Joomla 1.

5: Users Guide
1.0 Introduction

What is Joomla?
Joomla is an award-winning content management system (CMS), which enables you to
build Web sites and powerful online applications. Many aspects, including its ease-of-use
and extensibility, have made Joomla the most popular Web site software available. Best
of all, Joomla is an open source solution that is freely available to everyone.

What's a content management system (CMS)?

A content management system is software that keeps track of every piece of content on
your Web site, much like your local public library keeps track of books and stores them.
Content can be 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. Since the CMS manages all your content, you don't have
to.

I need to build a site for a client. How will Joomla! help me?
Joomla is designed to be easy to install and set up even if you're not an advanced user.
Many Web hosting services offer a single-click install, getting your new site up and
running in just a few minutes.

Since Joomla is so easy to use, as a Web designer or developer, you can quickly build
sites for your clients. Then, with a minimal amount of instruction, you can empower your
clients to easily manage their own sites themselves.

If your clients need specialized functionality, Joomla is highly extensible and thousands
of extensions (most for free under the GPL license) are available in the Joomla
Extensions Directory.

Joomla! seems the right solution for me. How do I get started?
Joomla is free, open, and available to anyone under the GPL license. Read Getting
Started with Joomla to find out the basics then try out our online demo and you'll quickly
discover how simple Joomla is.
2.0 XAMPP Setup

In order to set up Joomla, you first need to have a server installed on which Joomla can
run. The easiest way to set up a server on your own computer is to use XAMPP.
1. Download the XAMPP installer for your version of Windows from the XAMPP
website: http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html.
2. After downloading XAMPP, run the setup and follow the given instructions.
Installing Apache and MySQL as services is recommended:

3. Once you have completed the installation, make sure that the installation was
successful by visiting http://localhost/. If you have been successful, you should see
the following screen:
3.1 Joomla Setup

Now that you are done setting up the server, it is time to download and unzip Joomla!.
1. First, we need to make a folder for Joomla. Open the folder that you installed
XAMPP into – usually C:\XAMPP. =>
Open up the folder “htdocs:” =>
Create a new folder in “htdocs” titled “site1.”

2. Go to http:// www.joomla.org , and download the latest copy of Joomla 1.5.15 Full
Package and 1.5.14 to 1.5.15 Upgrade Package ZIP files from the net.

3. After completing the download, copy the both zip file into the “site1” directory that
we created. Extract the 1.5.15 Full Package ZIP file then extract 1.5.14 to 1.5.15
Upgrade Package ZIP file.=>
Confirm file replace, click “Yes to All”
4.0 Joomla installation

1. First, Make sure your Apache and Mysql is turn on and running, then go to
http://localhost/site1.

2. Select your language English(US) and click Next.

3. Make sure that the Pre-installation check everything ok, click Next.
4. Read over the license and click Next.

5. On the “Database Configuration” page, enter the following details.

6. Then go to http://localhost/xampp/ , you will see this page. Click phpMyAdmin.

7. This screen will appear and click privileges.

8. Click Add a new User to make a new database for your own.

9. Type the Username, choose localhost, select No Password, click the radio button
Create database with same and grant all privileges and click Check All then Go.

sw
10. Now the username is web and the database also the same. It was listed at the
phpMyAdmin coloum.

11. Back to Jommla of the “Database Configuration” page, fulfill the Username and
Database Name with web, then click Next.

12. Choose No for Enable FTP file system layer and click Next.
13. Enter the site name, then the e-mail address and admin password of your choice.

14. No sample data or other data installed. Click OK. Finish.

15. Go to C drive>xampp>htdocs>site1>and delete the “installation” folder.

5.0 Joomla Content
5.1 Sections, Categories, and Articles

One of the most important parts of a website is the content. Now that we have a blank site
setup, let us get some articles on the site! Articles are sorted in two ways: sections and
categories. Sections can contain numerous categories, and categories can contain
numerous articles.
1. Go to http://localhost/site1/administrator and log in with the username “admin” and
the password you specified during the installation.
2. To begin managing sections, click on section manager.

3. Click on “New” on the Joomla! toolbar. Insert a title and description for the section
and then press “Save” on the toolbar.

4. Create as many sections as you need. Use sections to group generally similar items
together into groups.
For our landscaping site, add a section for “IT Education”, “Swimming Styles” and a
section for “Music Instrument.”
5. Click on “Content” on the menu and select “Category Manager” when you are done
with sections.

6. Follow the same steps to create categories, assigning each to one of the sections
created above.

7. Use categories for more specific groupings.

For the “IT Education” section, create a category for “Software”, “Hardware” and
“Networking”.
Under “Swimming Styles” section, create a category for “Breaststroke”, “Freestyle”
and “Butterflystroke”.
Under “Music Instrument” section, create a category for “String instruments”, “Wind
instruments” and “Percussion instruments”.
8. Finally, we need to create some articles. Click on “Content,” then “Article Manager”.

9. Select “New” from the toolbar.

This is the article screen. There are a lot of different things you can do here:
-Add a title for the article, and put it into a section and category.
-You have the option to publish or un-publish your article, as well as the choice
whether to display the article on the front page.
-The large box is for the article's contents.
-You can use the “page break” button to divide the article into pages.
-You can use the “read more” to divide the article into the section to display in a
summary view and full view.
-You can use the “image” button to insert an image into your article using the simple
upload form in combination with Joomla!'s media manager.

10. When you are done typing each article, click “Save” to save it and return to the
articlemanager. If you selected “yes” for “FrontPage,” then your article will show up
on the home page.
5.2 Menu
A website will not do you much good unless there is a menu to help users navigate to
different pages. Joomla! has a built-in system for managing menus. This system is built
around the three types of information in Joomla!—components, modules, and plugins. If
Components are the main information in Joomla! and are driven by menus. If you look at
the front page of your site, you can see only the front page articles. The contact
information, web links, news feeds, and articles not published on the front page are not
visible. This is because each page displays one component at a time. Let us add the
components we have already configured to the site:
From the “Menus” menu, select “Main Menu.”
Home
1. From the “Menus” menu, select “Main Menu.”Already on the menu is the default
“Home” link, which provides access to articles to which you have enabled the “Front
Page” option. You can click on “Home” to edit many of its settings including the
name of the home page as well as the number of articles that are displayed.

2. Click on “Home” to configure the home page.

In the “Parameters - Basic” area, there are a number of different options you can
configure:
 “# Leading” is the number of article intros to display on the front page with a
“read more” link to see the entire article. These articles will stretch the entire
width of the news box.
 “# Intro” is the number of article intros to display on the front page with a “read
more” link to see the entire article. These articles will fill only the width of one
column, not the entire page.
 “Columns” is the number of columns in which articles are display.
 “# Links” is the number of articles to display only as links at the bottom of the
page.
In “Parameters – Advanced” make sure that “Show a Feed Link” is enabled. This will
make the front page accessible by an RSS news feed.
In “Parameters – System,” enter a title for the page inside of the “Page Title” field.
This will display in the browser's header as well as in the header for that page in the
document. For this website, enter “Landscape Smart” to replace the “Welcome to the
Frontpage!” text:

3. Click “Save” to finish setting up the home page.

Categories
1. Next, we need to create four links to the “IT Education,” “Swimming Styles,” and
“Music Instrument”categories that we created:
From the “Menus” menu, select “Main Menu.”
Click on “New,” select “Articles” and then “Category Blog Layout.”

2. Under “Parameters – Basic” select one of the three categories we created. Name the
menu item accordingly.
Adjust the settings similarly to the “Home” item and make sure to include a feed link
in “Parameters – Advanced.”
Alphabetical” in “Parameters - Advanced:”
Title the page in “Parameters – System.”
You also may want to change the “Primary Order” to “Title.

3. Click “Save” and check out the site for the results:
Contact Us
1. Next up, we need to add a link to the “Contact Us” page:
Before create the contact us menu, go Components>Contacts>Categories create a
new category with the name “Webmaster”.

2. From the “Menus” menu, select “Main Menu.”

Select “New,” then click “Contacts” followed by “Contact Category Layout:”

3. Name the page “Contact Us” and select “Webmaster” for the category.
There is no need for a news feed from this page, so disable that option.
Under “Parameters – System,” make sure to name the page “Contact Us:”

4. Click “Save” and check out the site for the results:
Web Link
Our next component is “Web Links:”
1. Before create the contact us menu, go Components>Web Links>Categories create a
new category with the name “Landscape Information”.

2. Components>Web Links>Links. Click “New” to create a new link. Create links for
information about landscaping information. Press “Save” to save your link. Add a few
links to the “Landscaping Information” category. Web links are things such as:
 http://www.joomla.org
 http://www.google.com

3. From the “Menus” menu, select “Main Menu.”

Click on “New,” select “Web Links” and then “Category List Layout:”

4. Name the page “Web Links” and select “Landscape Information” for the category.
There is no need for a news feed from this page, so disable that option. Under
“Parameters – System,” make sure to name the page “Web Links:”
5. Click “Save” and check out the site for the results:

Search
1. The last menu item we need to create is the “Search” page:
From the “Menus” menu, select “Main Menu.”
Click on “New,” select “Search” and then “Search:”

2. Name the page “Search.” Under “Parameters – System,” make sure to name the page
“Search:”

3. Click “Save” and check out the site for the results:
5.3 Modules

The next type of content in Joomla is modules. Modules are sections that lie in pre-
defined boxes along each page around the main content. These boxes may be such things
as “left,” “right,” or “footer.” The menu displayed on the front page is one example of a
module. For this website, let us add a few helpful modules:
From the “Extensions” menu, select “Module Manager.”
Syndicate
1. This is the module manager page. From here, you can manage which modules display
on each page. First off, let us add a module to show the RSS feed that we created for
the front page:
From the “Extensions” menu, select “Module Manager.”
Click on “New,” then select “Syndicate” and click “Next:”

2. Type a name for the syndicate box.

Select a position to display your syndicate module in: usually “left” or “right.”
Under menu assignments, choose “All” or “Select Menu Item(s) from the List” in
order to pick the pages on which the syndicate module will be available:

3. Click “Save” and check out the site for the results.
Login
1. From the “Extensions” menu, select “Module Manager.”
Click on “New,” then select “Login” and click “Next.”

2. Configure this module with the name “Login” and choose the “left” position.

3. Click “Save” and check out the site for the results.
Polling
1. From the “Components” menu, select “Polls.”

2. Click on “New,” write a title and options for the section and then press “Save” on the
toolbar.

3. From the “Extensions” menu, select “Module Manager.”

4. Click on “New,” then select “Poll” and click “Next.”

5. Configure this module with the name “Polling” and choose the “left” position at the
bottom of Login. Under menu assignments, choose “Select Menu Item(s) from the
List” and pick Home page. Under parameters, choose the poll “How about the
articles”.

6. Click “Save” and check out the site for the results.
Newsflash
1. For another module, let us add a “Newsflash” module. This module displays a
random article from a specific category. For this demonstration, the “Newsflash”
module will display news from the president:
From the “Extensions” menu, select “Module Manager.”
Click on “New,” then select “Newsflash” and click “Next.”

2. Name the module “Latest News” and choose the “Top” position in order to display
this next to the logo.
Choose any category you like to display.
Make the title linkable so that the reader can view the full article after clicking on the
title and mark “Yes” in “Article Title” to show the title of the article.

3. Click “Save” and check out the site for the results.
Breadcrumbs
1. Let us add one final module, the “Breadcrumbs” module. This module helps users
navigate the site.
From the “Extensions” menu, select “Module Manager.”
Click on “New,” then select “Breadcrumbs” and click “Next.”

2. Name the module “Breadcrumbs” but disable the title in the “Show Title” setting.
Leave the rest of the settings the same.

3. Click “Save” and check out the site for the results. Navigate around to different pages
to see how the breadcrumbs change.
5.4 Template