Crucial Joomla! Links
Joomla! main page
Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Joomla!
Joomla! User Roles
Joomla! Support Forum
Search! Search!
Use the search engine of your choice; many answers can be found by searching “how to _______ Joomla!”
Joomla! Information Structure
Section (not visible)
Category (not visible)
Article (visible; this is the content of the site)
Logging in
Two places to log in:
Front end (website) http://www.yoursitename.com/
Back end (admin area) http://www.yoursitename.com/administrator/index.php
Why log in to front end?
- View protected content
- Edit articles
Why log in to back end?
- Edit articles
- Add new articles & menu items
- Add media (photographs, pdfs, etc.)
- Add/manage site special features (events calendar, directory listings, contacts, shopping cart, etc.)
Working With Content
Most web pages are Articles. You can edit them while logged into the front end, or you can add new or edit existing articles in the back end using Article Manager. Don’t forget to set access level when adding new protected items.
Some pages are Section or Category Blog pages. These do not contain any content themselves, but rather display the articles in the category specified. To add items to these pages, add a new article to the relevant section & category and it will automatically be displayed.
Articles that do not belong to a section or category that has a blog page will NOT display automatically. If you add a new article, you must create a menu item for it or a link to it from another page; otherwise, users will have no way to access it.
When adding or editing content, be sure to set the access level! It defaults to Public, so when adding a protected page, you MUST set the access level to Registered or above, in order to limit who can view it. This applies to Articles, Sections, Categories, Menu Items, Events — everything you work with in Joomla! has an access level. Always be aware of this when adding protected content.
Add photos, pdfs, or other documents or assets using Media Manager, under the Site menu. In Media Manager, scroll down to below list of files to find upload box; click “browse”, choose file to upload from your computer, then click “Start Upload.” Please note, file names CANNOT contain spaces, so rename your files before uploading if necessary. Place files in appropriate subfolders if applicable, to make them easier to find later. For example, photos go in the “stories” subfolder.
Creating Links in Joomla! using the JCE Editor Extension
Creating links to content (other articles) within articles:
- When you’re editing the article where you want to place a link, highlight the text you want to use for the link.
- In the toolbar at the top of the editor text window, choose the fifth icon from the right in the bottom row. It looks like a two-link chain with a plus sign on it. When you hover over it, the tooltip says “Insert/Edit Link.” Click this.
- In the window that pops up, click the plus sign next to “Content.”
- Click the plus sign next to the section containing the article you want to link to.
- Click the plus sign next to the category containing the article you want to link to.
- Click on the name of the article. Link shows up in URL text field above.
- At the bottom under Attributes, choose the appropriate setting: “Open in this window” if you are linking to another internal web page that will have your site’s navigation; if it is a pdf or a link to another website, choose “Open in new window” so that a window with your site in it stays on the user’s screen.
- Click “Insert.”
To change an existing link, just place your cursor anywhere on the link text and follow the same instructions to select a new article or file to link to.
Creating links in articles to .pdf files:
- Upload the pdf through the media manager as above.
- When you’re editing the article where you want to place a link, highlight the text you want to use for the link.
- In the toolbar at the top of the editor text window, choose the fifth icon from the right in the bottom row. It looks like a two-link chain with a plus sign on it. When you hover over it, the tooltip says “Insert/Edit Link.” Click this.
- In the window that pops up, click icon next to the URL field that looks like a little icon with a magnifying glass.
- Click on the pdfs folder in the list at the left-hand side of the window.
- Click the plus sign next to the category containing the article you want to link to.
- Click on the name of the file you want to link to. Link shows up in URL text field above.
- At the bottom under Attributes, choose “Open in new window” so that a window with your site & navigation in it stays on the user’s screen.
- Click “Insert.”
The path to the file will always be the same as long as you put the pdf in the correct folder (images/stories/pdfs/filename.pdf). If you name your files simply so they’re easier to remember, and use only lower case letters, then it’s easier to type the link in manually if you need to, in the URL text field in the “Edit/Insert Link” dialog box.
Discussion forum post on creating a link to a .pdf
Article on creating links, including screenshots
How to add a menu item
Search engine optimization and Joomla!
A general article about Joomla! and SEO
How to use Google Analytics with Joomla!
Congratulations! That’s the end of basic training — but it’s only the beginning of your adventures with Joomla! Make use of the links in this document, the Joomla! website, and discussion forums to continue your exploration.