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Joomla! A User's Guide: Building a Successful Joomla! Powered Website
The First Easy-to-Use Guide to Joomla!-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!-the world’s #1 open source content management system. 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 never-before-published 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! 1.0 and 1.5 reference content.
· Understanding content management, what Joomla! does, and how its components fit together
· Building Joomla! sites from scratch, and systematically customizing them to your needs
· Organizing content with sections, categories, blogs, and tables
· Creating dynamic pages and effective navigation
· Working with Joomla! modules and components
· Search engine optimization for Joomla! sites
· Start-to-finish case studies: building a school website, an e-commerce site, and a blog
· The most valuable Joomla! extensions and add-ons: finding them, and using them
· Key differences between Joomla! 1.0 and 1.5, and what they mean to you
About the Website
The accompanying site for the Joomla 1.5 book, provides five fully functional Joomla! sites with live follow-along examples from the book and up-to-date information on Joomla! The site also includes
* An active forum where you can ask questions specific to chapters from the book from a Joomla expert
* 5 fully functional Joomla 1.5 live follow-along examples from the book. You can browse the sites and their backends live online.
* Downloads of 5 free websites for Joomla 1.5 based on various chapter of the book. These are SQL dumps you can import to instantly give you a completed Joomla site.
* 4 free tutorial templates and 3 free templates from joomlashack.com including the popular commercial template - JS Aqualine!
CONTENTS:
Preface xix
Chapter 1: Content Management Systems and an Introduction to Joomla! 1
What Is a Content Management System? 2
Static Web Pages 2
Cascading Style Sheet Web Pages 3
Dynamic Web Pages 4
Open Source 7
History of Joomla! 8
Joomla! Community 9
Third-party Extensions Development 9
Joomla!’s Features 10
Elements of a Joomla! Website 11
Content 13
Modules 14
Templates 14
Summary 15
Chapter 2: Downloading and Installing Joomla! 17
How Do I Install Joomla!? 18
Where Can I Find the Most Current Joomla! Files? 18
Unpacking Joomla! on a Local Desktop Computer 23
Unpacking on a Hosting Account 26
Running the Joomla! Installation Wizard 28
Summary 35
Chapter 3: Joomla! Administration Basics 37
What Is the Frontend and Backend of a Joomla!-powered Website? 38
Menu Bar 40
Toolbar 41
Workspace 41
Administrator Functions in the Menu Bar 42
Site Submenu 42
Menus 50
Content 52
The Component Menu 53
Extensions 55
Tools 60
Global Checkin 61
Help 61
Site Preview 62
Summary 63
Chapter 4: Content Is King: Organizing Your Content 65
How Does Joomla! Generate Web Pages? 66
How Does Joomla! Organize Content Articles? 68
Uncategorized Articles 68
Sections and Categories 69
Sample Hierarchy 71
Creating the Widget Inc. Website with Uncategorized Content 72
Creating Content Articles 74
Creating Menu Items 77
Page Coponent 82
Creating Widget Inc. with Sections and Categories 86
Creating Sections 89
Creating Categories 91
Creating Content Articles 93
Creating Menu Items 95
“Read More” Links and Individual Pages 102
Module Content 104
Summary 107
Chapter 5: Creating Menus and Navigation 109
How Do Menus and Modules Work Together? 110
What Do Menu Items Do? 112
Creating a Menu Item 113
Where Does a Menu Item Link To? 116
What Does a Page Look Like After Following a Link? 116
Blog Layout 118
Blog Layout Parameters 119
List/Standard Layout for a Section 123
Section List/Standard Layout Parameters 125
List/Standard Layout for a Blog 125
Category List/Standard Layout Parameters 127
Module Manager 127
Module Parameters 130
Submenus 132
Summary 133
Chapter 6: Extending Joomla! 135
What Are Extensions? 136
Installing Extensions 137
Managing Extensions 139
Components 140
Core Components140
Third-party Components141
Modules144
Module Display 144
Core Modules 145
Third-party Modules 148
Plugins 149
Core Plugins 149
Third-party Plugins 150
Templates 150
Core Templates 151
Third-party Templates 151
Summary 151
Chapter 7: Expanding Your Content: Articles and Editors 153
WYSIWYG Editors 154
Managing WYSIWYG Editors 155
Other Third-party Editors 158
Creating and Managing Articles 160
Managing Content Through the Backend 161
Adding Content from the Backend 163
Inserting Images into Content 169
Creating an Article Table of Contents 172
Section and Category Descriptions 174
Article Content Preferences 176
Managing Content Through The Frontend 178
Creating a Frontend User Menu 178
Limiting Access to Menus by User Level 182
Authors 183
Editors 187
Publishers 189
Article Checkin 189
Summary 190
Chapter 8: Getting Traffic to Your Site 193
Start at the Beginning: Site Goals 194
Organic Traffic (SEO) 196
Introduction to Google 198
Creating Keywords 199
Keywords and Domain Name 202
Designing Your Site for Organic Traffic 203
Advanced SEO Techniques 209
Referral Traffic 215
Google PageRank 215
Using WebFerret to Find Websites 217
Other Link-Building Strategies 220
Internal Linking. 221
Pay-Per-Click Traffic 225
How Google Adwords Works 226
Joomla! and Adwords 228
Email Traffic 230
Joomla! Email Newsletter Extensions 232
Third-Party Hosted Email Solutions 232
Joomla! SEF Extensions 235
Summary 236
Chapter 9: Creating a Pure CSS Template 239
What Is a Joomla! Template? 240
Localhost Design Process 241
Localhost Server Options 242
W3C and Tableless Design 243
Semantically Correct Code 244
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) 244
Creating a Simple Template 245
The Template File Components 245
index.php 249
Blank Joomla! Template Body 253
CSSTemplateTutorialStep1 256
Using CSS to Create a Tableless Layout 256
Default CSS 261
Joomla!-Specific CSS 263
Modules in Templates 265
Menus in Templates 271
Hiding Columns 275
CSSTemplateTutorialStep2 280
Making a Real Joomla! 1.5 Template 280
Slicing and Dicing 280
Setting Up Module Locations 281
Header 282
Column Backgrounds 283
Flexible Modules 285
Typography 286
CSSTemplateTutorialStep3 291
Advanced Templating Features 291
Template Parameters 291
Template Overrides 293
Tableless Joomla! 297
CSSTemplateTutorialStep4 297
Summary 298
Chapter 10: Creating a School Site with Joomla! 301
Why Do We Need a School Website? 302
Students 302
Teachers and Administrators 303
Parents 303
What Features Do We Need on a School Site? 303
Downloading and Installing a School Template 304
Education Template Features and Positions 306
Configuring the Search Box 306
Configuring the Main Horizontal Drop-down Menu 308
Organizing Content on a School Website 310
Creating the Menus 314
Building Out Content 318
Creating Subnavigation 319
Academics Submenu 320
Creating News Links for a Section 322
Setting Up the Footer 324
Setting Up the Home Page 325
Adding Basic Functionality to a School Website 327
User Registration 328
Events Calendar 329
Downloadable Documents 330
Polls 331
Staff Directory 331
Email Newsletter 332
RSS 333
Random Image 334
Sitemap 334
Extending the School Website Beyond the Basics 336
Summary 337
Chapter 11: Creating a Restaurant Site with Joomla! 339
Why Does a Restaurant Need a Website? 340
What Features Does a Restaurant Website Need? 340
Downloading and Installing a Restaurant Template 342
Organizing the Content on a Restaurant Website 344
Building Content Articles with Lorem Ipsum 347
Creating Menus 349
Setting Up the Home Page 354
Home Page Alternative to the Front Page Manager 354
Creating Footer Content 356
Creating Module Teaser Blocks 358
Using Stock Imagery 362
Extending a Restaurant Website 364
Image Gallery: JPG Flash Rotator 2 365
Calendar: JCal Pro 365
Email Marketing 365
Google Maps 366
Summary 367
Chapter 12: Creating a Blog Site with Joomla! 369
What Is a Blog? 370
Why Have a Blog? 371
What Options Are There for Blogging? 372
What Features Are Needed on a Blog Site? . 373
Downloading and Installing a Blog Template 374
Aqualine Template Features and Positions 376
Configuring the Logo 377
Configuring the Main Horizontal Drop-down Menu 378
Organizing Content on a Blog
Organizing a Blog Within a Larger Site 379
Organizing a Standalone Blog 380
About Tagging 382
Creating the Menus 382
Adding Dynamic Modules 386
Adding Static Modules 388
Adding Basic Functionality to a Blog 390
Flexible Layout 390
Browser-based Editing 390
Automated Publishing 390
Categories 391
Search Engine Optimized URLs 391
Comment Systems 391
Syndication Feeds 392
Email Notification 395
Search 396
Trackback 396
Extending a Blog Website Beyond the Basics 397
Forums 398
Ecommerce 398
Summary 398
Appendix A: Getting Help 399
Community Forums 399
Help Sites 399
Getting Help from Google 400
Appendix B: Joomla! Case Studies 401
Six Case Studies for Organizations That Use Joomla! 401
www.yourwedding.com.au (MP Media) 402
www.longwoodfl.org (City of Longwood, Florida) 404
www.ropl.org (Royal Oak Public Library–Michigan) 407
www.telx.com (The Telx Group, Inc.) 409
www.nzmac.com (NZMac.com) 411
www.everythingtreo.com (Everything Treo) 414
Summary 417
Appendix C: A Quick Start to SEO 419
1. Keyword Use in Title Tag 419
2. Anchor Text of Inbound Link 419
3. Global Link Popularity of Site (PageRank 419
4. Age of Site 420
5. Link Popularity Within the Site 420
6. Topical Relevance of Inbound Links and Popularity of Linking Site 420
7. Link Popularity of Site in Topic Community 420
8. Keyword Use in Body Text 421
9. File Size 421
10. Clean URL 421
11. Utilize Your Error Pages 421
What’s Not Here? 422
Appendix D: Installing WAMP5 423
Index 431
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