Joomla! 2.5 Beginner's Guide. Joomla! is the free and easy way to create websites, and this book is written for absolute beginners who want t

Joomla! 2.5 Beginner's Guide. Joomla! is the free and easy way to create websites, and this book is written for absolute beginners who want t - Opis

Joomla! is one of the most popular open-source Content Management Systems, actively developed and supported by a world-wide user community. Although it's a fun and feature-rich tool, it can be challenging to get beyond the basics and build a site that meets your needs perfectly. Using this book you can create dynamic, interactive web- sites that perfectly fit your needs.Completely updated for Joomla! 2.5, this practical guide teaches you how to create professional, appealing and extendable websites, whether you want to create a full-featured company or club website or build a personal blog site.The Joomla! Beginner's Guide helps beginners to get started quickly and to get beyond the basics to take full advantage of Joomla!'s powerful features. Completely updated from the first book, real-life examples and tutorials will spark your imagination and show you what kind of professional, contemporary, feature-rich websites any developer can achieve with Joomla!. This book thoroughly covers the concepts behind the software and creates a coherent picture of how the software works. This book is not about what Joomla! can do ñ it's about what you can do using Joomla!. Spis treści:
Joomla! 2.5 Beginners Guide
Table of Contents
Joomla! 2.5 Beginner's Guide
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Support files, eBooks, discount offers and more
Why Subscribe?
Free Access for Packt account holders
Preface
What this book covers
What you need for this book
Who this book is for
Conventions
Time for action (...) więcej heading
What just happened?
Pop quiz heading
Have a go hero heading
Reader feedback
Customer support
Downloading the color images of this book
Errata
Piracy
Questions
1. Introduction: A New and Easy Way to Build Websites
Join the CMS revolution
Why would you choose Joomla?
What kind of sites can you build with Joomla?
Learning to use Joomla
What you'll learn using this book
About the example site
Summary
2. Installation: Getting Joomla Up and Running
What do you need to start?
Hosting space
FTP software
A great browser (think Firefox)
Installing Joomla in four steps
Time for action downloading the Joomla files
What just happened?
Time for action placing the files on the web server
What just happened?
Time for action creating a database
What just happened?
Time for action running the Joomla installation wizard
What just happened?
Got stuck? Get help!
Pop quiz test your knowledge of installing Joomla
Summary
3. First Step: Getting to Know Joomla
Making the switchbuilding websites the Joomla way
Sorry, web pages have ceased to exist
Why is this a good thing?
A website built of blocks
Introducing frontend and backend: the Joomla interface
Your workspace: the backend
And what's the frontend?
The frontend: the website as the user sees it
Time for action tour the example site
What just happened?
Exploring the example content
Have a go hero get familiar with other example sites
Taking control: administering your site in the backend
Time for action log in to the backend
What just happened?
Taking a closer look at the Control Panel
Top menu
Shortcut buttons
Preview and Info Bar
Information panels
Understanding backend tools and controls
Getting your feet wet: start administering your site
Three types of backend tasks
Content management example: let's create some content!
Time for action publish your first article
What just happened?
Extension management example: adding a module
Time for action add a module to the site
What just happened?
Site management example: configuring basic site settings
Time for action set Joomla preferences
What just happened?
Have a go hero explore the configuration options
Pop quiz test your knowledge of Joomla basics
Summary
4. Web Building Basics: Creating a Site in an Hour
What you will be making
Meet your client
Cleaning up: removing the sample data
Step 1: remove sample content
Time for action deleting articles and categories
Step 2: delete menus and other modules
Time for action deleting menus
What just happened?
Have a go hero clean out the list of modules
Building your new site in three steps
Step 1: customize the layout
Time for action preparing a new logo image
Replacing the header image
Time for action replace the header image
Time for action tweak the design details
What just happened?
CSS stylesheets? Come again?
Have a go hero explore layout settings
Step 2: add content
Create a foundation first: make categories
Time for action create a News category
What just happened?
Add articles to the category
Time for action create an article
What just happened?
Have a go hero add your own images to articles
Making content visible on the site: create a menu link
Time for action add a menu link
What just happened?
Now that's the all-important power of menus
Have a go hero create more categories and articles
Create menu links to the new content
Add individual content pages: uncategorized articles
Time for action add uncategorized articles
What just happened?
Have a go hero clean up the Main Menu
Put some content on the home pageat last!
Add items to the home page
Time for action adding items to the home page
What just happened?
Step 3: add extras through extensions
Components and Extensions, what's the difference?
Add a contact form
Time for action create a contact
What just happened?
Time for action create a Contact Form menu link
What just happened?
Have a go hero clean up the Top menu
Add a special message block
Time for action create a message block
What just happened?
Wrapping up: change site settings
Time for action change site configuration
What just happened?
Pop quiz test your basic Joomla knowledge
Summary
5. Small Sites, Big Sites: Organizing your Content Effectively
Building on the example site
Grouping content: a crash course in site organization
Designing a site map
Time for action create a future proof site map
What just happened?
Transferring your site map to Joomla
How do you turn a site map into a website?
Creating categories and subcategories
Time for action create a category and subcategories
What just happened?
In what case do you need more subcategory levels?
Have a go hero rearrange existing categories
Adding content to new categories
Displaying main categories and subcategories on your site
Time for action create a link to point to a main category
Have a go hero explore the possibilities of category pages
Refining your site structure
Time for action move content from one category to another
What just happened?
Have a go heromoving entire categories
Renaming categories
Time for action rename a category
What just happened?
Have a go hero name and rename!
Changing category settings
Building a site without using categories
How do you go about building a small site?
Have a go hero organize a site!
Pop quiz test your site organization knowledge
Summary
6. Creating Killer Content: Adding and Editing Articles
Articles, content pages, what's the difference?
Creating and editing articles: beyond the basics
Making your words look good: formatting article text
Time for action add styling to article text
What just happened?
Have a go hero change the formatting
Adding images to articles
Time for action upload images
What just happened?
Time for action inserting and aligning images
What just happened?
Have a go hero adjust the image settings
Extending the possibilities of the Media Manager
Time for action enabling the Flash image uploader
Changing the way the article displays
One lump or two? Split the article in an intro text and main text
Time for action creating an intro text
What just happened?
Creating multi-page articles
Time for action using page breaks to split up an article
What just happened?
Have a go hero use sliders and tabs
Tweaking the details: changing article settings
Article Permissions
Setting general preferences for all articles
Articles tab
Category tab
Categories, Blog/Featured Layouts, List Layouts, and Shared Options tabs
Integration tab
Text Filters tab
Permissions tab
Archiving articles
Time for action creating a news archive
What just happened?
Pop quiz test your article expertise
Summary
7. Welcoming your Visitors: Creating Attractive Home Pages and Overview Pages
Why do you need overview pages, anyway?
Creating the perfect home: mastering home page layout
Changing the way the home page is arranged
Time for action rearrange the layout of articles on the home page
What just happened?
Have a go hero tweak home page layout options
Adding items to the home page
Controlling the order of home page items manually
Setting criteria to automatically order home page items
Time for action show the most recent items first
What just happened?
The Featured Articles menu item type an overview of all options
Layout Options
Article Options
Integration Options
Link Type Options
Page Display Options
Metadata Options
Module assignment for this Menu Item
Creating more than one page containing Featured Articles
Another type of home page: using a single article
Time for action creating a different home page
What just happened?
Have a go hero undo!
Creating category overview pages
Two main choices: Blog layout and List layout
The first type of overview page: creating Category Blog layouts
Time for action create a facebook using the Blog layout
What just happened?
Have a go hero add a category description
Showing full articles on a category overview page
Have a go hero experiment with Category Blog layout settings
Blog Layout Options, Article Options, Integration Options, Link Type Options, Page Display Options, and Metadata Options
Category Options
The second type of overview page: Lists
Time for action add a link to a Category List layout
What just happened?
Customizing lists: exploring Category List options
Required Settings
Category Options
List Layouts
Article Options, Integration Options, Link Type Options, Page Display Options, and Metadata Options
How are multi-level categories displayed in Lists?
Pop Quiz test your knowledge of home pages and overview pages
Summary
8. Helping your Visitors Find What they Want: Managing Menus
How many menus can you have?
Creating user-friendly navigationcleaning up the Main Menu
Option 1: Change the order of menu items
Time for action changing menu item order
What just happened?
Option 2: Create submenu items
Time for action creating a secondary menu item
What just happened?
Option 3: Add a separate new menu
Time for action creating a new, empty menu
What just happened?
Time for action moving hyperlinks to the new menu
What just happened?
Time for action telling Joomla where to display the menu
What just happened?
Have a go hero changing menu settings
Creating split submenus
Have a go hero arrange menus any way you like
Exploring menu module settings
Two ways to switch to the menu module screen
Details
Menu Assignment
Basic Options
Advanced Options
Have a go hero try out the menu settings
What types of menu links are available?
Have a go hero try out Menu Item Types
Creating plain text links
Time for action creating text links
What just happened?
Pop quiz test your knowledge on menus
Summary
9. Opening up the Site: Enabling Users to Log in and Contribute
What are the default user groups and their permissions?
Publicthe guest group
Registered usersthe user group that can log in
Author, Editor, and Publisherthe frontend content contributors
Manager, Administrator, and Super Userthe backend content contributors and administrators
Shop Suppliers and Customerstwo example user groups
Enabling users to log in and contribute content
Time for action adding a user with frontend authoring permissions
What just happened?
Enabling content contributors to log in to the frontend
Time for action put a Login Form on the home page
What just happened?
Time for action logging in as a frontend content contributor
What just happened?
Have a go hero create a frontend User Menu
Reviewing and publishing team content submissions
Time for action reviewing and publishing submitted content
What just happened?
Have a go hero explore different User Group permissions
Find out what editors and publishers can do
Find out what backend users can do
Enabling self-registrationallowing visitors to register
How do you enable users to create their own account?
Displaying a Login menu link
Time for action register yourself and log in
What just happened?
Hiding content for non-registered users
Time for action hiding content for non-registered users
What just happened?
Have a go hero change access level settings
Getting your visitors to 'register to read more'
Time for action partially hiding content from non-registered users
What just happened?
Creating custom-made user groups
What are the permissions you can assign to user groups?
What Viewing Access Levels are available?
Creating a custom user group to manage contacts
Time for action create a user group
What just happened?
Time for action tell Joomla what the group can see
What just happened?
Time for action tell Joomla what the group can do
What just happened?
Time for action add users to the new group
What just happened?
Pop quiz test your knowledge of Joomla user management
Summary
10. Getting the Most out of your Site: Extending Joomla
Extensions in all shapes and sizes
The big onesComponents
The medium onesModules
The tiny onesPlugins
Where do you get extensions from?
Enhancing your site using core extensions
Highlighting articles using the Newsflash module
Time for action adding a Newsflash to the home page
What just happened?
Have a go hero change the Newsflash settings
Creating a list of contacts using the Contacts component
Time for action add a series of contacts
What just happened?
Have a go hero try out contact component settings
What extensions are part of the Joomla core?
Enhancing your site using third-party extensions
Trying out an alternative Newsflash module
Time for action downloading and installing an extension
Time for action putting the extension to work
What just happened?
Have a go hero explore module options
Showing images in a lightbox gallery
Time for action create an image gallery
What just happened?
Do you want more from your photo gallery?
Using extensions to enhance your work space
Time for action replace Joomla's default text editor
What just happened?
So much more to explore
Updating extensions
Pop quiz test your knowledge of Joomla extensions
Summary
11. Creating an Attractive Design: Working with Templates
This is what templates do
And this is why templates are so much fun
Where can you get a new template for your site?
Changing the settings of the current template
What are Template Styles?
Customizing the current template using built-in options
Time for action changing the site color and layout options
What just happened?
Changing to a different template
Previewing available templates
Setting a different template as the default
Time for action activating a different template
Time for action changing the logo and header image
What just happened?
Applying Template Styles to individual pages
Time for action creating a Template Style for one specific page
Downloading and installing a new template
Time for action downloading and activating a new template
Time for action place modules in new template positions
What just happened?
Time for action replace the logo file
Time for action adding a banner module
What just happened?
Have a go hero change template settings
Customizing a template: tweaking CSS styles
Understanding the very basics of CSS
Tweaking the banner image CSS
Diving deeper into Joomla CSS: using Firebug
Time for action editing CSS on the fly using Firebug
What just happened?
Expanding your CSS toolkit
Expanding your CSS knowledge
Editing the template HTML
Time for action removing the fixed footer text
What just happened?
Backing up and restoring a customized template
Creating your own template
Template building resources
Pop quiz test your knowledge of Joomla templates
Summary
12. Attracting Search Engine Traffic: Tips and Techniques
Why do you need to accommodate for search engines?
Optimizing articles for findability
The article title: Make it meaningful
The article structure: Use clear formatting
Adding H3 through H6 headings
Adding an second H1 page heading
Time for action adding a page heading to an article
What just happened?
Page Heading and Page Titlewhat's the difference?
The article body text: Use relevant keywords
Update articles regularly
The images: Explain what they're about
Configuring HTML page titles
Time for action setting the HTML page title
What just happened?
Adding the Site Name to the page title
Adding meaningful metadata
Time for action personalize the site metadata
What just happened?
Choosing what metadata to set
Have a go hero find metadata to fit your site
Use search engine friendly URLS
Adding extra links to site content
Creating an automatically generated list of hyperlinks
Time for action add a list of links to popular articles
What just happened?
Have a go hero add link lists
Redirecting visitors to pages that have been moved
Time for action creating page redirects
Redirecting multiple old URLs in one go
Getting to know more about your site traffic
More SEO resources
Pop quiz test your knowledge of Joomla search engine optimization
Summary
A. Keeping the Site Secure
Update regularly
Choose a safe Administrator Username
Choose a strong password
Protect files and directories
Setting File Permissions
Using extensions to secure your site
Have a backup ready
Creating a Backup with Akeeba Backup
Restoring a backup
Stay informed!
B. Pop Quiz Answers
Chapter 2, Installation: Getting Joomla Up and Running
Pop quiz test Your Knowledge of Installing Joomla
Chapter 3, First Step: Getting to Know Joomla
Pop quiz test your knowledge of Joomla basics
Chapter 4, Web Building Basics: Creating a Site in an Hour
Pop quiz test your basic Joomla knowledge
Chapter 5, Small Sites, Big Sites: Organizing your Content Effectively
Pop quiz test your site organization knowledge
Chapter 6, Creating Killer Content: Adding and Editing Articles
Pop quiz test your article expertise
Chapter 7, Welcoming your Visitors: Creating Attractive Home Pages and Overview Pages
Pop quiz test your knowledge of home pages and overview pages
Chapter 8, Helping your Visitors Find What they Want: Managing Menus
Pop quiz test your knowledge on menus
Chapter 9, Opening up the Site: Enabling Users to Log in and Contribute
Pop quiz test your knowledge of Joomla user management
Chapter 10, Getting the Most out of your Site: Extending Joomla
Pop quiz test your knowledge of Joomla extensions
Chapter 11, Creating an Attractive Design: Working with Templates
Pop quiz test your knowledge of Joomla templates
Chapter 12, Attracting Search Engine Traffic: Tips and Techniques
Pop quiz test your knowledge of Joomla search engine optimization
Index O autorze: Eric Tiggeler has authored several books on Joomla!, such as the highly successful Joomla! 2.5 Beginner's Guide and Joomla! 3 Beginner's Guide, both by Packt Publishing. He has also written several Joomla! guides in Dutch. His books have received excellent reader reviews. He also writes tutorials for several computer magazines and Joomla! community websites. Over the last ten years, he has developed numerous websites, big and small, using Joomla!. He is fascinated by the Web as a powerful, creative, and ever-changing means of communication, as well as by the revolutionary software Joomla!, which enables anybody to create beautiful and user-friendly websites. On a daily basis, he works as a consultant and copywriter at a communication consultancy company affiliated to the Free University of Amsterdam. Over the last few years, he has written more than 20 books in Dutch on writing and communication. His passion lies in making complex things easy to understand. He is married, has two daughters, and lives and works in Hilversum, the Netherlands. On the Web, you'll find him at www.joomla.erictiggeler.nl(in Dutch) and www.joomm.net(in English). mniej