Start chat

Joomla 3.x Documentation

Joomla!

Joomla! is an award-winning content management system [CMS], which is designed to help you building websites and powerful online applications. Many aspects, including its ease-of-use and extensibility, have made Joomla! the most popular website software available. Best of all, Joomla! is an open-source solution that is freely available to everyone, this also means that you can modify the source code according to your needs and gain maximum advantage.

What's a content management system [CMS]?

A content management system is a software that keeps track of every piece of content on your website, much like your local public library keeps track of books and stores them. Here 'content' can be the simple text, photos, music, video, documents, or just about anything you can think of. A major advantage of using a CMS is that it requires almost no technical skill or knowledge to manage. The CMS manages all your content, so you don't have to. CMS also helps you to track your content easily and lets you develop and manage your content in the best possible way.

 

Frontend

Frontend vs. Backend

The frontend of a Joomla website is what you see when you load your web address into a browser, such as Firefox, Chrome or Internet Explorer. This view, together with the backend Administrator that will be covered next, is what was created when you went through the Joomla installation process. While the backend Administrator provides an easy method for website administration and development, the frontend is the view that is presented to an end user, or website visitor.

Files and Folders

Joomla provides a layer of abstraction for the inner workings of the website, meaning that an administrator does not need to know how to maintain or change individual files in order to update a website. It is still beneficial to get a glimpse of what files and folders exist. You may even need to access a folder such as the Images folder at some time. You can see in the image below what some of tht some of the folder structure looks like. This is taken from the Total Commander manager.

Template Overview

All Joomla websites are driven by a Template. Joomla will use a default Template unless you install and enable another one. When choosing a Template, make sure to consider the actual design as well as the the Template positions.

Find some great suggestions for Joomla Templates at: www.templatemonster.com.

Primary vs. Secondary Content

Content that appears on a web page can often be divided into two categories; primary content and secondary content. Primary content is the main article or articles that normally appear in the middle of the page. Everything else on a web page can be referred to as secondary content, and in Joomla this content is usually displayed through the use of Modules.

Administrator

Accesssing Administrator

Now that you understand the difference between the frontend and the backend, we'll look at how to access and use the Joomla Administrator.

  1. NAVIGATE to your web address followed by /administrator.
  2. LOGIN using the site login details you have set during installation.
Review Messages

When you first access your Control Panel in Joomla, you may see a notification that you have messages to review, and possibly a message that an update is available. In order to dismiss the message notification, you need to access and hide those messages.

  1. CLICK Review Messages button.
  2. CLICK Hide Message button once you have reviewed each message.
Administrator Workspace

There are four main sections of the Administrator Workspace. They are noted below.

  1. Navigation Menu providing access to core Joomla Administrator pages.
  2. Title bar showing your current position within Administrator.
  3. Left panel providing shortcuts to other sections in Administrator - this is relative to your current position.
  4. Main content area.
Main Administrator Sections
System Menu

The most important links under the System menu are Control Panel which takes you back to the initial screen that displays when you first log in, and the Global Configuration section which allows you to set all of the main settings for your site.

Users Menu

The User menu is where you can create users for your site and manage the Access Control Lists for creating rules about who can do and see what on your website. This applies to both the frontend and the Administrator.

Menus Menu

The Menus menu allows you to create the pages for your website based on the content you create through the Article Manager and other Extensions.

Content Menu

The Content menu holds the menus that allow you to manage the content on your site. The Article Manager and the Category Manager are found here. The Media Manager, which controls image and video uploads, is also found here.

Components and Extensions Menus

The Components menu holds the links to installed pieces of software that provide functionality on your Joomla website. You'll find Joomla core Components, such as Banners and Joomla Update, as well as third party installed Components,such as SLogin and JoomGallery.

The Extensions menu provides links to all of the other types of Extenions within Joomla, such as Modules, Plugins, Templates and Languages.

Help Menu

The Help menu provides links to various Joomla help sites, such as the Official Joomla Support Forum, the Joomla Extensions Directory and others.

Current User Menu

In the top right corner of the menu bar is an avatar icon that provides links to manage aspects of the currently logged in user. You can edit your own account from here as well as log out of the system.

Global Configuration

This area is accessible only if you are logged-in as a member of a group having the attribute of being Super Administrators [by default the Super Users group only]. Once logged in, to access the page:

  1. Go to System > Global Configuration or
  2. click the Global Configuration icon from the main control panel.
Overview

As the name implies, Global Configuration is the area of the Joomla administrative interface where a user with Super Administrator attributes is able to make changes that globally affect the behaviour of the web site and also alter some default settings for the presentation of, and access to site content.

All the parameters under the Site, System and Server tabs in the Global Configuration are stored as values in the file configuration.php, which you will find in the root folder of Joomla installation. This file is set up automatically by the software installation process and thus many of the parameters appearing in the Global Configuration screens are best left as their initial settings. Should Joomla be unable to update configuration.php a message such as "Could not save data. Error: Could not write to the configuration file." will be displayed, rather than the usual "Configuration successfully saved.". There are a number of ways of overcoming this problem, please refer to Cannot save Global Configuration changes for further information.

The parameters controlled by a third tab, Permissions, differ from those controlled via the other tabs in that they are stored within the web site's database.

The Toolbar

The Global Configuration toolbar consists of four buttons to enable the user to save changes, move away from the Global Configuration page and call up online Help pages. Toolbars differ between Joomla v1.5.x and the later versions, in respect of naming and order of buttons.

The Joomla 3.x Toolbar
  1. Save. Saves any changes made under any tab and the Global Configuration screen remains open so that editing or checking of global parameters can continue.
  2. Save & Close. As Save, but returns to the Administrator welcome screen.
  3. Cancel. Returns to the Administrator welcome screen without saving any changes to the Global Configuration.
  4. Help. Opens the Help Screen for Global Configuration.
The Site Tab Options

Note

The order in which these items appear on the screen vary slightly between the different versions of Joomla.

Site Settings Group

This group of options control a miscellaneous collection of parameters that broadly control the behaviour of the public web pages of the Joomla site.

  1. Site Name. The name of the web site. This text provides an single-point of update of the site name and is frequently used by site templates as the header text of each web page.
  2. Site Offline. This setting provides a means of putting a site offline to general users by changing the default setting of “No” to “Yes”. When offline the public pages of the web site will be replaced by the Offline Message [see below] and a log-in form. Only Administrators are able to log in the site when set to offline using this option. Once logged-in, Administrators are able to see the web site and work on it as normal.
  3. Offline Message. The message that will be displayed on the site when the site is offline. It may be changed to provide something more helpful than the default message. This could be a date or time when the site will be back online, or the URL of an alternative web site that any visitors could use.
  4. Default Editor. The default text editor for use when creating or updating articles on the site. This may be “No editor” [edit raw HTML code only], one of editors pre-installed in Joomla, or an editor installed subsequently as an extension. The editor loaded when a registered site user starts editing text content may be overridden on a user-by-user basis, but in the absence of any such override it will be the Default Editor as set here.
  5. Default Access Level. [only present in Joomla v1.6.x and later] The access level given by default to new content items, menu entries, etc. By default this is “Public”, but could be changed to other levels if – for example – it was undesirable for newly created items to be visible to all site users. The access level for any items may be overridden when created, or changed at a later point by anyone logged-in with the appropriate permissions.
  6. Default List Limit. This sets the maximum number of items per page in lists displayed in various pages of the Joomla administrative interface, although this value may be overridden temporarily within the list pages themselves. By default, this parameter is set to 20 but may be changed to any of a number of values ranging from 5 to 100.
    Tip: Use a larger value [50 or 100] than the default as it is usually easier to scroll up and down a list on a single page than to move between lots of short pages. Also if all items are on one page, it is much easier to carry out a global search, for example for text in an article title.
  7. Default Feed Limit. The number of content items to be shown in any RSS newsfeeds set up on the web site. By default, this is set to 10, although unless the site is very active a smaller number may be better.
  8. Feed Email. Atom and RSS newsfeeds generated from site content by the Joomla “Syndicate feeds” [“Syndication” in Joomla v1.5.x] site module may include an e-mail address as part of the author's identity. This parameter determines the source of that email address: the “Author Email” setting will use the email address held on the site for content author, “Site E-mail” will use the “From email” address set up under the Server tab [see below] for emails generated automatically by the web site.
    Tip: “Site E-mail” is usually the preferred setting if content syndication is being used on a web site. This is because the alternative will expose the content authors' email addresses to collection by spam lists.
Metadata Settings Group

This group of options controls the presence or content of several of the metadata entries [i.e. code like <meta name = …. \>] in the header of each page of the web site. Although not visible to the site user, metadata entries may be used in various ways by web search engines and their appropriate use can significantly aid the search rankings and visibility of a web site. Note that several of the following metadata parameters may be overridden for the content categories and individual content items.

  1. Site Meta Description. Text added here appears in web page headers as the “description” metadata entry. Search engines often use this to provide descriptive text for your web pages in place some [possibly inappropriate] text from the content of the web page. A description of around 20 words is recommended. This metadata entry is omitted from web pages if this entry is blank.
  2. Site Meta Keywords. Words and phrases [separated by commas] added here appear in web page headers as the “keywords” metadata entry. Search engines may use these words to refine their indexing of the site's web pages. This metadata entry is omitted from web pages if this entry is blank.
  3. Content Rights. [Only present in Joomla v1.6.x and later.] Text added here appears in web page headers as the “rights” metadata entry. If appropriate, describe here what rights others have to use this content. This metadata entry is omitted from web pages if this entry is blank.
  4. Show Author Meta Tag. When this parameter is set to “Yes” an “author” metadata entry is added to the page header when appropriate, using the content item's author name as the metadata text.
SEO Settings Group

SEO is an abbreviation of "Search Engine Optimization". Settings in this group alter the format of URLs for pages in the web site, and this may have a significant effect of the search rankings of individual pages, as well as making URLs more human-friendly.

Tip: after making any changes to the settings in this group, refresh any of the web site's pages already open in your web browser [usually Ctrl+R will do this]. Failure to so this will likely mean that the format of web links internal to the site no longer match that which Joomla is expecting and thus give the appearance of broken links.

Tip: Avoid if at all possible altering the SEO Settings once a web site is established. Changing any of the first three items below will mean that nearly all of a site's URLs will also change and result in broken links from other sites and perhaps a temporary drop in search engine rankings.

  1. Search Engine Friendly URLs. Joomla's internal representation of URLs tends to be lengthy and also difficult to interpret by humans and search engine spiders. This is a typical example of the internal URL for a page displaying a content item: www.example.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=22&Itemid=437. If this Global Configuration option is set to “yes”, the URL is modified into a shorter and more meaningful form: www.example.com/index.php/getting-started. The identifying text in the URL [in this case “getting_started”] is derived from the Alias text set up for each Category, content item, and Menu item. The default setting is “No”.
  2. Use Apache mod_rewrite. When this parameter is set to “Yes“, Joomla will use the mod_rewrite function of Apache web servers to eliminate the index.php part of the URL. Thus, when this is operating the “search engine friendly” URL shown above will become: www.example.com/getting-started.

    Note

    This parameter is set to “No” by default. It should not be set to “Yes” unless the web server uses Apache software and has been set up so that mod_rewrite is installed and will work with your web site [see here for how to check]. Also, for this function to work, the htaccess.txt file installed in the root directory of the web site [or preferably a copy of it] should be renamed to .htaccess. As an incorrectly configured .htaccess file can easily cause major server errors, please do not modify the .htaccess file unless you understand how it works.

  3. Adds Suffix to URL. When set to “Yes”, Joomla will add .html to the end of the most site URLs thus simulating static file-based web content. The URLs shown above will then become: www.example.com/index.php/getting-started.html or www.example.com/getting-started.html. This setting is largely down to personal preference, but bearing in mind that it is easy to confuse .htm and .html suffixes when typing URLs, the advantage may lie with having this feature switched off. The default setting is “No”.
  4. Unicode aliases. [Only present in Joomla v1.6.x and later.] Choose between “Transliteration” [No] and “Unicode” [Yes] aliases. When saving edited content, the former setting attempts to convert, where appropriate, any alias text into the corresponding Latin characters. The latter setting leaves any non-Latin characters in the alias text unchanged. Changing this parameter does not retroactively change aliases, it just changes the behaviour of automatic alias generation for future content editing and creation. “Transliteration” [No] is the default setting.
  5. Add Site Name To Page Titles. [Only present in Joomla v1.6.x and later.] Appends the site name to page titles in the <title> tag of each web page header. [This text usually appears in the top bar of the web browser window and/or on the browser tab.] Joomla v1.6.x introduced this feature as an option to either include the site name text before the page title [e.g. Site Name – Page Name] or omit it. With Joomla v1.7.x the options also include inserting the site name after the page name [e.g. Page Name – Site Name] as well as before.
Cookie Settings Group

Only present in Joomla v1.6.x and later, these settings allow the site cookies to be modified to suit certain circumstances. For the majority of web sites these entries may be left blank. The cookie domain may be useful if you want a cookie be valid for several subdomains. The cookie path would have to be set if the cookie should only be valid for a certain subdirectory.

  1. Cookie Domain. Overrides the site's default cookie domain with the domain added here. The most likely situation when this would be needed is when the Joomla site is “bridged“ with other sites [e.g. forum or e-commerce] in sub-domains of the Joomla site. The default cookie domain may be like www.example.com, but using .example.com [note the leading dot] here will deliver cookies valid for any sub-domain of example.com.
  2. Cookie Path. Overrides the site's default path for which the cookie is valid with the path added here.
The System Tab Options
System Settings Group

  1. Path to Log Folder. The full path to the folder on the server where any logs should be stored by Joomla! or its extensions. This folder location is set up on Joomla installation and should not normally be changed.
  2. Help Server. Select the default source of the information presented when a Help button is clicked. The purpose of this choice is mainly to select the appropriate language variant of the Help service. The choice of Help service may be overridden for individual registered site users.
Debug Settings Group

  1. Debug System. If set to "Yes", Joomla will add debug information on every page, below the normal web page area. This information will include various forms of diagnostic information, including the full database queries used in generating the page. The default setting is "No". The mix and format of diagnostic information presented by the debug function may be altered by editing the parameters of the Debug - System plug-in [Extensions > Plug-in Manager].
Cache Settings Group

  1. Cache This setting controls whether or not site caching is enabled. When enabled, web pages are held for a period of time in cache storage and are retrieved from there rather than being re-created each time required. Caching is a strategy to reduce the loading presented by busy web sites to a web server. The default setting is “No”.
    Tip: When debugging a Joomla site, switch off the cache as it may hide changes to web pages, and thus mask the effect of modifications to web site code.
  2. Cache Handler. This setting defines the mechanism used to manage the cache storage.
  3. Cache Time. This parameter defines the maximum time for which web pages are held in the cache storage before being updated with the current version. The default is 15 minutes.
Session Settings Group

The “session” is the data that identifies and relates to a specific web site user, and which persists as that user moves from page to page.

  1. Session Lifetime. This parameter determines how long it takes until a user is automatically logged off for being inactive. The default setting is 15 minutes, although it can be useful to temporarily lengthen this parameter on development sites to avoid having to repeatedly log back in.
  2. Session Handler. Selects the mechanism used to hold session information between one page request and the next one from the same user. The options are “Database” [the default] and “None”. The former stores session information as entries in a table in the site's Joomla database, the latter uses the session handling mechanism built in to PHP.
The Server Tab Options
Server Settings Group

  1. Path to Temp Folder. This is the full path to the folder on the server that Joomla and its extensions will use for temporary file storage. This folder location is set up on Joomla installation and should not normally be changed.
  2. GZIP Page Compression. If set to “Yes”, the web server will compress the content sent out from your Joomla site. This will speed-up page load times, especially for web site users who have a low-bandwidth connection. The default setting is “No”.
  3. Error Reporting. This parameter sets the level of error reporting to be used by PHP on the Joomla site. It has five options: System Default, None, Simple, Maximum and Development. “System Default” leaves the level of PHP error reporting to that set up in the server [usually in the php.ini file]. “None” switches off PHP error reporting, and “Simple”, “Maximum” and “Development” override the server setting to give a basic level of reporting [for “Simple”] and the reporting of all errors [“Maximum” and “Development”].
    Tip: Should your Joomla site fail to the extent that it is not possible to use the administrator page to activate error reporting, you can switch on full PHP error reporting by editing the configuration.php file. Changing the $error_reporting parameter in that file to a value of 'maximum' is the equivalent to setting Error Reporting to “Maximum”.
  4. Force SSL. This parameter has three options: “None”, “Administrator Only”, and “Entire Site”. Using the appropriate setting, this parameter forces any web browser connections to the administrative “backend”, or to the complete Joomla site, to use the secure HTTP protocol [HTTPS]. The “Entire Site” setting is appropriate where security of any web transaction [e.g. e-commerce] is important. Ideally there should also be an appropriate certificate in place to verify the identity of your web site. The “Administrator Only” setting is ideal for enhancing the security of other types of web site as it encrypts “backend” content and passwords that could be put to malicious use if intercepted.

    Note

    Before moving away from the default setting of “None”, it is essential that you check the server delivering your web site is capable of operating in HTTPS mode.

Location Settings Group

  1. Server Time Zone. Sets the time zone for use across the web site, based on a choice of capital cities. [default is “London”, UTC 00:00] Internally, Joomla stores the date and time of events as UTC. It then uses “Server Time Zone” to set the appropriate offset to display time and date information on the web site in the server's local time zone.

    Note

    Each user also has a time zone parameter that, by default, is the same as the Server Time Zone but which may be changed to reflect the preferred time zone of that user.

FTP Settings Group

A significant problem with running scripted programs – such as Joomla – on Linux and similar servers is that the files and folders making up the program are not owned by the same identity as the one used to execute the web server code. The files and folders making up the web site will usually be put in place on the server by means of FTP, and thus will be owned by the personal log-in identity used for FTP access. In contrast, the web server code will be executed by a generic identity used for automatic processes within the server.

Because of this difference between the FTP upload and web server identities, automatic updates of the web site code [e.g. installing or updating extensions] will be blocked by the security features that prevent one user's files being altered by another user.

One solution to this problem is for Joomla to use FTP when installing or deleting files, and if this is used it is essential that the FTP log-on credentials are the same as those used when installing the Joomla web site.

The FTP option is generally only needed on shared servers using Linux and Unix-like operating systems. The problem does not arise with other operating systems, and on dedicated servers there is the alternative option of changing the ownership and/or permissions of the web site files so that they may be modified by the web server processes.

FTP is also not necessary when the Joomla site has been set up to operate under CGI or FastCGI as the web server process then generally operates under the same identity as the one used for FTP access.

  1. Enable FTP. Setting this to “Yes” will force Joomla to use FTP when adding, deleting, or updating web site files. This is in place of the PHP functions which would normally be used to do this. The default setting is “No”, and should not be changed unless FTP upload is necessary [see the detail above].
  2. FTP Host. The URL to be used for FTP access to the Joomla web site files.
  3. FTP Port. Generally “21”. You will be advised by your web hosting provider if a different port number needs to be used for FTP access to your site files.
  4. FTP Username. The user identity that Joomla will use for FTP access. This must be the same identity as used in setting up the web site.
  5. FTP Password. The password for the above user identity.
  6. FTP Root. This is the path from the FTP log-in location to the folder that holds the Joomla site.
Database Settings Group

These parameters identify the database location, the database and tables within that database that hold configuration and content information for your web site. It also includes the username required for accessing the database contents, but not the password associated with that username. Should you need to change the database password, edit the line defining the value of $password in the file configuration.php, which you will find in the Joomla root.

  1. Database Type. This determines the type of the database being used by this Joomla installation and also the type of interface used to access the database. Current versions of Joomla can operate on MySQL, MSSQL and PostgreSQL. For MySQL there are two choices:“MySQL” and “MySQLi”. These are two different PHP interfaces to MySQL databases. The latter should be used if possible as it should work with all modern implementations of MySQL server, and offers a number of advantages over the MySQL interface.[1] For MSSQL also two choices: "MS SQL Server" and "MS SQL Azure".
  2. Host [Hostname in v1.5,x]. The hostname of the database server to be used. In most web hosting situations, the database server is located in the same system as the web server and this parameter should then be set to “localhost”. Otherwise this setting should be the server name or IP address [e.g. “mysql.example.com”].
  3. Database Username [Username in v1.5.x]. The username required to access the database carrying the Joomla site's data tables.
  4. Database Name [Database in v1.5.x]. The name of the database carrying the Joomla site's data tables.
  5. Database Table Prefix. The prefix applied to the name of the database tables used by this Joomla installation. For Joomla v1.5.x and v1.6.x this is “jos_” by default, and should another Joomla site have to share the same database, the database tables would be kept separate by setting up this second site with a different prefix – e.g. “jos2_”. With Joomla v1.7.x the same result is achieved by using a prefix that is a randomly generated alphabetic code and underscore – e.g. “vduea_”.
Mail Settings Group

This group is used to set up the sending of automatically generated emails from the Joomla! web site.

  1. Mailer. This sets the mechanism to be used when sending automatically generated emails. The choice is between “PHP Mail” [the PHP mail[] function], “Sendmail” [an email handling program available in many web servers], or “SMTP” [a separate email delivery server similar to those used by most email clients]. The default setting is “PHP Mailer”.
  2. From email [Mail from in v1.5.x]. The email address to be used as “from” address in any outgoing emails generated by the Joomla site.
  3. From Name. This defines the “from” name in any outgoing emails generated by the Joomla site.
  4. Disable Mass Mail. Select "Yes" to disable the Mass Mail Users function, select "No" to make it active. Mass Mail allows to send emails to all or to a specific group of registered users.

The remaining Mail Settings parameters need to be set up only if Mailer is set to “SMTP”.

  1. SMTP Authentication. Whether or not the external SMTP server requires authentication before accepting outgoing emails. The default is “No”.
  2. SMTP Security. The form of security required by the SMTP server. – “None”, “SSL” or “TLS”. The default is “None”.
  3. SMTP Port. The IP port to use when connecting to the SMTP server. This will usually be “25” for None, or “465” for SSL or TLS.
  4. SMTP Username. The username to be used when connecting to the SMTP server in SSL or TLS mode. May be left blank if there is no SMTP authentication.
  5. SMTP Password. The password to be used when connecting to the SMTP server in SSL or TLS mode. May be left blank if there is no SMTP authentication.
  6. SMTP Host. The hostname of the SMTP server [e.g. “smtp.example.com”].
The Permissions Tab Options

This tab is only present in Joomla v1.6.x and later as it reflects the enhanced flexibility of access control introduced with v1.6. It provides the means to set up the default permissions for all of the groups of users in terms their ability to edit site content and other settings of the site, and to access administrative functions.

Categories

This is the section where you start to create your actual website content. There are two steps to creating most new content in Joomla. First you create one or more Categories, which is described in this section, and then you create Articles which we will discuss in the next section.

Joomla provides a very flexible method of categorizing and storing content. The storage system can be compared somewhat to folders and the files that go inside. With Joomla you are creating Categories that act like folders to store the Articles that you create, which are like the files in this analogy. You can also nest Categories in Joomla just like you can nest folders on your computer. Be careful not to create an overly complicated Category structure however. Keep things simple where you can.

Creating New Categories

The first step to creating new content should be the creation of at least one Category.

  1. NAVIGATE to the Content menu and then Categories.
  2. CLICK New button.
  3. ENTER a Title for the new Category.
  4. SELECT a Parent Category if necessary.
  5. CLICK Save & Close.
Editing Categories

If you need to edit existing Categories, you follow a similar workflow to creating them.

  1. NAVIGATE to the Content menu and then Categories.
  2. CLICK the title of the Category that you wish to edit.
  3. ENTER a Title for the new Category.
  4. CLICK Save & Close.

Articles

In this section you will learn the second part to creating primary content - creating Joomla Articles. You will also learn to search for and filter Articles in the Joomla Administrator.

Creating Articles

Begin by loging in to the Joomla Administrator as previously shown.

  1. NAVIGATE to the Content menu and then Articles.
  2. CLICK New button.
  3. ENTER a Title for the new Article..
  4. SELECT a Category at the right of the page.
  5. ENTER your content into the main window of the editor.
  6. Advise

    Use Toggle Editor to ease the editing process. But first you need to activate it. In order to do this navigate to System > Global Configuration.

    Next you need to choose"Editor - TineMCE" in Default Editot dropdown list.

    After enablind the editor, the Toggle Editor button will appear on the editing window interface. Press the button to use the editor.

    Press the button again to disable the Toggle Editor.

  7. FORMAT your content - this step is optional and will be covered in later sections.
  8. CLICK Save & Close.
Search and Filter

You can control how many Articles are shown in the list by selecting a number from the Display dropdown in the top right of the page as shown. By default, 20 Articles are shown.

As your site grows and you have more Articles to manage, you will need to utilize some of the other filtering features provided by Joomla. At the top of the Article Manager page is a Search box. You can search through all of the Articles by entering Titles or even parts of Titles in the box. Clear the box by clicking the Clear button when you are done filtering.

There are also various other filtering options, and these can be shown or hidden by clicking the Search Tools button as shown below. Once they are visible, you can select several options such as the Status of an Article, the Author of an Article or the Category that the Article is stored in etc.

Modules

Understanding Modules

As you've learned in previous sections, website content can be broken up into two parts: primary content and secondary content. You learned how to create primary content in the Articles section and how to link to that content in the Menus one. Other content on the page, such as navigation menus, newsletter signup forms or footer text is secondary content. In Joomla, this secondary content is normally controlled through Modules. Modules are one of the five types of Joomla Extensions. The other types are more fully explained in next sections.

Creating a New Module

Using the simple instructions, you should be able to create almost any module type available to you. Here is a recap of the general steps to creating a new Module:

  1. NAVIGATE to the Extensions menu and then Modules.
  2. CLICK New button.
  3. CHOOSE the Module type from the list box.
  4. ENTER a Title for the new Module.
  5. SELECT a Template Position to display the new Module.
  6. ENTER any other applicable settings or content for the Module.
  7. SAVE the Module and CHECK the frontend by refreshing your browser.
Assigning Modules to Menu Items

Modules can be set to display on all pages throughout the site, or just pages that you specify. First, as always, sign in to the Administrator.

  1. NAVIGATE to the Extensions menu and then Modules.
  2. CLICK the Title of the Module you wish to work with.
  3. CLICK the Menu Assignment tab.
  4. SELECT Only on the pages selected from the Module Assignment dropdown.
  5. CLICK the None link next to Select at the top of the Menu Selection screen in order to clear the pages that will be displayed. This will cause the Module to not be displayed on any pages, but it will also make selecting the page or pages where you want to display the Module easier to manage.
  6. CLICK the plus sign next to Main Menu in order to view the options under that Menu.
  7. SELECT the Menu Item "pages" that you would like your Module to display on.
  8. CLICK the plus sign next to Main Menu in order to view the options under that Menu.
  9. CLICK Save & Close and CHECK the frontend to ensure that your Module is displaying properly.
Module Order

The last issue that we will consider in this section is the ordering of Modules on the page. We can change the order that Modules display by setting the Ordering column in the Module Manager. We will go through the required steps to change the ordering. As always, begin by signing in to Administrator.

  1. NAVIGATE to the Extensions menu and then Modules.
  2. FILTER the Modules by Position with the Select Position dropdown.We're working with the mainbottom-2.
  3. GRAB the ordering icon to the left of the Module that you would like to reorder and drag it to the new location in the list.
  4. CHECK the frontend of your site to ensure that the Module has been reordered.

Configuring modules

Joomla website layout is divided into two main parts - content section and module positions [check the module positions map below for more details]. Modules in Joomla are used to output content into prepared positions.
Module positions map

Available module positions can vary accotding to the template. The general module positions map can be found below:

As you can see, the content area is marked with a green color, since you cannot display modules in this area by default. It displays only the page content.

If no modules are assigned to the position the one is disabled:

Modules Configuration Table

Please note: If you installed the template sample data or used the Complete installation method, you can skip the following step as it is related to manual modules configuration.

The table below lists all the modules used and shows the settings parameters of ones in the current template. All the modules can be accessed through Joomla admin panel from the Extensions > Modules tab:

Module Name
Settings
1 - Follow us
  • Type: mod_menu
  • Position: copyright-top
  • Class Suffix: copyright-social
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 3
  • Pages: -Home Landing Page
2 - Search
  • Type: mod_search
  • Position: 404-search
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: All 
3 - Contact form
  • Type: mod_tm_ajax_contact_form
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: Contacts
4 - Detailed
  • Type: mod_articles_news_adv
  • Position: content-bottom
  • Class Suffix: pricing_detailed
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 15
  • Pages:Pricing
5 - Our Latest Works
  • Type: mod_articles_news_adv
  • Class Suffix: works
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 1
  • Pages:Home
6 - Simple
  • Type: mod_articles_news_adv
  • Position: content-bottom
  • Class Suffix: pricing_simple
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 23
  • Pages: Pricing
7 - Main menu
  • Type: mod_icemegamenu
  • Position: top
  • Class Suffix: home_menu
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: -Home Landing Page
    -Shop
8 - latest from the blog
  • Type: mod_articles_news_adv
  • Position: mainbottom-5
  • Class Suffix: blog
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: Home
9 - Contact map
  • Type: mod_custom
  • Position: map
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: Contacts  
10 - Counters
  • Type: mod_articles_news_adv
  • Position: content-bottom
  • Class Suffix: counters
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 21
  • Pages: Elements
11 - Progress Bars Vertical
  • Type: mod_articles_news_adv
  • Position: content-bottom
  • Class Suffix: progbars_circle
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 20
  • Pages: Elements
12 - Accordion 1
  • Type: mod_bootstrap_collapse
  • Position: content-bottom
  • Class Suffix: custom
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 5
  • Pages: Elements
13 - Testimonials
  • Type: mod_articles_news_adv
  • Position: content-bottom
  • Class Suffix: testimonials_2
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 16
  • Pages: Testimonials
14 - Our team
  • Type: mod_articles_news_adv
  • Position: mainbottom-4
  • Class Suffix: team_about center
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: About
15 - Categories
  • Type: mod_articles_categories
  • Position: megamenu
  • Class Suffix: no_padding
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: All
16 - What we offer
  • Type: mod_menu
  • Position: megamenu
  • Class Suffix: list1
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 2
  • Pages: All
17 - Careers accordion
  • Type: mod_bootstrap_collapse
  • Position: careers-accordion-1
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: All
18 - Apply now
  • Type: mod_tm_ajax_contact_form
  • Position: aside-right
  • Class Suffix: careers_form
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: Careers
19 - Requirements
  • Type: mod_menu
  • Position: careers-accordion-requirements
  • Class Suffix: requirements
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: All
20 - What we Expect from you?
  • Type: mod_menu
  • Position: careers-accordion-expect
  • Class Suffix: expect
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: All
21 - Careers accordion
  • Type: mod_bootstrap_collapse
  • Position: careers-accordion-2
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: All
22 - Careers accordion
  • Type: mod_bootstrap_collapse
  • Position: careers-accordion-3
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: All
23 - Careers accordion
  • Type: mod_bootstrap_collapse
  • Position: careers-accordion-4
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: All
24 - Pages
  • Type: mod_menu
  • Position: content-bottom
  • Class Suffix: site_map
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 10
  • Pages: Site map
25 - Blog posts
  • Type: mod_articles_category
  • Position: content-bottom
  • Class Suffix: site_map
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 12
  • Pages: Site map
26 - Portfolio posts
  • Type: mod_articles_category
  • Position: content-bottom
  • Class Suffix: site_map
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 14
  • Pages: Site map
27 - User menu
  • Type: mod_menu
  • Position: content-bottom
  • Class Suffix: site_map
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 13
  • Pages: Site map
28 - Breadcrumbs
  • Type: mod_breadcrumbs
  • Position: breadcrumbs
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: -Home Landing Page
    -Shop
    -Home
29 - Our team
  • Type: mod_articles_news_adv
  • Position: content-bottom
  • Class Suffix: team_about center
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 11
  • Pages: Our team
30 - Frequently Asked Questions Type 1
  • Type: mod_bootstrap_collapse
  • Position: content-bottom
  • Class Suffix: custom faqs_block1
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 9
  • Pages: FAQs
31 - What we do
  • Type: mod_menu
  • Position: megamenu
  • Class Suffix: list1
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: All
32 - About
  • Type: mod_articles_single
  • Position: megamenu
  • Class Suffix: menu_about
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: All
33 - Packages
  • Type: mod_articles_news_adv
  • Position: megamenu
  • Class Suffix: pricing pricing_simple
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: All
34 - TM Ajax Style Switcher
  • Type: mod_tm_style_switcher
  • Position: fixed-sidebar-left
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: All
35 - Olark
  • Type: mod_tm_olark_chat
  • Position: fixed-sidebar-right
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: All
36 - Newsletter
  • Type: mod_acymailing
  • Position: copyright-top
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 2
  • Pages: -Home Landing Page
37 - Tabs
  • Type: mod_bootstraptabs
  • Position: content-bottom
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 2
  • Pages: Elements
38 - Accordion 2
  • Type: mod_bootstrap_collapse
  • Position: content-bottom
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 4
  • Pages: Elements
39 - Progress Bars Horizontal
  • Type: mod_articles_news_adv
  • Position: content-bottom
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 19
  • Pages: Elements
40 - Table
  • Type: mod_articles_single
  • Position: content-bottom
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 6
  • Pages: Elements
41 - Pricing
  • Type: mod_articles_news_adv
  • Position: content-bottom
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 7
  • Pages: Elements
42 - Simple
  • Type: mod_articles_news_adv
  • Position: content-bottom
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 8
  • Pages: Elements
43 - Accordions and Toggles
  • Type: mod_custom
  • Position: content-bottom
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 3
  • Pages: Elements
44 - Progress Bars
  • Type: mod_custom
  • Position: content-bottom
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 17
  • Pages: Elements
45 - Menu search
  • Type: mod_finder
  • Position: megamenu
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 0
  • Pages: All
46 - Menu search
  • Type: mod_search
  • Position: megamenu
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: All
47 - Login or register
  • Type: mod_socialloginandsocialshare
  • Position: megamenu
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: All
48 - Login or register
  • Type: mod_socialloginandsocialshare
  • Position: modal
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: All
49 - Skills
  • Type: mod_articles_news_adv
  • Position: content-bottom
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 18
  • Pages: Our team
50 - Home youtube
  • Type: mod_tm_bg_youtube
  • Position: maintop
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 2
  • Pages: Home
51 - Home slider
  • Type: mod_swiper
  • Position: header
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: Home
52 - let's get started
  • Type: mod_articles_single
  • Position: copyright-top
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: -Home Landing Page
    -Shop
53 - Home parallax
  • Type: mod_tm_parallax
  • Position: showcase
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: Home
54 - Home parallax article
  • Type: mod_articles_single
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: Home
55 - What we offer
  • Type: mod_articles_news_adv
  • Position: navigation
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: Home
56 - twitter Timeline
  • Type: mod_sw_twitterdisplay
  • Position: mainbottom-2
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 3
  • Pages: Contacts
57 - Facebook Box
  • Type: mod_tm_facebook_page_plugin
  • Position: mainbottom-2
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 4
  • Pages: Contacts
58 - Pinterest Profile Widget
  • Type: mod_sw_pinterestdisplay
  • Position: mainbottom-2
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 5
  • Pages: Contacts
59 - Contact parallax
  • Type: mod_tm_parallax
  • Position: mainbottom
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: Contacts
60 - What We Do - Top
  • Type: mod_articles_single
  • Position: maintop
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: Home
61 - What We Do - Bottom
  • Type: mod_articles_news_adv
  • Position: maintop
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 3
  • Pages: Home
62 - How we work
  • Type: mod_articles_single
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: Home
63 - Home parallax 2
  • Type: mod_tm_parallax
  • Position: mainbottom
  • Class Suffix:
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: Home
64 - Flexible Pricing
  • Type: mod_articles_single
  • Position: mainbottom-2
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: Home
65 - testimonials
  • Type: mod_owl_carousel
  • Position: mainbottom-3
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 6
  • Pages: Home
66 - Get to know us better
  • Type: mod_articles_single
  • Position: showcase
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: About
67 - About parallax
  • Type: mod_tm_parallax
  • Position: mainbottom
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: About
68 - About counters
  • Type: mod_articles_news_adv
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: About
69 - Template Features
  • Type: mod_articles_single
  • Position: mainbottom-2
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: About
70 - how we work
  • Type: mod_bootstrap_collapse
  • Position: mainbottom-2
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: About
71 - our history
  • Type: mod_articles_single
  • Position: mainbottom-3
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 7
  • Pages: About
72 - Latest news
  • Type: mod_articles_news_adv
  • Position: mainbottom-5
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: About
73 - VM - Currencies Selector
  • Type: mod_virtuemart_currencies
  • Position: position-4
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 5
  • Pages: All
74 - VM - Featured products
  • Type: mod_virtuemart_product
  • Position: position-4
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 3
  • Pages: All
75 - VM - Search in Shop
  • Type: mod_virtuemart_search
  • Position: position-4
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 2
  • Pages: All
76 - VM - Manufacturer
  • Type: mod_virtuemart_manufacturer
  • Position: position-4
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 8
  • Pages: All
77 - VM - Shopping cart
  • Type: mod_virtuemart_cart
  • Position: position-4
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 0
  • Pages: All
78 - VM - Category
  • Type: mod_virtuemart_category
  • Position: position-4
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 4
  • Pages: All
79 - Cart
  • Type: mod_virtuemart_cart_tm
  • Position: top
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: Shop
80 - Search
  • Type: mod_search
  • Position: aside-right
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 2
  • Pages: Blog Sidebar
    Blog single Version 2
81 - Currency
  • Type: mod_virtuemart_currencies
  • Position: sup-top
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 5
  • Pages: Shop
82 - Wish list
  • Type: mod_menu
  • Position: sup-top
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 4
  • Pages: Shop
83 - Categories
  • Type: mod_articles_categories
  • Position: aside-right
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 3
  • Pages: Blog Sidebar
    Blog single Version 2
84 - Popular tags
  • Type: mod_tags_popular
  • Position: aside-right
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 6
  • Pages: Blog Sidebar
    Blog single Version 2
    Blog single Two sidebars
85 - Recent post
  • Type: mod_articles_news_adv
  • Position: aside-right
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 5
  • Pages: Blog Sidebar
    Blog single Version 2
    Blog single Two sidebars
86 - User menu
  • Type: mod_menu
  • Position: sup-top
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 3
  • Pages: Shop
87 - Shop top phone
  • Type: mod_menu
  • Position: sup-top
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 2
  • Pages: Shop
88 - Landing top subscribe
  • Type: mod_acymailing
  • Position: header
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: Home Landing Page
89 - Feature-rich landing page template designed
  • Type: mod_articles_news_adv
  • Position: showcase
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: Home Landing Page
90 - Landing feature
  • Type: mod_articles_single
  • Position: feature
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: Home Landing Page
91 - Description with video
  • Type: mod_tm_bg_youtube
  • Position: mainbottom
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: Home Landing Page
92 - Get to know more about business
  • Type: mod_articles_news_adv
  • Position: mainbottom-2
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: Home Landing Page
93 - Asked questions
  • Type: mod_bootstrap_collapse
  • Position: mainbottom-3
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: Home Landing Page
94 - Asked questions 2
  • Type: mod_bootstrap_collapse
  • Position: mainbottom-3
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 4
  • Pages: Home Landing Page
95 - Landing pricing
  • Type: mod_articles_news_adv
  • Position: mainbottom-4
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 2
  • Pages: Home Landing Page
96 - Landing contact form
  • Type: mod_tm_parallax
  • Position: mainbottom-5
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: Home Landing Page
97 - Contact info
  • Type: mod_custom
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: Home Landing Page
98 - Contact form
  • Type: mod_tm_ajax_contact_form
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: Home Landing Page
99 - Landing contact address
  • Type: mod_menu
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: Home Landing Page
100 - Landing contact phones
  • Type: mod_menu
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 0
  • Pages: Home Landing Page
101 - Landing contact email
  • Type: mod_menu
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 0
  • Pages: All
102 - Landing contact social
  • Type: mod_menu
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: Home Landing Page
103 - Shop slider
  • Type: mod_swiper
  • Position: header
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: Shop
104 - Search
  • Type: mod_virtuemart_search
  • Position: top
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 2
  • Pages: Shop
105 - Shop Main menu
  • Type: mod_icemegamenu
  • Position: top
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: Shop
106 - Best Sellers
  • Type: mod_virtuemart_product_tm
  • Position: mainbottom-2
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: Shop
107 - Shop top articles
  • Type: mod_articles_news_adv
  • Position: mainbottom
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: Shop
108 - Shop list
  • Type: mod_articles_single
  • Position: mainbottom-3
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 5
  • Pages: Shop
109 - Shop bottom article
  • Type: mod_articles_single
  • Position: mainbottom-3
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 2
  • Pages: Shop
110 - Shop bottom articles
  • Type: mod_articles_news_adv
  • Position: mainbottom-4
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 3
  • Pages: Shop
111 - My account
  • Type: mod_menu
  • Position: copyright-top
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: Shop
112 - Our services
  • Type: mod_articles_news_adv
  • Position: showcase
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: Services
113 - Featured service package
  • Type: mod_articles_news_adv
  • Position: feature
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: Services
114 - Solutions
  • Type: mod_articles_news_adv
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: Services
115 - Services parallax
  • Type: mod_tm_parallax
  • Position: mainbottom
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: Services
116 - How we work
  • Type: mod_articles_news_adv
  • Position: mainbottom-2
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: Services
117 - Work process
  • Type: mod_articles_news_adv
  • Position: mainbottom
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: Process
118 - Work process
  • Type: mod_articles_news_adv
  • Position: mainbottom-3
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: Process
119 - How we work
  • Type: mod_articles_single
  • Position: mainbottom-4
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 4
  • Pages: Process
120 - Support 24/7 page
  • Type: mod_articles_news_adv
  • Position: feature
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: Support
121 - Middle block
  • Type: mod_articles_news_adv
  • Position: mainbottom
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: Support
122 - Contact info 1
  • Type: mod_menu
  • Position: mainbottom-4
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 6
  • Pages: Support
123 - Multimedia
  • Type: mod_virtuemart_category
  • Position: megamenu
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: All
124 - Contact info 2
  • Type: mod_menu
  • Position: mainbottom-4
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 7
  • Pages: Support
125 - Contact info 3
  • Type: mod_menu
  • Position: mainbottom-4
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 8
  • Pages: Support
126 - Contact us
  • Type: mod_custom
  • Position: mainbottom-4
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 5
  • Pages: Support
127 - Electronic Components
  • Type: mod_virtuemart_category
  • Position: megamenu
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: All
128 - Computing & home office
  • Type: mod_virtuemart_category
  • Position: megamenu
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: All
129 - Shop banner
  • Type: mod_banners
  • Position: megamenu
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: All
130 - Page Loader
  • Type: mod_custom
  • Position: page-loader
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: All
131 - Search
  • Type: mod_search
  • Position: aside-left
  • Show Title: no
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: Blog single Two sidebars
132 - Categories
  • Type: mod_articles_categories
  • Position: aside-left
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: Blog single Two sidebars
133 - Frequently Asked Questions Type 2
  • Type: mod_bootstrap_collapse
  • Position: mainbottom-2
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: FAQs
134 - Frequently Asked Questions Type 3
  • Type: mod_articles_news_adv
  • Position: mainbottom-3
  • Show Title: yes
  • Order: 1
  • Pages: FAQs

Images

The Joomla Media Manager is used to add images to Articles and Modules, and can be accessed in different ways. In this section we will go over how to add images to your content and how to upload them through the Media Manager.

Adding Images to an Article or Module

After deciding where to place your image and adjusting it for file size and pixel size, follow these steps to include your image in your content. Make sure you are signed in to Administrator.

  1. NAVIGATE to the Content menu and then Articles.
  2. FIND the Article previously created by searching its Title in Article Manager.
  3. CLICK the Article's title to edit it and POSITION your cursor on an empty line, which may require you to enter a new line.
  4. CLICK the Image button.
  5. CLICK the Browse button and navigate to an image on your computer to upload to your website.
  6. CLICK the Start Upload button once you have selected your image to upload.
  7. CLICK the newly uploaded image in the directory window and notice that its filename is added to the Image URL field.
  8. CLICK the Insert button.
  9. CLICK Save & Close after checking your Article's content to make sure the image was placed correctly.
  10. CHECK the frontend of your website to ensure that your Article is displaying properly.
To add an image alongside, follow these steps. We will use the already uploaded image and begin from the Article editing step.
  1. POSITION your cursor directly to the left of your text.
  2. CLICK the Image button.
  3. FOLLOW the same steps to select an image for your Article, but this time set Image Float to Left, Right or Center.
  4. CLICK the Insert button.
  5. CLICK Save & Close after checking your Article's content to make sure the image was placed correctly.
  6. CHECK the frontend of your website to ensure that your Article is displaying properly.
Media Manager

Joomla's Media Manager enables you to upload, store and delete images and other media files in a similar way to using an FTP program. If you are more used to using FTP, continue to use that, but you should also understand how the Media Manager works.

  1. NAVIGATE to the Content menu and then Media.
Navigation and Folder Management

To move between folders, you can utilize the left sidebar folder tree in much the same way you do on a home computer. You can also click the icons for the folders in the center of the page.

The icon with the up arrow will take you to the folder directly above your current location.

The Create New Folder button allows you to create a new folder based on your current location. You can see the folder path just above the folder icons in the middle of the page.

Clicking the checkbox next to a file and then clicking the Delete button will remove those files from the server. This action will work as well with folders; however, the folder must be empty before it is deleted. You can remove multiple files or empty folders at once using this method. The X in the top right of the file or folder icon can be used to delete one at a time.

File Uploads

The Media Manager also allows single and multiple file uploads. Clicking the green Upload button will toggle the Browse and Start Upload buttons that enable you to navigate your computer files to select single or multiple files for direct upload to your server. As with folder creation, file uploads are dependent upon your current location, so make sure you are in the folder where you want to place your images on upload. Once your files have been selected through the Browse button, simply click Start Upload to begin the upload process.

Templates

One great aspect of Joomla is that there is a wide range of Templates available, and if you are a designer or developer, you can create your own. It's also very possible to find someone to create one for you since Joomla uses widely accepted technologies in its construction.

The Template Manager

Joomla Templates are technically a type of Extension, and they are managed in the Template Manager in Administrator underneath the Extensions Menu.

You can manage a specific Template by clicking on its name in the list. You can also set the Default template, or the Template that Joomla will use for displaying your site, by clicking the star icon in the Default column. The current Default Template is shown with a gold star.

Finding Templates

There are hundreds of off the shelf Templates available for Joomla. A google search for Joomla 3 Template will provide many results, and you can also find a list of our recommended Templates in the Joomla Templates section of our website.

www.templatemonster.com

Extensions

Joomla provides all the functionality you need for a simple site, but if you require some specific functionality you can often find what you need with an Extension from a third party developer.

The Five Types of Extensions

Components

You can think of Components as applications. These often provide complex functionality. Examples of Components include image galleries, online shopping carts and membership sites. These are often quite complex and require that you carefully read the supplied documentation.

Examples: Content [com_content], Banners [com_banners], Contacts [com_contact], News Feeds [com_newsfeeds] and Web Links [com_weblinks].

Management feature: Admin head menu > Components > Contacts for com_contact.

Modules

We have already explored the Modules. As you know, they are managed through the Module Manager and provide a way to manage and display secondary content on your website. Examples of Modules are navigation menus, search boxes and registration forms.

Examples: Banners [mod_banners], Menus [mod_menu], Who's Online [mod_whosonline].

Management feature: Admin head menu > Extensions > Modules.

Plugins

As their name suggests, Plugins add content or functionality to a page or content item. Some Plugins work in the background of a page and can add additional code, such as Google Analytics tracking. Other Plugins may be activated within a specific type of Article or Module, for instance to provide commenting to an Article.

Examples: Content - Load Modules, Editor - TinyMCE.

Management feature: Admin head menu > Extensions > Plugins.

Templates

You are also already familiar with Templates, which provide different layouts for a website and are managed through the Template Manager.

Management feature: Admin head menu > Extensions > Templates.

Languages

There are two considerations when it comes to multilingual Joomla websites. The first is the default text that Joomla outputs in various places. The Language Manager page in Administrator allows you to install language packs and change the default language of the site. The second consideration for multilingual sites is creating versions of each content item for each required language and setting the site up to allow visitors to display their desired language.

Management feature: Admin head menu > Extensions > Language[s].