Difference between revisions of "Beginners"

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<translate> As someone who has not used Joomla! before, you need to know how to get started. Maybe you have a friend or a neighbour who uses Joomla! and you want a Joomla! web site of your very own. Maybe you have a small business or a club or a community that needs a web presence, and you want to use Joomla! for that purpose. Maybe you are a seasoned Information Technology professional, but you have never used Joomla! before. If so, you are just starting a very enjoyable journey and we warmly welcome you to Joomla! </translate>

What is Joomla?

Joomla! is a CMS(Content Management System) that lets you...

...make and update web pages easily.

As a simplified explanation, think of a Joomla! website dynamically bringing together three elements.

Your content, which is stored in a database and called articles.
Modules, additional pieces of special content which is also stored in a database.
Your template, which controls the design and presentation(fonts, colors and layout) of your content and modules.

Joomla! is the software that brings together the content and modules using the template to produce webpages dynamically. No more HTML pages to store, update, link together and then upload to your server.

Absolute Beginners Guide to Joomla!

Although you could spend a lifetime learning Joomla!, if you master the basics you will be able to make a very attractive and useful basic website in a very short time with no special technical skills. 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.

Installing Joomla!

Before you can begin using Joomla! you will need a working installation of Joomla! If you want your site to be available on the Internet, make sure that you have an account on a web server. For most people this means signing up with a hosting company and purchasing a domain that will serve as your site's main address.

Want to build a free Joomla! website? launch.joomla.org is a Joomla! service that allows you to start, build and maintain a completely free website on a joomla.com subdomain for an unlimited time. The site building software features all of the Joomla! CMS core functionalities that make building a website easy and flexible.

Already have a hosting company? Joomla! is offered by most hosting companies under "One Click Installs" (also called Auto Installers) for their customers. The "One Click Install" method offers an "instant" installation of Joomla! which is quick and easy. Follow the instructions your host provides.

Use the conventional method of installation. This requires you to copy the Joomla! zip file to your hosting account, unzip, create a database, and then run the installation. Complete instructions can be found at Installing Joomla. Further information can be found at Joomla! Installation Resources.

Install Joomla! on your own computer (without your site appearing on the Internet), you can install it using the XAMPP package. Install XAMPP and then use the "conventional method" to get your Joomla! test site working.

Learn to Use Joomla!

Learn Joomla! terminology by browsing the Glossary.

Getting Started with Joomla! is a tutorial series with hands-on instructions to introduce Joomla! to people who have not previously used it. It explains techniques step by step using screenshots.

Explore the Absolute Beginners Guide to Joomla! portal page.

Getting Support

For support with installation, you can ask questions in the Joomla! installation forum.
For support as you are learning Joomla! you can ask questions in the NewJoomla! forums. Use the New to Joomla! 3.x Forum.

Before You Start Creating Your Joomla! Site

Before you jump into making your own articles, categories, tags, web links, contacts, banners, and news feeds, you may want to review Planning Your Web site. There are many aspects of creating a web site to consider. For example, deciding if you want to enable Search Engine Friendly URLs and how enabling or disabling Search Engine Friendly URLs later will destroy the rankings your pages acquired with search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo.

Perhaps you already have a website. Then you should read Converting an existing website to a Joomla! website and learn more about converting your static website.

One of the first tasks you may want to do is to modify one of the templates that comes with Joomla! so that it displays your site name and logo.

How to change the image(s) in your template.
How to modify a Joomla! template.

Finally, you may want to install one or more of the thousands of extensions to Joomla!. Most Joomla! extensions are listed in the official Joomla! Extensions Directory (JED). Once you've found an extension to install, you'll have to follow the procedure for installing a Joomla! Extension.

Please remember that all extensions are developed by independent developers. If you need help with a specific extension the best source will be that developer.

Getting Help in the Joomla! Forums

The Joomla! forums are the among the busiest (and most friendly) support forums in the world, and they are a great place to get help and meet other Joomla! users.

Before posting, check the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on the docs wiki.
Please make certain you search the Forum post first before posting a question. Nine times out of ten someone else had the same issue that you had.
Make sure you are posting in the right forum for your topic.
Be clear and specific in your request for help. Entries like “Help! It doesn’t work!” tend to get ignored. Try to explain everything that led up to your problem. Try to explain what your problem is. Be clear about what you want to happen. And, thank those who bother to help!
Use the Forum Post Assistant to help you provide more information and better explain your problem.
If your question/problem was solved, mark your thread as solved by editing the first post you made in that thread and changing the topic icon to the green check mark with a circle. You can also add [Solved] to your topic title. By doing this you allow other members who are doing searches to easily differentiate between solved and unsolved issues. This also saves the volunteers' time of having to open up solved topics.
As soon as you know things, start answering questions. Answering questions is one of the best ways to learn.
If someone helps you, say thank you and pay it forward by answering a question yourself.

Here are some quick links to specific forums commonly used.

Keep Your Joomla! Site Secure

Security is always a big concern on the web. Make sure you are using best security practices. The basic techniques on the Security Check List will get your site off to a good start in terms of security. Here is a list of more information you should read.

Joomla Security Forums

Joomla 3.x Security Forum

Joomla Security Feeds

Understand How Joomla! Works

You might want to learn how Joomla! is built and how its features work together.

In short, Joomla! is composed of a Framework and extensions. There are several types of extensions, each capable of performing specific tasks. Some extensions are developed as part of the Joomla! project and come with your installation. If you want to add features to your site, you can install more extensions.

You can compare this to a computer operating system, like Microsoft Windows or Linux. You don't directly use the operating system (Joomla!); you use applications (extensions) to carry out tasks. Some applications (extensions) are immediately available on your system, but can install and remove additional applications (extensions) at any time.

The Joomla! Core Features Guide scribd, written by James Ramsay describes the features (mostly the extensions) available in each download of Joomla!.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-=Absolute Beginners Guide to Joomla!=
+<noinclude><languages /></noinclude>
-{{inuse}}
+__TOC__
+{{Portal:Beginners/Intro}}
+{{Portal:Beginners/box-header-sq|<translate><!--T:9-->
+Absolute Beginners Guide to Joomla!</translate>|Portal:Beginners/Absolute Beginners Guide|}}
+{{Portal:Beginners/Absolute Beginners Guide/<translate><!--T:6-->
+en</translate>}}
+{{Portal:Beginners/box-footer|}}
-Welcome to Joomla!, a leading open-source Content Management System (or "CMS") platform.  You have made a great choice to use Joomla! for your Web site, as it is a well-tested, extensible and effective tool supported by a very active and friendly community of developers and users.
+{{Portal:Beginners/box-header-sq|<translate><!--T:7-->
+Before You Start Creating Your Joomla! Site</translate>|Portal:Beginners/Start Creating Your Joomla Site|}}
+{{Portal:Beginners/Start Creating Your Joomla Site/<translate><!--T:8-->
+en</translate>}}
+{{Portal:Beginners/box-footer|}}
-'''Planning Your Web Project'''
+<div class="portal-column-left-narrow"> <!-- Switch to one column on narrow screens -->
+{{Portal:Beginners/box-header-sq|<translate><!--T:4-->
+Keep Your Joomla! Site Secure</translate>|Portal:Beginners/Keep Your Joomla Site Secure|}}
+{{Portal:Beginners/Keep Your Joomla Site Secure/<translate><!--T:5-->
+en</translate>}}
+{{Portal:Beginners/box-footer|}}
+</div>
-Before you get your feet wet with Joomla!, you may want to think about the bigger picture aspects of your Web site (and gain more knowledge for yourself as needed).  For example, most Web site projects benefit from advance planning and defining the nature and scope of your project.  Ask yourself questions like: What do you want to accomplish with your Web site?  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.
+<div class="portal-column-right-wide"> <!-- Switch to one column on narrow screens -->
+{{Portal:Beginners/box-header-sq|<translate><!--T:1-->
-'''So what is Joomla!, and what can it do for my Web site?'''
+Understand How Joomla! Works</translate>|Portal:Beginners/Understand How Joomla Works|}}
+{{Portal:Beginners/Understand How Joomla Works/<translate><!--T:2-->
-As mentioned above, Joomla! is a Content Management System (or "CMS"), and it enables easy control and editing of the content and presentation of your Web site.  With Joomla!, you can do things like:
+en</translate>}}
-<ul><li>Edit the content of every page of your site through a word processor-style interface.</li>
+{{Portal:Beginners/box-footer|}}
-<li>Add new pages to your site using a point-and-click interface.</li>
+</div>
-<li>Add images and other media through Web-based uploads.</li>
-<li>Control site elements like navigation menus and page layout.</li>
-</ul>
-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 Web site 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 Web site.
-Out of the box, Joomla! provides all of the primary functions of managing Web page content.  It also includes a number of specialized 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 http://extensions.joomla.org for more information.)
-Joomla!-powered Web sites are different from Web sites which contain manually updated, or "static," HTML files.  Instead, Joomla! is a dynamic Web application, which is akin to a piece of software that runs on your Web server.  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 Joomla!'s interactive functionality and dynamic Web pages.  Because Joomla! must hook into the PHP and mySQL processes running on your Web server, implementing Joomla! tends to be a bit more involved than building flat HTML Web pages and uploading them to a Web server.
-'''How much knowledge do I need to implement Joomla! ?'''
-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 implement 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 Web site control panels which make it easy to handle technical tasks like adding a new mySQL database for Joomla!.)
-Customizing the structure, content and presentation of your Joomla! site involves working within Joomla!'s Web-based interfaces; if you want to significantly change the Web site 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 and/or Javascript code.
-In general, a knowledge of the PHP programming language or programming concepts in general is '''not''' required in order to install and customize Joomla!
-This was originally [http://forum.joomla.org/index.php/topic,47524.0.html here].  This is its new home.
+__NOEDITSECTION__
+{{-}}
+<translate>
+<!--T:3-->
 [[Category:Landing Pages]]
+[[Category:Joomla! user profiles]]
-You want to install joomla, now!. Please follow the available documentation for the installation process:
+[[Category:Beginners]]
-[http://downloads.joomlacode.org/docmanfileversion/1/7/4/17471/1.5_Installation_Manual_version_0.5.pdf Manual_version_0.5]
+[[Category:Needs to be marked for translation]]
+</translate>
-Let's make a quick review of the installation instructions provided:
-<ul>
-<li>Requirements</li>
-<li>Download Joomla!</li>
-<li>Upload files and create database</li>
-<li>Install (Web or Manually)</li>
-<li>Known Issues</li>
-</ul>
-After follow the steps described above, you will probably have a functional Joomla! site, what's next?, made it your own site by custom features:
-<ul>
-<li>[http://help.joomla.org/component/option,com_easyfaq/task,view/id,167/Itemid,268/ Check security]</li>
-<li>Look for 3rd party extensions for Joomla</li>
-<li>Subscribe to the security forums</li>
-</ul>
-As a general rule, minimize 3rd party software, please look first in the
-[http://help.joomla.org/component/option,com_easyfaq/task,view/id,186/Itemid,268/ 3rd party black list]
-Now, with basic security enabled, the minimum 3rd party modules activated, is time to plane your support plan, yeah!
-<ul>
-<li>Backup, BACKUP, BACKUP</li>
-<li>Implement a offline version of your site for testing</li>
-<li>Perfom statistics of your site, and keep an eye in logs</li>
-</ul>

Portal