Joomla! Documentation™

The "J1.5" namespace is an archived namespace. This page contains information for a Joomla! version which is no longer supported. It exists only as a historical reference, it will not be improved and its content may be incomplete and/or contain broken links.

Content is Incomplete

What is in the Manual

This series of documents divides into four parts:-

1. Introducing Joomla! There is an initial section on how to get 'hands-on' a Joomla! site. This is followed by hands-on, practical instructions about doing key tasks needed for adding, altering and manipulating content on an existing site.
2. Setting up a Joomla! site: This shows how a Joomla! Web site can be designed and created using the core features that come with Joomla!
3. Looking after a Joomla! site: This is a brief introduction to the Adminstration of a Joomla! site using the Back-end. It relies on links to other Joomla! documentation.
4. Doing more and learning more: Joomla! is initially installed as a core package but it is more than this. It allows for extensions suitable for complex or commercial sites. This final part also links into other documentation and is intened as a guide ahead for those of you who need to take Joomla! beyond the basics.

Who is it written for?

The whole series aims at people who have not used Joomla! before. These people obviously range in experience from those who are going to be mainly concerned with entering content to those who will develop whole new Web sites.

It is a challenge to aim an introductory series at the right levels. The solution here is to introduce Joomla! using detailed 'hands-on' instructions about adding,altering and manipulating content. At the same time, general points about Joomla! are made which are intended to help people to learn more and do more.

As the tasks require more background knowledge, so there are fewer hands-on instructions and more general pointers to the extensive documentation available for Joomla!

At the start of each article there is an indication of who it is aimed at and, on occasions, about the pitfalls for the inexperienced or unwary.
Some more detail about the intended readership

Introducing Joomla!

Hands-on a Joomla! site

You must have the use of a Joomla! Web site to use 'hands-on' instructions. There are three possibilites:-

1. Use a site that has already been set up. If you are going to be adding content to an existing site and do not have much computing experience this is the best option.
2. Install a copy of Joomla! (with sample content) on your own computer. This is sometimes referred to as a 'localhost' installation. This is best if you have enough experience to install it. It has some example content, so you can start to explore a Joomla! site before you have created one for your own content.
3. Use the Demo on the Joomla! site. Test drive Joomla! free for 30 days; there is a free Quickstart video. Not written yet.

Hands-on adding and altering Articles

Articles are the building blocks of any Joomla! site and are the main way that content is organised and displayed. Everyone needs to know the basics of how to edit and create articles - so start here no matter what your previous experience.

1. How to edit an Article - aimed at helping everyone to use the editor and understand what articles look like and where they are stored.
2. How to create a new Article - aimed at helping everyone to add a new article to a web site

How to edit and manipulate Articles

- keep them in the right place - get the right layouts for the content - the right permissions for publishing - on the Front-end

1. More about editing Articles -aimed at helping everyone who wants to try any of these.
   1. Adding links to other pages
   2. Adding a table
   3. Adding a picture
   4. Splitting a long article
2. How articles are published and managed using the Front-end
3. Sections, Categories and Menus

Setting up a Joomla! site

Assume Joomla already installed and this uses the one of the templates that ships with Joomla

intention to help someone with some background in web work to create a simple site using localhost. With references to other documentation but also make it self-contained.

The design of the content structure

• Sections, categories and menus
• More about managing articles using the Back-end of Joomla!

Appearance and layout

• Appearance use templates

Looking after a Joomla! site - general administration

The administrator pages - Back-end

Brief description - and then references to other material because this is covered in admin manual. From the view point of looking after the site

Other things here that are useful for the experienced - links

Links to useful docs

Doing more and learning more

There is more to learn about Joomla. This part of the Manual does not have so many 'hands-on' sections.

It introduces more aspects of Joomla! with links to further, and sometimes much more advanced, documetation.

Intention here is for a lot of links with a small amount of commentary - aimed at the experienced.

See also

This will have:-

• Links to other helpful pages at different levels of user skill - with comments
• List of links referred to in various places

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--Lorna Scammell December 2010