paste the error message on your search to see the related search matches.
* Have a quick look at our [FAQs] page.
* If you can't find and answer, contact our community people and make your questions on the forums, IRC or the social networks, pleas be nice, give us details about your problem and Joomla! version.
* And hey hang around, try to help others or simply make new friends, the more people the stronger our community will be.

The Joomla! forums are among the busiest support forums in the world with around 1500 post each day, they are a great place to get help, you can also meet other Joomla! users on:

{{Chunk:Community_contacts}}

== Tutorials and Howtos ==

Note for collaborator: List bellow any tutorials or howtos for non-expert audience, keep the content short and friendly as much as possible.

* How To Backup And Restore Your Joomla! Site
* How To Recover Your Joomla! Administration Password

== More ==

Come [[User:Enav/Beginners/more | Here]] to see some information and archived articles.

[[Category:Landing Pages]]
[[Category:Joomla! user profiles]]
[[Category:Beginners]]

User:Enav/Beginners

2013-07-28T05:41:41Z

Enav:

{{RightTOC}}

Welcome to Joomla!, a leading open source Content Management System (CMS) platform. Joomla! is a well-tested, extensible and effective tool supported by a very active and friendly community of developers and users.

This page contain information and list of articles to help you understand the basics of Joomla!, and be able to create and configure your very own Joomla! website in a short time.

== Short intro to Joomla!? ==

In the past websites works using a bunch of linked HTML files, working with websites like this become an impossible task because the huge amount of files an administrator had to deal with very time the website needed an update. Nowadays most modern websites runs over Content Management Systems (CMS), some of this this systems runs using dynamic languages like PHP and databases like MySQL databases, this way a CMS can store and manage huge amount of information just clean and easy.

Joomla! is a very flexible CMS that runs on PHP and uses MySQL databases to store the data. Thanks to Joomla! people around the world can create a wide range of types of websites. Managing the information of your Joomla! website is as easy as managing your email account. Joomla! have many nice features such as multilingual support and a very flexible template system. Most modern Joomla! templates are ready to be nicely rendered on computers, tablets and phones allowing million of new user to access and read the information of your website in a comfortable way.

== Play With Joomla! ==

The fastest way to learn about Joomla! is to start paying with it right away. Visit the demo page and take few minutes to see the demo content and play with the configurations.

<div style="text-align:center">Yes right here---> [http://demo.Joomla.org/ Joomla! demo page]</div>

The first 2 terms you need to learn are "Frontend" and "Backend", the Frontent is the part that shows your site content and the Backend is the part that contains all the administrative tools and pages that let you manage your Joomla! website. To access to your Joomla! site Backend you just need to add the "/administrators" to your Joomla! site path in the browser address bar i.e.:

www.example.com/administrator

Now that you know how Joomla! looks and feel in the frontend and backend is time to you to learn what kind of magic you can do with this new tool of yours.

Note: On the demo page you can chose to use a free trial hosting account, when the trial period expires if you chose to contract a paid hosting account with them, the Joomla! Project will receive a royalty for the transaction, consider this option if you would like to support the project.

== What Can I Do With It? ==

Joomla! is a CMS, a system to manage content, To make a small analogy you can [[How_Joomla!_compares_to_an_operating_system | compare Joomla! with a computer operative system]], for example, on your computer the operative system manages the resources of your computer, also you can install applications to do more things on your computer, in this order of ideas Joomla! is the one in charge to manage the data and you can install "extensions" to extend and enhance the functions of Joomla!.

Joomla! comes by default with a bunch of extensions pre-installed and pre-configured to make Joomla! works as a news magazine website, but you can manually configure your Joomla! site to easily make it works as a:

* Blog site
* Company or Government site
* Contact directory
* Online catalog

Now if your interest is to create more complex sites like:

* eCommerce sites with shopping cart
* Support sites with forums and ticket systems
* News sites with paid subscription system and comment systems
* e-learning sites with paid subscription systems

Then you need to install 3rd party extensions to make your Joomla! site work the way you need. Lots and lots of extensions are available for free with no cost at all at the Joomla! extension directory, others extensions are commercial, this means that you need to pay a fee to have the right to use them or have tech support from their developers. this is always a nice way to support developer and their extensions that you may find useful for your site.

Here at [http://extensions.Joomla.org/ The Joomla! Extension Directory] you have thousands of extensions to chose from, take some time to visit the directory and do few searches for the sake to get familiarized with it, you may need to use some more extensions in the future if you decide to [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYtbEmO_JC4 pimp up] your Joomla! site.

Maybe one of your clients clients or your boss is asking you for a web solution with a very specific set of requirements and the information so far does not help you to determine if Joomla! is suitable for the job, in order to help you to save some time feel free to visit the Joomla! community people and make your questions to any friendly human around:

{{Chunk:Community contacts}}

== Understanding How Joomla! Works ==

[[File:Diagram generic page layout 20130419.png | frame | right | Generic page layout]]

To keep this introductory article short and friendly as much as possible we will say that Joomla! have two main parts, the Frontend and the Backend, as explained before the Frontend shows the site content that any visitor can see and the Backend is the administrative part that is normally restricted for users with privileges such as administrators.

Taking a quick look at the average website we can conclude that most of them have this basic layout:

* Header
* Main menu
* Main content
* Side content (left or right of main content)
* Footer

In Joomla! the visual location and position of those chunks of data described in the previous list are defined by the current template layout, also the template determines the styles and presentation of the information in general.

Now you may wonder what is used to render each of those chunks of data, and the answer is modules and components. Joomla! depends on extensions (components, modules, plugins) to render chunks of information that have certain characteristics, for example, for small and compact chunks of data like header, main menu, side content and footer Joomla! uses modules which are meant to be used for that purpose. For the main content of the page that is normally a large and dynamic chunk of data, the extension in use are components.

Finally the last extension to describe is the plugin. Plugins are categorized depending on the job they do, some plugins modify the page information, some plugins enhance the Joomla functions and other plugins add new functions to Joomla!. For example the classic "Read more" link/button that is visible under some articles lists is generated by a content plugin, there is also a plugin that let users login in a Joomla! site using their Gmail account login information, that kind of plugin is called authentication plugin.

In resume:

* Templates: Defines the page layout and styles.
* Component: Used to render large chucks of dynamic data.
* Modules: Used to render normally small and static chunks of data.
* Plugins: Used to manipulate data, enhance functions or/and add new functions.

Both the frontend and the backend uses templates and extensions. Is a normal thing that many Joomla! sites uses different templates on the Frontend and leave the Backend with the default administrative template but you can always install a custom 3rd party template in both sides. More information about extensions [[Extension_types_(general_definitions) | Here]].

Note: Most developers creates extensions based on how the default administrative template looks and works you may experience bugs and visual glitches with 3rd party administrative templates, so we recommend the use of the default Joomla! administrative template, also most tutorials and documentation screenshots in general are based on the default Joomla! administrative template.

== Installing Joomla! ==

If you already have a working Joomla! installation or you want to keep using the demo sites, then skip this section.

Now that you had enough fun playing with the Joomla! demo site you may want to go the next level and start messing around with extensions and templates to see how they do in your very own server.

* [[Beginners/Installing Joomla! on a rented web server | Installing Joomla! on a rented web server]]
* [[Beginners/Installing Joomla! on a local web server | Installing Joomla! on a local web server]]

== Learning to Use Joomla! ==

Now that you have a working Joomla! site, you will want to start filling it with your own content and making it look just the way you want. Before that you need to learn how to work with Joomla!, follow the [[Getting Started with Joomla!]] tutorial.

If you still hungry for more information go ahead and check the the [[Complete Joomla! Guide]].

== Start Creating Your Joomla! Site ==

Now that you know the basics of Joomla! operations and configurations is time to create a real website. The following tutorials will teach you how properly set up your Joomla! installation to work in certain ways.

* Creating a News site with Joomla!
* Creating a Blog site with Joomla!
* Creating a Community site with Joomla!
* Creating an Institutional site with Joomla!
* Creating an eCommerce site with Joomla!

== Keep Your Joomla! Site Secure ==

Security is always a big concern on the web, to make sure you are using best security practices take a read to the following articles:

* [[Security Checklist]]
* [[Security and Performance FAQs]]
* [[Top 10 Stupidest Administrator Tricks]]

If you have any security concern or question visit the Security section of the Joomla! forums or visit the Joomla! community at:

{{Chunk:Community contacts}}

== Getting Help ==

The Joomla! community is composed by large groups of people from all around the world, you can get help from many ways contacting our community people at the Joomla! forums, instant messaging or social networks.

Follow this tips to get the best help and faster solution to most of your answers:

* Most common questions are already answered, do a quick internet search using short phrases. If your problem is an error, copy and paste the error message on your search to see the related search matches.
* Have a quick look at our [FAQs] page.
* If you can't find and answer, contact our community people and make your questions on the forums, IRC or the social networks, pleas be nice, give us details about your problem and Joomla! version.
* And hey hang around, try to help others or simply make new friends, the more people the stronger our community will be.

The Joomla! forums are among the busiest support forums in the world with around 1500 post each day, they are a great place to get help, you can also meet other Joomla! users on:

{{Chunk:Community_contacts}}

== Tutorials and Howtos ==

Note for collaborator: List bellow any tutorials or howtos for non-expert audience, keep the content short and friendly as much as possible.

* How To Backup And Restore Your Joomla! Site
* How To Recover Your Joomla! Administration Password

== More ==

Come [[User:Enav/Beginners/more | Here]] to see some information and archived articles.

[[Category:Landing Pages]]
[[Category:Joomla! user profiles]]
[[Category:Beginners]]

User:Enav/Beginners

2013-07-28T05:39:06Z

Enav: /* Understanding How Joomla! Works */

{{RightTOC}}

Welcome to Joomla!, a leading open source Content Management System (CMS) platform. Joomla! is a well-tested, extensible and effective tool supported by a very active and friendly community of developers and users.

This page contain several articles to quickly help you understand the basics of Joomla!, and be able to create basic Joomla! sites in a short time.

== Short intro to Joomla!? ==

In the past websites works using a bunch of linked HTML files, working with websites like this become an impossible task because the huge amount of files an administrator had to deal with very time the website needed an update. Nowadays most modern websites runs over Content Management Systems (CMS), some of this this systems runs using dynamic languages like PHP and databases like MySQL databases, this way a CMS can store and manage huge amount of information just clean and easy.

Joomla! is a very flexible CMS that runs on PHP and uses MySQL databases to store the data. Thanks to Joomla! people around the world can create a wide range of types of websites. Managing the information of your Joomla! website is as easy as managing your email account. Joomla! have many nice features such as multilingual support and a very flexible template system. Most modern Joomla! templates are ready to be nicely rendered on computers, tablets and phones allowing million of new user to access and read the information of your website in a comfortable way.

== Play With Joomla! ==

The fastest way to learn about Joomla! is to start paying with it right away. Visit the demo page and take few minutes to see the demo content and play with the configurations.

<div style="text-align:center">Yes right here---> [http://demo.Joomla.org/ Joomla! demo page]</div>

The first 2 terms you need to learn are "Frontend" and "Backend", the Frontent is the part that shows your site content and the Backend is the part that contains all the administrative tools and pages that let you manage your Joomla! website. To access to your Joomla! site Backend you just need to add the "/administrators" to your Joomla! site path in the browser address bar i.e.:

www.example.com/administrator

Now that you know how Joomla! looks and feel in the frontend and backend is time to you to learn what kind of magic you can do with this new tool of yours.

Note: On the demo page you can chose to use a free trial hosting account, when the trial period expires if you chose to contract a paid hosting account with them, the Joomla! Project will receive a royalty for the transaction, consider this option if you would like to support the project.

== What Can I Do With It? ==

Joomla! is a CMS, a system to manage content, To make a small analogy you can [[How_Joomla!_compares_to_an_operating_system | compare Joomla! with a computer operative system]], for example, on your computer the operative system manages the resources of your computer, also you can install applications to do more things on your computer, in this order of ideas Joomla! is the one in charge to manage the data and you can install "extensions" to extend and enhance the functions of Joomla!.

Joomla! comes by default with a bunch of extensions pre-installed and pre-configured to make Joomla! works as a news magazine website, but you can manually configure your Joomla! site to easily make it works as a:

* Blog site
* Company or Government site
* Contact directory
* Online catalog

Now if your interest is to create more complex sites like:

* eCommerce sites with shopping cart
* Support sites with forums and ticket systems
* News sites with paid subscription system and comment systems
* e-learning sites with paid subscription systems

Then you need to install 3rd party extensions to make your Joomla! site work the way you need. Lots and lots of extensions are available for free with no cost at all at the Joomla! extension directory, others extensions are commercial, this means that you need to pay a fee to have the right to use them or have tech support from their developers. this is always a nice way to support developer and their extensions that you may find useful for your site.

Here at [http://extensions.Joomla.org/ The Joomla! Extension Directory] you have thousands of extensions to chose from, take some time to visit the directory and do few searches for the sake to get familiarized with it, you may need to use some more extensions in the future if you decide to [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYtbEmO_JC4 pimp up] your Joomla! site.

Maybe one of your clients clients or your boss is asking you for a web solution with a very specific set of requirements and the information so far does not help you to determine if Joomla! is suitable for the job, in order to help you to save some time feel free to visit the Joomla! community people and make your questions to any friendly human around:

{{Chunk:Community contacts}}

== Understanding How Joomla! Works ==

[[File:Diagram generic page layout 20130419.png | frame | right | Generic page layout]]

To keep this introductory article short and friendly as much as possible we will say that Joomla! have two main parts, the Frontend and the Backend, as explained before the Frontend shows the site content that any visitor can see and the Backend is the administrative part that is normally restricted for users with privileges such as administrators.

Taking a quick look at the average website we can conclude that most of them have this basic layout:

* Header
* Main menu
* Main content
* Side content (left or right of main content)
* Footer

In Joomla! the visual location and position of those chunks of data described in the previous list are defined by the current template layout, also the template determines the styles and presentation of the information in general.

Now you may wonder what is used to render each of those chunks of data, and the answer is modules and components. Joomla! depends on extensions (components, modules, plugins) to render chunks of information that have certain characteristics, for example, for small and compact chunks of data like header, main menu, side content and footer Joomla! uses modules which are meant to be used for that purpose. For the main content of the page that is normally a large and dynamic chunk of data, the extension in use are components.

Finally the last extension to describe is the plugin. Plugins are categorized depending on the job they do, some plugins modify the page information, some plugins enhance the Joomla functions and other plugins add new functions to Joomla!. For example the classic "Read more" link/button that is visible under some articles lists is generated by a content plugin, there is also a plugin that let users login in a Joomla! site using their Gmail account login information, that kind of plugin is called authentication plugin.

In resume:

* Templates: Defines the page layout and styles.
* Component: Used to render large chucks of dynamic data.
* Modules: Used to render normally small and static chunks of data.
* Plugins: Used to manipulate data, enhance functions or/and add new functions.

Both the frontend and the backend uses templates and extensions. Is a normal thing that many Joomla! sites uses different templates on the Frontend and leave the Backend with the default administrative template but you can always install a custom 3rd party template in both sides. More information about extensions [[Extension_types_(general_definitions) | Here]].

Note: Most developers creates extensions based on how the default administrative template looks and works you may experience bugs and visual glitches with 3rd party administrative templates, so we recommend the use of the default Joomla! administrative template, also most tutorials and documentation screenshots in general are based on the default Joomla! administrative template.

== Installing Joomla! ==

If you already have a working Joomla! installation or you want to keep using the demo sites, then skip this section.

Now that you had enough fun playing with the Joomla! demo site you may want to go the next level and start messing around with extensions and templates to see how they do in your very own server.

* [[Beginners/Installing Joomla! on a rented web server | Installing Joomla! on a rented web server]]
* [[Beginners/Installing Joomla! on a local web server | Installing Joomla! on a local web server]]

== Learning to Use Joomla! ==

Now that you have a working Joomla! site, you will want to start filling it with your own content and making it look just the way you want. Before that you need to learn how to work with Joomla!, follow the [[Getting Started with Joomla!]] tutorial.

If you still hungry for more information go ahead and check the the [[Complete Joomla! Guide]].

== Start Creating Your Joomla! Site ==

Now that you know the basics of Joomla! operations and configurations is time to create a real website. The following tutorials will teach you how properly set up your Joomla! installation to work in certain ways.

* Creating a News site with Joomla!
* Creating a Blog site with Joomla!
* Creating a Community site with Joomla!
* Creating an Institutional site with Joomla!
* Creating an eCommerce site with Joomla!

== Keep Your Joomla! Site Secure ==

Security is always a big concern on the web, to make sure you are using best security practices take a read to the following articles:

* [[Security Checklist]]
* [[Security and Performance FAQs]]
* [[Top 10 Stupidest Administrator Tricks]]

If you have any security concern or question visit the Security section of the Joomla! forums or visit the Joomla! community at:

{{Chunk:Community contacts}}

== Getting Help ==

The Joomla! community is composed by large groups of people from all around the world, you can get help from many ways contacting our community people at the Joomla! forums, instant messaging or social networks.

Follow this tips to get the best help and faster solution to most of your answers:

* Most common questions are already answered, do a quick internet search using short phrases. If your problem is an error, copy and paste the error message on your search to see the related search matches.
* Have a quick look at our [FAQs] page.
* If you can't find and answer, contact our community people and make your questions on the forums, IRC or the social networks, pleas be nice, give us details about your problem and Joomla! version.
* And hey hang around, try to help others or simply make new friends, the more people the stronger our community will be.

The Joomla! forums are among the busiest support forums in the world with around 1500 post each day, they are a great place to get help, you can also meet other Joomla! users on:

{{Chunk:Community_contacts}}

== Tutorials and Howtos ==

Note for collaborator: List bellow any tutorials or howtos for non-expert audience, keep the content short and friendly as much as possible.

* How To Backup And Restore Your Joomla! Site
* How To Recover Your Joomla! Administration Password

== More ==

Come [[User:Enav/Beginners/more | Here]] to see some information and archived articles.

[[Category:Landing Pages]]
[[Category:Joomla! user profiles]]
[[Category:Beginners]]

User:Enav/Beginners

2013-07-28T05:36:13Z

Enav: /* What Can I Do With It? */

{{RightTOC}}

Welcome to Joomla!, a leading open source Content Management System (CMS) platform. Joomla! is a well-tested, extensible and effective tool supported by a very active and friendly community of developers and users.

This page contain several articles to quickly help you understand the basics of Joomla!, and be able to create basic Joomla! sites in a short time.

== Short intro to Joomla!? ==

In the past websites works using a bunch of linked HTML files, working with websites like this become an impossible task because the huge amount of files an administrator had to deal with very time the website needed an update. Nowadays most modern websites runs over Content Management Systems (CMS), some of this this systems runs using dynamic languages like PHP and databases like MySQL databases, this way a CMS can store and manage huge amount of information just clean and easy.

Joomla! is a very flexible CMS that runs on PHP and uses MySQL databases to store the data. Thanks to Joomla! people around the world can create a wide range of types of websites. Managing the information of your Joomla! website is as easy as managing your email account. Joomla! have many nice features such as multilingual support and a very flexible template system. Most modern Joomla! templates are ready to be nicely rendered on computers, tablets and phones allowing million of new user to access and read the information of your website in a comfortable way.

== Play With Joomla! ==

The fastest way to learn about Joomla! is to start paying with it right away. Visit the demo page and take few minutes to see the demo content and play with the configurations.

<div style="text-align:center">Yes right here---> [http://demo.Joomla.org/ Joomla! demo page]</div>

The first 2 terms you need to learn are "Frontend" and "Backend", the Frontent is the part that shows your site content and the Backend is the part that contains all the administrative tools and pages that let you manage your Joomla! website. To access to your Joomla! site Backend you just need to add the "/administrators" to your Joomla! site path in the browser address bar i.e.:

www.example.com/administrator

Now that you know how Joomla! looks and feel in the frontend and backend is time to you to learn what kind of magic you can do with this new tool of yours.

Note: On the demo page you can chose to use a free trial hosting account, when the trial period expires if you chose to contract a paid hosting account with them, the Joomla! Project will receive a royalty for the transaction, consider this option if you would like to support the project.

== What Can I Do With It? ==

Joomla! is a CMS, a system to manage content, To make a small analogy you can [[How_Joomla!_compares_to_an_operating_system | compare Joomla! with a computer operative system]], for example, on your computer the operative system manages the resources of your computer, also you can install applications to do more things on your computer, in this order of ideas Joomla! is the one in charge to manage the data and you can install "extensions" to extend and enhance the functions of Joomla!.

Joomla! comes by default with a bunch of extensions pre-installed and pre-configured to make Joomla! works as a news magazine website, but you can manually configure your Joomla! site to easily make it works as a:

* Blog site
* Company or Government site
* Contact directory
* Online catalog

Now if your interest is to create more complex sites like:

* eCommerce sites with shopping cart
* Support sites with forums and ticket systems
* News sites with paid subscription system and comment systems
* e-learning sites with paid subscription systems

Then you need to install 3rd party extensions to make your Joomla! site work the way you need. Lots and lots of extensions are available for free with no cost at all at the Joomla! extension directory, others extensions are commercial, this means that you need to pay a fee to have the right to use them or have tech support from their developers. this is always a nice way to support developer and their extensions that you may find useful for your site.

Here at [http://extensions.Joomla.org/ The Joomla! Extension Directory] you have thousands of extensions to chose from, take some time to visit the directory and do few searches for the sake to get familiarized with it, you may need to use some more extensions in the future if you decide to [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYtbEmO_JC4 pimp up] your Joomla! site.

Maybe one of your clients clients or your boss is asking you for a web solution with a very specific set of requirements and the information so far does not help you to determine if Joomla! is suitable for the job, in order to help you to save some time feel free to visit the Joomla! community people and make your questions to any friendly human around:

{{Chunk:Community contacts}}

== Understanding How Joomla! Works ==

[[File:Diagram generic page layout 20130419.png | frame | ight | Generic page layout]]

To keep this introductory article short and friendly as much as possible we will say that Joomla! have two main parts, the Frontend and the Backend, as explained before the Frontend shows the site content that any visitor can see and the Backend is the administrative part that is normally restricted for users with privileges such as administrators.

Taking a quick look at the average website we can conclude that most of them have this basic layout:

* Header
* Main menu
* Main content
* Side content (left or right of main content)
* Footer

In Joomla! the visual location and position of those chunks of data described in the previous list are defined by the current template layout, also the template determines the styles and presentation of the information in general.

Now you may wonder what is used to render each of those chunks of data, and the answer is modules and components. Joomla! depends on extensions (components, modules, plugins) to render chunks of information that have certain characteristics, for example, for small and compact chunks of data like header, main menu, side content and footer Joomla! uses modules which are meant to be used for that purpose. For the main content of the page that is normally a large and dynamic chunk of data, the extension in use are components.

Finally the last extension to describe is the plugin. Plugins are categorized depending on the job they do, some plugins modify the page information, some plugins enhance the Joomla functions and other plugins add new functions to Joomla!. For example the classic "Read more" link/button that is visible under some articles lists is generated by a content plugin, there is also a plugin that let users login in a Joomla! site using their Gmail account login information, that kind of plugin is called authentication plugin.

In resume:

* Templates: Defines the page layout and styles.
* Component: Used to render large chucks of dynamic data.
* Modules: Used to render normally small and static chunks of data.
* Plugins: Used to manipulate data, enhance functions or/and add new functions.

Both the frontend and the backend uses templates and extensions. Is a normal thing that many Joomla! sites uses different templates on the Frontend and leave the Backend with the default administrative template but you can always install a custom 3rd party template in both sides. More information about extensions [[Extension_types_(general_definitions) | Here]].

Note: Most developers creates extensions based on how the default administrative template looks and works you may experience bugs and visual glitches with 3rd party administrative templates, so we recommend the use of the default Joomla! administrative template, also most tutorials and documentation screenshots in general are based on the default Joomla! administrative template.

== Installing Joomla! ==

If you already have a working Joomla! installation or you want to keep using the demo sites, then skip this section.

Now that you had enough fun playing with the Joomla! demo site you may want to go the next level and start messing around with extensions and templates to see how they do in your very own server.

* [[Beginners/Installing Joomla! on a rented web server | Installing Joomla! on a rented web server]]
* [[Beginners/Installing Joomla! on a local web server | Installing Joomla! on a local web server]]

== Learning to Use Joomla! ==

Now that you have a working Joomla! site, you will want to start filling it with your own content and making it look just the way you want. Before that you need to learn how to work with Joomla!, follow the [[Getting Started with Joomla!]] tutorial.

If you still hungry for more information go ahead and check the the [[Complete Joomla! Guide]].

== Start Creating Your Joomla! Site ==

Now that you know the basics of Joomla! operations and configurations is time to create a real website. The following tutorials will teach you how properly set up your Joomla! installation to work in certain ways.

* Creating a News site with Joomla!
* Creating a Blog site with Joomla!
* Creating a Community site with Joomla!
* Creating an Institutional site with Joomla!
* Creating an eCommerce site with Joomla!

== Keep Your Joomla! Site Secure ==

Security is always a big concern on the web, to make sure you are using best security practices take a read to the following articles:

* [[Security Checklist]]
* [[Security and Performance FAQs]]
* [[Top 10 Stupidest Administrator Tricks]]

If you have any security concern or question visit the Security section of the Joomla! forums or visit the Joomla! community at:

{{Chunk:Community contacts}}

== Getting Help ==

The Joomla! community is composed by large groups of people from all around the world, you can get help from many ways contacting our community people at the Joomla! forums, instant messaging or social networks.

Follow this tips to get the best help and faster solution to most of your answers:

* Most common questions are already answered, do a quick internet search using short phrases. If your problem is an error, copy and paste the error message on your search to see the related search matches.
* Have a quick look at our [FAQs] page.
* If you can't find and answer, contact our community people and make your questions on the forums, IRC or the social networks, pleas be nice, give us details about your problem and Joomla! version.
* And hey hang around, try to help others or simply make new friends, the more people the stronger our community will be.

The Joomla! forums are among the busiest support forums in the world with around 1500 post each day, they are a great place to get help, you can also meet other Joomla! users on:

{{Chunk:Community_contacts}}

== Tutorials and Howtos ==

Note for collaborator: List bellow any tutorials or howtos for non-expert audience, keep the content short and friendly as much as possible.

* How To Backup And Restore Your Joomla! Site
* How To Recover Your Joomla! Administration Password

== More ==

Come [[User:Enav/Beginners/more | Here]] to see some information and archived articles.

[[Category:Landing Pages]]
[[Category:Joomla! user profiles]]
[[Category:Beginners]]

User:Enav/Beginners

2013-07-28T05:04:02Z

Enav: /* Play With It */

{{RightTOC}}

Welcome to Joomla!, a leading open source Content Management System (CMS) platform. Joomla! is a well-tested, extensible and effective tool supported by a very active and friendly community of developers and users.

This page contain several articles to quickly help you understand the basics of Joomla!, and be able to create basic Joomla! sites in a short time.

== Short intro to Joomla!? ==

In the past websites works using a bunch of linked HTML files, working with websites like this become an impossible task because the huge amount of files an administrator had to deal with very time the website needed an update. Nowadays most modern websites runs over Content Management Systems (CMS), some of this this systems runs using dynamic languages like PHP and databases like MySQL databases, this way a CMS can store and manage huge amount of information just clean and easy.

Joomla! is a very flexible CMS that runs on PHP and uses MySQL databases to store the data. Thanks to Joomla! people around the world can create a wide range of types of websites. Managing the information of your Joomla! website is as easy as managing your email account. Joomla! have many nice features such as multilingual support and a very flexible template system. Most modern Joomla! templates are ready to be nicely rendered on computers, tablets and phones allowing million of new user to access and read the information of your website in a comfortable way.

== Play With Joomla! ==

The fastest way to learn about Joomla! is to start paying with it right away. Visit the demo page and take few minutes to see the demo content and play with the configurations.

<div style="text-align:center">Yes right here---> [http://demo.Joomla.org/ Joomla! demo page]</div>

The first 2 terms you need to learn are "Frontend" and "Backend", the Frontent is the part that shows your site content and the Backend is the part that contains all the administrative tools and pages that let you manage your Joomla! website. To access to your Joomla! site Backend you just need to add the "/administrators" to your Joomla! site path in the browser address bar i.e.:

www.example.com/administrator

Now that you know how Joomla! looks and feel in the frontend and backend is time to you to learn what kind of magic you can do with this new tool of yours.

Note: On the demo page you can chose to use a free trial hosting account, when the trial period expires if you chose to contract a paid hosting account with them, the Joomla! Project will receive a royalty for the transaction, consider this option if you would like to support the project.

== What Can I Do With It? ==

Joomla! is a CMS, a system to manage content, To make a small analogy you can [[How_Joomla!_compares_to_an_operating_system | compare Joomla! with a computer operative system]], for example, on your computer the operative system manages the resources of your computer, also you can install applications to do more things on your computer, in this order of ideas Joomla! is the one who is in charge to manage the data and you can install "extensions" to extend and enhance the functions of Joomla!.

Joomla! comes by default with a bunch of extensions pre-installed and pre-configured to make Joomla! works as a News website, but you can manually configure your Joomla! site to easily make it works as a:

* Blog site
* Company or Government site
* Contact directory
* Simple product Catalog

Now if your interest is to create more complex sites like:

* eCommerce sites with shopping cart
* Support sites with forums and ticket systems
* News sites with paid subscription system and comment systems
* e-learning sites with paid subscription systems

Then you need to install more Joomla! extensions to make your vanilla Joomla! site work the way you need. Lots and lots of extensions are for free with no cost at all, and others are commercial extensions, this means that you need to pay a fee to have the right to use them but the normally commercial extensions comes with a tech support deals that will help you save precious time and money, and everybody knows time is gold.

Here at [http://extensions.Joomla.org/ The Joomla! Extension Directory] you have thousands of extensions to chose from, take some time to visit the directory and do few searches for the sake to get familiarized with it, you may need to use some more extensions in the future if you decide to [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYtbEmO_JC4 pimp up] your Joomla! site.

Maybe a client or your boss is asking you for a web solution with a very specific set of requirements and the information so far does not help you to determine if Joomla! is suitable for the job, in order to help you to save some time feel free to visit the Joomla! community people and make your questions to humans at:

{{Chunk:Community contacts}}

== Understanding How Joomla! Works ==

[[File:Diagram generic page layout 20130419.png | frame | ight | Generic page layout]]

To keep this introductory article short and friendly as much as possible we will say that Joomla! have two main parts, the Frontend and the Backend, as explained before the Frontend shows the site content that any visitor can see and the Backend is the administrative part that is normally restricted for users with privileges such as administrators.

Taking a quick look at the average website we can conclude that most of them have this basic layout:

* Header
* Main menu
* Main content
* Side content (left or right of main content)
* Footer

In Joomla! the visual location and position of those chunks of data described in the previous list are defined by the current template layout, also the template determines the styles and presentation of the information in general.

Now you may wonder what is used to render each of those chunks of data, and the answer is modules and components. Joomla! depends on extensions (components, modules, plugins) to render chunks of information that have certain characteristics, for example, for small and compact chunks of data like header, main menu, side content and footer Joomla! uses modules which are meant to be used for that purpose. For the main content of the page that is normally a large and dynamic chunk of data, the extension in use are components.

Finally the last extension to describe is the plugin. Plugins are categorized depending on the job they do, some plugins modify the page information, some plugins enhance the Joomla functions and other plugins add new functions to Joomla!. For example the classic "Read more" link/button that is visible under some articles lists is generated by a content plugin, there is also a plugin that let users login in a Joomla! site using their Gmail account login information, that kind of plugin is called authentication plugin.

In resume:

* Templates: Defines the page layout and styles.
* Component: Used to render large chucks of dynamic data.
* Modules: Used to render normally small and static chunks of data.
* Plugins: Used to manipulate data, enhance functions or/and add new functions.

Both the frontend and the backend uses templates and extensions. Is a normal thing that many Joomla! sites uses different templates on the Frontend and leave the Backend with the default administrative template but you can always install a custom 3rd party template in both sides. More information about extensions [[Extension_types_(general_definitions) | Here]].

Note: Most developers creates extensions based on how the default administrative template looks and works you may experience bugs and visual glitches with 3rd party administrative templates, so we recommend the use of the default Joomla! administrative template, also most tutorials and documentation screenshots in general are based on the default Joomla! administrative template.

== Installing Joomla! ==

If you already have a working Joomla! installation or you want to keep using the demo sites, then skip this section.

Now that you had enough fun playing with the Joomla! demo site you may want to go the next level and start messing around with extensions and templates to see how they do in your very own server.

* [[Beginners/Installing Joomla! on a rented web server | Installing Joomla! on a rented web server]]
* [[Beginners/Installing Joomla! on a local web server | Installing Joomla! on a local web server]]

== Learning to Use Joomla! ==

Now that you have a working Joomla! site, you will want to start filling it with your own content and making it look just the way you want. Before that you need to learn how to work with Joomla!, follow the [[Getting Started with Joomla!]] tutorial.

If you still hungry for more information go ahead and check the the [[Complete Joomla! Guide]].

== Start Creating Your Joomla! Site ==

Now that you know the basics of Joomla! operations and configurations is time to create a real website. The following tutorials will teach you how properly set up your Joomla! installation to work in certain ways.

* Creating a News site with Joomla!
* Creating a Blog site with Joomla!
* Creating a Community site with Joomla!
* Creating an Institutional site with Joomla!
* Creating an eCommerce site with Joomla!

== Keep Your Joomla! Site Secure ==

Security is always a big concern on the web, to make sure you are using best security practices take a read to the following articles:

* [[Security Checklist]]
* [[Security and Performance FAQs]]
* [[Top 10 Stupidest Administrator Tricks]]

If you have any security concern or question visit the Security section of the Joomla! forums or visit the Joomla! community at:

{{Chunk:Community contacts}}

== Getting Help ==

The Joomla! community is composed by large groups of people from all around the world, you can get help from many ways contacting our community people at the Joomla! forums, instant messaging or social networks.

Follow this tips to get the best help and faster solution to most of your answers:

* Most common questions are already answered, do a quick internet search using short phrases. If your problem is an error, copy and paste the error message on your search to see the related search matches.
* Have a quick look at our [FAQs] page.
* If you can't find and answer, contact our community people and make your questions on the forums, IRC or the social networks, pleas be nice, give us details about your problem and Joomla! version.
* And hey hang around, try to help others or simply make new friends, the more people the stronger our community will be.

The Joomla! forums are among the busiest support forums in the world with around 1500 post each day, they are a great place to get help, you can also meet other Joomla! users on:

{{Chunk:Community_contacts}}

== Tutorials and Howtos ==

Note for collaborator: List bellow any tutorials or howtos for non-expert audience, keep the content short and friendly as much as possible.

* How To Backup And Restore Your Joomla! Site
* How To Recover Your Joomla! Administration Password

== More ==

Come [[User:Enav/Beginners/more | Here]] to see some information and archived articles.

[[Category:Landing Pages]]
[[Category:Joomla! user profiles]]
[[Category:Beginners]]

User:Enav/Beginners

2013-07-28T05:00:20Z

Enav: /* What is Joomla!? */

{{RightTOC}}

Welcome to Joomla!, a leading open source Content Management System (CMS) platform. Joomla! is a well-tested, extensible and effective tool supported by a very active and friendly community of developers and users.

This page contain several articles to quickly help you understand the basics of Joomla!, and be able to create basic Joomla! sites in a short time.

== Short intro to Joomla!? ==

In the past websites works using a bunch of linked HTML files, working with websites like this become an impossible task because the huge amount of files an administrator had to deal with very time the website needed an update. Nowadays most modern websites runs over Content Management Systems (CMS), some of this this systems runs using dynamic languages like PHP and databases like MySQL databases, this way a CMS can store and manage huge amount of information just clean and easy.

Joomla! is a very flexible CMS that runs on PHP and uses MySQL databases to store the data. Thanks to Joomla! people around the world can create a wide range of types of websites. Managing the information of your Joomla! website is as easy as managing your email account. Joomla! have many nice features such as multilingual support and a very flexible template system. Most modern Joomla! templates are ready to be nicely rendered on computers, tablets and phones allowing million of new user to access and read the information of your website in a comfortable way.

== Play With It ==

Do you want to get started with Joomla!, but you have no idea where to begin? If so, you have come to the right place. The fastest way to learn about Joomla! is to start paying with it right now. Visit the demo page and take few minutes to see the demo content and play with the configurations.

<div style="text-align:center">Yes right here---> [http://demo.Joomla.org/ Joomla! demo page]</div>

The first 2 terms you need to learn are "Frontend" and "Backend", the Frontent is the part that shows your site content and all the funny stuff and the Backend is the part that contains the configuration views and it is also the place where you normally manage (create, edit, update) your content. To access to your Joomla! site Backend you just need to add the "/administrators" to your Joomla! site path in the browser address bar i.e.:

www.example.com/administrator

Now that you know how Joomla! looks and feel in the frontend and backend is time to you to learn what kind of magic you can do with this new tool of yours.

Note: On the demo page you can chose to use a free trial hosting account, when the trial period expires if you chose to contract a paid hosting account with them, the Joomla! Project will receive a royalty for the transaction, consider this option if you would like to support the project.

== What Can I Do With It? ==

Joomla! is a CMS, a system to manage content, To make a small analogy you can [[How_Joomla!_compares_to_an_operating_system | compare Joomla! with a computer operative system]], for example, on your computer the operative system manages the resources of your computer, also you can install applications to do more things on your computer, in this order of ideas Joomla! is the one who is in charge to manage the data and you can install "extensions" to extend and enhance the functions of Joomla!.

Joomla! comes by default with a bunch of extensions pre-installed and pre-configured to make Joomla! works as a News website, but you can manually configure your Joomla! site to easily make it works as a:

* Blog site
* Company or Government site
* Contact directory
* Simple product Catalog

Now if your interest is to create more complex sites like:

* eCommerce sites with shopping cart
* Support sites with forums and ticket systems
* News sites with paid subscription system and comment systems
* e-learning sites with paid subscription systems

Then you need to install more Joomla! extensions to make your vanilla Joomla! site work the way you need. Lots and lots of extensions are for free with no cost at all, and others are commercial extensions, this means that you need to pay a fee to have the right to use them but the normally commercial extensions comes with a tech support deals that will help you save precious time and money, and everybody knows time is gold.

Here at [http://extensions.Joomla.org/ The Joomla! Extension Directory] you have thousands of extensions to chose from, take some time to visit the directory and do few searches for the sake to get familiarized with it, you may need to use some more extensions in the future if you decide to [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYtbEmO_JC4 pimp up] your Joomla! site.

Maybe a client or your boss is asking you for a web solution with a very specific set of requirements and the information so far does not help you to determine if Joomla! is suitable for the job, in order to help you to save some time feel free to visit the Joomla! community people and make your questions to humans at:

{{Chunk:Community contacts}}

== Understanding How Joomla! Works ==

[[File:Diagram generic page layout 20130419.png | frame | ight | Generic page layout]]

To keep this introductory article short and friendly as much as possible we will say that Joomla! have two main parts, the Frontend and the Backend, as explained before the Frontend shows the site content that any visitor can see and the Backend is the administrative part that is normally restricted for users with privileges such as administrators.

Taking a quick look at the average website we can conclude that most of them have this basic layout:

* Header
* Main menu
* Main content
* Side content (left or right of main content)
* Footer

In Joomla! the visual location and position of those chunks of data described in the previous list are defined by the current template layout, also the template determines the styles and presentation of the information in general.

Now you may wonder what is used to render each of those chunks of data, and the answer is modules and components. Joomla! depends on extensions (components, modules, plugins) to render chunks of information that have certain characteristics, for example, for small and compact chunks of data like header, main menu, side content and footer Joomla! uses modules which are meant to be used for that purpose. For the main content of the page that is normally a large and dynamic chunk of data, the extension in use are components.

Finally the last extension to describe is the plugin. Plugins are categorized depending on the job they do, some plugins modify the page information, some plugins enhance the Joomla functions and other plugins add new functions to Joomla!. For example the classic "Read more" link/button that is visible under some articles lists is generated by a content plugin, there is also a plugin that let users login in a Joomla! site using their Gmail account login information, that kind of plugin is called authentication plugin.

In resume:

* Templates: Defines the page layout and styles.
* Component: Used to render large chucks of dynamic data.
* Modules: Used to render normally small and static chunks of data.
* Plugins: Used to manipulate data, enhance functions or/and add new functions.

Both the frontend and the backend uses templates and extensions. Is a normal thing that many Joomla! sites uses different templates on the Frontend and leave the Backend with the default administrative template but you can always install a custom 3rd party template in both sides. More information about extensions [[Extension_types_(general_definitions) | Here]].

Note: Most developers creates extensions based on how the default administrative template looks and works you may experience bugs and visual glitches with 3rd party administrative templates, so we recommend the use of the default Joomla! administrative template, also most tutorials and documentation screenshots in general are based on the default Joomla! administrative template.

== Installing Joomla! ==

If you already have a working Joomla! installation or you want to keep using the demo sites, then skip this section.

Now that you had enough fun playing with the Joomla! demo site you may want to go the next level and start messing around with extensions and templates to see how they do in your very own server.

* [[Beginners/Installing Joomla! on a rented web server | Installing Joomla! on a rented web server]]
* [[Beginners/Installing Joomla! on a local web server | Installing Joomla! on a local web server]]

== Learning to Use Joomla! ==

Now that you have a working Joomla! site, you will want to start filling it with your own content and making it look just the way you want. Before that you need to learn how to work with Joomla!, follow the [[Getting Started with Joomla!]] tutorial.

If you still hungry for more information go ahead and check the the [[Complete Joomla! Guide]].

== Start Creating Your Joomla! Site ==

Now that you know the basics of Joomla! operations and configurations is time to create a real website. The following tutorials will teach you how properly set up your Joomla! installation to work in certain ways.

* Creating a News site with Joomla!
* Creating a Blog site with Joomla!
* Creating a Community site with Joomla!
* Creating an Institutional site with Joomla!
* Creating an eCommerce site with Joomla!

== Keep Your Joomla! Site Secure ==

Security is always a big concern on the web, to make sure you are using best security practices take a read to the following articles:

* [[Security Checklist]]
* [[Security and Performance FAQs]]
* [[Top 10 Stupidest Administrator Tricks]]

If you have any security concern or question visit the Security section of the Joomla! forums or visit the Joomla! community at:

{{Chunk:Community contacts}}

== Getting Help ==

The Joomla! community is composed by large groups of people from all around the world, you can get help from many ways contacting our community people at the Joomla! forums, instant messaging or social networks.

Follow this tips to get the best help and faster solution to most of your answers:

* Most common questions are already answered, do a quick internet search using short phrases. If your problem is an error, copy and paste the error message on your search to see the related search matches.
* Have a quick look at our [FAQs] page.
* If you can't find and answer, contact our community people and make your questions on the forums, IRC or the social networks, pleas be nice, give us details about your problem and Joomla! version.
* And hey hang around, try to help others or simply make new friends, the more people the stronger our community will be.

The Joomla! forums are among the busiest support forums in the world with around 1500 post each day, they are a great place to get help, you can also meet other Joomla! users on:

{{Chunk:Community_contacts}}

== Tutorials and Howtos ==

Note for collaborator: List bellow any tutorials or howtos for non-expert audience, keep the content short and friendly as much as possible.

* How To Backup And Restore Your Joomla! Site
* How To Recover Your Joomla! Administration Password

== More ==

Come [[User:Enav/Beginners/more | Here]] to see some information and archived articles.

[[Category:Landing Pages]]
[[Category:Joomla! user profiles]]
[[Category:Beginners]]

User:Enav/Beginners

2013-07-28T04:12:04Z

Enav: /* What is Joomla!? */

{{RightTOC}}

Welcome to Joomla!, a leading open source Content Management System (CMS) platform. Joomla! is a well-tested, extensible and effective tool supported by a very active and friendly community of developers and users.

This page contain several articles to quickly help you understand the basics of Joomla!, and be able to create basic Joomla! sites in a short time.

== What is Joomla!? ==

If you are from the old school you may think that web sites still works using a bunch of linked HTML files, not anymore, Welcome to century XXI! modern websites runs over Content Management Systems (CMS), this systems runs using dynamic languages like PHP and databases like MySQL databases, this way a CMS can store and manage huge amount of information such as thousand of news articles articles.

Joomla! is a very flexible CMS that runs on PHP and uses MySQL databases to store the data and let you create websites with dynamic content that will change and adjust to the context or the configuration parameters you provide.

== Play With It ==

Do you want to get started with Joomla!, but you have no idea where to begin? If so, you have come to the right place. The fastest way to learn about Joomla! is to start paying with it right now. Visit the demo page and take few minutes to see the demo content and play with the configurations.

<div style="text-align:center">Yes right here---> [http://demo.Joomla.org/ Joomla! demo page]</div>

The first 2 terms you need to learn are "Frontend" and "Backend", the Frontent is the part that shows your site content and all the funny stuff and the Backend is the part that contains the configuration views and it is also the place where you normally manage (create, edit, update) your content. To access to your Joomla! site Backend you just need to add the "/administrators" to your Joomla! site path in the browser address bar i.e.:

www.example.com/administrator

Now that you know how Joomla! looks and feel in the frontend and backend is time to you to learn what kind of magic you can do with this new tool of yours.

Note: On the demo page you can chose to use a free trial hosting account, when the trial period expires if you chose to contract a paid hosting account with them, the Joomla! Project will receive a royalty for the transaction, consider this option if you would like to support the project.

== What Can I Do With It? ==

Joomla! is a CMS, a system to manage content, To make a small analogy you can [[How_Joomla!_compares_to_an_operating_system | compare Joomla! with a computer operative system]], for example, on your computer the operative system manages the resources of your computer, also you can install applications to do more things on your computer, in this order of ideas Joomla! is the one who is in charge to manage the data and you can install "extensions" to extend and enhance the functions of Joomla!.

Joomla! comes by default with a bunch of extensions pre-installed and pre-configured to make Joomla! works as a News website, but you can manually configure your Joomla! site to easily make it works as a:

* Blog site
* Company or Government site
* Contact directory
* Simple product Catalog

Now if your interest is to create more complex sites like:

* eCommerce sites with shopping cart
* Support sites with forums and ticket systems
* News sites with paid subscription system and comment systems
* e-learning sites with paid subscription systems

Then you need to install more Joomla! extensions to make your vanilla Joomla! site work the way you need. Lots and lots of extensions are for free with no cost at all, and others are commercial extensions, this means that you need to pay a fee to have the right to use them but the normally commercial extensions comes with a tech support deals that will help you save precious time and money, and everybody knows time is gold.

Here at [http://extensions.Joomla.org/ The Joomla! Extension Directory] you have thousands of extensions to chose from, take some time to visit the directory and do few searches for the sake to get familiarized with it, you may need to use some more extensions in the future if you decide to [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYtbEmO_JC4 pimp up] your Joomla! site.

Maybe a client or your boss is asking you for a web solution with a very specific set of requirements and the information so far does not help you to determine if Joomla! is suitable for the job, in order to help you to save some time feel free to visit the Joomla! community people and make your questions to humans at:

{{Chunk:Community contacts}}

== Understanding How Joomla! Works ==

[[File:Diagram generic page layout 20130419.png | frame | ight | Generic page layout]]

To keep this introductory article short and friendly as much as possible we will say that Joomla! have two main parts, the Frontend and the Backend, as explained before the Frontend shows the site content that any visitor can see and the Backend is the administrative part that is normally restricted for users with privileges such as administrators.

Taking a quick look at the average website we can conclude that most of them have this basic layout:

* Header
* Main menu
* Main content
* Side content (left or right of main content)
* Footer

In Joomla! the visual location and position of those chunks of data described in the previous list are defined by the current template layout, also the template determines the styles and presentation of the information in general.

Now you may wonder what is used to render each of those chunks of data, and the answer is modules and components. Joomla! depends on extensions (components, modules, plugins) to render chunks of information that have certain characteristics, for example, for small and compact chunks of data like header, main menu, side content and footer Joomla! uses modules which are meant to be used for that purpose. For the main content of the page that is normally a large and dynamic chunk of data, the extension in use are components.

Finally the last extension to describe is the plugin. Plugins are categorized depending on the job they do, some plugins modify the page information, some plugins enhance the Joomla functions and other plugins add new functions to Joomla!. For example the classic "Read more" link/button that is visible under some articles lists is generated by a content plugin, there is also a plugin that let users login in a Joomla! site using their Gmail account login information, that kind of plugin is called authentication plugin.

In resume:

* Templates: Defines the page layout and styles.
* Component: Used to render large chucks of dynamic data.
* Modules: Used to render normally small and static chunks of data.
* Plugins: Used to manipulate data, enhance functions or/and add new functions.

Both the frontend and the backend uses templates and extensions. Is a normal thing that many Joomla! sites uses different templates on the Frontend and leave the Backend with the default administrative template but you can always install a custom 3rd party template in both sides. More information about extensions [[Extension_types_(general_definitions) | Here]].

Note: Most developers creates extensions based on how the default administrative template looks and works you may experience bugs and visual glitches with 3rd party administrative templates, so we recommend the use of the default Joomla! administrative template, also most tutorials and documentation screenshots in general are based on the default Joomla! administrative template.

== Installing Joomla! ==

If you already have a working Joomla! installation or you want to keep using the demo sites, then skip this section.

Now that you had enough fun playing with the Joomla! demo site you may want to go the next level and start messing around with extensions and templates to see how they do in your very own server.

* [[Beginners/Installing Joomla! on a rented web server | Installing Joomla! on a rented web server]]
* [[Beginners/Installing Joomla! on a local web server | Installing Joomla! on a local web server]]

== Learning to Use Joomla! ==

Now that you have a working Joomla! site, you will want to start filling it with your own content and making it look just the way you want. Before that you need to learn how to work with Joomla!, follow the [[Getting Started with Joomla!]] tutorial.

If you still hungry for more information go ahead and check the the [[Complete Joomla! Guide]].

== Start Creating Your Joomla! Site ==

Now that you know the basics of Joomla! operations and configurations is time to create a real website. The following tutorials will teach you how properly set up your Joomla! installation to work in certain ways.

* Creating a News site with Joomla!
* Creating a Blog site with Joomla!
* Creating a Community site with Joomla!
* Creating an Institutional site with Joomla!
* Creating an eCommerce site with Joomla!

== Keep Your Joomla! Site Secure ==

Security is always a big concern on the web, to make sure you are using best security practices take a read to the following articles:

* [[Security Checklist]]
* [[Security and Performance FAQs]]
* [[Top 10 Stupidest Administrator Tricks]]

If you have any security concern or question visit the Security section of the Joomla! forums or visit the Joomla! community at:

{{Chunk:Community contacts}}

== Getting Help ==

The Joomla! community is composed by large groups of people from all around the world, you can get help from many ways contacting our community people at the Joomla! forums, instant messaging or social networks.

Follow this tips to get the best help and faster solution to most of your answers:

* Most common questions are already answered, do a quick internet search using short phrases. If your problem is an error, copy and paste the error message on your search to see the related search matches.
* Have a quick look at our [FAQs] page.
* If you can't find and answer, contact our community people and make your questions on the forums, IRC or the social networks, pleas be nice, give us details about your problem and Joomla! version.
* And hey hang around, try to help others or simply make new friends, the more people the stronger our community will be.

The Joomla! forums are among the busiest support forums in the world with around 1500 post each day, they are a great place to get help, you can also meet other Joomla! users on:

{{Chunk:Community_contacts}}

== Tutorials and Howtos ==

Note for collaborator: List bellow any tutorials or howtos for non-expert audience, keep the content short and friendly as much as possible.

* How To Backup And Restore Your Joomla! Site
* How To Recover Your Joomla! Administration Password

== More ==

Come [[User:Enav/Beginners/more | Here]] to see some information and archived articles.

[[Category:Landing Pages]]
[[Category:Joomla! user profiles]]
[[Category:Beginners]]

User:Enav/Beginners

2013-03-24T02:24:58Z

Enav: /* Play With It */

{{RightTOC}}

Welcome to Joomla!, a leading open source Content Management System (CMS) platform. Joomla! is a well-tested, extensible and effective tool supported by a very active and friendly community of developers and users.

This page contain several articles to quickly help you understand the basics of Joomla!, and be able to create basic Joomla! sites in a short time.

== What is Joomla!? ==

If you are from the old school you may think that web sites still works using a bunch of linked HTML files, not anymore, Welcome to century XXI! modern websites runs over Content Management Systems (CMS), this systems runs using dynamic languages like PHP and databases like MySQL databases, this way a CMS can store and manage huge amount of data like thousand of news articles articles.

Joomla! is a very flexible CMS that runs on PHP that uses MySQL databases to store the data and let you create websites with dynamic content that will change and adjust to the context or the configuration parameters you provide.

== Play With It ==

Do you want to get started with Joomla!, but you have no idea where to begin? If so, you have come to the right place. The fastest way to learn about Joomla! is to start paying with it right now. Visit the demo page and take few minutes to see the demo content and play with the configurations.

<div style="text-align:center">Yes right here---> [http://demo.Joomla.org/ Joomla! demo page]</div>

The first 2 terms you need to learn are "Frontend" and "Backend", the Frontent is the part that shows your site content and all the funny stuff and the Backend is the part that contains the configuration views and it is also the place where you normally manage (create, edit, update) your content. To access to your Joomla! site Backend you just need to add the "/administrators" to your Joomla! site path in the browser address bar i.e.:

www.example.com/administrator

Now that you know how Joomla! looks and feel in the frontend and backend is time to you to learn what kind of magic you can do with this new tool of yours.

Note: On the demo page you can chose to use a free trial hosting account, when the trial period expires if you chose to contract a paid hosting account with them, the Joomla! Project will receive a royalty for the transaction, consider this option if you would like to support the project.

== What Can I Do With It? ==

Joomla! is a CMS, a system to manage content, To make a small analogy you can [[How_Joomla!_compares_to_an_operating_system | compare Joomla! with a computer operative system]], for example, on your computer the operative system manages the resources of your computer, also you can install applications to do more things on your computer, in this order of ideas Joomla! is the one who is in charge to manage the data and you can install "extensions" to extend and enhance the functions of Joomla!.

Joomla! comes by default with a bunch of extensions pre-installed and pre-configured to make Joomla! works as a News website, but you can manually configure your Joomla! site to easily make it works as a:

* Blog site
* Company or Government site
* Contact directory
* Simple product Catalog

Now if your interest is to create more complex sites like:

* eCommerce sites with shopping cart
* Support sites with forums and ticket systems
* News sites with paid subscription system and comment systems
* e-learning sites with paid subscription systems

Then you need to install more Joomla! extensions to make your vanilla Joomla! site work the way you need. Lots and lots of extensions are for free with no cost at all, and others are commercial extensions, this means that you need to pay a fee to have the right to use them but the normally commercial extensions comes with a tech support deals that will help you save precious time and money, and everybody knows time is gold.

Here at [http://extensions.Joomla.org/ The Joomla! Extension Directory] you have thousands of extensions to chose from, take some time to visit the directory and do few searches for the sake to get familiarized with it, you may need to use some more extensions in the future if you decide to [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYtbEmO_JC4 pimp up] your Joomla! site.

Maybe a client or your boss is asking you for a web solution with a very specific set of requirements and the information so far does not help you to determine if Joomla! is suitable for the job, in order to help you to save some time feel free to visit the Joomla! community people and make your questions to humans at:

{{Chunk:Community contacts}}

== Understanding How Joomla! Works ==

[[File:Diagram generic page layout 20130419.png | frame | ight | Generic page layout]]

To keep this introductory article short and friendly as much as possible we will say that Joomla! have two main parts, the Frontend and the Backend, as explained before the Frontend shows the site content that any visitor can see and the Backend is the administrative part that is normally restricted for users with privileges such as administrators.

Taking a quick look at the average website we can conclude that most of them have this basic layout:

* Header
* Main menu
* Main content
* Side content (left or right of main content)
* Footer

In Joomla! the visual location and position of those chunks of data described in the previous list are defined by the current template layout, also the template determines the styles and presentation of the information in general.

Now you may wonder what is used to render each of those chunks of data, and the answer is modules and components. Joomla! depends on extensions (components, modules, plugins) to render chunks of information that have certain characteristics, for example, for small and compact chunks of data like header, main menu, side content and footer Joomla! uses modules which are meant to be used for that purpose. For the main content of the page that is normally a large and dynamic chunk of data, the extension in use are components.

Finally the last extension to describe is the plugin. Plugins are categorized depending on the job they do, some plugins modify the page information, some plugins enhance the Joomla functions and other plugins add new functions to Joomla!. For example the classic "Read more" link/button that is visible under some articles lists is generated by a content plugin, there is also a plugin that let users login in a Joomla! site using their Gmail account login information, that kind of plugin is called authentication plugin.

In resume:

* Templates: Defines the page layout and styles.
* Component: Used to render large chucks of dynamic data.
* Modules: Used to render normally small and static chunks of data.
* Plugins: Used to manipulate data, enhance functions or/and add new functions.

Both the frontend and the backend uses templates and extensions. Is a normal thing that many Joomla! sites uses different templates on the Frontend and leave the Backend with the default administrative template but you can always install a custom 3rd party template in both sides. More information about extensions [[Extension_types_(general_definitions) | Here]].

Note: Most developers creates extensions based on how the default administrative template looks and works you may experience bugs and visual glitches with 3rd party administrative templates, so we recommend the use of the default Joomla! administrative template, also most tutorials and documentation screenshots in general are based on the default Joomla! administrative template.

== Installing Joomla! ==

If you already have a working Joomla! installation or you want to keep using the demo sites, then skip this section.

Now that you had enough fun playing with the Joomla! demo site you may want to go the next level and start messing around with extensions and templates to see how they do in your very own server.

* [[Beginners/Installing Joomla! on a rented web server | Installing Joomla! on a rented web server]]
* [[Beginners/Installing Joomla! on a local web server | Installing Joomla! on a local web server]]

== Learning to Use Joomla! ==

Now that you have a working Joomla! site, you will want to start filling it with your own content and making it look just the way you want. Before that you need to learn how to work with Joomla!, follow the [[Getting Started with Joomla!]] tutorial.

If you still hungry for more information go ahead and check the the [[Complete Joomla! Guide]].

== Start Creating Your Joomla! Site ==

Now that you know the basics of Joomla! operations and configurations is time to create a real website. The following tutorials will teach you how properly set up your Joomla! installation to work in certain ways.

* Creating a News site with Joomla!
* Creating a Blog site with Joomla!
* Creating a Community site with Joomla!
* Creating an Institutional site with Joomla!
* Creating an eCommerce site with Joomla!

== Keep Your Joomla! Site Secure ==

Security is always a big concern on the web, to make sure you are using best security practices take a read to the following articles:

* [[Security Checklist]]
* [[Security and Performance FAQs]]
* [[Top 10 Stupidest Administrator Tricks]]

If you have any security concern or question visit the Security section of the Joomla! forums or visit the Joomla! community at:

{{Chunk:Community contacts}}

== Getting Help ==

The Joomla! community is composed by large groups of people from all around the world, you can get help from many ways contacting our community people at the Joomla! forums, instant messaging or social networks.

Follow this tips to get the best help and faster solution to most of your answers:

* Most common questions are already answered, do a quick internet search using short phrases. If your problem is an error, copy and paste the error message on your search to see the related search matches.
* Have a quick look at our [FAQs] page.
* If you can't find and answer, contact our community people and make your questions on the forums, IRC or the social networks, pleas be nice, give us details about your problem and Joomla! version.
* And hey hang around, try to help others or simply make new friends, the more people the stronger our community will be.

The Joomla! forums are among the busiest support forums in the world with around 1500 post each day, they are a great place to get help, you can also meet other Joomla! users on:

{{Chunk:Community_contacts}}

== Tutorials and Howtos ==

Note for collaborator: List bellow any tutorials or howtos for non-expert audience, keep the content short and friendly as much as possible.

* How To Backup And Restore Your Joomla! Site
* How To Recover Your Joomla! Administration Password

== More ==

Come [[User:Enav/Beginners/more | Here]] to see some information and archived articles.

[[Category:Landing Pages]]
[[Category:Joomla! user profiles]]
[[Category:Beginners]]

User:Enav/Beginners

2013-03-24T02:16:40Z

Enav: /* Understanding How Joomla! Works */

{{RightTOC}}

Welcome to Joomla!, a leading open source Content Management System (CMS) platform. Joomla! is a well-tested, extensible and effective tool supported by a very active and friendly community of developers and users.

This page contain several articles to quickly help you understand the basics of Joomla!, and be able to create basic Joomla! sites in a short time.

== What is Joomla!? ==

If you are from the old school you may think that web sites still works using a bunch of linked HTML files, not anymore, Welcome to century XXI! modern websites runs over Content Management Systems (CMS), this systems runs using dynamic languages like PHP and databases like MySQL databases, this way a CMS can store and manage huge amount of data like thousand of news articles articles.

Joomla! is a very flexible CMS that runs on PHP that uses MySQL databases to store the data and let you create websites with dynamic content that will change and adjust to the context or the configuration parameters you provide.

== Play With It ==

Do you want to get started with Joomla!, but you have no idea where to begin? If so, you have come to the right place. The fastest way to learn about Joomla! is to start paying with it right now. Visit the demo page and take few minutes to see the demo content and play with the configurations.

<div style="text-align:center">Yes right here---> [http://demo.Joomla.org/ Joomla! demo page]</div>

The first 2 term you need to learn are "Frontend" and "Backend", the Frontent is the part that shows your site content and all the funny stuff and the Backend is the part that contains the configuration views and it is also the place where you normally manage (create, edit, update) your content. To access to your Joomla! site Backend you just need to add the "/administrators" to your Joomla! site path in the browser address bar i.e.:

www.example.com/administrator

Now that you know how Joomla! looks and feel in the frontend and backend is time to you to learn what kind of magic you can do with this new tool of yours.

Note: On the demo page you can chose to use a free trial hosting account, when the trial period expires if you chose to contract a paid hosting account with them, the Joomla! Project will receive a royalty for the transaction, consider this option if you would like to support the project.

== What Can I Do With It? ==

Joomla! is a CMS, a system to manage content, To make a small analogy you can [[How_Joomla!_compares_to_an_operating_system | compare Joomla! with a computer operative system]], for example, on your computer the operative system manages the resources of your computer, also you can install applications to do more things on your computer, in this order of ideas Joomla! is the one who is in charge to manage the data and you can install "extensions" to extend and enhance the functions of Joomla!.

Joomla! comes by default with a bunch of extensions pre-installed and pre-configured to make Joomla! works as a News website, but you can manually configure your Joomla! site to easily make it works as a:

* Blog site
* Company or Government site
* Contact directory
* Simple product Catalog

Now if your interest is to create more complex sites like:

* eCommerce sites with shopping cart
* Support sites with forums and ticket systems
* News sites with paid subscription system and comment systems
* e-learning sites with paid subscription systems

Then you need to install more Joomla! extensions to make your vanilla Joomla! site work the way you need. Lots and lots of extensions are for free with no cost at all, and others are commercial extensions, this means that you need to pay a fee to have the right to use them but the normally commercial extensions comes with a tech support deals that will help you save precious time and money, and everybody knows time is gold.

Here at [http://extensions.Joomla.org/ The Joomla! Extension Directory] you have thousands of extensions to chose from, take some time to visit the directory and do few searches for the sake to get familiarized with it, you may need to use some more extensions in the future if you decide to [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYtbEmO_JC4 pimp up] your Joomla! site.

Maybe a client or your boss is asking you for a web solution with a very specific set of requirements and the information so far does not help you to determine if Joomla! is suitable for the job, in order to help you to save some time feel free to visit the Joomla! community people and make your questions to humans at:

{{Chunk:Community contacts}}

== Understanding How Joomla! Works ==

[[File:Diagram generic page layout 20130419.png | frame | ight | Generic page layout]]

To keep this introductory article short and friendly as much as possible we will say that Joomla! have two main parts, the Frontend and the Backend, as explained before the Frontend shows the site content that any visitor can see and the Backend is the administrative part that is normally restricted for users with privileges such as administrators.

Taking a quick look at the average website we can conclude that most of them have this basic layout:

* Header
* Main menu
* Main content
* Side content (left or right of main content)
* Footer

In Joomla! the visual location and position of those chunks of data described in the previous list are defined by the current template layout, also the template determines the styles and presentation of the information in general.

Now you may wonder what is used to render each of those chunks of data, and the answer is modules and components. Joomla! depends on extensions (components, modules, plugins) to render chunks of information that have certain characteristics, for example, for small and compact chunks of data like header, main menu, side content and footer Joomla! uses modules which are meant to be used for that purpose. For the main content of the page that is normally a large and dynamic chunk of data, the extension in use are components.

Finally the last extension to describe is the plugin. Plugins are categorized depending on the job they do, some plugins modify the page information, some plugins enhance the Joomla functions and other plugins add new functions to Joomla!. For example the classic "Read more" link/button that is visible under some articles lists is generated by a content plugin, there is also a plugin that let users login in a Joomla! site using their Gmail account login information, that kind of plugin is called authentication plugin.

In resume:

* Templates: Defines the page layout and styles.
* Component: Used to render large chucks of dynamic data.
* Modules: Used to render normally small and static chunks of data.
* Plugins: Used to manipulate data, enhance functions or/and add new functions.

Both the frontend and the backend uses templates and extensions. Is a normal thing that many Joomla! sites uses different templates on the Frontend and leave the Backend with the default administrative template but you can always install a custom 3rd party template in both sides. More information about extensions [[Extension_types_(general_definitions) | Here]].

Note: Most developers creates extensions based on how the default administrative template looks and works you may experience bugs and visual glitches with 3rd party administrative templates, so we recommend the use of the default Joomla! administrative template, also most tutorials and documentation screenshots in general are based on the default Joomla! administrative template.

== Installing Joomla! ==

If you already have a working Joomla! installation or you want to keep using the demo sites, then skip this section.

Now that you had enough fun playing with the Joomla! demo site you may want to go the next level and start messing around with extensions and templates to see how they do in your very own server.

* [[Beginners/Installing Joomla! on a rented web server | Installing Joomla! on a rented web server]]
* [[Beginners/Installing Joomla! on a local web server | Installing Joomla! on a local web server]]

== Learning to Use Joomla! ==

Now that you have a working Joomla! site, you will want to start filling it with your own content and making it look just the way you want. Before that you need to learn how to work with Joomla!, follow the [[Getting Started with Joomla!]] tutorial.

If you still hungry for more information go ahead and check the the [[Complete Joomla! Guide]].

== Start Creating Your Joomla! Site ==

Now that you know the basics of Joomla! operations and configurations is time to create a real website. The following tutorials will teach you how properly set up your Joomla! installation to work in certain ways.

* Creating a News site with Joomla!
* Creating a Blog site with Joomla!
* Creating a Community site with Joomla!
* Creating an Institutional site with Joomla!
* Creating an eCommerce site with Joomla!

== Keep Your Joomla! Site Secure ==

Security is always a big concern on the web, to make sure you are using best security practices take a read to the following articles:

* [[Security Checklist]]
* [[Security and Performance FAQs]]
* [[Top 10 Stupidest Administrator Tricks]]

If you have any security concern or question visit the Security section of the Joomla! forums or visit the Joomla! community at:

{{Chunk:Community contacts}}

== Getting Help ==

The Joomla! community is composed by large groups of people from all around the world, you can get help from many ways contacting our community people at the Joomla! forums, instant messaging or social networks.

Follow this tips to get the best help and faster solution to most of your answers:

* Most common questions are already answered, do a quick internet search using short phrases. If your problem is an error, copy and paste the error message on your search to see the related search matches.
* Have a quick look at our [FAQs] page.
* If you can't find and answer, contact our community people and make your questions on the forums, IRC or the social networks, pleas be nice, give us details about your problem and Joomla! version.
* And hey hang around, try to help others or simply make new friends, the more people the stronger our community will be.

The Joomla! forums are among the busiest support forums in the world with around 1500 post each day, they are a great place to get help, you can also meet other Joomla! users on:

{{Chunk:Community_contacts}}

== Tutorials and Howtos ==

Note for collaborator: List bellow any tutorials or howtos for non-expert audience, keep the content short and friendly as much as possible.

* How To Backup And Restore Your Joomla! Site
* How To Recover Your Joomla! Administration Password

== More ==

Come [[User:Enav/Beginners/more | Here]] to see some information and archived articles.

[[Category:Landing Pages]]
[[Category:Joomla! user profiles]]
[[Category:Beginners]]

User:Enav/Beginners

2013-03-22T00:35:42Z

Enav: /* Tutorials and Howtos */

{{RightTOC}}

Welcome to Joomla!, a leading open source Content Management System (CMS) platform. Joomla! is a well-tested, extensible and effective tool supported by a very active and friendly community of developers and users.

This page contain several articles to quickly help you understand the basics of Joomla!, and be able to create basic Joomla! sites in a short time.

== What is Joomla!? ==

If you are from the old school you may think that web sites still works using a bunch of linked HTML files, not anymore, Welcome to century XXI! modern websites runs over Content Management Systems (CMS), this systems runs using dynamic languages like PHP and databases like MySQL databases, this way a CMS can store and manage huge amount of data like thousand of news articles articles.

Joomla! is a very flexible CMS that runs on PHP that uses MySQL databases to store the data and let you create websites with dynamic content that will change and adjust to the context or the configuration parameters you provide.

== Play With It ==

Do you want to get started with Joomla!, but you have no idea where to begin? If so, you have come to the right place. The fastest way to learn about Joomla! is to start paying with it right now. Visit the demo page and take few minutes to see the demo content and play with the configurations.

<div style="text-align:center">Yes right here---> [http://demo.Joomla.org/ Joomla! demo page]</div>

The first 2 term you need to learn are "Frontend" and "Backend", the Frontent is the part that shows your site content and all the funny stuff and the Backend is the part that contains the configuration views and it is also the place where you normally manage (create, edit, update) your content. To access to your Joomla! site Backend you just need to add the "/administrators" to your Joomla! site path in the browser address bar i.e.:

www.example.com/administrator

Now that you know how Joomla! looks and feel in the frontend and backend is time to you to learn what kind of magic you can do with this new tool of yours.

Note: On the demo page you can chose to use a free trial hosting account, when the trial period expires if you chose to contract a paid hosting account with them, the Joomla! Project will receive a royalty for the transaction, consider this option if you would like to support the project.

== What Can I Do With It? ==

Joomla! is a CMS, a system to manage content, To make a small analogy you can [[How_Joomla!_compares_to_an_operating_system | compare Joomla! with a computer operative system]], for example, on your computer the operative system manages the resources of your computer, also you can install applications to do more things on your computer, in this order of ideas Joomla! is the one who is in charge to manage the data and you can install "extensions" to extend and enhance the functions of Joomla!.

Joomla! comes by default with a bunch of extensions pre-installed and pre-configured to make Joomla! works as a News website, but you can manually configure your Joomla! site to easily make it works as a:

* Blog site
* Company or Government site
* Contact directory
* Simple product Catalog

Now if your interest is to create more complex sites like:

* eCommerce sites with shopping cart
* Support sites with forums and ticket systems
* News sites with paid subscription system and comment systems
* e-learning sites with paid subscription systems

Then you need to install more Joomla! extensions to make your vanilla Joomla! site work the way you need. Lots and lots of extensions are for free with no cost at all, and others are commercial extensions, this means that you need to pay a fee to have the right to use them but the normally commercial extensions comes with a tech support deals that will help you save precious time and money, and everybody knows time is gold.

Here at [http://extensions.Joomla.org/ The Joomla! Extension Directory] you have thousands of extensions to chose from, take some time to visit the directory and do few searches for the sake to get familiarized with it, you may need to use some more extensions in the future if you decide to [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYtbEmO_JC4 pimp up] your Joomla! site.

Maybe a client or your boss is asking you for a web solution with a very specific set of requirements and the information so far does not help you to determine if Joomla! is suitable for the job, in order to help you to save some time feel free to visit the Joomla! community people and make your questions to humans at:

{{Chunk:Community contacts}}

== Understanding How Joomla! Works ==

[[File:Diagram generic page layout 20130419.png | frame | ight | Generic page layout]]

To keep this introductory article short and friendly as much as possible we will say that Joomla! have two main parts, the Frontend and the Backend, as explained before the Frontend shows the site content that any visitor can see and the Backend is the administrative part that is normally restricted for users with privileges such as administrators.

Taking a quick look at the average website we can conclude that most of them have this basic layout:

* Header
* Main menu
* Main content
* Side content (left or right of main content)
* Footer

In Joomla! the visual location and position of those chunks of data described in the previous list are defined by the current template layout, also the template determines the styles and presentation of the information in general.

Now you may wonder what is used to render each of those chunks of data, and the answer is modules and components. Joomla! depends on extensions (components, modules, plugins) to render chunks of information that have certain characteristics, for example, for small and compact chunks of data like header, main menu, side content and footer Joomla! uses modules which are meant to be used for that purpose. For the main content of the page that is normally a large and dynamic chunk of data, the extension in use are components.

Finally the last extension to describe is the plugin. Plugins are categorized depending on the job they do, some plugins modify the page information of the page, some plugins enhance the Joomla functions and other plugins add new functions to Joomla!. For example the classic "Read more" link/button for list of articles is generated by a content plugin, there is also a plugin that let users login in a Joomla! site using their Gmail account login information that plugin is an authentication plugin.

In resume:

* Templates: Defines the page layout and styles.
* Component: Used to render large chucks of dynamic data.
* Modules: Used to render normally small and static chunks of data.
* Plugins: Used to manipulate data, enhance functions or/and add new functions.

Both the frontend and the backend uses templates and extensions. Is a normal thing that many Joomla! sites uses different templates on the Frontend and leave the Backend with the default administrative template but you can always install a custom 3rd party template in both sides. More information about extensions [[Extension_types_(general_definitions) | Here]].

Note: Most developers creates extensions based on how the default administrative template looks and works you may experience bugs and visual glitches with 3rd party administrative templates, so we recommend the use of the default Joomla! administrative template, also most tutorials and documentation screenshots in general are based on the default Joomla! administrative template.

== Installing Joomla! ==

If you already have a working Joomla! installation or you want to keep using the demo sites, then skip this section.

Now that you had enough fun playing with the Joomla! demo site you may want to go the next level and start messing around with extensions and templates to see how they do in your very own server.

* [[Beginners/Installing Joomla! on a rented web server | Installing Joomla! on a rented web server]]
* [[Beginners/Installing Joomla! on a local web server | Installing Joomla! on a local web server]]

== Learning to Use Joomla! ==

Now that you have a working Joomla! site, you will want to start filling it with your own content and making it look just the way you want. Before that you need to learn how to work with Joomla!, follow the [[Getting Started with Joomla!]] tutorial.

If you still hungry for more information go ahead and check the the [[Complete Joomla! Guide]].

== Start Creating Your Joomla! Site ==

Now that you know the basics of Joomla! operations and configurations is time to create a real website. The following tutorials will teach you how properly set up your Joomla! installation to work in certain ways.

* Creating a News site with Joomla!
* Creating a Blog site with Joomla!
* Creating a Community site with Joomla!
* Creating an Institutional site with Joomla!
* Creating an eCommerce site with Joomla!

== Keep Your Joomla! Site Secure ==

Security is always a big concern on the web, to make sure you are using best security practices take a read to the following articles:

* [[Security Checklist]]
* [[Security and Performance FAQs]]
* [[Top 10 Stupidest Administrator Tricks]]

If you have any security concern or question visit the Security section of the Joomla! forums or visit the Joomla! community at:

{{Chunk:Community contacts}}

== Getting Help ==

The Joomla! community is composed by large groups of people from all around the world, you can get help from many ways contacting our community people at the Joomla! forums, instant messaging or social networks.

Follow this tips to get the best help and faster solution to most of your answers:

* Most common questions are already answered, do a quick internet search using short phrases. If your problem is an error, copy and paste the error message on your search to see the related search matches.
* Have a quick look at our [FAQs] page.
* If you can't find and answer, contact our community people and make your questions on the forums, IRC or the social networks, pleas be nice, give us details about your problem and Joomla! version.
* And hey hang around, try to help others or simply make new friends, the more people the stronger our community will be.

The Joomla! forums are among the busiest support forums in the world with around 1500 post each day, they are a great place to get help, you can also meet other Joomla! users on:

{{Chunk:Community_contacts}}

== Tutorials and Howtos ==

Note for collaborator: List bellow any tutorials or howtos for non-expert audience, keep the content short and friendly as much as possible.

* How To Backup And Restore Your Joomla! Site
* How To Recover Your Joomla! Administration Password

== More ==

Come [[User:Enav/Beginners/more | Here]] to see some information and archived articles.

[[Category:Landing Pages]]
[[Category:Joomla! user profiles]]
[[Category:Beginners]]

User:Enav/Beginners

2013-03-22T00:35:01Z

Enav: /* Play With It */

{{RightTOC}}

Welcome to Joomla!, a leading open source Content Management System (CMS) platform. Joomla! is a well-tested, extensible and effective tool supported by a very active and friendly community of developers and users.

This page contain several articles to quickly help you understand the basics of Joomla!, and be able to create basic Joomla! sites in a short time.

== What is Joomla!? ==

If you are from the old school you may think that web sites still works using a bunch of linked HTML files, not anymore, Welcome to century XXI! modern websites runs over Content Management Systems (CMS), this systems runs using dynamic languages like PHP and databases like MySQL databases, this way a CMS can store and manage huge amount of data like thousand of news articles articles.

Joomla! is a very flexible CMS that runs on PHP that uses MySQL databases to store the data and let you create websites with dynamic content that will change and adjust to the context or the configuration parameters you provide.

== Play With It ==

Do you want to get started with Joomla!, but you have no idea where to begin? If so, you have come to the right place. The fastest way to learn about Joomla! is to start paying with it right now. Visit the demo page and take few minutes to see the demo content and play with the configurations.

<div style="text-align:center">Yes right here---> [http://demo.Joomla.org/ Joomla! demo page]</div>

The first 2 term you need to learn are "Frontend" and "Backend", the Frontent is the part that shows your site content and all the funny stuff and the Backend is the part that contains the configuration views and it is also the place where you normally manage (create, edit, update) your content. To access to your Joomla! site Backend you just need to add the "/administrators" to your Joomla! site path in the browser address bar i.e.:

www.example.com/administrator

Now that you know how Joomla! looks and feel in the frontend and backend is time to you to learn what kind of magic you can do with this new tool of yours.

Note: On the demo page you can chose to use a free trial hosting account, when the trial period expires if you chose to contract a paid hosting account with them, the Joomla! Project will receive a royalty for the transaction, consider this option if you would like to support the project.

== What Can I Do With It? ==

Joomla! is a CMS, a system to manage content, To make a small analogy you can [[How_Joomla!_compares_to_an_operating_system | compare Joomla! with a computer operative system]], for example, on your computer the operative system manages the resources of your computer, also you can install applications to do more things on your computer, in this order of ideas Joomla! is the one who is in charge to manage the data and you can install "extensions" to extend and enhance the functions of Joomla!.

Joomla! comes by default with a bunch of extensions pre-installed and pre-configured to make Joomla! works as a News website, but you can manually configure your Joomla! site to easily make it works as a:

* Blog site
* Company or Government site
* Contact directory
* Simple product Catalog

Now if your interest is to create more complex sites like:

* eCommerce sites with shopping cart
* Support sites with forums and ticket systems
* News sites with paid subscription system and comment systems
* e-learning sites with paid subscription systems

Then you need to install more Joomla! extensions to make your vanilla Joomla! site work the way you need. Lots and lots of extensions are for free with no cost at all, and others are commercial extensions, this means that you need to pay a fee to have the right to use them but the normally commercial extensions comes with a tech support deals that will help you save precious time and money, and everybody knows time is gold.

Here at [http://extensions.Joomla.org/ The Joomla! Extension Directory] you have thousands of extensions to chose from, take some time to visit the directory and do few searches for the sake to get familiarized with it, you may need to use some more extensions in the future if you decide to [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYtbEmO_JC4 pimp up] your Joomla! site.

Maybe a client or your boss is asking you for a web solution with a very specific set of requirements and the information so far does not help you to determine if Joomla! is suitable for the job, in order to help you to save some time feel free to visit the Joomla! community people and make your questions to humans at:

{{Chunk:Community contacts}}

== Understanding How Joomla! Works ==

[[File:Diagram generic page layout 20130419.png | frame | ight | Generic page layout]]

To keep this introductory article short and friendly as much as possible we will say that Joomla! have two main parts, the Frontend and the Backend, as explained before the Frontend shows the site content that any visitor can see and the Backend is the administrative part that is normally restricted for users with privileges such as administrators.

Taking a quick look at the average website we can conclude that most of them have this basic layout:

* Header
* Main menu
* Main content
* Side content (left or right of main content)
* Footer

In Joomla! the visual location and position of those chunks of data described in the previous list are defined by the current template layout, also the template determines the styles and presentation of the information in general.

Now you may wonder what is used to render each of those chunks of data, and the answer is modules and components. Joomla! depends on extensions (components, modules, plugins) to render chunks of information that have certain characteristics, for example, for small and compact chunks of data like header, main menu, side content and footer Joomla! uses modules which are meant to be used for that purpose. For the main content of the page that is normally a large and dynamic chunk of data, the extension in use are components.

Finally the last extension to describe is the plugin. Plugins are categorized depending on the job they do, some plugins modify the page information of the page, some plugins enhance the Joomla functions and other plugins add new functions to Joomla!. For example the classic "Read more" link/button for list of articles is generated by a content plugin, there is also a plugin that let users login in a Joomla! site using their Gmail account login information that plugin is an authentication plugin.

In resume:

* Templates: Defines the page layout and styles.
* Component: Used to render large chucks of dynamic data.
* Modules: Used to render normally small and static chunks of data.
* Plugins: Used to manipulate data, enhance functions or/and add new functions.

Both the frontend and the backend uses templates and extensions. Is a normal thing that many Joomla! sites uses different templates on the Frontend and leave the Backend with the default administrative template but you can always install a custom 3rd party template in both sides. More information about extensions [[Extension_types_(general_definitions) | Here]].

Note: Most developers creates extensions based on how the default administrative template looks and works you may experience bugs and visual glitches with 3rd party administrative templates, so we recommend the use of the default Joomla! administrative template, also most tutorials and documentation screenshots in general are based on the default Joomla! administrative template.

== Installing Joomla! ==

If you already have a working Joomla! installation or you want to keep using the demo sites, then skip this section.

Now that you had enough fun playing with the Joomla! demo site you may want to go the next level and start messing around with extensions and templates to see how they do in your very own server.

* [[Beginners/Installing Joomla! on a rented web server | Installing Joomla! on a rented web server]]
* [[Beginners/Installing Joomla! on a local web server | Installing Joomla! on a local web server]]

== Learning to Use Joomla! ==

Now that you have a working Joomla! site, you will want to start filling it with your own content and making it look just the way you want. Before that you need to learn how to work with Joomla!, follow the [[Getting Started with Joomla!]] tutorial.

If you still hungry for more information go ahead and check the the [[Complete Joomla! Guide]].

== Start Creating Your Joomla! Site ==

Now that you know the basics of Joomla! operations and configurations is time to create a real website. The following tutorials will teach you how properly set up your Joomla! installation to work in certain ways.

* Creating a News site with Joomla!
* Creating a Blog site with Joomla!
* Creating a Community site with Joomla!
* Creating an Institutional site with Joomla!
* Creating an eCommerce site with Joomla!

== Keep Your Joomla! Site Secure ==

Security is always a big concern on the web, to make sure you are using best security practices take a read to the following articles:

* [[Security Checklist]]
* [[Security and Performance FAQs]]
* [[Top 10 Stupidest Administrator Tricks]]

If you have any security concern or question visit the Security section of the Joomla! forums or visit the Joomla! community at:

{{Chunk:Community contacts}}

== Getting Help ==

The Joomla! community is composed by large groups of people from all around the world, you can get help from many ways contacting our community people at the Joomla! forums, instant messaging or social networks.

Follow this tips to get the best help and faster solution to most of your answers:

* Most common questions are already answered, do a quick internet search using short phrases. If your problem is an error, copy and paste the error message on your search to see the related search matches.
* Have a quick look at our [FAQs] page.
* If you can't find and answer, contact our community people and make your questions on the forums, IRC or the social networks, pleas be nice, give us details about your problem and Joomla! version.
* And hey hang around, try to help others or simply make new friends, the more people the stronger our community will be.

The Joomla! forums are among the busiest support forums in the world with around 1500 post each day, they are a great place to get help, you can also meet other Joomla! users on:

{{Chunk:Community_contacts}}

== Tutorials and Howtos ==

Note for collaborator: List bellow any tutorials or howtos for non-expert audience, keep the content short and friendly as much as possible.

* How To Backup And Restore Your Joomla! Site
* How To Recover Your Joomla! Administration Password
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*

== More ==

Come [[User:Enav/Beginners/more | Here]] to see some information and archived articles.

[[Category:Landing Pages]]
[[Category:Joomla! user profiles]]
[[Category:Beginners]]

User:Enav/Beginners

2013-03-20T01:57:43Z

Enav: /* Installing Joomla! */

{{RightTOC}}

Welcome to Joomla!, a leading open source Content Management System (CMS) platform. Joomla! is a well-tested, extensible and effective tool supported by a very active and friendly community of developers and users.

This page contain several articles to quickly help you understand the basics of Joomla!, and be able to create basic Joomla! sites in a short time.

== What is Joomla!? ==

If you are from the old school you may think that web sites still works using a bunch of linked HTML files, not anymore, Welcome to century XXI! modern websites runs over Content Management Systems (CMS), this systems runs using dynamic languages like PHP and databases like MySQL databases, this way a CMS can store and manage huge amount of data like thousand of news articles articles.

Joomla! is a very flexible CMS that runs on PHP that uses MySQL databases to store the data and let you create websites with dynamic content that will change and adjust to the context or the configuration parameters you provide.

== Play With It ==

Do you want to get started with Joomla!, but you have no idea where to begin? If so, you have come to the right place. The fastest way to learn about Joomla! is to start paying with it right now. Visit the demo page and take few minutes to see the demo content and play with the configurations.

<div style="text-align:center">Yes right here---> [http://demo.Joomla.org/ Joomla! demo page]</div>

The first 2 term you need to learn are "Frontend" and "Backend", the Frontent is the part that shows your site content and all the funny stuff and the Backend is the part that contains the configuration views and it is also the place where you normally manage (create, edit, update) your content. To access to your Joomla! site Backend you just need to add the "/administrators" to your Joomla! site path in the browser address bar i.e.:

www.example.com/adminisrator

Now that you know how Joomla! looks and feel in the frontend and backend is time to you to learn what kind of magic you can do with this new tool of yours.

Note: On the demo page you can chose to use a free trial hosting account, when the trial period expires if you chose to contract a paid hosting account with them, the Joomla! Project will receive a royalty for the transaction, consider this option if you would like to support the project.

== What Can I Do With It? ==

Joomla! is a CMS, a system to manage content, To make a small analogy you can [[How_Joomla!_compares_to_an_operating_system | compare Joomla! with a computer operative system]], for example, on your computer the operative system manages the resources of your computer, also you can install applications to do more things on your computer, in this order of ideas Joomla! is the one who is in charge to manage the data and you can install "extensions" to extend and enhance the functions of Joomla!.

Joomla! comes by default with a bunch of extensions pre-installed and pre-configured to make Joomla! works as a News website, but you can manually configure your Joomla! site to easily make it works as a:

* Blog site
* Company or Government site
* Contact directory
* Simple product Catalog

Now if your interest is to create more complex sites like:

* eCommerce sites with shopping cart
* Support sites with forums and ticket systems
* News sites with paid subscription system and comment systems
* e-learning sites with paid subscription systems

Then you need to install more Joomla! extensions to make your vanilla Joomla! site work the way you need. Lots and lots of extensions are for free with no cost at all, and others are commercial extensions, this means that you need to pay a fee to have the right to use them but the normally commercial extensions comes with a tech support deals that will help you save precious time and money, and everybody knows time is gold.

Here at [http://extensions.Joomla.org/ The Joomla! Extension Directory] you have thousands of extensions to chose from, take some time to visit the directory and do few searches for the sake to get familiarized with it, you may need to use some more extensions in the future if you decide to [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYtbEmO_JC4 pimp up] your Joomla! site.

Maybe a client or your boss is asking you for a web solution with a very specific set of requirements and the information so far does not help you to determine if Joomla! is suitable for the job, in order to help you to save some time feel free to visit the Joomla! community people and make your questions to humans at:

{{Chunk:Community contacts}}

== Understanding How Joomla! Works ==

[[File:Diagram generic page layout 20130419.png | frame | ight | Generic page layout]]

To keep this introductory article short and friendly as much as possible we will say that Joomla! have two main parts, the Frontend and the Backend, as explained before the Frontend shows the site content that any visitor can see and the Backend is the administrative part that is normally restricted for users with privileges such as administrators.

Taking a quick look at the average website we can conclude that most of them have this basic layout:

* Header
* Main menu
* Main content
* Side content (left or right of main content)
* Footer

In Joomla! the visual location and position of those chunks of data described in the previous list are defined by the current template layout, also the template determines the styles and presentation of the information in general.

Now you may wonder what is used to render each of those chunks of data, and the answer is modules and components. Joomla! depends on extensions (components, modules, plugins) to render chunks of information that have certain characteristics, for example, for small and compact chunks of data like header, main menu, side content and footer Joomla! uses modules which are meant to be used for that purpose. For the main content of the page that is normally a large and dynamic chunk of data, the extension in use are components.

Finally the last extension to describe is the plugin. Plugins are categorized depending on the job they do, some plugins modify the page information of the page, some plugins enhance the Joomla functions and other plugins add new functions to Joomla!. For example the classic "Read more" link/button for list of articles is generated by a content plugin, there is also a plugin that let users login in a Joomla! site using their Gmail account login information that plugin is an authentication plugin.

In resume:

* Templates: Defines the page layout and styles.
* Component: Used to render large chucks of dynamic data.
* Modules: Used to render normally small and static chunks of data.
* Plugins: Used to manipulate data, enhance functions or/and add new functions.

Both the frontend and the backend uses templates and extensions. Is a normal thing that many Joomla! sites uses different templates on the Frontend and leave the Backend with the default administrative template but you can always install a custom 3rd party template in both sides. More information about extensions [[Extension_types_(general_definitions) | Here]].

Note: Most developers creates extensions based on how the default administrative template looks and works you may experience bugs and visual glitches with 3rd party administrative templates, so we recommend the use of the default Joomla! administrative template, also most tutorials and documentation screenshots in general are based on the default Joomla! administrative template.

== Installing Joomla! ==

If you already have a working Joomla! installation or you want to keep using the demo sites, then skip this section.

Now that you had enough fun playing with the Joomla! demo site you may want to go the next level and start messing around with extensions and templates to see how they do in your very own server.

* [[Beginners/Installing Joomla! on a rented web server | Installing Joomla! on a rented web server]]
* [[Beginners/Installing Joomla! on a local web server | Installing Joomla! on a local web server]]

== Learning to Use Joomla! ==

Now that you have a working Joomla! site, you will want to start filling it with your own content and making it look just the way you want. Before that you need to learn how to work with Joomla!, follow the [[Getting Started with Joomla!]] tutorial.

If you still hungry for more information go ahead and check the the [[Complete Joomla! Guide]].

== Start Creating Your Joomla! Site ==

Now that you know the basics of Joomla! operations and configurations is time to create a real website. The following tutorials will teach you how properly set up your Joomla! installation to work in certain ways.

* Creating a News site with Joomla!
* Creating a Blog site with Joomla!
* Creating a Community site with Joomla!
* Creating an Institutional site with Joomla!
* Creating an eCommerce site with Joomla!

== Keep Your Joomla! Site Secure ==

Security is always a big concern on the web, to make sure you are using best security practices take a read to the following articles:

* [[Security Checklist]]
* [[Security and Performance FAQs]]
* [[Top 10 Stupidest Administrator Tricks]]

If you have any security concern or question visit the Security section of the Joomla! forums or visit the Joomla! community at:

{{Chunk:Community contacts}}

== Getting Help ==

The Joomla! community is composed by large groups of people from all around the world, you can get help from many ways contacting our community people at the Joomla! forums, instant messaging or social networks.

Follow this tips to get the best help and faster solution to most of your answers:

* Most common questions are already answered, do a quick internet search using short phrases. If your problem is an error, copy and paste the error message on your search to see the related search matches.
* Have a quick look at our [FAQs] page.
* If you can't find and answer, contact our community people and make your questions on the forums, IRC or the social networks, pleas be nice, give us details about your problem and Joomla! version.
* And hey hang around, try to help others or simply make new friends, the more people the stronger our community will be.

The Joomla! forums are among the busiest support forums in the world with around 1500 post each day, they are a great place to get help, you can also meet other Joomla! users on:

{{Chunk:Community_contacts}}

== Tutorials and Howtos ==

Note for collaborator: List bellow any tutorials or howtos for non-expert audience, keep the content short and friendly as much as possible.

* How To Backup And Restore Your Joomla! Site
* How To Recover Your Joomla! Administration Password
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*

== More ==

Come [[User:Enav/Beginners/more | Here]] to see some information and archived articles.

[[Category:Landing Pages]]
[[Category:Joomla! user profiles]]
[[Category:Beginners]]

Portal talk:Beginners

2013-03-20T01:23:00Z

Enav:

I'm working in a complete revamp for the Beginner landing page to make it actually beginners friendly coherent and readable.

This is the page [[User:Enav/Beginners]], pleas give an input and feel free to collaborate, my intention is to stop this information madness and make the docs practical and enjoyabe to read.

Many of the Links are empty or the tutorials are not complete, I will work on them in the coming days.

[[User:Enav|Enav]] ([[User talk:Enav|talk]]) 20:15, 19 March 2013 (CDT)

Where can I indicate that there is a slight (probably transient) problem with the "Joomla! v 1.5 Quick Start Guide"?

I followed directions and installed XAMPP 1.7.2 and was unable to get Joomla 1.5.14 to run. Root cause: XAMPP 1.7.2 installs the latest version of PHP which is not supported in Joomla 1.5.

I finally installed XAMPP 1.7.1 which installs a supported version of PHP (5.2.9).

It was only a bit frustrating.

[[User:John2|John2]] 18:55, 18 August 2009 (UTC)

== www needs altering to ==

To redirect anyone visiting http://www.joomla.org site with the www. to the none www. version

<pre>RewriteEngine on
Options +FollowSymlinks
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www\.JOOMLA.org [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*) http://JOOMLA.org/$1 [L,R=301]</pre>

Redirecting anyone visiting http://joomla.org without the www. to http://www.JOOMLA.org:

<pre>RewriteEngine on
Options +FollowSymlinks
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\.JOOMLA.org [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*) http://www.JOOMLA.org/$1 [L,R=301]</pre>
15:34, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

== Suggestions and corrections to the Joomla! 1.5 Quick Start Guide PDF ==

After working through the [http://help.joomla.org/ghop/feb2008/task048/joomla_15_quickstart.pdf Quick Start Guide], I would like to make the following suggestion and correction. My edits are marked in bold.

Page 13 (suggestion)

:10. For the landscaping website, create five different articles in each of our '''four''' categories. '''Use the [http://www.lipsum.com/ Lipsum generator] to easily generate text.''' Use the “read more” button to divide each article into introductory information and then full content. From each category, choose two items to display on the front page using the “Front Page” toggle switch:

''Comment: I neglected creating articles for the Presidents category which later is needed when adding the Newsflash module. Take it or leave it.''

''Comment: I found the quick tutorial not very quick when I realized I needed to create 20 articles - 4 categories with 5 articles for each. I noticed the Lorem ipsum text being used in the screen shot, so I thought that would be a nice reference to point the user to in case there are those who might not feel bothered to go any further with the tutorial.''

Page 45 (correction)

:3. Name the module “Breadcrumbs” but disable the title in the “Show Title” setting. '''Choose the "Breadcrumb" position in order to display this below the logo.''' Leave the rest of the settings the same:

''Comment: I was using Joomla! version 1.5.15 when completing this tutorial. The default position is "left", not "top", as indicated in the screen shot. "Left" places it below the login module and not as illustrated in the tutorial. Using "top" places it awkwardly below the Newsflash module and in some cases not even visible depending on how long the Newsflash module extends. "Breadcrumb" seems to be the position that generates the desired location as seen in the screen shot.''

[[User:Sbalzer|Sbalzer]] 04:04, 25 November 2009 (UTC)

== Quick Start Using a Virtual Appliance ==

Another option for a quick start is to use a virtual appliance.

As an example JumpBox provides a copy of Joomla that can be downloaded at [http://demo.joomla.org/jumpbox.html JumpBox] and, assuming you already have a virtual player set up (e.g. - [http://www.vmware.com/products/player/ VMWare Player]) then you can be up and running in literally minutes - and without the need to buy any additional hardware.

== create an article ==

"This article shows you how to create an article from the front end."
- No, it doesn't. Please delete this sentence. [[User:Saddam|Saddam]] 09:27, 12 November 2010 (UTC)

== VisualGuide 1.7 ==

The original 'Learn Joomla! 1.5 Fast!' was a great introduction to Joomla! 1.5 by Saurabh R. Bhide. However, some things are outdated, there are some (minor) erros and a 1.5 extension example doesn't work any more. Therefor I decided to produce a major re-write for version 1.7.3 with corrections, updates and additions.
It is published at Scribd: [http://www.scribd.com/doc/76599431/Visual-Guide17 Visual Guide 1.7].

Feedback is always welcome! See the book for a link to my email ID.

Tinus
December 27, 2011

== xampp php configuration for Joomla ==

XAMPP PHP needs to be configured for use with Joomla. XAMPP is configured for development by default. For Joomla PHP should be configured for production.

- Rename php/php.ini to php/php.ini-orig<br/>
- Rename php/php.ini-production to php/php.ini<br/>
- Restart apache to use new php.ini settings

== Learn Joomla Fast 2.5.4 ==

The original 'Learn Joomla! 1.5 Fast!' was a great introduction to Joomla! 1.5 by Saurabh R. Bhide. However, some things are outdated and it needed some additions. Therefore I decided to produce a major re-write for version 2.5.4 with corrections, updates and additions.
It is called "Learn Joomla Fast 2.5.4" and it is published at Scribd: [http://www.scribd.com/doc/95290963/Learn-Joomla-Fast-2-5].
Feedback is always welcome! See the book for a link to my email ID.
Tinus
May 30, 2012

Portal talk:Beginners

2013-03-20T01:15:48Z

Enav:

I'm working in a complete revamp for the Beginner landing page to make it actually beginners friendly coherent and readable.

This is the page [[Enav:Beginner]], pleas give an input and feel free to collaborate, my intention is to stop this information madness and make the docs practical and enjoyabe to read.

Many of the Links are empty or the tutorials are not complete, I will work on them in the coming days.

[[User:Enav|Enav]] ([[User talk:Enav|talk]]) 20:15, 19 March 2013 (CDT)

Where can I indicate that there is a slight (probably transient) problem with the "Joomla! v 1.5 Quick Start Guide"?

I followed directions and installed XAMPP 1.7.2 and was unable to get Joomla 1.5.14 to run. Root cause: XAMPP 1.7.2 installs the latest version of PHP which is not supported in Joomla 1.5.

I finally installed XAMPP 1.7.1 which installs a supported version of PHP (5.2.9).

It was only a bit frustrating.

[[User:John2|John2]] 18:55, 18 August 2009 (UTC)

== www needs altering to ==

To redirect anyone visiting http://www.joomla.org site with the www. to the none www. version

<pre>RewriteEngine on
Options +FollowSymlinks
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www\.JOOMLA.org [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*) http://JOOMLA.org/$1 [L,R=301]</pre>

Redirecting anyone visiting http://joomla.org without the www. to http://www.JOOMLA.org:

<pre>RewriteEngine on
Options +FollowSymlinks
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\.JOOMLA.org [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*) http://www.JOOMLA.org/$1 [L,R=301]</pre>
15:34, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

== Suggestions and corrections to the Joomla! 1.5 Quick Start Guide PDF ==

After working through the [http://help.joomla.org/ghop/feb2008/task048/joomla_15_quickstart.pdf Quick Start Guide], I would like to make the following suggestion and correction. My edits are marked in bold.

Page 13 (suggestion)

:10. For the landscaping website, create five different articles in each of our '''four''' categories. '''Use the [http://www.lipsum.com/ Lipsum generator] to easily generate text.''' Use the “read more” button to divide each article into introductory information and then full content. From each category, choose two items to display on the front page using the “Front Page” toggle switch:

''Comment: I neglected creating articles for the Presidents category which later is needed when adding the Newsflash module. Take it or leave it.''

''Comment: I found the quick tutorial not very quick when I realized I needed to create 20 articles - 4 categories with 5 articles for each. I noticed the Lorem ipsum text being used in the screen shot, so I thought that would be a nice reference to point the user to in case there are those who might not feel bothered to go any further with the tutorial.''

Page 45 (correction)

:3. Name the module “Breadcrumbs” but disable the title in the “Show Title” setting. '''Choose the "Breadcrumb" position in order to display this below the logo.''' Leave the rest of the settings the same:

''Comment: I was using Joomla! version 1.5.15 when completing this tutorial. The default position is "left", not "top", as indicated in the screen shot. "Left" places it below the login module and not as illustrated in the tutorial. Using "top" places it awkwardly below the Newsflash module and in some cases not even visible depending on how long the Newsflash module extends. "Breadcrumb" seems to be the position that generates the desired location as seen in the screen shot.''

[[User:Sbalzer|Sbalzer]] 04:04, 25 November 2009 (UTC)

== Quick Start Using a Virtual Appliance ==

Another option for a quick start is to use a virtual appliance.

As an example JumpBox provides a copy of Joomla that can be downloaded at [http://demo.joomla.org/jumpbox.html JumpBox] and, assuming you already have a virtual player set up (e.g. - [http://www.vmware.com/products/player/ VMWare Player]) then you can be up and running in literally minutes - and without the need to buy any additional hardware.

== create an article ==

"This article shows you how to create an article from the front end."
- No, it doesn't. Please delete this sentence. [[User:Saddam|Saddam]] 09:27, 12 November 2010 (UTC)

== VisualGuide 1.7 ==

The original 'Learn Joomla! 1.5 Fast!' was a great introduction to Joomla! 1.5 by Saurabh R. Bhide. However, some things are outdated, there are some (minor) erros and a 1.5 extension example doesn't work any more. Therefor I decided to produce a major re-write for version 1.7.3 with corrections, updates and additions.
It is published at Scribd: [http://www.scribd.com/doc/76599431/Visual-Guide17 Visual Guide 1.7].

Feedback is always welcome! See the book for a link to my email ID.

Tinus
December 27, 2011

== xampp php configuration for Joomla ==

XAMPP PHP needs to be configured for use with Joomla. XAMPP is configured for development by default. For Joomla PHP should be configured for production.

- Rename php/php.ini to php/php.ini-orig<br/>
- Rename php/php.ini-production to php/php.ini<br/>
- Restart apache to use new php.ini settings

== Learn Joomla Fast 2.5.4 ==

The original 'Learn Joomla! 1.5 Fast!' was a great introduction to Joomla! 1.5 by Saurabh R. Bhide. However, some things are outdated and it needed some additions. Therefore I decided to produce a major re-write for version 2.5.4 with corrections, updates and additions.
It is called "Learn Joomla Fast 2.5.4" and it is published at Scribd: [http://www.scribd.com/doc/95290963/Learn-Joomla-Fast-2-5].
Feedback is always welcome! See the book for a link to my email ID.
Tinus
May 30, 2012

User:Enav/Beginners

2013-03-19T06:17:41Z

Enav: /* Play With It */

{{RightTOC}}

Welcome to Joomla!, a leading open source Content Management System (CMS) platform. Joomla! is a well-tested, extensible and effective tool supported by a very active and friendly community of developers and users.

This page contain several articles to quickly help you understand the basics of Joomla!, and be able to create basic Joomla! sites in a short time.

== What is Joomla!? ==

If you are from the old school you may think that web sites still works using a bunch of linked HTML files, not anymore, Welcome to century XXI! modern websites runs over Content Management Systems (CMS), this systems runs using dynamic languages like PHP and databases like MySQL databases, this way a CMS can store and manage huge amount of data like thousand of news articles articles.

Joomla! is a very flexible CMS that runs on PHP that uses MySQL databases to store the data and let you create websites with dynamic content that will change and adjust to the context or the configuration parameters you provide.

== Play With It ==

Do you want to get started with Joomla!, but you have no idea where to begin? If so, you have come to the right place. The fastest way to learn about Joomla! is to start paying with it right now. Visit the demo page and take few minutes to see the demo content and play with the configurations.

<div style="text-align:center">Yes right here---> [http://demo.Joomla.org/ Joomla! demo page]</div>

The first 2 term you need to learn are "Frontend" and "Backend", the Frontent is the part that shows your site content and all the funny stuff and the Backend is the part that contains the configuration views and it is also the place where you normally manage (create, edit, update) your content. To access to your Joomla! site Backend you just need to add the "/administrators" to your Joomla! site path in the browser address bar i.e.:

www.example.com/adminisrator

Now that you know how Joomla! looks and feel in the frontend and backend is time to you to learn what kind of magic you can do with this new tool of yours.

Note: On the demo page you can chose to use a free trial hosting account, when the trial period expires if you chose to contract a paid hosting account with them, the Joomla! Project will receive a royalty for the transaction, consider this option if you would like to support the project.

== What Can I Do With It? ==

Joomla! is a CMS, a system to manage content, To make a small analogy you can [[How_Joomla!_compares_to_an_operating_system | compare Joomla! with a computer operative system]], for example, on your computer the operative system manages the resources of your computer, also you can install applications to do more things on your computer, in this order of ideas Joomla! is the one who is in charge to manage the data and you can install "extensions" to extend and enhance the functions of Joomla!.

Joomla! comes by default with a bunch of extensions pre-installed and pre-configured to make Joomla! works as a News website, but you can manually configure your Joomla! site to easily make it works as a:

* Blog site
* Company or Government site
* Contact directory
* Simple product Catalog

Now if your interest is to create more complex sites like:

* eCommerce sites with shopping cart
* Support sites with forums and ticket systems
* News sites with paid subscription system and comment systems
* e-learning sites with paid subscription systems

Then you need to install more Joomla! extensions to make your vanilla Joomla! site work the way you need. Lots and lots of extensions are for free with no cost at all, and others are commercial extensions, this means that you need to pay a fee to have the right to use them but the normally commercial extensions comes with a tech support deals that will help you save precious time and money, and everybody knows time is gold.

Here at [http://extensions.Joomla.org/ The Joomla! Extension Directory] you have thousands of extensions to chose from, take some time to visit the directory and do few searches for the sake to get familiarized with it, you may need to use some more extensions in the future if you decide to [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYtbEmO_JC4 pimp up] your Joomla! site.

Maybe a client or your boss is asking you for a web solution with a very specific set of requirements and the information so far does not help you to determine if Joomla! is suitable for the job, in order to help you to save some time feel free to visit the Joomla! community people and make your questions to humans at:

{{Chunk:Community contacts}}

== Understanding How Joomla! Works ==

[[File:Diagram generic page layout 20130419.png | frame | ight | Generic page layout]]

To keep this introductory article short and friendly as much as possible we will say that Joomla! have two main parts, the Frontend and the Backend, as explained before the Frontend shows the site content that any visitor can see and the Backend is the administrative part that is normally restricted for users with privileges such as administrators.

Taking a quick look at the average website we can conclude that most of them have this basic layout:

* Header
* Main menu
* Main content
* Side content (left or right of main content)
* Footer

In Joomla! the visual location and position of those chunks of data described in the previous list are defined by the current template layout, also the template determines the styles and presentation of the information in general.

Now you may wonder what is used to render each of those chunks of data, and the answer is modules and components. Joomla! depends on extensions (components, modules, plugins) to render chunks of information that have certain characteristics, for example, for small and compact chunks of data like header, main menu, side content and footer Joomla! uses modules which are meant to be used for that purpose. For the main content of the page that is normally a large and dynamic chunk of data, the extension in use are components.

Finally the last extension to describe is the plugin. Plugins are categorized depending on the job they do, some plugins modify the page information of the page, some plugins enhance the Joomla functions and other plugins add new functions to Joomla!. For example the classic "Read more" link/button for list of articles is generated by a content plugin, there is also a plugin that let users login in a Joomla! site using their Gmail account login information that plugin is an authentication plugin.

In resume:

* Templates: Defines the page layout and styles.
* Component: Used to render large chucks of dynamic data.
* Modules: Used to render normally small and static chunks of data.
* Plugins: Used to manipulate data, enhance functions or/and add new functions.

Both the frontend and the backend uses templates and extensions. Is a normal thing that many Joomla! sites uses different templates on the Frontend and leave the Backend with the default administrative template but you can always install a custom 3rd party template in both sides. More information about extensions [[Extension_types_(general_definitions) | Here]].

Note: Most developers creates extensions based on how the default administrative template looks and works you may experience bugs and visual glitches with 3rd party administrative templates, so we recommend the use of the default Joomla! administrative template, also most tutorials and documentation screenshots in general are based on the default Joomla! administrative template.

== Installing Joomla! ==

If you already have a working Joomla! installation or you want to keep using the demo sites, then skip this section.

Now that you had enough fun playing with the Joomla! demo site you may want to go the next level and start messing around with extensions and templates to see how they do in your very own server.

* [[Beginners/Installing Joomla! on a rented web server | Installing Joomla! on a rented web server]]
* [[Beginners/Installing Joomla! on a local web server | Installing Joomla! on a rented web server]]

== Learning to Use Joomla! ==

Now that you have a working Joomla! site, you will want to start filling it with your own content and making it look just the way you want. Before that you need to learn how to work with Joomla!, follow the [[Getting Started with Joomla!]] tutorial.

If you still hungry for more information go ahead and check the the [[Complete Joomla! Guide]].

== Start Creating Your Joomla! Site ==

Now that you know the basics of Joomla! operations and configurations is time to create a real website. The following tutorials will teach you how properly set up your Joomla! installation to work in certain ways.

* Creating a News site with Joomla!
* Creating a Blog site with Joomla!
* Creating a Community site with Joomla!
* Creating an Institutional site with Joomla!
* Creating an eCommerce site with Joomla!

== Keep Your Joomla! Site Secure ==

Security is always a big concern on the web, to make sure you are using best security practices take a read to the following articles:

* [[Security Checklist]]
* [[Security and Performance FAQs]]
* [[Top 10 Stupidest Administrator Tricks]]

If you have any security concern or question visit the Security section of the Joomla! forums or visit the Joomla! community at:

{{Chunk:Community contacts}}

== Getting Help ==

The Joomla! community is composed by large groups of people from all around the world, you can get help from many ways contacting our community people at the Joomla! forums, instant messaging or social networks.

Follow this tips to get the best help and faster solution to most of your answers:

* Most common questions are already answered, do a quick internet search using short phrases. If your problem is an error, copy and paste the error message on your search to see the related search matches.
* Have a quick look at our [FAQs] page.
* If you can't find and answer, contact our community people and make your questions on the forums, IRC or the social networks, pleas be nice, give us details about your problem and Joomla! version.
* And hey hang around, try to help others or simply make new friends, the more people the stronger our community will be.

The Joomla! forums are among the busiest support forums in the world with around 1500 post each day, they are a great place to get help, you can also meet other Joomla! users on:

{{Chunk:Community_contacts}}

== Tutorials and Howtos ==

Note for collaborator: List bellow any tutorials or howtos for non-expert audience, keep the content short and friendly as much as possible.

* How To Backup And Restore Your Joomla! Site
* How To Recover Your Joomla! Administration Password
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*

== More ==

Come [[User:Enav/Beginners/more | Here]] to see some information and archived articles.

[[Category:Landing Pages]]
[[Category:Joomla! user profiles]]
[[Category:Beginners]]

User:Enav/Beginners

2013-03-19T06:10:44Z

Enav: /* Installing Joomla! */

{{RightTOC}}

Welcome to Joomla!, a leading open source Content Management System (CMS) platform. Joomla! is a well-tested, extensible and effective tool supported by a very active and friendly community of developers and users.

This page contain several articles to quickly help you understand the basics of Joomla!, and be able to create basic Joomla! sites in a short time.

== What is Joomla!? ==

If you are from the old school you may think that web sites still works using a bunch of linked HTML files, not anymore, Welcome to century XXI! modern websites runs over Content Management Systems (CMS), this systems runs using dynamic languages like PHP and databases like MySQL databases, this way a CMS can store and manage huge amount of data like thousand of news articles articles.

Joomla! is a very flexible CMS that runs on PHP that uses MySQL databases to store the data and let you create websites with dynamic content that will change and adjust to the context or the configuration parameters you provide.

== Play With It ==

Do you want to get started with Joomla!, but you have no idea where to begin? If so, you have come to the right place. The fastest way to learn about Joomla! is to start paying with it right now. Visit the demo page and take few minutes to see the demo content and play with the configurations.

<span style="text-align:center">Yes right here---> [http://demo.Joomla.org/ Joomla! demo page]</span>

The first 2 term you need to learn are "Frontend" and "Backend", the Frontent is the part that shows your site content and all the funny stuff and the Backend is the part that contains the configuration views and it is also the place where you normally manage (create, edit, update) your content. To access to your Joomla! site Backend you just need to add the "/administrators" to your Joomla! site path in the browser address bar i.e.:

www.example.com/adminisrator

Now that you know how Joomla! looks and feel in the frontend and backend is time to you to learn what kind of magic you can do with this new tool of yours.

Note: On the demo page you can chose to use a free trial hosting account, when the trial period expires if you chose to contract a paid hosting account with them, the Joomla! Project will receive a royalty for the transaction, consider this option if you would like to support the project.

== What Can I Do With It? ==

Joomla! is a CMS, a system to manage content, To make a small analogy you can [[How_Joomla!_compares_to_an_operating_system | compare Joomla! with a computer operative system]], for example, on your computer the operative system manages the resources of your computer, also you can install applications to do more things on your computer, in this order of ideas Joomla! is the one who is in charge to manage the data and you can install "extensions" to extend and enhance the functions of Joomla!.

Joomla! comes by default with a bunch of extensions pre-installed and pre-configured to make Joomla! works as a News website, but you can manually configure your Joomla! site to easily make it works as a:

* Blog site
* Company or Government site
* Contact directory
* Simple product Catalog

Now if your interest is to create more complex sites like:

* eCommerce sites with shopping cart
* Support sites with forums and ticket systems
* News sites with paid subscription system and comment systems
* e-learning sites with paid subscription systems

Then you need to install more Joomla! extensions to make your vanilla Joomla! site work the way you need. Lots and lots of extensions are for free with no cost at all, and others are commercial extensions, this means that you need to pay a fee to have the right to use them but the normally commercial extensions comes with a tech support deals that will help you save precious time and money, and everybody knows time is gold.

Here at [http://extensions.Joomla.org/ The Joomla! Extension Directory] you have thousands of extensions to chose from, take some time to visit the directory and do few searches for the sake to get familiarized with it, you may need to use some more extensions in the future if you decide to [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYtbEmO_JC4 pimp up] your Joomla! site.

Maybe a client or your boss is asking you for a web solution with a very specific set of requirements and the information so far does not help you to determine if Joomla! is suitable for the job, in order to help you to save some time feel free to visit the Joomla! community people and make your questions to humans at:

{{Chunk:Community contacts}}

== Understanding How Joomla! Works ==

[[File:Diagram generic page layout 20130419.png | frame | ight | Generic page layout]]

To keep this introductory article short and friendly as much as possible we will say that Joomla! have two main parts, the Frontend and the Backend, as explained before the Frontend shows the site content that any visitor can see and the Backend is the administrative part that is normally restricted for users with privileges such as administrators.

Taking a quick look at the average website we can conclude that most of them have this basic layout:

* Header
* Main menu
* Main content
* Side content (left or right of main content)
* Footer

In Joomla! the visual location and position of those chunks of data described in the previous list are defined by the current template layout, also the template determines the styles and presentation of the information in general.

Now you may wonder what is used to render each of those chunks of data, and the answer is modules and components. Joomla! depends on extensions (components, modules, plugins) to render chunks of information that have certain characteristics, for example, for small and compact chunks of data like header, main menu, side content and footer Joomla! uses modules which are meant to be used for that purpose. For the main content of the page that is normally a large and dynamic chunk of data, the extension in use are components.

Finally the last extension to describe is the plugin. Plugins are categorized depending on the job they do, some plugins modify the page information of the page, some plugins enhance the Joomla functions and other plugins add new functions to Joomla!. For example the classic "Read more" link/button for list of articles is generated by a content plugin, there is also a plugin that let users login in a Joomla! site using their Gmail account login information that plugin is an authentication plugin.

In resume:

* Templates: Defines the page layout and styles.
* Component: Used to render large chucks of dynamic data.
* Modules: Used to render normally small and static chunks of data.
* Plugins: Used to manipulate data, enhance functions or/and add new functions.

Both the frontend and the backend uses templates and extensions. Is a normal thing that many Joomla! sites uses different templates on the Frontend and leave the Backend with the default administrative template but you can always install a custom 3rd party template in both sides. More information about extensions [[Extension_types_(general_definitions) | Here]].

Note: Most developers creates extensions based on how the default administrative template looks and works you may experience bugs and visual glitches with 3rd party administrative templates, so we recommend the use of the default Joomla! administrative template, also most tutorials and documentation screenshots in general are based on the default Joomla! administrative template.

== Installing Joomla! ==

If you already have a working Joomla! installation or you want to keep using the demo sites, then skip this section.

Now that you had enough fun playing with the Joomla! demo site you may want to go the next level and start messing around with extensions and templates to see how they do in your very own server.

* [[Beginners/Installing Joomla! on a rented web server | Installing Joomla! on a rented web server]]
* [[Beginners/Installing Joomla! on a local web server | Installing Joomla! on a rented web server]]

== Learning to Use Joomla! ==

Now that you have a working Joomla! site, you will want to start filling it with your own content and making it look just the way you want. Before that you need to learn how to work with Joomla!, follow the [[Getting Started with Joomla!]] tutorial.

If you still hungry for more information go ahead and check the the [[Complete Joomla! Guide]].

== Start Creating Your Joomla! Site ==

Now that you know the basics of Joomla! operations and configurations is time to create a real website. The following tutorials will teach you how properly set up your Joomla! installation to work in certain ways.

* Creating a News site with Joomla!
* Creating a Blog site with Joomla!
* Creating a Community site with Joomla!
* Creating an Institutional site with Joomla!
* Creating an eCommerce site with Joomla!

== Keep Your Joomla! Site Secure ==

Security is always a big concern on the web, to make sure you are using best security practices take a read to the following articles:

* [[Security Checklist]]
* [[Security and Performance FAQs]]
* [[Top 10 Stupidest Administrator Tricks]]

If you have any security concern or question visit the Security section of the Joomla! forums or visit the Joomla! community at:

{{Chunk:Community contacts}}

== Getting Help ==

The Joomla! community is composed by large groups of people from all around the world, you can get help from many ways contacting our community people at the Joomla! forums, instant messaging or social networks.

Follow this tips to get the best help and faster solution to most of your answers:

* Most common questions are already answered, do a quick internet search using short phrases. If your problem is an error, copy and paste the error message on your search to see the related search matches.
* Have a quick look at our [FAQs] page.
* If you can't find and answer, contact our community people and make your questions on the forums, IRC or the social networks, pleas be nice, give us details about your problem and Joomla! version.
* And hey hang around, try to help others or simply make new friends, the more people the stronger our community will be.

The Joomla! forums are among the busiest support forums in the world with around 1500 post each day, they are a great place to get help, you can also meet other Joomla! users on:

{{Chunk:Community_contacts}}

== Tutorials and Howtos ==

Note for collaborator: List bellow any tutorials or howtos for non-expert audience, keep the content short and friendly as much as possible.

* How To Backup And Restore Your Joomla! Site
* How To Recover Your Joomla! Administration Password
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*

== More ==

Come [[User:Enav/Beginners/more | Here]] to see some information and archived articles.

[[Category:Landing Pages]]
[[Category:Joomla! user profiles]]
[[Category:Beginners]]

User:Enav/Beginners

2013-03-19T06:09:56Z

Enav: /* Installing Joomla! */

{{RightTOC}}

Welcome to Joomla!, a leading open source Content Management System (CMS) platform. Joomla! is a well-tested, extensible and effective tool supported by a very active and friendly community of developers and users.

This page contain several articles to quickly help you understand the basics of Joomla!, and be able to create basic Joomla! sites in a short time.

== What is Joomla!? ==

If you are from the old school you may think that web sites still works using a bunch of linked HTML files, not anymore, Welcome to century XXI! modern websites runs over Content Management Systems (CMS), this systems runs using dynamic languages like PHP and databases like MySQL databases, this way a CMS can store and manage huge amount of data like thousand of news articles articles.

Joomla! is a very flexible CMS that runs on PHP that uses MySQL databases to store the data and let you create websites with dynamic content that will change and adjust to the context or the configuration parameters you provide.

== Play With It ==

Do you want to get started with Joomla!, but you have no idea where to begin? If so, you have come to the right place. The fastest way to learn about Joomla! is to start paying with it right now. Visit the demo page and take few minutes to see the demo content and play with the configurations.

<span style="text-align:center">Yes right here---> [http://demo.Joomla.org/ Joomla! demo page]</span>

The first 2 term you need to learn are "Frontend" and "Backend", the Frontent is the part that shows your site content and all the funny stuff and the Backend is the part that contains the configuration views and it is also the place where you normally manage (create, edit, update) your content. To access to your Joomla! site Backend you just need to add the "/administrators" to your Joomla! site path in the browser address bar i.e.:

www.example.com/adminisrator

Now that you know how Joomla! looks and feel in the frontend and backend is time to you to learn what kind of magic you can do with this new tool of yours.

Note: On the demo page you can chose to use a free trial hosting account, when the trial period expires if you chose to contract a paid hosting account with them, the Joomla! Project will receive a royalty for the transaction, consider this option if you would like to support the project.

== What Can I Do With It? ==

Joomla! is a CMS, a system to manage content, To make a small analogy you can [[How_Joomla!_compares_to_an_operating_system | compare Joomla! with a computer operative system]], for example, on your computer the operative system manages the resources of your computer, also you can install applications to do more things on your computer, in this order of ideas Joomla! is the one who is in charge to manage the data and you can install "extensions" to extend and enhance the functions of Joomla!.

Joomla! comes by default with a bunch of extensions pre-installed and pre-configured to make Joomla! works as a News website, but you can manually configure your Joomla! site to easily make it works as a:

* Blog site
* Company or Government site
* Contact directory
* Simple product Catalog

Now if your interest is to create more complex sites like:

* eCommerce sites with shopping cart
* Support sites with forums and ticket systems
* News sites with paid subscription system and comment systems
* e-learning sites with paid subscription systems

Then you need to install more Joomla! extensions to make your vanilla Joomla! site work the way you need. Lots and lots of extensions are for free with no cost at all, and others are commercial extensions, this means that you need to pay a fee to have the right to use them but the normally commercial extensions comes with a tech support deals that will help you save precious time and money, and everybody knows time is gold.

Here at [http://extensions.Joomla.org/ The Joomla! Extension Directory] you have thousands of extensions to chose from, take some time to visit the directory and do few searches for the sake to get familiarized with it, you may need to use some more extensions in the future if you decide to [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYtbEmO_JC4 pimp up] your Joomla! site.

Maybe a client or your boss is asking you for a web solution with a very specific set of requirements and the information so far does not help you to determine if Joomla! is suitable for the job, in order to help you to save some time feel free to visit the Joomla! community people and make your questions to humans at:

{{Chunk:Community contacts}}

== Understanding How Joomla! Works ==

[[File:Diagram generic page layout 20130419.png | frame | ight | Generic page layout]]

To keep this introductory article short and friendly as much as possible we will say that Joomla! have two main parts, the Frontend and the Backend, as explained before the Frontend shows the site content that any visitor can see and the Backend is the administrative part that is normally restricted for users with privileges such as administrators.

Taking a quick look at the average website we can conclude that most of them have this basic layout:

* Header
* Main menu
* Main content
* Side content (left or right of main content)
* Footer

In Joomla! the visual location and position of those chunks of data described in the previous list are defined by the current template layout, also the template determines the styles and presentation of the information in general.

Now you may wonder what is used to render each of those chunks of data, and the answer is modules and components. Joomla! depends on extensions (components, modules, plugins) to render chunks of information that have certain characteristics, for example, for small and compact chunks of data like header, main menu, side content and footer Joomla! uses modules which are meant to be used for that purpose. For the main content of the page that is normally a large and dynamic chunk of data, the extension in use are components.

Finally the last extension to describe is the plugin. Plugins are categorized depending on the job they do, some plugins modify the page information of the page, some plugins enhance the Joomla functions and other plugins add new functions to Joomla!. For example the classic "Read more" link/button for list of articles is generated by a content plugin, there is also a plugin that let users login in a Joomla! site using their Gmail account login information that plugin is an authentication plugin.

In resume:

* Templates: Defines the page layout and styles.
* Component: Used to render large chucks of dynamic data.
* Modules: Used to render normally small and static chunks of data.
* Plugins: Used to manipulate data, enhance functions or/and add new functions.

Both the frontend and the backend uses templates and extensions. Is a normal thing that many Joomla! sites uses different templates on the Frontend and leave the Backend with the default administrative template but you can always install a custom 3rd party template in both sides. More information about extensions [[Extension_types_(general_definitions) | Here]].

Note: Most developers creates extensions based on how the default administrative template looks and works you may experience bugs and visual glitches with 3rd party administrative templates, so we recommend the use of the default Joomla! administrative template, also most tutorials and documentation screenshots in general are based on the default Joomla! administrative template.

== Installing Joomla! ==

If you already have a working Joomla! installation or you want to keep using the demo sites, then skip this section.

Now that you had enough fun playing with the Joomla! demo site you may want to go the next level and start messing around with extensions and templates to see how they do in your very own server.

This tutorials are targeted for non-expert audience, if you need more detailed and advanced information go to the [[developers | Developers page]].

* [[Beginners/Installing Joomla! on a rented web server | Installing Joomla! on a rented web server]]
* [[Beginners/Installing Joomla! on a local web server | Installing Joomla! on a rented web server]]

== Learning to Use Joomla! ==

Now that you have a working Joomla! site, you will want to start filling it with your own content and making it look just the way you want. Before that you need to learn how to work with Joomla!, follow the [[Getting Started with Joomla!]] tutorial.

If you still hungry for more information go ahead and check the the [[Complete Joomla! Guide]].

== Start Creating Your Joomla! Site ==

Now that you know the basics of Joomla! operations and configurations is time to create a real website. The following tutorials will teach you how properly set up your Joomla! installation to work in certain ways.

* Creating a News site with Joomla!
* Creating a Blog site with Joomla!
* Creating a Community site with Joomla!
* Creating an Institutional site with Joomla!
* Creating an eCommerce site with Joomla!

== Keep Your Joomla! Site Secure ==

Security is always a big concern on the web, to make sure you are using best security practices take a read to the following articles:

* [[Security Checklist]]
* [[Security and Performance FAQs]]
* [[Top 10 Stupidest Administrator Tricks]]

If you have any security concern or question visit the Security section of the Joomla! forums or visit the Joomla! community at:

{{Chunk:Community contacts}}

== Getting Help ==

The Joomla! community is composed by large groups of people from all around the world, you can get help from many ways contacting our community people at the Joomla! forums, instant messaging or social networks.

Follow this tips to get the best help and faster solution to most of your answers:

* Most common questions are already answered, do a quick internet search using short phrases. If your problem is an error, copy and paste the error message on your search to see the related search matches.
* Have a quick look at our [FAQs] page.
* If you can't find and answer, contact our community people and make your questions on the forums, IRC or the social networks, pleas be nice, give us details about your problem and Joomla! version.
* And hey hang around, try to help others or simply make new friends, the more people the stronger our community will be.

The Joomla! forums are among the busiest support forums in the world with around 1500 post each day, they are a great place to get help, you can also meet other Joomla! users on:

{{Chunk:Community_contacts}}

== Tutorials and Howtos ==

Note for collaborator: List bellow any tutorials or howtos for non-expert audience, keep the content short and friendly as much as possible.

* How To Backup And Restore Your Joomla! Site
* How To Recover Your Joomla! Administration Password
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*

== More ==

Come [[User:Enav/Beginners/more | Here]] to see some information and archived articles.

[[Category:Landing Pages]]
[[Category:Joomla! user profiles]]
[[Category:Beginners]]

User:Enav/Beginners

2013-03-19T06:08:48Z

Enav: /* Understanding How Joomla! Works */

{{RightTOC}}

Welcome to Joomla!, a leading open source Content Management System (CMS) platform. Joomla! is a well-tested, extensible and effective tool supported by a very active and friendly community of developers and users.

This page contain several articles to quickly help you understand the basics of Joomla!, and be able to create basic Joomla! sites in a short time.

== What is Joomla!? ==

If you are from the old school you may think that web sites still works using a bunch of linked HTML files, not anymore, Welcome to century XXI! modern websites runs over Content Management Systems (CMS), this systems runs using dynamic languages like PHP and databases like MySQL databases, this way a CMS can store and manage huge amount of data like thousand of news articles articles.

Joomla! is a very flexible CMS that runs on PHP that uses MySQL databases to store the data and let you create websites with dynamic content that will change and adjust to the context or the configuration parameters you provide.

== Play With It ==

Do you want to get started with Joomla!, but you have no idea where to begin? If so, you have come to the right place. The fastest way to learn about Joomla! is to start paying with it right now. Visit the demo page and take few minutes to see the demo content and play with the configurations.

<span style="text-align:center">Yes right here---> [http://demo.Joomla.org/ Joomla! demo page]</span>

The first 2 term you need to learn are "Frontend" and "Backend", the Frontent is the part that shows your site content and all the funny stuff and the Backend is the part that contains the configuration views and it is also the place where you normally manage (create, edit, update) your content. To access to your Joomla! site Backend you just need to add the "/administrators" to your Joomla! site path in the browser address bar i.e.:

www.example.com/adminisrator

Now that you know how Joomla! looks and feel in the frontend and backend is time to you to learn what kind of magic you can do with this new tool of yours.

Note: On the demo page you can chose to use a free trial hosting account, when the trial period expires if you chose to contract a paid hosting account with them, the Joomla! Project will receive a royalty for the transaction, consider this option if you would like to support the project.

== What Can I Do With It? ==

Joomla! is a CMS, a system to manage content, To make a small analogy you can [[How_Joomla!_compares_to_an_operating_system | compare Joomla! with a computer operative system]], for example, on your computer the operative system manages the resources of your computer, also you can install applications to do more things on your computer, in this order of ideas Joomla! is the one who is in charge to manage the data and you can install "extensions" to extend and enhance the functions of Joomla!.

Joomla! comes by default with a bunch of extensions pre-installed and pre-configured to make Joomla! works as a News website, but you can manually configure your Joomla! site to easily make it works as a:

* Blog site
* Company or Government site
* Contact directory
* Simple product Catalog

Now if your interest is to create more complex sites like:

* eCommerce sites with shopping cart
* Support sites with forums and ticket systems
* News sites with paid subscription system and comment systems
* e-learning sites with paid subscription systems

Then you need to install more Joomla! extensions to make your vanilla Joomla! site work the way you need. Lots and lots of extensions are for free with no cost at all, and others are commercial extensions, this means that you need to pay a fee to have the right to use them but the normally commercial extensions comes with a tech support deals that will help you save precious time and money, and everybody knows time is gold.

Here at [http://extensions.Joomla.org/ The Joomla! Extension Directory] you have thousands of extensions to chose from, take some time to visit the directory and do few searches for the sake to get familiarized with it, you may need to use some more extensions in the future if you decide to [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYtbEmO_JC4 pimp up] your Joomla! site.

Maybe a client or your boss is asking you for a web solution with a very specific set of requirements and the information so far does not help you to determine if Joomla! is suitable for the job, in order to help you to save some time feel free to visit the Joomla! community people and make your questions to humans at:

{{Chunk:Community contacts}}

== Understanding How Joomla! Works ==

[[File:Diagram generic page layout 20130419.png | frame | ight | Generic page layout]]

To keep this introductory article short and friendly as much as possible we will say that Joomla! have two main parts, the Frontend and the Backend, as explained before the Frontend shows the site content that any visitor can see and the Backend is the administrative part that is normally restricted for users with privileges such as administrators.

Taking a quick look at the average website we can conclude that most of them have this basic layout:

* Header
* Main menu
* Main content
* Side content (left or right of main content)
* Footer

In Joomla! the visual location and position of those chunks of data described in the previous list are defined by the current template layout, also the template determines the styles and presentation of the information in general.

Now you may wonder what is used to render each of those chunks of data, and the answer is modules and components. Joomla! depends on extensions (components, modules, plugins) to render chunks of information that have certain characteristics, for example, for small and compact chunks of data like header, main menu, side content and footer Joomla! uses modules which are meant to be used for that purpose. For the main content of the page that is normally a large and dynamic chunk of data, the extension in use are components.

Finally the last extension to describe is the plugin. Plugins are categorized depending on the job they do, some plugins modify the page information of the page, some plugins enhance the Joomla functions and other plugins add new functions to Joomla!. For example the classic "Read more" link/button for list of articles is generated by a content plugin, there is also a plugin that let users login in a Joomla! site using their Gmail account login information that plugin is an authentication plugin.

In resume:

* Templates: Defines the page layout and styles.
* Component: Used to render large chucks of dynamic data.
* Modules: Used to render normally small and static chunks of data.
* Plugins: Used to manipulate data, enhance functions or/and add new functions.

Both the frontend and the backend uses templates and extensions. Is a normal thing that many Joomla! sites uses different templates on the Frontend and leave the Backend with the default administrative template but you can always install a custom 3rd party template in both sides. More information about extensions [[Extension_types_(general_definitions) | Here]].

Note: Most developers creates extensions based on how the default administrative template looks and works you may experience bugs and visual glitches with 3rd party administrative templates, so we recommend the use of the default Joomla! administrative template, also most tutorials and documentation screenshots in general are based on the default Joomla! administrative template.

== Installing Joomla! ==

If you already have a working Joomla! installation or you want to keep using the demo sites, then skip this section.

Now that you had enough fun playing with the Joomla! demo site you may want to go the next level and start messing around with extensions and templates to see how they do in your very own server.

This tutorials are targeted for non-expert audience, if you need more detailed and advanced information go to the [[developers | Developers page]].

* [[Beginners/Installing Joomla! on a rented web server]]
* [[Beginners/Installing Joomla! on a local web server]]

== Learning to Use Joomla! ==

Now that you have a working Joomla! site, you will want to start filling it with your own content and making it look just the way you want. Before that you need to learn how to work with Joomla!, follow the [[Getting Started with Joomla!]] tutorial.

If you still hungry for more information go ahead and check the the [[Complete Joomla! Guide]].

== Start Creating Your Joomla! Site ==

Now that you know the basics of Joomla! operations and configurations is time to create a real website. The following tutorials will teach you how properly set up your Joomla! installation to work in certain ways.

* Creating a News site with Joomla!
* Creating a Blog site with Joomla!
* Creating a Community site with Joomla!
* Creating an Institutional site with Joomla!
* Creating an eCommerce site with Joomla!

== Keep Your Joomla! Site Secure ==

Security is always a big concern on the web, to make sure you are using best security practices take a read to the following articles:

* [[Security Checklist]]
* [[Security and Performance FAQs]]
* [[Top 10 Stupidest Administrator Tricks]]

If you have any security concern or question visit the Security section of the Joomla! forums or visit the Joomla! community at:

{{Chunk:Community contacts}}

== Getting Help ==

The Joomla! community is composed by large groups of people from all around the world, you can get help from many ways contacting our community people at the Joomla! forums, instant messaging or social networks.

Follow this tips to get the best help and faster solution to most of your answers:

* Most common questions are already answered, do a quick internet search using short phrases. If your problem is an error, copy and paste the error message on your search to see the related search matches.
* Have a quick look at our [FAQs] page.
* If you can't find and answer, contact our community people and make your questions on the forums, IRC or the social networks, pleas be nice, give us details about your problem and Joomla! version.
* And hey hang around, try to help others or simply make new friends, the more people the stronger our community will be.

The Joomla! forums are among the busiest support forums in the world with around 1500 post each day, they are a great place to get help, you can also meet other Joomla! users on:

{{Chunk:Community_contacts}}

== Tutorials and Howtos ==

Note for collaborator: List bellow any tutorials or howtos for non-expert audience, keep the content short and friendly as much as possible.

* How To Backup And Restore Your Joomla! Site
* How To Recover Your Joomla! Administration Password
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*

== More ==

Come [[User:Enav/Beginners/more | Here]] to see some information and archived articles.

[[Category:Landing Pages]]
[[Category:Joomla! user profiles]]
[[Category:Beginners]]

File:Diagram generic page layout 20130419.png

2013-03-19T06:07:06Z

Enav: Enav uploaded a new version of "File:Diagram generic page layout 20130419.png"

Generic page layout, visual demonstration of the most common and generic page layout that can be found on Internet

User:Enav/Beginners

2013-03-19T06:04:10Z

Enav: /* Understanding How Joomla! Works */

{{RightTOC}}

Welcome to Joomla!, a leading open source Content Management System (CMS) platform. Joomla! is a well-tested, extensible and effective tool supported by a very active and friendly community of developers and users.

This page contain several articles to quickly help you understand the basics of Joomla!, and be able to create basic Joomla! sites in a short time.

== What is Joomla!? ==

If you are from the old school you may think that web sites still works using a bunch of linked HTML files, not anymore, Welcome to century XXI! modern websites runs over Content Management Systems (CMS), this systems runs using dynamic languages like PHP and databases like MySQL databases, this way a CMS can store and manage huge amount of data like thousand of news articles articles.

Joomla! is a very flexible CMS that runs on PHP that uses MySQL databases to store the data and let you create websites with dynamic content that will change and adjust to the context or the configuration parameters you provide.

== Play With It ==

Do you want to get started with Joomla!, but you have no idea where to begin? If so, you have come to the right place. The fastest way to learn about Joomla! is to start paying with it right now. Visit the demo page and take few minutes to see the demo content and play with the configurations.

<span style="text-align:center">Yes right here---> [http://demo.Joomla.org/ Joomla! demo page]</span>

The first 2 term you need to learn are "Frontend" and "Backend", the Frontent is the part that shows your site content and all the funny stuff and the Backend is the part that contains the configuration views and it is also the place where you normally manage (create, edit, update) your content. To access to your Joomla! site Backend you just need to add the "/administrators" to your Joomla! site path in the browser address bar i.e.:

www.example.com/adminisrator

Now that you know how Joomla! looks and feel in the frontend and backend is time to you to learn what kind of magic you can do with this new tool of yours.

Note: On the demo page you can chose to use a free trial hosting account, when the trial period expires if you chose to contract a paid hosting account with them, the Joomla! Project will receive a royalty for the transaction, consider this option if you would like to support the project.

== What Can I Do With It? ==

Joomla! is a CMS, a system to manage content, To make a small analogy you can [[How_Joomla!_compares_to_an_operating_system | compare Joomla! with a computer operative system]], for example, on your computer the operative system manages the resources of your computer, also you can install applications to do more things on your computer, in this order of ideas Joomla! is the one who is in charge to manage the data and you can install "extensions" to extend and enhance the functions of Joomla!.

Joomla! comes by default with a bunch of extensions pre-installed and pre-configured to make Joomla! works as a News website, but you can manually configure your Joomla! site to easily make it works as a:

* Blog site
* Company or Government site
* Contact directory
* Simple product Catalog

Now if your interest is to create more complex sites like:

* eCommerce sites with shopping cart
* Support sites with forums and ticket systems
* News sites with paid subscription system and comment systems
* e-learning sites with paid subscription systems

Then you need to install more Joomla! extensions to make your vanilla Joomla! site work the way you need. Lots and lots of extensions are for free with no cost at all, and others are commercial extensions, this means that you need to pay a fee to have the right to use them but the normally commercial extensions comes with a tech support deals that will help you save precious time and money, and everybody knows time is gold.

Here at [http://extensions.Joomla.org/ The Joomla! Extension Directory] you have thousands of extensions to chose from, take some time to visit the directory and do few searches for the sake to get familiarized with it, you may need to use some more extensions in the future if you decide to [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYtbEmO_JC4 pimp up] your Joomla! site.

Maybe a client or your boss is asking you for a web solution with a very specific set of requirements and the information so far does not help you to determine if Joomla! is suitable for the job, in order to help you to save some time feel free to visit the Joomla! community people and make your questions to humans at:

{{Chunk:Community contacts}}

== Understanding How Joomla! Works ==

[[File:Diagram generic page layout 20130419.png | frame | ight | Generic page layout]]

To keep this introductory article short and friendly as much as possible we will say that Joomla! have two main parts, the Frontend and the Backend, as explained before the Frontend shows the site content that any visitor can see and the Backend is the administrative part that is normally restricted for users with privileges such as administrators.

Taking a quick look at the average website we can conclude that most of them have this basic layout:

* Header
* Main menu
* Main content
* Side content (left or right of main content)
* Footer

In Joomla! the visual location and position of those chunks of data described in the previous list are defined by the current template layout, also the template determines the styles and presentation of the information in general.

Now you may wonder what is used to render each of those chunks of data, and the answer is modules and components. Joomla! depends on extensions (components, modules, plugins) to render chunks of information that have certain characteristics, for example, for small and compact chunks of data like header, main menu, side content and footer Joomla! uses modules which are meant to be used for that purpose. For the main content of the page that is normally a large and dynamic chunk of data, the extension in use are components.

Finally the last extension to describe is the plugin. Plugins are categorized depending on the job they do, some plugins modify the page information of the page, some plugins enhance the Joomla functions and other plugins add new functions to Joomla!. For example the classic "Read more" link/button for list of articles is generated by a content plugin, there is also a plugin that let users login in a Joomla! site using their Gmail account login information that plugin is an authentication plugin.

In resume:

* Templates: Defines the page layout and styles.
* Component: Used to render large chucks of dynamic data.
* Modules: Used to render normally small and static chunks of data.
* Plugins: Used to manipulate data, enhance functions or/and
add new functions.

Both the frontend and the backend uses templates and extensions. Is a normal thing that many Joomla! sites uses different templates on the Frontend and leave the Backend with the default administrative template but you can always install a custom 3rd party template in both sides. More information about extensions [[Extension_types_(general_definitions) | Here]].

Note: Most developers creates extensions based on how the default administrative template looks and works you may experience bugs and visual glitches with 3rd party administrative templates, so we recommend the use of the default Joomla! administrative template, also most tutorials and documentation screenshots in general are based on the default Joomla! administrative template.

== Installing Joomla! ==

If you already have a working Joomla! installation or you want to keep using the demo sites, then skip this section.

Now that you had enough fun playing with the Joomla! demo site you may want to go the next level and start messing around with extensions and templates to see how they do in your very own server.

This tutorials are targeted for non-expert audience, if you need more detailed and advanced information go to the [[developers | Developers page]].

* [[Beginners/Installing Joomla! on a rented web server]]
* [[Beginners/Installing Joomla! on a local web server]]

== Learning to Use Joomla! ==

Now that you have a working Joomla! site, you will want to start filling it with your own content and making it look just the way you want. Before that you need to learn how to work with Joomla!, follow the [[Getting Started with Joomla!]] tutorial.

If you still hungry for more information go ahead and check the the [[Complete Joomla! Guide]].

== Start Creating Your Joomla! Site ==

Now that you know the basics of Joomla! operations and configurations is time to create a real website. The following tutorials will teach you how properly set up your Joomla! installation to work in certain ways.

* Creating a News site with Joomla!
* Creating a Blog site with Joomla!
* Creating a Community site with Joomla!
* Creating an Institutional site with Joomla!
* Creating an eCommerce site with Joomla!

== Keep Your Joomla! Site Secure ==

Security is always a big concern on the web, to make sure you are using best security practices take a read to the following articles:

* [[Security Checklist]]
* [[Security and Performance FAQs]]
* [[Top 10 Stupidest Administrator Tricks]]

If you have any security concern or question visit the Security section of the Joomla! forums or visit the Joomla! community at:

{{Chunk:Community contacts}}

== Getting Help ==

The Joomla! community is composed by large groups of people from all around the world, you can get help from many ways contacting our community people at the Joomla! forums, instant messaging or social networks.

Follow this tips to get the best help and faster solution to most of your answers:

* Most common questions are already answered, do a quick internet search using short phrases. If your problem is an error, copy and paste the error message on your search to see the related search matches.
* Have a quick look at our [FAQs] page.
* If you can't find and answer, contact our community people and make your questions on the forums, IRC or the social networks, pleas be nice, give us details about your problem and Joomla! version.
* And hey hang around, try to help others or simply make new friends, the more people the stronger our community will be.

The Joomla! forums are among the busiest support forums in the world with around 1500 post each day, they are a great place to get help, you can also meet other Joomla! users on:

{{Chunk:Community_contacts}}

== Tutorials and Howtos ==

Note for collaborator: List bellow any tutorials or howtos for non-expert audience, keep the content short and friendly as much as possible.

* How To Backup And Restore Your Joomla! Site
* How To Recover Your Joomla! Administration Password
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*

== More ==

Come [[User:Enav/Beginners/more | Here]] to see some information and archived articles.

[[Category:Landing Pages]]
[[Category:Joomla! user profiles]]
[[Category:Beginners]]

User:Enav/Beginners

2013-03-19T05:59:25Z

Enav: /* What Can I Do With It? */

{{RightTOC}}

Welcome to Joomla!, a leading open source Content Management System (CMS) platform. Joomla! is a well-tested, extensible and effective tool supported by a very active and friendly community of developers and users.

This page contain several articles to quickly help you understand the basics of Joomla!, and be able to create basic Joomla! sites in a short time.

== What is Joomla!? ==

If you are from the old school you may think that web sites still works using a bunch of linked HTML files, not anymore, Welcome to century XXI! modern websites runs over Content Management Systems (CMS), this systems runs using dynamic languages like PHP and databases like MySQL databases, this way a CMS can store and manage huge amount of data like thousand of news articles articles.

Joomla! is a very flexible CMS that runs on PHP that uses MySQL databases to store the data and let you create websites with dynamic content that will change and adjust to the context or the configuration parameters you provide.

== Play With It ==

Do you want to get started with Joomla!, but you have no idea where to begin? If so, you have come to the right place. The fastest way to learn about Joomla! is to start paying with it right now. Visit the demo page and take few minutes to see the demo content and play with the configurations.

<span style="text-align:center">Yes right here---> [http://demo.Joomla.org/ Joomla! demo page]</span>

The first 2 term you need to learn are "Frontend" and "Backend", the Frontent is the part that shows your site content and all the funny stuff and the Backend is the part that contains the configuration views and it is also the place where you normally manage (create, edit, update) your content. To access to your Joomla! site Backend you just need to add the "/administrators" to your Joomla! site path in the browser address bar i.e.:

www.example.com/adminisrator

Now that you know how Joomla! looks and feel in the frontend and backend is time to you to learn what kind of magic you can do with this new tool of yours.

Note: On the demo page you can chose to use a free trial hosting account, when the trial period expires if you chose to contract a paid hosting account with them, the Joomla! Project will receive a royalty for the transaction, consider this option if you would like to support the project.

== What Can I Do With It? ==

Joomla! is a CMS, a system to manage content, To make a small analogy you can [[How_Joomla!_compares_to_an_operating_system | compare Joomla! with a computer operative system]], for example, on your computer the operative system manages the resources of your computer, also you can install applications to do more things on your computer, in this order of ideas Joomla! is the one who is in charge to manage the data and you can install "extensions" to extend and enhance the functions of Joomla!.

Joomla! comes by default with a bunch of extensions pre-installed and pre-configured to make Joomla! works as a News website, but you can manually configure your Joomla! site to easily make it works as a:

* Blog site
* Company or Government site
* Contact directory
* Simple product Catalog

Now if your interest is to create more complex sites like:

* eCommerce sites with shopping cart
* Support sites with forums and ticket systems
* News sites with paid subscription system and comment systems
* e-learning sites with paid subscription systems

Then you need to install more Joomla! extensions to make your vanilla Joomla! site work the way you need. Lots and lots of extensions are for free with no cost at all, and others are commercial extensions, this means that you need to pay a fee to have the right to use them but the normally commercial extensions comes with a tech support deals that will help you save precious time and money, and everybody knows time is gold.

Here at [http://extensions.Joomla.org/ The Joomla! Extension Directory] you have thousands of extensions to chose from, take some time to visit the directory and do few searches for the sake to get familiarized with it, you may need to use some more extensions in the future if you decide to [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYtbEmO_JC4 pimp up] your Joomla! site.

Maybe a client or your boss is asking you for a web solution with a very specific set of requirements and the information so far does not help you to determine if Joomla! is suitable for the job, in order to help you to save some time feel free to visit the Joomla! community people and make your questions to humans at:

{{Chunk:Community contacts}}

== Understanding How Joomla! Works ==

[[File:Diagram generic page layout 20130419.png | right]]

To keep this introductory article short and friendly as much as possible we will say that Joomla! have two main parts, the Frontend and the Backend, as explained before the Frontend shows the site content that any visitor can see and the Backend is the administrative part that is normally restricted for users with privileges such as administrators.

Taking a quick look at the average website we can conclude that most of them have this basic layout:

* Header
* Main menu
* Main content
* Side content (left or right of main content)
* Footer

In Joomla! the visual location and position of those chunks of data described in the previous list are defined by the current template layout, also the template determines the styles and presentation of the information in general.

Now you may wonder what is used to render each of those chunks of data, and the answer is modules and components. Joomla! depends on extensions (components, modules, plugins) to render chunks of information that have certain characteristics, for example, for small and compact chunks of data like header, main menu, side content and footer Joomla! uses modules which are meant to be used for that purpose. For the main content of the page that is normally a large and dynamic chunk of data, the extension in use are components.

Finally the last extension to describe is the plugin. Plugins are categorized depending on the job they do, some plugins modify the page information of the page, some plugins enhance the Joomla functions and other plugins add new functions to Joomla!. For example the classic "Read more" link/button for list of articles is generated by a content plugin, there is also a plugin that let users login in a Joomla! site using their Gmail account login information that plugin is an authentication plugin.

In resume:

* Templates: Defines the page layout and styles.
* Component: Used to render large chucks of dynamic data.
* Modules: Used to render normally small and static chunks of data.
* Plugins: Used to manipulate data, enhance functions or/and
add new functions.

Both the frontend and the backend uses templates and extensions. Is a normal thing that many Joomla! sites uses different templates on the Frontend and leave the Backend with the default administrative template but you can always install a custom 3rd party template in both sides. More information about extensions [[Extension_types_(general_definitions) | Here]].

Note: Most developers creates extensions based on how the default administrative template looks and works you may experience bugs and visual glitches with 3rd party administrative templates, so we recommend the use of the default Joomla! administrative template, also most tutorials and documentation screenshots in general are based on the default Joomla! administrative template.

== Installing Joomla! ==

If you already have a working Joomla! installation or you want to keep using the demo sites, then skip this section.

Now that you had enough fun playing with the Joomla! demo site you may want to go the next level and start messing around with extensions and templates to see how they do in your very own server.

This tutorials are targeted for non-expert audience, if you need more detailed and advanced information go to the [[developers | Developers page]].

* [[Beginners/Installing Joomla! on a rented web server]]
* [[Beginners/Installing Joomla! on a local web server]]

== Learning to Use Joomla! ==

Now that you have a working Joomla! site, you will want to start filling it with your own content and making it look just the way you want. Before that you need to learn how to work with Joomla!, follow the [[Getting Started with Joomla!]] tutorial.

If you still hungry for more information go ahead and check the the [[Complete Joomla! Guide]].

== Start Creating Your Joomla! Site ==

Now that you know the basics of Joomla! operations and configurations is time to create a real website. The following tutorials will teach you how properly set up your Joomla! installation to work in certain ways.

* Creating a News site with Joomla!
* Creating a Blog site with Joomla!
* Creating a Community site with Joomla!
* Creating an Institutional site with Joomla!
* Creating an eCommerce site with Joomla!

== Keep Your Joomla! Site Secure ==

Security is always a big concern on the web, to make sure you are using best security practices take a read to the following articles:

* [[Security Checklist]]
* [[Security and Performance FAQs]]
* [[Top 10 Stupidest Administrator Tricks]]

If you have any security concern or question visit the Security section of the Joomla! forums or visit the Joomla! community at:

{{Chunk:Community contacts}}

== Getting Help ==

The Joomla! community is composed by large groups of people from all around the world, you can get help from many ways contacting our community people at the Joomla! forums, instant messaging or social networks.

Follow this tips to get the best help and faster solution to most of your answers:

* Most common questions are already answered, do a quick internet search using short phrases. If your problem is an error, copy and paste the error message on your search to see the related search matches.
* Have a quick look at our [FAQs] page.
* If you can't find and answer, contact our community people and make your questions on the forums, IRC or the social networks, pleas be nice, give us details about your problem and Joomla! version.
* And hey hang around, try to help others or simply make new friends, the more people the stronger our community will be.

The Joomla! forums are among the busiest support forums in the world with around 1500 post each day, they are a great place to get help, you can also meet other Joomla! users on:

{{Chunk:Community_contacts}}

== Tutorials and Howtos ==

Note for collaborator: List bellow any tutorials or howtos for non-expert audience, keep the content short and friendly as much as possible.

* How To Backup And Restore Your Joomla! Site
* How To Recover Your Joomla! Administration Password
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*

== More ==

Come [[User:Enav/Beginners/more | Here]] to see some information and archived articles.

[[Category:Landing Pages]]
[[Category:Joomla! user profiles]]
[[Category:Beginners]]

User:Enav/Beginners

2013-03-19T05:57:25Z

Enav:

{{RightTOC}}

Welcome to Joomla!, a leading open source Content Management System (CMS) platform. Joomla! is a well-tested, extensible and effective tool supported by a very active and friendly community of developers and users.

This page contain several articles to quickly help you understand the basics of Joomla!, and be able to create basic Joomla! sites in a short time.

== What is Joomla!? ==

If you are from the old school you may think that web sites still works using a bunch of linked HTML files, not anymore, Welcome to century XXI! modern websites runs over Content Management Systems (CMS), this systems runs using dynamic languages like PHP and databases like MySQL databases, this way a CMS can store and manage huge amount of data like thousand of news articles articles.

Joomla! is a very flexible CMS that runs on PHP that uses MySQL databases to store the data and let you create websites with dynamic content that will change and adjust to the context or the configuration parameters you provide.

== Play With It ==

Do you want to get started with Joomla!, but you have no idea where to begin? If so, you have come to the right place. The fastest way to learn about Joomla! is to start paying with it right now. Visit the demo page and take few minutes to see the demo content and play with the configurations.

<span style="text-align:center">Yes right here---> [http://demo.Joomla.org/ Joomla! demo page]</span>

The first 2 term you need to learn are "Frontend" and "Backend", the Frontent is the part that shows your site content and all the funny stuff and the Backend is the part that contains the configuration views and it is also the place where you normally manage (create, edit, update) your content. To access to your Joomla! site Backend you just need to add the "/administrators" to your Joomla! site path in the browser address bar i.e.:

www.example.com/adminisrator

Now that you know how Joomla! looks and feel in the frontend and backend is time to you to learn what kind of magic you can do with this new tool of yours.

Note: On the demo page you can chose to use a free trial hosting account, when the trial period expires if you chose to contract a paid hosting account with them, the Joomla! Project will receive a royalty for the transaction, consider this option if you would like to support the project.

== What Can I Do With It? ==

Joomla! is a CMS, a system to manage content, To make a small analogy you can [[How_Joomla!_compares_to_an_operating_system | compare Joomla! with a computer operative system]], for example, on your computer the operative system manages the resources of your computer, also you can install applications to do more things on your computer, in this order of ideas Joomla! is the one who is in charge to manage the data and you can install "extensions" to extend and enhance the functions of Joomla!.

Joomla! comes by default with a bunch of extensions pre-installed and pre-configured to make Joomla! works as a News website, but you can manually configure your Joomla! site to easily make it works as a:

* Blog site
* Company or Government site
* Contact directory
* Simple product Catalog

Now if your interest is to create more complex sites like:

* eCommerce sites with shopping cart
* Support sites with forums and ticket systems
* News sites with paid subscription system and comment systems
* e-learning sites with paid subscription systems

Then you need to install more Joomla! extensions to make your vanilla Joomla! site work the way you need. Lots and lots of extensions are for free with no cost at all, and others are extensions commercial, this means that you need to pay a fee to have the right to use them but the normally commercial extensions comes with a tech support deals that will help you save precious time and money, and everybody knows time is gold.

Here at [http://extensions.Joomla.org/ The Joomla! Extension Directory] you have thousands of extensions to chose from, take some time to visit the directory and do few searches for the sake to get familiarized with it, you may need to use some more extensions in the future if you decide to [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYtbEmO_JC4 pimp up] your Joomla! site.

Maybe a client or your boss is asking you for a web solution with a very specific set of requirements and the information so far does not help you to determine if Joomla! is suitable for the job, in order to help you to save some time feel free to visit the Joomla! community people and make your questions to humans at:

{{Chunk:Community contacts}}

== Understanding How Joomla! Works ==

[[File:Diagram generic page layout 20130419.png | right]]

To keep this introductory article short and friendly as much as possible we will say that Joomla! have two main parts, the Frontend and the Backend, as explained before the Frontend shows the site content that any visitor can see and the Backend is the administrative part that is normally restricted for users with privileges such as administrators.

Taking a quick look at the average website we can conclude that most of them have this basic layout:

* Header
* Main menu
* Main content
* Side content (left or right of main content)
* Footer

In Joomla! the visual location and position of those chunks of data described in the previous list are defined by the current template layout, also the template determines the styles and presentation of the information in general.

Now you may wonder what is used to render each of those chunks of data, and the answer is modules and components. Joomla! depends on extensions (components, modules, plugins) to render chunks of information that have certain characteristics, for example, for small and compact chunks of data like header, main menu, side content and footer Joomla! uses modules which are meant to be used for that purpose. For the main content of the page that is normally a large and dynamic chunk of data, the extension in use are components.

Finally the last extension to describe is the plugin. Plugins are categorized depending on the job they do, some plugins modify the page information of the page, some plugins enhance the Joomla functions and other plugins add new functions to Joomla!. For example the classic "Read more" link/button for list of articles is generated by a content plugin, there is also a plugin that let users login in a Joomla! site using their Gmail account login information that plugin is an authentication plugin.

In resume:

* Templates: Defines the page layout and styles.
* Component: Used to render large chucks of dynamic data.
* Modules: Used to render normally small and static chunks of data.
* Plugins: Used to manipulate data, enhance functions or/and
add new functions.

Both the frontend and the backend uses templates and extensions. Is a normal thing that many Joomla! sites uses different templates on the Frontend and leave the Backend with the default administrative template but you can always install a custom 3rd party template in both sides. More information about extensions [[Extension_types_(general_definitions) | Here]].

Note: Most developers creates extensions based on how the default administrative template looks and works you may experience bugs and visual glitches with 3rd party administrative templates, so we recommend the use of the default Joomla! administrative template, also most tutorials and documentation screenshots in general are based on the default Joomla! administrative template.

== Installing Joomla! ==

If you already have a working Joomla! installation or you want to keep using the demo sites, then skip this section.

Now that you had enough fun playing with the Joomla! demo site you may want to go the next level and start messing around with extensions and templates to see how they do in your very own server.

This tutorials are targeted for non-expert audience, if you need more detailed and advanced information go to the [[developers | Developers page]].

* [[Beginners/Installing Joomla! on a rented web server]]
* [[Beginners/Installing Joomla! on a local web server]]

== Learning to Use Joomla! ==

Now that you have a working Joomla! site, you will want to start filling it with your own content and making it look just the way you want. Before that you need to learn how to work with Joomla!, follow the [[Getting Started with Joomla!]] tutorial.

If you still hungry for more information go ahead and check the the [[Complete Joomla! Guide]].

== Start Creating Your Joomla! Site ==

Now that you know the basics of Joomla! operations and configurations is time to create a real website. The following tutorials will teach you how properly set up your Joomla! installation to work in certain ways.

* Creating a News site with Joomla!
* Creating a Blog site with Joomla!
* Creating a Community site with Joomla!
* Creating an Institutional site with Joomla!
* Creating an eCommerce site with Joomla!

== Keep Your Joomla! Site Secure ==

Security is always a big concern on the web, to make sure you are using best security practices take a read to the following articles:

* [[Security Checklist]]
* [[Security and Performance FAQs]]
* [[Top 10 Stupidest Administrator Tricks]]

If you have any security concern or question visit the Security section of the Joomla! forums or visit the Joomla! community at:

{{Chunk:Community contacts}}

== Getting Help ==

The Joomla! community is composed by large groups of people from all around the world, you can get help from many ways contacting our community people at the Joomla! forums, instant messaging or social networks.

Follow this tips to get the best help and faster solution to most of your answers:

* Most common questions are already answered, do a quick internet search using short phrases. If your problem is an error, copy and paste the error message on your search to see the related search matches.
* Have a quick look at our [FAQs] page.
* If you can't find and answer, contact our community people and make your questions on the forums, IRC or the social networks, pleas be nice, give us details about your problem and Joomla! version.
* And hey hang around, try to help others or simply make new friends, the more people the stronger our community will be.

The Joomla! forums are among the busiest support forums in the world with around 1500 post each day, they are a great place to get help, you can also meet other Joomla! users on:

{{Chunk:Community_contacts}}

== Tutorials and Howtos ==

Note for collaborator: List bellow any tutorials or howtos for non-expert audience, keep the content short and friendly as much as possible.

* How To Backup And Restore Your Joomla! Site
* How To Recover Your Joomla! Administration Password
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*

== More ==

Come [[User:Enav/Beginners/more | Here]] to see some information and archived articles.

[[Category:Landing Pages]]
[[Category:Joomla! user profiles]]
[[Category:Beginners]]

File:Diagram generic page layout 20130419.png

2013-03-19T05:50:31Z

Enav: Generic page layout, visual demonstration of the most common and generic page layout that can be found on Internet

Generic page layout, visual demonstration of the most common and generic page layout that can be found on Internet

User:Enav/Beginners/more

2013-03-19T04:35:23Z

Enav:

Note: Content here may or may not be outdated.

* [[Platform]]
* [[extensions]]
* [[types of extensions]]
* [[Extension types (general definitions)|types of extensions]]
* The [http://help.joomla.org/ghop/feb2008/task020/Joomla!%20Core%20Features%20V1.2.pdf Joomla! Core Features Guide] [http://www.scribd.com/doc/2299291/Joomla-Core-Features-V1-2 scribd], written by [[GHOP students/James William Ramsay|James Ramsay]] describes the features (mostly the extensions) available in each download of Joomla!.
* [[Installation]]
* [[Joomla Installation|Joomla! Installation Resources]]
* This [http://help.joomla.org/ghop/feb2008/task167/joomlainstall.html video] takes you through the steps.
* [http://community.joomla.org/august-2008/article/522-introductory-learning-joomla-using-sample-data.html working with the sample data]
* There is also a very nice beginners visual guide to getting started with Joomla! 1.5 here: [http://help.joomla.org/files/VisualGuide15.pdf Learn Joomla! 1.5 Fast!] [http://www.scribd.com/doc/16125978/Visual-Guide-15 Scribd] (PDF 1.3Mb) written by Saurabh Bhide.
* The [http://help.joomla.org/ghop/feb2008/task048/joomla_15_quickstart.pdf Joomla! v 1.5 Quick Start Guide] [http://www.scribd.com/doc/2299418/Joomla-15-Quickstart Scribd], written by [[GHOP students/Kevin Hayne|Kevin Hayne]].
* As you read the guide, walk through the [http://help.joomla.org/ghop/feb2008/task167/index.html video accompaniment] created by [[GHOP students/Michael Casha|Michael Casha]].
* [[Planning Your Web site]]
* [[Converting an existing website to a Joomla! website]]
* [[Enabling Search Engine Friendly (SEF) URLs|enable Search Engine Friendly URLs]]
* [[Search Engine Friendly URLs|described here]]
* How to [http://help.joomla.org/ghop/feb2008/task093/replace%20the%20logo%20image.odt replace the logo image in the Milkyway template] [http://www.scribd.com/doc/2299991/Joomla-v-1-5-How-to-replace-the-logo-image-in-the-Milkyway-template Scribd] by deckers.olivier
* [http://help.joomla.org/ghop/feb2008/task033/033%20-%20Create%20a%20document%20explaining%20how%20to%20modify%20the%20default%20Template.zip How to modify the default Template] [http://www.scribd.com/doc/2300042/Joomla-v-15-How-to-modify-the-default-Template Scribd] (''Note: the document is an old version and some practices and advice may not be current.)'' by [[GHOP students/Chad Windnagle|Chad Windnagle (drmmr763)]].
* [[Finding and installing extensions|install one or more of the thousands of extensions to Joomla!]]
* [[Installing an extension]]
* Learn what is possible given the core [http://help.joomla.org/ghop/feb2008/task028/Joomla%20Menu%20Types.zip Joomla! Menu Types] [http://www.scribd.com/doc/2299861/Joomla-v-15-Menu-Types Scribd] by xalnx;
* Understand all the options available when you create a [http://help.joomla.org/ghop/feb2008/task029/Issue_29_Joomla_Category_Blog_Layout_document_v2.zip Joomla! Category Blog Layout] [http://www.scribd.com/doc/2299872/Joomla-v-15-Category-Blog-Layout Scribd] by hashani;
* Watch this video on [http://help.joomla.org/ghop/feb2008/task055/Joomla!_GHOP_Issue_055.mov How to embed media within a Joomla! article] by mdranta;
* Explore the possibilities with [http://help.joomla.org/ghop/feb2008/task066/MediaManager.odt Using the media manager] [http://www.scribd.com/doc/2299878/Joomla-v-15-Using-the-Media-Manager Scribd] by SharifOerton;
* Learn [http://help.joomla.org/ghop/feb2008/task026/Rev10-Final.zip How to Use Joomla!'s Register to Read More] [http://www.scribd.com/doc/2299883/Joomla-v-15-Register-to-Read-More Scribd] by drmmr763;
* Make certain to learn how to [http://help.joomla.org/ghop/feb2008/task104/How_to_create_a_custom_HTML_module.zip Create a custom HTML module] [http://www.scribd.com/doc/2299886/Joomla-v-15-How-to-create-a-custom-HTML-module- Scribd] by blitzprog;
* Learn how to [http://help.joomla.org/ghop/feb2008/task105/using_media_manager.zip Use the Media Manager to Offer File Downloads] [http://www.scribd.com/doc/2299888/Joomla-v-15-Using-Media-Manager-for-File-Downloads Scribd] by fervidfrogger;
* Learn how to create a simple [http://help.joomla.org/ghop/feb2008/task106/Joomla%20Image%20Gallery.odt Image Gallery using the Media Manager] [http://www.scribd.com/doc/2299943/Joomla-v-15-Image-Gallery-using-the-Media-Manager Scribd] by SharifOerton;
* Learn how to use core [http://help.joomla.org/ghop/feb2008/task107/BDRev5.zip Contact functions to create a services or resources directory] [http://www.scribd.com/doc/2299950/Joomla-v-15-Contact-functions-to-create-a-services-or-resources-directory Scribd] by [[GHOP students/Chad Windnagle|Chad Windnagle (drmmr763)]];
* Take time to explore how to use the [http://help.joomla.org/ghop/feb2008/task108/Newsflashtutorialfinal.odt News flash module to display random or rotating selection of texts] [http://www.scribd.com/doc/2299953/Joomla-v-15-News-flash-module-to-display-random-or-rotating-selection-of-texts Scribd] by tj.ferrell;
* Take advantage of the [http://help.joomla.org/ghop/feb2008/task109/task%20109.pdf Banners component and module to feature different parts of a website] [http://www.scribd.com/doc/2299956/Joomla-v-15-Banners-component-and-module-to-feature-different-parts-of-a-website Scribd] by [[GHOP students/Branko Pajic|Branko Pajic (balvanboy)]];
* Read through the [[Help screens]] to find out about all options available at the Back-end
* '''Configuring and troubleshoot SEF URLs''':
** [http://help.joomla.org/ghop/feb2008/task110/GHOPC_J110_SEFrevised-1.odt Joomla! v 1.5 SEF URLs] [http://www.scribd.com/doc/2300167/Joomla-v-15-Configure-and-troubleshoot-SEF-URLs Scribd] by [[GHOP students/Benjamin Hättasch|Benjamin Hättasch]].
** If you want to use IIS and Joomla!'s [[SEF]] URLs, [[IIS6 and SEF URLs using Joomla 1.5x|do this first]], then use the previous document.
* '''Removing WWW from your domain name''': [http://help.joomla.org/ghop/feb2008/task111/remove_www_from_domain6.odt How to remove "WWW" from your Domain Name and Why it matters] [http://www.scribd.com/doc/2300173/Joomla-How-to-Remove-www-from-domain-and-why-it-matters Scribd] by theoclymenus
* '''Create a Custom 404 Page''': [[Custom error pages|Custom Error Pages, including 404's]]
* Watch this video by [[GHOP students/James William Ramsay|James Ramsey]] entitled [http://www.veoh.com/videos/v1818492yRNhWTdg How to Recover your Administrator Password using phpMyAdmin]
* * '''Using CSS Class Suffixes''': [http://help.joomla.org/ghop/feb2008/task057/Joomla%20Class%20Suffix%20Guides.pdf How to use CSS class suffixes in Joomla! 1.5] [http://www.scribd.com/doc/2300098/Joomla-v-15-How-to-use-CSS-class-suffixes Scribd] by takercena.
* '''Getting Rid of Tables''': If you do not like tables in your Joomla! output, please see [http://help.joomla.org/ghop/feb2008/task059/Getting_Started_with_Template_Overrides_v2.tar.gz Getting Started with Template Overrides] [http://www.scribd.com/doc/2300107/Joomla-v-1-5-Getting-Started-with-Template-Overrides Scribd] by [[GHOP students/Wickrama Arachchi Vithanage Hashani Maduwanthi Weerarathna|Wickrama Arachchi Vithanage Hashani Maduwanthi Weerarathna (Hashani)]]
* '''Adding Javascript to your Template''': You might be interested in [http://help.joomla.org/ghop/feb2008/task060/task60.odt How to add JavaScript to a Joomla template] [http://www.scribd.com/doc/2300110/Joomla-v-15-Adding-Javascript-to-your-Template Scribd] by [[GHOP students/Anner J. Bonilla|Anner J. Bonilla (annerajb)]].
* '''Troubleshooting a Template Installation''': If you are having trouble installing a template, see [http://help.joomla.org/ghop/feb2008/task061/Rev9.zip How to resolve problems with a template installation] [http://www.scribd.com/doc/2300161/Joomla-v-1-5-Template-Installation-Troubleshooting-Manual Scribd] by [[GHOP students/Chad Windnagle|Chad Windnagle (drmmr763)]].
* '''Questions?''' [http://forum.joomla.org/viewforum.php?f=466 Joomla! v 1.5 Template Questions]
* Check out the [[Converting an existing website to a Joomla! website]] guide for great step by step instructions.
* [http://help.joomla.org/ghop/feb2008/task048/joomla_15_quickstart.pdf Joomla! Quickstart Guide]
* [http://help.joomla.org/ghop/feb2008/task167/xampp.html accompanying video] explain XAMPP installation in detail.
* For IIS you can install the [http://www.microsoft.com/web/gallery/Joomla.aspx Windows Web platform].
* [[Beginners/Installing Joomla]]
* [[Beginners/Using Mootools]]
* [[Beginners/Backup and Restore]]

User:Enav/Beginners

2013-03-19T03:46:31Z

Enav:

{{RightTOC}}

Welcome to Joomla!, a leading open source Content Management System (CMS) platform. Joomla! is a well-tested, extensible and effective tool supported by a very active and friendly community of developers and users.

This page contain several articles to quickly help you understand the basics of Joomla!, and be able to create basic Joomla! sites in a short time.

== What is Joomla!? ==

If you are from the old school you may think that web sites still works using a bunch of linked HTML files, not anymore, Welcome to century XXI! modern websites runs over Content Management Systems (CMS), this systems runs using dynamic languages like PHP and databases like MySQL databases, this way a CMS can store and manage huge amount of data like thousand of news articles articles.

Joomla! is a very flexible CMS that runs on PHP that uses MySQL databases to store the data and let you create websites with dynamic content that will change and adjust to the context or the configuration parameters you provide.

== Play With It ==

Do you want to get started with Joomla!, but you have no idea where to begin? If so, you have come to the right place. The fastest way to learn about Joomla! is to start paying with it right now. Visit the demo page and take few minutes to see the demo content and play with the configurations.

<span style="text-align:center">Yes right here---> [http://demo.Joomla.org/ Joomla! demo page]</span>

The first 2 term you need to learn are "Frontend" and "Backend", the Frontent is the part that shows your site content and all the funny stuff and the Backend is the part that contains the configuration views and it is also the place where you normally manage (create, edit, update) your content. To access to your Joomla! site Backend you just need to add the "/administrators" to your Joomla! site path in the browser address bar i.e.:

www.example.com/adminisrator

Now that you know how Joomla! looks and feel in the frontend and backend is time to you to learn what kind of magic you can do with this new tool of yours.

Note: On the demo page you can chose to use a free trial hosting account, when the trial period expired if you chose to contract a paid hosting account with them, the Joomla! Project will receive a royalty for the transaction, consider this option if you would like to support the project.

== What Can I Do With It? ==

Joomla! is a CMS, a system to manage content, To make a small analogy you can [[How_Joomla!_compares_to_an_operating_system | compare Joomla! with a computer operative system]], for example, on your computer the operative system manages the resources of your computer, also you can install applications to do more things on your computer, in this order of ideas Joomla! is the one who is in charge to manage the data and you can install "extensions" to extend and enhance the functions of Joomla!.

Joomla! comes by default with a bunch of extensions pre-installed and pre-configured to make Joomla! works as a News website, but you can manually configure your Joomla! site to easily make it works as a:

* Blog site
* Company or Government site
* Contact directory
* Simple product Catalog

Now if your interest is to create more complex sites like:

* eCommerce sites with shopping cart
* Support sites with forums and ticket systems
* News sites with paid subscription system and comment systems
* e-learning sites with paid subscription systems

Then you need to install more Joomla! extensions to make your vanilla Joomla! site work the way you need. Lots and lots of extensions are for free with no cost at all, and others are extensions commercial, this means that you need to pay a fee to have the right to use them but the normally commercial extensions comes with a tech support deals that will help you save precious time and money, and everybody knows time is gold.

Here at [http://extensions.Joomla.org/ The Joomla! Extension Directory] you have thousands of extensions to chose from, take some time to visit the directory and do few searches for the sake to get familiarized with it, you may need to use some more extensions in the future if you decide to [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYtbEmO_JC4 pimp up] your Joomla! site.

Maybe a client or your boss is asking you for a web solution with a very specific set of requirements and the information so far does not help you to determine if Joomla! is suitable for the job, in order to help you to save some time feel free to visit the Joomla! community people and make your questions to humans at:

{{Chunk:Community contacts}}

== Understanding How Joomla! Works ==

To keep this introductory article as short and friendly as possible we can say that Joomla! have tow main parts, the Frontend and the Backend, as explained before the Frontend shows the site content that any visitor can see and the Backend is the administrative part that is normally restricted for users with privileges such as administrators.

Taking a quick look at the average website we can conclude that most of them have this basic layout:

* Header
* Main menu
* Main content
* Side content (left or right of main content)
* Footer

In Joomla! a template is the one in charge to determine the layout and disposition of those chunks of data described in the previous list, also a template is the one used to determine the font types, colors, styles and the presentation in general.

Now you may wonder what is used to render each of those chunks of data, and the answer is modules and components. Joomla! depends on extensions (components, modules, plugins) to render chunks of information that have certain characteristics, for example, for small and compact chunks of data like header, main menu, side content and footer Joomla! uses Modules who are meant to be use for that kind of data, but for the main content of the page that tend to be a very large and dynamic chunk of data, the element in use is the component.

There are several kinds of plugins and they are categorized depending on the job they do, For example, A content plugin can be used to manipulate data before it is rendered on the page, an authentication plugin is a plugin that can give you the ability to login in a Joomla! site using Google accounts or Facebook accounts.

In resume:

* Templates: Defines the site layout and visual styles.
* Component: Used to render large chucks of dynamic data.
* Modules: Used to render compact and normally static chunks of data.
* Plugins: They are used to extend the Joomla! functions and manipulate data.

Both the frontend and the backend uses templates and extensions. Is a normal thing that many Joomla! sites uses different templates on the frontend and leave the backend with the default template but you can always install a custom 3rd party template for the backend to have a different look and feel. More information about extensions [[Extension_types_(general_definitions) | Here]].

Note: Most developers creates extensions based on how the default administrative template looks and works you may experience bugs and visual glitches with 3rd party administrative templates, so we recommend the use of the default Joomla! administrative template, most tutorials and documentation screenshots in general are based on the default Joomla! administrative template.

== Installing Joomla! ==

If you already have a working Joomla! installation or you want to keep using the demo sites, then skip this section.

Now that you had enough fun playing with the Joomla! demo site you may want to go the next level and start messing around with extensions and templates to see how they do in your very own local test server or your rented web server.

This tutorials are targeted for non-expert audience, if you need more detailed and advanced information go to the [[developers | Developers page]].

* [[Installing Joomla! on a rented web server]]
* [[Installing Joomla! on a local web server]]

== Learning to Use Joomla! ==

Now that you have a working Joomla! site, you will want to start filling it with your own content and making it look just the way you want. Before that you need to learn how to work with Joomla!, follow the [[Getting Started with Joomla!]] tutorial.

If you still hungry for more information go ahead and check the the [[Complete Joomla! Guide]].

== Start Creating Your Joomla! Site ==

Now that you know the basics of Joomla! operations and configurations is time to create a real website. The following tutorials will teach you how properly set up your Joomla! installation to work in certain ways.

* Creating a News site with Joomla!
* Creating a Blog site with Joomla!
* Creating a Community site with Joomla!
* Creating an Institutional site with Joomla!
* Creating an eCommerce site with Joomla!

== Keep Your Joomla! Site Secure ==

Security is always a big concern on the web, to make sure you are using best security practices take a read to the following articles:

* [[Security Checklist]]
* [[Security and Performance FAQs]]
* [[Top 10 Stupidest Administrator Tricks]]

If you have any security concern or question visit the Security section of the Joomla! forums or visit the Joomla! community at:

{{Chunk:Community contacts}}

== Getting Help ==

The Joomla! community is composed by large groups of people from all around the world, you can get help from many ways contacting our community people at the Joomla! forums, instant messaging or social networks.

Follow this tips to get the best help and faster solution to most of your answers:

* Most common questions are already answered, do a quick internet search using short phrases. If your problem is an error, copy and paste the error message on your search to see the related search matches.
* Have a quick look at our [FAQs] page.
* If you can't find and answer, contact our community people and make your questions on the forums, IRC or the social networks, pleas be nice, give us details about your problem and Joomla! version.
* And hey hang around, try to help others or simply make new friends, the more people the stronger our community will be.

The Joomla! forums are among the busiest support forums in the world with around 1500 post each day, they are a great place to get help, you can also meet other Joomla! users on:

{{Chunk:Community_contacts}}

== Tutorials and Howtos ==

== More ==

Come [[User:Enav/Beginners/more | Here]] to see some information and archived articles.

[[Category:Landing Pages]]
[[Category:Joomla! user profiles]]
[[Category:Beginners]]