pls why all the delays

Rizstar: pls why all the delays

I am sorry. I had a hectic week. We'll be through with the class this weekend.

Thanks OP. Your efforts are appreciated

ZinoFego:

I am sorry. I had a hectic week. We'll be through with the class this weekend.

k we are waiting. please can i use joomla to create dynamic sites without necessarily writing scripts.?

5. Creating Content

Overview of how content is created, managed, and displayed.

Joomla like any other website is driven by content. The Content Manager includes the Article Manager, Category Manager, Featured Articles Manager, and Media Manager.


1. Article Manager
This is usually a text file but you can add images, videos etc to it. From our homepage http://localhost:8080/JoomlaTraining or http://localhost/JoomlaTraining or http://YourDomainName.com/JoomlaSiteDirectory as the case may be, you will see the articles vividly displayed. The articles are:

Welcome to your blog
About your home page
Your Template.

We can create new articles or modify the ones we have there already to soothe our purpose. For a start, lets modify the first article on the homepage and then create a new one.

Modifying Welcome to your blog
1. Click Content. On the drop down...
2. Click Article Manager.
All the articles on the site will be displayed here.
Our Article of interest is Welcome to your blog. So click on it.

Now that the article is opened, lets modify it. From the opened window, there are so many parameters to format the article but you need not bother yourself much as most of the configurations here can be left just the way they are so we can discuss just the basics.

Article Title: As the name implies, this is the name of the Article. So lets change it from Welcome to your blog to[b] Welcome to Joomla Training Blog![/b], you may choose any name that is suitable for you. On the main body of the Article, you may change whatever you like.

All the other Tabbed menu items can be left unattended to but if you want to improve the SEO for this Article then click Metadata Options and fill the fields as required.

Click Save & Close. Go to the frontend and refresh your page to see the changes.

To create a new Article.
Click Content
Hover your mouse over Article Manager and click Add New Article.
Click New. Enter the Article Title, the Article content as required and then Click Save & Close.

To view the HTML source code of the Article, click HTML in the formatting tools area (just above the Article content area) of the Article. If you have a pre-formatted Article, you can paste the code here and your Article will be pasted in the content box. Click Save and go to the frontend to view your Article.


2. Category Manager
To access the Category Manager, Click Content, then Category Manager. In this window, there are two Categories created as we installed Joomla, they are: Uncategorised and Blog.
Click on any of them to see its configuration. The major thing here is to change the title of the category, you may as well ignore and create your own new Category. To do so: Click New, enter the Category name and click Save & Close.

Joomla Articles are grouped using the Category Manager. Grouped Articles can be easily accessed by a menu item or a module or can be linked to. On the homepage:

Older Posts houses
Welcome to your blog
About your home page
Your Template
Your Modules

Blog Roll houses
Joomla! Community
Joomla! Leadership Blog.

Putting An Article Into A Category:
Open an Article.
Under *Category, choose the Category you want the Article listed in.


3. Featured Articles Manager
It is used to control which 'Featured Articles are displayed on the Front Page and in what order they are displayed. The Front Page is often the Home page of a web site, but it can be any page in the site. The Front Page is created using a Menu Item with the Front Page layout.

To Feature An Article:
Open an Article. Look at the right side of the page, you will see Details. One of the configurable items listed there is Featured, select Yes.


4. Media Manager
To access the Media Manager. Click Content, on the drop down, Click Media Manager.
The Media Manager is a tool for uploading or deleting files in the <joomlaroot>/images/ directory on a web server. If you are using a control panel with a file manager, you will find your media files under the ‘images’ folder.

To upload images to the Media Manager, Click "Upload"...then Click "Choose Files". You will be taken to your computer hard drive to choose files you want to upload and Click "Start Upload". You will have access to these files later if you want to attach them to your Articles, Modules etc.

Menus

The Menu Manager manages all the navigation within your Joomla 3.0 website. The default home page, how to display your menus, what is displayed in them. You can have different types of Menu Items. Menu items are created from components installed.

To access the Menu.
Click Menu
In the drop-down, you have Menu Manager, Main Menu and Bottom Menu.

The Menu Manager is used to create New Menus. Main Menu and Bottom Menu were created using the Menu Manager.
Since we have two menu items created for us already, lets pick one of them to see how it works. Our pick is Main Menu.
Click Main Menu: You will notice that two Menu items are listed. They are About and Home.

Click About: This is where this menu item is configured. At the moment we will just be looking at the details configuration of the menu item. You can leave all other configurations just the way they are. Below are our configurable items under "details".
Menu Item Type *:
This tells us the type of item this menu should point to. In this case that we are editing, it points to "Single Article". Click Select close to "Single Article" to see other components that a menu can point to.
Select Article *:
Since our menu item type is Article, we need to select the Article we want to point our menu to. From what is shown, "About" was the Article that was selected. You may Click Select to see other Articles that you can point the menu to.
Status: This is where you can set the Menu item to be Published, Unpublished or Thrashed.
Menu Location: Menu items are attached to a Menu, so you can choose here which of the menus this menu item is attached to.
Parent Item: This is where to choose whether this menu item is a parent item(standalone) or it is a sub menu. By default Menu item Root is selected; that means this menu is a standalone menu. But if this menu is a sub menu or drop down, then select the menu item that this menu is its sub menu.

Click Save & Close.

Create A New Menu Item
Lets create a new menu item that points to an external link to your Facebook Account.
Click Menu...then Main Menu
Click New.
In the "New" opened window, click Select in front of Menu Item Type * to pick the type of component this menu item will point to. In the pop up window, Click System Links, then Choose External URL.
We can now configure our External URL. The configuration here is just like configuring the menu item "about" that we discussed a moment ago except we have to input a Link for this menu item. So lets say our Facebook page URL is http://Facebook.com/SpringWebHost; this URL is now what we will type as our link.
Configure every other item just as we did for "About" menu item.

Adding A New Menu.
Like I earlier said, a Menu houses menu items, so if you have the need to group some menu items under one menu, this is how you can do that. So lets create a Menu called Policies.
Click Menu....hover your mouse over Menu Manager and click Add New Menu. In the window that opened, enter the Menu Title(Policies), Menu Type (Policies), and then the description of the Menu. Click Save & Close.
So whenever you create a New Menu Item, you can select "Policies" if the menu item falls under Policies Menu. Refer: (Menu Location: Menu items are attached to a Menu, so you can choose here which of the menus this menu item is attached to.).

Nice tutorial. But how can we make sure our articles will appear in search engine easily?

" All the other Tabbed menu items can be left unattended to but if you want to improve the SEO for this Article then click Metadata Options and fill the fields as required. "

Please refer to the above on this page.

dheaven: Nice tutorial. But how can we make sure our articles will appear in search engine easily?

hmmmm my lecturer,if odas are like u i think Nigeria wud hav been better dan india.i av bin following d class.a thought just droped in my hrt.pls joomla makes our computer look like d server.So after installing joomla,can i create multiple websites from just.how can i create another site without having to download joomla again.also,if my system that houses d joomla app is virus infected and i need to format my system.can i back up the joomla such dat after formatting i can replace it back without having to download again.whats d directory extension for creating hotel mgt based website.osheeee sir

goddyzee: hmmmm my lecturer,if odas are like u i think Nigeria wud hav been better dan india.i av bin following d class.a thought just droped in my hrt.pls joomla makes our computer look like d server.So after installing joomla,can i create multiple websites from just.how can i create another site without having to download joomla again.also,if my system that houses d joomla app is virus infected and i need to format my system.can i back up the joomla such dat after formatting i can replace it back without having to download again.whats d directory extension for creating hotel mgt based website.osheeee sir

If u Have downloaded Joomla and maybe the name of the Joomla folder u downloaded is Joomla3.25, Just Rename it to Joomla3.. Duplicate it by copying and Renaming others to something like Joomla4 , Joomla5 depending on how many sites u wanna Run.. Copy these renamed folders to Yo www folder if u are using WAMP or to htdocs folder if u are using XAMPP.. Remember that u have to create different databases for the Joomla copies u have in yo Root Folder.. U can access em by Running ur WAMP or XAMPP and typing this on ur browser: http://localhost/Joomla3 or http://localhost/Joomla4 etc..

2). As Per U Losing ur files incase of a Virus attack.. Get a working Antivirus(Avast is free) and keep it Updated.. Also Download RECUVA, Google it.. U can use it to Recover files that have been deleted from a Hard drive or recycle Bin or Flash drive.. And most Importantly, Save all yo Web works(Copy the folders) in a Flash or Hard Drive.. Atleast u'll only have to reinstall XAMPP or WAMP and copy your folders back incase of u formatting ur PC..

3). As For the Hotel Management Extension, Go to www.joomla.org and search for it in the extensions directory.. I Think there are Premium ones out there for sale that will surely meet ur Requirements.. Some Nairalanders might even have it.. I'll have shared it with u if I have one..

Don't Thank Me..
Thank Nairaland Webmasters..

Wow....I couldn't have said it better. Thanks man.

Djangocode:

If u Have downloaded Joomla and maybe the name of the Joomla folder u downloaded is Joomla3.25, Just Rename it to Joomla3.. Duplicate it by copying and Renaming others to something like Joomla4 , Joomla5 depending on how many sites u wanna Run.. Copy these renamed folders to Yo www folder if u are using WAMP or to htdocs folder if u are using XAMPP.. Remember that u have to create different databases for the Joomla copies u have in yo Root Folder.. U can access em by Running ur WAMP or XAMPP and typing this on ur browser: http://localhost/Joomla3 or http://localhost/Joomla4 etc..

2). As Per U Losing ur files incase of a Virus attack.. Get a working Antivirus(Avast is free) and keep it Updated.. Also Download RECUVA, Google it.. U can use it to Recover files that have been deleted from a Hard drive or recycle Bin or Flash drive.. And most Importantly, Save all yo Web works(Copy the folders) in a Flash or Hard Drive.. Atleast u'll only have to reinstall XAMPP or WAMP and copy your folders back incase of u formatting ur PC..

3). As For the Hotel Management Extension, Go to www.joomla.org and search for it in the extensions directory.. I Think there are Premium ones out there for sale that will surely meet ur Requirements.. Some Nairalanders might even have it.. I'll have shared it with u if I have one..

Don't Thank Me..
Thank Nairaland Webmasters..

7. Components.
Components are built to extend Joomla’s functionality with third-party options.

To access the Components, Click Components and all the components in your Joomla site will be listed in the drop down.

For the sake of the class lets discuss how to create Contacts, and Joomla! Update.

1. Overview of How to Create a New Contact in Contact Manager

1. Go to Components, then click Contacts. You will be taken to the Contacts Manager window.
2. Click New.
3. Enter New Contact Details, these are basically, email, phone number, address etc.
4. Click Save & Close to See List of your New Contact in Contact Manager.
*Lets assume that the contact we just created is titled "Contact Us".

Now let us to create a menu item called Contacts that will point to the "Contact Us" contact.

Here...lets refer to how we created a Menu item before:

Click Menu...then Main Menu......then New

In the "New" opened window, click Select in front of "Menu Item Type *" to pick the type of component this menu item will point to. In the pop up window, click "Contacts"...from the items that slid down..click "Single Contact".
Click "Select" in front of "Select Contact *" to show and select "Contact Us" from the list.
Enter Contacts as the "Menu Title".

Under the "Advanced Options" tabbed item, Choose "Plain" in "Display Format" ie "Advanced Options" --- "Display Format"---"Plain".
With this, when the "Contacts" menu item is clicked at the frontend, the Contant details plus a contact form is displayed.
Click Save & Close. Go and refresh your homepage to see your new menu item called "Contacts".

2. Joomla! Update
Click "Components".....then "Joomla! Update"
In the next window, you will see the message below:

No updates available
You already have the latest Joomla! version, 3.1.5.

This is because we already have the latest version. If there is an update to Joomla, it show here. With a few clicks, you will be updated to the latest version of Joomla. As a security check, please always ensure that your Joomla version is up to date.

The other components are Joomla defaults, so you may as well leave them the way they are but if need be we can make changes to them later.

Yes....without even knowing how scripts work.

Rizstar: k we are waiting. please can i use joomla to create dynamic sites without necessarily writing scripts.?

8. Modules
Just like the Component, Modules are built to extend Joomla’s functionality with third-party options.

To access the "Modules", Click "Extensions" and then "Module Manager", all the "Modules" in your Joomla site will be shown.

The modules shown are the default modules as installed in Joomla and how these modules are positioned in the frontend makes your site appear the way you want it to. So two persons may use the same template but achieve different results.

Creating a New Module
Modules can be created from components installed in Joomla. Or you can install an already made Module. Most of the items we see in the frontend are modules.

So lets create a new module called "User Login" from the installed components in the site. There is a component already installed that we will access to enable us do this task.

Click "Extensions" then "Module Manager".
Click "New". In the next window, click "Login"
Enter a Title for this Module eg. "User Login"
Click Save & Close.

The module we just created won't appear at the frontend because we did not position it anywhere in the website. I will discuss a concept called "Module Positions" when we get to "Template Manager" shortly.

Module Positions will help us place our "User Login" form in the website. So lets continue to the next topic. We will revisit the "User Login" Module.

Thumbs up sir...u r a blessin..plz help me wit diz
1.So hw do i create forms on my joomla site usin phymyadmin?
2.after creatin d forms how do i acces d data dat av bin submited?
3.assumin d cöntent of d form was meant 2 ask questions 2a person..hw do i do i use joomla 2 create a login so dat i cud assess d info.sent 2d database?hlp me sir

You don't have to create forms from phpmyadmin. A Joomla module or component can do that for you. The data that was submitted from the module or component can either be sent to your email or you can view it at the administrator's end of the site; in some cases both.

Nasty22: Thumbs up sir...u r a blessin..plz help me wit diz
1.So hw do i create forms on my joomla site usin phymyadmin?
2.after creatin d forms how do i acces d data dat av bin submited?
3.assumin d cöntent of d form was meant 2 ask questions 2a person..hw do i do i use joomla 2 create a login so dat i cud assess d info.sent 2d database?hlp me sir

9. Plug-in

A plug-in though lighter, has the same function as a Component, Modules; it is built to extend Joomla’s functionality with third-party options.

[/b]To access the Plug-ins in our site.[/b]
Click Extensions, then "Plug-in Manager".

Here, all the plug-ins in the system will show. Most plug-ins have very little configurations. You just need to Enable or Disable them. For now, we will not do any Plug-in configuration.

@ZinoFego

Advice on Which Version to Use and why..

Between Joomla 2.5 and Joomla 3.1 to 3.2..

Thanks..

I will advice you to use Joomla 3.1 because it is the latest version, it has more advanced features and to top it all, it has more security features.

Djangocode: @ZinoFego

Advice on Which Version to Use and why..

Between Joomla 2.5 and Joomla 3.1 to 3.2..

Thanks..

@ZinoFego, is dia any plugin 2 mak pple comment on joomla3.1 blog? Dia r only 'print' and 'email' optns dia?

Yes. Disqus is one of them, its quite easy to configure. You may go to www.joomla.org/extensions to search for more.

A.B Damola:
@ZinoFego, is dia any plugin 2 mak pple comment on joomla3.1 blog? Dia r only 'print' and 'email' optns dia?

Zino, all of d fb plugins av installed alwz bring 'Strict standard error'. Cud it b because am nt doin it online? Am usin xampp 2 do 'trial n error'

You'll need to be online for some plug-ins to work.

In case of Facebook plug-in, it requires some live data to work.

A.B Damola:
Zino, all of d fb plugins av installed alwz bring 'Strict standard error'. Cud it b because am nt doin it online? Am usin xampp 2 do 'trial n error'

Okay sir!!! I like ds joomla a lot. And av bin lukin 4 a blog like ds 2 design 4ma client..

Sir, abt dt disqus plugin... Av installed it. And wen I click on 'add to comment' button. I won't b able 2 comment.... I guess its because of d local server am usin also?

10. Templates

A template controls the graphical presentation of your website. It determines the layout, colors, type-faces, graphics and other aspects of design that make your site unique. There are two types of
templates: “Site template” for front-end presentation and “Administrator template” for back-end presentation.

To view your templates....Go to “Extensions” => “Template Manager”. The window below will appear.

Site Template
The site templates change the way your website looks to visitors.

Most of the time, you will be dealing with the site templates to change public look-n-feel of your website. Below is an example of a Site template, it is Joomla's default blog template.

Administrator template
Administrator templates changes the way the administrator interface looks.

If you are building a website for yourself, then you will probably never need to change your back-end template. When building websites for clients, you might need to slightly customize the administrator template to reflect your customer’s brand. Below is a screen shot of an Adminstrator template.

Template Resources
The quickest and easiest way to enhance the design of your website is to use an existing Joomla template.There are many available on the Internet.

Free Templates Resources
The Joomla community creates thousands of free templates for you to choose from. Check following websites:
http://www.joomla24.com
http://www.joomlaos.de/
http://www.bestofjoomla.com.

Commercial Templates Resources
If you have enough budget to purchase a template, then we strongly recommend you take a look at following template providers.
http://www.joomlashine.com
http://www.joomlart.com
http://www.rockettheme.com
http://www.yootheme.com
http://www.gavick.com

Searching on the Internet
You can search on Google with the key words: “Joomla Templates” or “template for Joomla” and you will get over 120 million results!

Here is my question, first I am not new to joomla, I have created a few dynamic website using joomla, I would say joomla is not that easy to learn. My questions is this:

1. I want to install an important module but keep failing, try a lot of googling for solution, the solution I get Is what I found impossible, the solution state that a module that refuse to install from your joomla extension can be done on your database. I ask myself how.

2. Is there a way to install a template from the database.

3. by mistake I set my handler from database to none, immediately all menu stop from displaying which, with that I can't work or change it back to database since the menu to click on save is not showing.

Please my ogas in the house, can you help me solve this problem, if not all abeg.

Module Position

A module performs simple tasks and displays content as small blocks positioned around the page. Each module is located in a specific position, e.g. module “Main menu” is placed in position “position-7”. Each position is designed to occupy a place in a page’s layout, i.e. position “position-8” is placed on the left side of main content. Each template can have many different positions occupying various places on the page.

To Preview Module Positions, you need to enable "Preview Module Positions"
1. Go to “Extensions” => “Template Manager” => "Options"
2. Next, set the parameter “Preview Module Positions” to “Enabled” and click “Save & Close”
3. Enable the preview of the module positions in the template by appending “?tp=1” to the web address. This means type: http://localhost/JoomlaTraining/?tp=1 on your browser and press enter. Please refresh the page after changing this setting and you will have your site loaded with its module positions just like you have in the image below.

Now you can see all module positions of the template. This will help you to choose the right position when you add a new module.

What you need to do as an assignment is to position our "Login Form" into any position of your choice.

ZinoFego: Module Position

A module performs simple tasks and displays content as small blocks positioned around the page. Each module is located in a specific position, e.g. module “Main menu” is placed in position “position-7”. Each position is designed to occupy a place in a page’s layout, i.e. position “position-8” is placed on the left side of main content. Each template can have many different positions occupying various places on the page.

To Preview Module Positions, you need to enable "Preview Module Positions"
1. Go to “Extensions” => “Template Manager” => "Options"
2. Next, set the parameter “Preview Module Positions” to “Enabled” and click “Save & Close”
3. Enable the preview of the module positions in the template by appending “?tp=1” to the web address. This means type: http://localhost/JoomlaTraining/?tp=1 on your browser and press enter. Please refresh the page after changing this setting and you will have your site loaded with its module positions just like you have in the image below.

Now you can see all module positions of the template. This will help you to choose the right position when you add a new module.

What you need to do as an assignment is to position our "Login Form" into any position of your choice.

Can you help with any of the questions above...plzzzzz

Extension Manager

Default Joomla extensions are good for a start, but in the long run they are just not enough. As your website evolves, you will want to add more functionality that goes beyond these default extensions.

The best place for you to find useful Joomla extensions is Joomla Extensions Directory (JED) ie http://joomla.org/extensions. It is a large resource with a large number of Joomla extensions divided into certain categories based on functionality. Or you can search the internet for any Joomla extension you want.

To Add Extensions
1. Go to “Extensions” => “Extension Manager”
2. Next, click the “Choose File” button to select the Joomla extension package you downloaded
3. After that, click “Upload & Install” to start uploading and install this file to your site.

Joomla automatically knows the right place to put the extension based on its type. For instance, if the extension is a component, you will see it in the menu “Components”, if that extension is a module; you will find it in “Module Manager” and so on.

So look for the installed Extension, configure it as specified by the the Extension, and put it in the Module Position of your choice.