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 It exists only as a historical reference, it will not be improved and its content may be incomplete and/or contain broken links.

Joomla! Getting Started Manual

This page introduces documentation to help you to get started with Joomla! The approach is mainly 'hands-on' instructions about doing the basic things to manage content.

Note:  This is a draft  just now - and is being actively edited

Who is the Manual intended for

The articles/tutorials here are aimed at helping people who have not used Joomla! before. The good news is that the content of a Joomla! web site can be created, edited and managed without using any code and the site itself can be managed without previous experience of looking after web servers. Yet there is scope for experienced developers to extend a site in sophisticated ways. There are indications of the intended audience at the head of each article.

The groups that are particularly targeted are the following:-

Note: - Words needed for each level that are meaningful + some more detail so that readers recognise
themselves. Clearly - each group has different needs and some can be let loose on the other docs on the site
- eg the Admin manual

• Novice: someone with no previous experience of adding content to a web site but has some basic email and editing skills.
• Beginner: an experienced author - used to laying out text, but has not previously used anything like Joomla!
• Experienced beginner: someone with some limited computing background and has added to a static web site but is not familiar with HTML, scripting or CSS.
• Someone with previous experience with managing a static web site, has used HTML or a scripting language, but not a lot of background knowledge.
• Someone who has used a CMS previously and has some need to maintain a Joomla! site.
• Experienced developer: Someone with programming experience and is technically aware - a potential developer in Joomla!

The Manual

Using a Joomla! site for the tutorials - inevitable background to get started

You must have the use of a Joomla! website to get anything from these tutorials, which are mainly 'hands on' demonstrations of basic features.

Joomla! is a Content Management System (a CMS) which allows content to be created and edited by visitors who have a login with appropriate permissions. The logins are created and the permissions defined by the person who looks after the web site, usually called the administrator. For experienced people, there is a short section on how to get a Joomla! web site on a stand-alone computer, so that you can benefit from hands-on instructions.

• User names and how to login - a brief instruction for getting access to a web site. You will need to be able to do this in order to use the hands-on instructions that come later in the Manual.
• A demonstration web site on your own computer. Some information about what to do if you do not have access to a real Joomla! site
• Who can do what? More about usernames and permissions, with a description of the various levels of access to a Joomla! site.
• What a Joomla! site looks like. This covers important charactoristics of a dynamic web site

How to edit and create 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 whatever your previous experience.

• How to edit an article - aimed at helping everyone to use the editor and understand what articles look like and where they are stored.
• How to create an article - with simple layouts and content - aimed at helping everyone to know how to add new a new article to a web site
• More on editing articles - adding tables, links, pictures and changing layouts.

How to look after articles

Say what this means at the getting started level - keep them in the right place - get the right layouts for the content

• How articles are arranged, stored and managed - sections, categories and menus
• How to manage articles

Links and references

This will have:-

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