The Best Easy-to-Use Guide to Joomla!TM--The World's #1 Open Source Content Management System If you want to build sophisticated websites that can be easily edited and updated, you need to master Joomla!. Now there's an easy-to-read, easy-to-use guide to Joomla! for every site manager, administrator, and developer. Leading Joomla! consultant Barrie North covers all you need to get results: installation, administration, site organization, template development, content updates, and a whole lot more. You'll find tips, tricks, and troubleshooting solutions, as well as three start-to-finish case studies. New to Joomla!? No problem! This book starts with the simplest design and system concepts and builds your expertise step-by-step. You'll rapidly master Joomla!'s power, even if you have no content management, scripting, or CSS expertise. Experienced with Joomla!? You'll turn to this book constantly for its authoritative, plain-English, example-rich Joomla! 1.5 reference content. *Understand content management, what Joomla! does, and how its components fit together*Build Joomla! sites from scratch and systematically customize them to your needs*Organize content with sections, categories, blogs, and tables*Create dynamic pages and effective navigation*Work with Joomla! modules and components*Learn how to optimize your Joomla! sites for search engines*Follow three start-to-finish case studies: building a school website, a small business site, and a blog*Identify the most valuable Joomla! extensions and add-ons: find them and use them About the Website The accompanying site, www.joomlabook.com, provides five fully functional Joomla! sites with live follow-along examples from the book and up-to-date information on Joomla!.

Table of Contents

Preface xxi Acknowledgments xxix About the Author xxxi Chapter 1: Content Management Systems and an Introduction to Joomla! 1 What Is a Content Management System? 2 Static Web Pages 2 Web Pages with CSS 3 Dynamic Web Pages 4 Open Source Software 7 History of Joomla! 8 The Joomla! Community 9 Third-Party Extensions Development 9 Joomla!'s Features 9 Elements of a Joomla! Website 11 Content 13 Templates 14 Modules 15 Summary 15 Chapter 2: Downloading and Installing Joomla! 17 How to Install Joomla! 18 Obtaining the Latest Joomla! File Package 18 Joomla! Package Naming Conventions 19 Creating a MySQL Database 20 Unpacking the Joomla! Package 20 Unpacking Joomla! on a Local Desktop Computer 21 Unpacking Joomla! on a Hosting Account 24 Running the Joomla! Installation Wizard 26 Step 1: Language 26 Step 2: Pre-Installation Check 27 Step 3: License 27 Step 4: Database Configuration 28 Step 5: FTP Configuration 30 Step 6: Main Configuration 30 Step 7: Finish 32 Summary 33 Chapter 3: Joomla! Administration Basics 35 What Are the Frontend and Backend of a Joomla! Powered Website? 36 The Menu Bar 38 The Toolbar 39 The Workspace 39 Administrator Functions in the Menu Bar 40 The Site Submenu 40 The Menus Menu 48 The Content Menu 50 The Components Menu 52 The Extensions Menu 54 The Tools Menu 59 The Help Menu 60 Site Preview 60 Summary 62 Chapter 4: Content Is King: Organizing Your Content 63 How Does Joomla! Generate Web Pages? 64 How Joomla! Organizes Content Articles 66 Uncategorized Articles 66 Sections and Categories 67 A Sample Hierarchy 69 Creating the Widget Inc. Website with Uncategorized Content 70 Creating Content Articles 71 Creating Menu Items 75 The Front Page Component 81 Creating the Widget Inc. Website with Sections and Categories 85 Creating Sections 87 Creating Categories 88 Creating Content Articles 90 Creating Menu Items 92 "Read More" Links and Individual Page 99 Module Content 102 Summary 105 Chapter 5: Creating Menus and Navigation 107 How Menu Modules Work 108 What Menu Items Do 110 Creating a Menu Item 111 Where Does a Menu Item Link To? 113 What Does a Page Look Like After a Link Is Followed? 114 Blog Layout 116 Blog Layout Parameters 117 List Layout for a Section 122 Section List Layout Parameters 123 List Layout for a Blog 124 Category List Layout Parameters 124 Managing Menu Modules in the Module Manager 126 Show Title 128 Position 128 Access Level 129 Module Parameters 129 Menu and Module Class Suffixes (Advanced Parameters) 130 Menu Assignment 130 Submenus 130 Summary 132 Chapter 6: Extending Joomla! 133 Extensions 134 Installing Extensions 135 Managing Extensions 137 Components 139 Core Components 140 Third-Party Components 141 Modules 141 Module Display 141 Core Modules 143 Third-Party Modules 145 Plugins 145 Core Plugins 145 Third-Party Plugins 146 Templates 146 Core Templates 146 Third-Party Templates 147 Summary 147 Chapter 7: Expanding Your Content: Articles and Editors 149 WYSIWYG Editors 150 Managing WYSIWYG Editors 152 Other Third-Party Editors 154 Creating and Managing Articles 156 Managing Content Through the Backend 157 Adding Content from the Backend 159 Inserting Images into Content 166 Creating an Article Table of Contents 169 Section and Category Descriptions 171 Global Article Parameters 173 Managing Content Through the Frontend 175 Creating a Frontend User Menu 175 Limiting Access to Menus by User Level 179 Authors 180 Editors 185 Publishers 187 Article Checkin 187 Summary 189 Chapter 8: Getting Traffic to Your Site 191 Starting at the Beginning: Site Goals 192 Organic Traffic (SEO) 193 Introduction to Google 196 Creating Keywords 197 Keywords and Domain Name 199 Designing Your Site for Organic Traffic 200 Advanced SEO Techniques 208 Referral Traffic 211 Google Page Rank 211 Other Link-Building Strategies 214 Internal Linking 215 PPC Traffic 218 How Google AdWords Works 218 Joomla! and AdWords 220 Email Traffic 223 Third-Party Hosted Email Solutions 225 Joomla! SEF Extensions 225 Summary 226 Chapter 9: Creating Pure CSS Templates 229 What Is a Joomla! Template? 230 The Localhost Design Process 231 Localhost Server Options 233 W3C and Tableless Design 234 Semantically Correct Code 235 Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) 236 Creating a Simple Template: CSSTemplateTutorialStep1 236 Template File Components 237 The Joomla! Page Body 246 Using CSS to Create a Tableless Layout: CSSTemplateTutorialStep2 249 Default CSS 255 Joomla-Specific CSS 257 Modules in Templates 260 Menus in Templates 266 Hiding Columns 271 Making a Real Joomla! 1.5 Template: CSSTemplateTutorialStep3 276 Slicing and Dicing 277 Setting Up Module Locations 278 Header 278 Column Backgrounds 279 Flexible Modules 282 Typography 283 Advanced Templating Features: CSSTemplateTutorialStep4 288 Template Parameters 289 Template Overrides 291 Tableless Joomla! 295 The Completed Template 296 Summary 297 Chapter 10: Creating a School Site with Joomla! 299 Why Do You Need a School Website? 300 Students 300 Teachers and Administrators 301 Parents 301 Potential Students and Their Parents 301 What Features Do You Need on a School Site? 302 Downloading and Installing a School Template 302 Education Template Features and Positions 304 Configuring the Search Box 305 Configuring the Main Horizontal Drop-Down Menu 306 Organizing Content on a School Website 308 Creating the Menus 312 Building Out Content 316 Creating Subnavigation 317 The Academics Submenu 318 Creating News Links for a Section 319 Setting Up the Footer 322 Setting Up the Homepage 323 Adding Basic Functionality to a School Website 326 User Registration 326 Events Calendar 328 Downloadable Documents 328 Polls 329 Staff Directory 329 Email Newsletter 330 RSS 330 Random Image 331 Sitemap 331 Extending the School Website Beyond the Basics 333 Summary 333 Chapter 11: Creating a Restaurant Site with Joomla! 335 Why Does a Restaurant Need a Website? 336 What Features Does a Restaurant Website Need? 336 Downloading and Installing a Restaurant Template 338 Organizing the Content on a Restaurant Website 340 Building Content Articles with Lorem Ipsum 343 Creating Menus 344 Setting Up the Homepage 349 Homepage Alternative to the Front Page Manager 349 Creating Footer Content 352 Creating Module Teaser Blocks 352 Using Stock Imagery 358 Extending a Restaurant Website 360 Image Gallery: JPG Flash Rotator 2 361 Calendar: JCal Pro 361 Email Marketing 361 Google Maps 361 Summary 362 Chapter 12: Creating a Blog with Joomla! 365 What Is a Blog? 366 Why Have a Blog? 367 What Options Are There for Blogging? 367 What Features Are Needed on a Blog Site? 368 Downloading and Installing a Blog Template 370 Optimus Template Features and Positions 371 Configuring the Logo 373 Configuring the Main Horizontal Drop-Down Menu 374 Organizing Content on a Blog 375 Organizing a Blog Within a Larger Site 375 Organizing a Standalone Blog 376 About Tagging 378 Creating the Menus 379 Adding Dynamic Modules 382 Adding Static Modules 385 Adding Basic Functionality to a Blog 387 Flexible Layout 387 Browser-Based Editing 387 Automated Publishing 387 Categories 387 Search Engine-Friendly URL 388 Comment Systems 388 Syndication Feeds 389 Email Notification 392 Search 393 TrackBack 393 Extending a Blog Website Beyond the Basics 394 Forums 395 Ecommerce 395 Summary 395 Appendix A: Getting Help with Joomla! 397 Community Forums 397 Help Sites 398 Getting Help from Google 398 Appendix B: Joomla! Case Studies 399 www.yourwedding.com.au (MP Media) 400 Interview with John Paoloni, Owner of Welcome to Your Wedding 400 www.longwoodfl.org (City of Longwood, Florida) 403 Interview with Ryan I. Spinella, Executive Assistant at the City of Longwood, Florida 404 www.ropl.org (Royal Oak Public Library--Michigan) 405 Interview with Eric Hayes, Technology Specialist, Royal Oak Public Library 405 www.nzmac.com (NZMac.com) 408 Interview with Philip Roy, Webmaster, NZMac.com 408 www.everythingtreo.com (Everything Treo) 411 Interview with Christopher Meinck, Everything Treo 411 Summary 414 Appendix C: A Quick Start to SEO 415 Keyword Use in the Title Tag 415 Anchor Text of an Inbound Link 415 Global Link Popularity (Page Rank) of a Site 416 Age of a Site 416 Link Popularity and Topical Relevance Within the Site 416 Topical Relevance of Inbound Links and Popularity of the Linking Site 416 Link Popularity of the Site in the Topical Community 417 Keyword Use in Body Text 417 File Size 417 Clean URLs 418 Error Pages 418 What's Not Here? 418 Appendix D: Installing WampServer 419 Index 429

Author Biography

Barrie North has more than 15 years of experience with the Internet, as a user, designer, and teacher. He has spent more than 8 years in the education field, becoming steadily more involved in web technology and teaching web design classes to students and teaching technology integration to teachers. Most recently, he worked as an IT consultant for two new schools pioneering in the use of technology. As well as web design, he has provided web marketing/SEO and usability, and he runs training classes for Joomla! across the United States. In 2008 he launched a new company, Simplweb.com, which provides turnkey Joomla! websites for small business, schools, and other industries. He has written many free tutorials for using Joomla! and is a frequent speaker at Joomla! events. His combination of Joomla! expertise, educational skills, and engaging writing has produced books accessible to everyone.