Most people who use the web are used to thinking about web sites in terms of pages and how they are linked to each other. Each page contains static content – once you create the page, it doesn’t change (until the web designer changes it). You might think of your site as having a tree structure: the home pag ...

Okay - bear with me. I know you want to get something up and running right away, but that's not what Joomla is about. There are things you must know before you can get even one page up. But don't despair - once you set all the parameters for your site, putting really cool things on it is a piece of cake! Th ...

Templates determine the look of your site, or of different sections of your site. If you go to the Template page of your admin (Site -> Template Manager -> Site Templates), you will see a few templates listed. Try clicking on one (the buttons to the far left, not the template name) and then clicking the &ldq ...

If you want an explanation of what Modules are, see tip #8. This tip is to introduce them to you, since you have your positions lined up in your template. Modules are little magic boxes that contain dynamic content. Go to Modules -> Site Modules in your Joomla admin. Here you will see a list of the modules that ...

When I say “adding text & images” I’m talking about the central part of the page, not any menu bars, not any of the boxes on the side (like polls, sign-up forms, or news items). Just the central content pane (the “mos_mainbody” you placed in your template). You already organized y ...

There are two ways to link from page to page: menus & links. In most web design (whether you use a wysiwyg editor or not), it’s easier to link text or images to another web page than it is to set up a menu. As with everything else, Joomla is the opposite. Menus are pretty easy -- linking, not so much. ...

Someone recently asked me for more specifics about making blogs, so here is my description: Blogs Joomla can create a blog out of any category or section you choose. Blog simply means that the page displays the titles and intro text to items in a category (or section), and links to full text. And you can ...

Joomla is designed to be expanded. Though it has a lot of built-in features, there are hundreds of others that you can download and incorporate into your Joomla admin. What is the difference between Modules, Components, and Mambots? Modules are simple plug-ins that present information on your site. Me ...

This tip is designed to help you find things that are on your page, you’re looking right at them, but can’t find where they exist in Mambo. If you’ve read the other chapters and are still looking for the contact page or how to change the look of a category page, this is the chapter for you. ...