Planning Your Web site

From Joomla! Documentation

This page contains changes which are not marked for translation.
Other languages:
Deutsch • ‎English • ‎Nederlands • ‎español • ‎français • ‎português do Brasil • ‎svenska • ‎中文(台灣)‎

Before you get "your feet wet" with Joomla, you may want to think about the bigger picture aspects of your website. For example, most website projects benefit from advance planning and defining the nature and scope of the project. Ask yourself questions like:

  • What do you want to accomplish with your website?
  • What is the nature and quantity of content you wish to present?
  • Who is your audience, and how do you want to interact with them?
  • What types of budgets or timetables are you working within?

Writing down these key questions and their answers will help focus your efforts and guide the decisions you make as you implement your project.

So what is Joomla, and what can it do for my website?[edit]

Joomla! is a Content Management System (or "CMS") which enables easy control and editing of the content and presentation of your website. With Joomla!, you can do things like:

  • Edit the content of every page of your site through a word processor-style interface.
  • Add new pages to your site using a point-and-click interface.
  • Add images and other media through web-based uploads.
  • Control site elements like navigation menus and page layout.

Many additional functions are available within Joomla's default user interface. Essentially, Joomla removes the need to have a "geek" involved in the day-to-day management of your website content. If you are able to surf the web, interact with web-based forms and interfaces, and handle basic desktop computing tasks, you will be able to use the Joomla interface to manage the content of your website. Out-of-the-box, Joomla provides all of the primary functions of managing web page content. It also includes a number of specialised elements which support specific functionality, for example, end user registration, interactive polls, advertising banners, a contacts directory, and much more. Included with Joomla's native capabilities is an "Extensions" system which enables additional features via third-party Extensions software packages. (See https://extensions.joomla.org for more information.)

Joomla-powered websites are different from websites which contain manually updated, or "static," HTML files. Instead, Joomla is a dynamic web application. Joomla uses a database (MySQL) to store all of the content and information about your site, and it uses a programming language (PHP) to power its interactive functionality and dynamic web pages.

How much knowledge do I need to implement Joomla?[edit]

Although a low level of technical knowledge is required to use Joomla on a day-to-day basis, you will need to know a bit more in order to install it. Joomla's installation process includes uploading files to a web server via FTP, creating a new MySQL database, and then proceeding through Joomla's web-based installation wizard. (Fortunately, many web hosting companies include website control panels which make it easy to handle technical tasks, including adding a MySQL database, and installing Joomla.)

Customising the structure, content and presentation of your Joomla site involves working within Joomla's web-based interfaces; if you want to significantly change the website design from the default templates, you will need to either install a third-party template package or create your own template out of web-ready images and HTML, Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) and/or JavaScript code.

Knowledge of the PHP programming language or programming concepts in general is not required to install, customise and administer Joomla.

Please, don't let any of that scare you off. This is the Absolute Beginner's Guide to Joomla and you will learn what is needed if you invest a bit of time in reading and trying out these ideas. Now, should we begin?