Joomla! Documentation™

A module position is a placeholder in a template. Placeholders identify one or several positions within the template and tell the Joomla! application where to place output from modules assigned to a particular position. The template designer has complete control over module positions, creating variations between templates and the respective Joomla! default positions assigned to modules in the installation sample data.

For example, the module position Left could be defined to be on the left side of the template to display a site navigation menu. So if a module is assigned the Left position, it will be displayed wherever the designer puts that Left module position - not necessarily the left side of the page.

Understanding Module Positions

Joomla! Users and Administrators need to only understand the following:

• Modules are set positions dictated by the template developer.
• Modules can be turned on and off based on menu selection.
• Modules can be reordered in their assigned position using the Module Manager.

Visualization

It's possible to visualize all modules positions in a template by adding the "tp=1" query string to the URL.

https://www.example.com/?tp=1

Joomla 2.5 , Joomla 3.x and Joomla 4.x will show the template positions with ?tp=1 or &tp=1 if the Preview Module Positions mode in the Template Manager has been Enabled:

• For Joomla 3 and earlier, Extensions → Templates → Options → Templates tab.
• For Joomla 4, System → Site Templates (or Administrator Templates) → Options → Templates tab.
• Set Preview Module Positions to Enabled. Then select Save & Close.

Module Map

The image below shows a module map when visualization is enabled.