Manual Installation of Joomla!

This tutorial will show you how to install Joomla manually. Alternatively, you can install Joomla using an AutoInstaller tool like Fantastico. You can also get a free professional Joomla installation with your Joomla hosting account at SiteGround.com.

How to Manually Install Joomla 1.5

To install Joomla manually follow the steps below: Step 1.Create a MySQL database for your Joomla installation and add a new user to it. This can be done easily with cPanel by following the MySQL database tutorial. In case you are not using cPanel you can refer to the MySQL manual on creating databases and adding users to it. Step 2. Create a folder called upload on your computer. Step 3.Go to the Joomla download page. Download the .zip file with the latest version to the upload folder and extract it there. Step 4.Upload all the content from upload to the directory on the server where Joomla 1.5 will be installed. SiteGround recommends using FTP for this purpose and the FTP tutorial will guide you through the necessary steps. Step 5.Open the URL of the newly uploaded Joomla files. This will be either http://your_domain_name.com or a subdirectory such as http://your_domain_name.com/example. Step 6.You will be redirected to the Joomla installation page:

On the first page of the installation you will be able to choose the Language for the installation. The selected language will be valid only for the installation process. Once installed Joomla will be back in English. We recommend selecting "English" in order to follow easier the next steps from the tutorial. Step 7.Joomla will perform a pre-installation check of the system environment. Failing to meet a requirement or recommendation may cause functional and security problems later.

Here is a screenshot of all Joomla 1.5 requirements met on a standard SiteGround hosting account:

Step 8.Once you make sure all requirements are met, click on the [Next] button from the top right menu. Step 9.Next you will have to accept Joomla's license and click on [Next] to continue. Step 10. The following page will ask about the MySQL details for the new Joomla 1.5 installation. Here are some example entries and explanations for these fields in case you have difficulties understanding exactly what information you should enter:

Step 11. Next you will have to configure your File Transfer Protocol (FTP). Leave it to the default settings and just click [Next] from the top right menu. Step 12. From the page that appears you will be able to complete the final Joomla 1.5 settings specifying your email and specifying the admin password. Click on [Next] to proceed.

In our example we will not use the option Install Sample Data because it may cause confusion and require time to remove all the data populated later. Step 13. In the last page of the installation wizard you will receive a confirmation that Joomla has been successfully installed. Before being able to access your new Joomla 1.5 you must delete the installation directory. For this purpose use FTP as described in Step 3. Well done! Your Joomla website is now installed. If you would like to learn more about the options the manual Joomla installation offers, please contact the SiteGround support team. Our technical team is expert in Joomla related questions and able to build the perfect environment for running your Joomla 1.5 website.

How to create a website with Joomla?

How to start a Joomla site?
Joomla! is an easy to use CMS tool, which allows you to create a website with practically no design or programing skills. To start a Joomla site, you need to sign up for a hosting account and have Joomla CMS installed. At SiteGround.com you can get a free professional Joomla installation with your Joomla Hosting account .

This Joomla guide covers the following topics:

Logging into the Joomla admin area Creating Articles Creating a Contact us page Linking Articles to the Menu Creating a Poll in Joomla 1.5

in

Joomla

Logging into the Joomla admin area

After having Joomla 1.5 installed on your account, you can begin adding your content. In this example we'll assume that your domain is your_domain_name.com. Thus the Joomla's admin panel will be accessible at:

http://your_domain_name.com/administrator
Please make sure you change your_domain_name.com to your actual domain name when following this tutorial. To log in to your Joomla admin area, enter your login information in the Joomla! Administration Login screen:

Creating articles in Joomla

If you have installed Joomla through Fantastico or from source with the sample data, you will already have a few articles created and published. You can take a look at how they are written and organized in order to get used to managing your articles. To see them go to Content > Article Manager from the top admin menu.

There you will see several articles listed. Once you click an article link, you will enter the Edit mode for the article. From the Edit menu you can modify the article's title, text, etc. Before building your first article, let's remove all default articles to avoid confusion. For this purpose go back to Content > Article Manager from the top admin menu. Then select all articles by checking the first radio button in the column and click on the [Trash] button from the top admin menu.

Now let's create your first article which we'll call "About us". Step 1. From the top admin menu click on [New].

Step

2.

Then

make

the

following

changes

in

the

corresponding

fields:

Title: About us Alias: (leave it blank) Section: Uncategorized Category: Uncategorized Published: Yes (If the article is not published, it will not be shown to your visitors. It will remain only as a draft.) Frontpage: Yes (This will allow it to appear on the first page of your site.) In the main text field write some information about your company...

Step 3. You can also insert your company's logo. For this purpose click on the image icon at the bottom of the page:

Step 4. Since your logo is not uploaded yet, click on the [Upload file] link to upload it. Browse your local computer and find the logo image. Click on [Start Upload] to upload it.

Step 5. You will see a confirmation that the file has been successfully uploaded. Now it can be found in the upper part of the window along with the default Joomla images. Click on logo.png (or whatever the name of your logo is) to select it and then on [Insert] to insert it in your article. The logo's position in the article can be easily adjusted by dragging the image.

Step 6. The last step is to save this article by clicking on the [Save] button.

For more information on how to create different type of websites, check our page on how to make a website with SiteGround Website Wizard

How to create a website with Joomla: Contact us page

Receiving feedback from the website visitors is important for every webmaster. In this tutorial we will show you how to create a Contact Us page. It is an easy and convenient way to get in touch with the people that browse your website. For additional information on how to create your Joomla 1.5 website, you can check our tutorial on Creating a website with Joomla 1.5.

Creating a Contact us Page

Lets add a "Contact us" page with an online mail form to your Joomla website using the Joomla form component. Step 1. First you need to create a new Contacts Category. For this purpose go to Components -> Contacts -> Categories:

Step 2. Click on [New]. Since we plan to have a simple Contact Us page, you should create only one single category. We will use "General" for its name in the tutorial. Enter "General" under title then click on [Save].

Step 3. Go to Components -> Contacts -> Contacts:

Step 4. Click on [New] and fill in the information. You have to make sure the email you enter is valid since all the mails you receive via this Joomla contact form will be sent to it. Step 5. In order to avoid having your contact's name duplicated later, from the right box "Contacts parameters" check the button Hide next to "Name". Step 6. Leave the rest of the default options unchanged and click on [Save] from the top-right menu.

Your Joomla contact form will be saved and you will be able to publish it on your site. Step 7. To publish the new contact form go to Menus in the Joomla administrator area. Choose the menu where you would like the link to the new contacts page published and click New. Step 8. Under Internal Link choose Contacts then Standard Contact Layout.

Step 9. Enter the desired link title (for example Contact Us) and choose the newly created contact from the drop down menu under Parameters (Basic) in the right part of the page. Then click [Save].

How to create a website with Joomla: Links

In this tutorial we will show you how to link your articles to your menus. After reading this tutorial you will be able to add new items to your menus and expand your website with different sections.

Linking Articles to the Menu

In order to make your pages accessible for your visitors, you should link them in the site menu. To do this, follow the steps below. Step 1. From the admin panel, go to Menus -> Main Menu*.

Step 2. Delete all default links. For this purpose check the first radio button to select all links and click on Trash. (There will be a warning "You cannot trash the default menu item" which can be safely disregarded) Step 3. Let's add links to your articles and the "Contact us" page. For this purpose click on [New] from the top-left menu and select the item type. In our case it will be Internal link - Article - Article Layout:

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Step 4. Fill in the information about the links. Let's call the link "About us". Then from the left Parameters Basic click on [Select]:

Step 5. A box with all your pages will appear and you should click on "About us":

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Step 6. Save the link by clicking on [Save] from the top-right menu.

How to set a page as default?

While you are still in the Menu Item Manager, let's set your page "About us" as default. Step 1. For this purpose check its radio button and click on [Default] from the top menu:

Step 2. (Optionally) You can remove the default link "Home" because we will not need it.

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How to add the Contact us page to the menu?

Step 1. Let's add a link to the "Contact us" page. For this purpose click on the [New] icon from the top menu and choose:Internal Link -> Contacts -> Category -> Standard Contact Layout.

Step 2. Fill the information about your new menu item "Contact us" and click [Save].

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How to create a website with Joomla: Poll

In this tutorial we will show you how to add a poll to your website.

Creating a Poll in Joomla 1.5

Let's place a poll in order to find out what visitors think about your new site. Follow the steps below to add a poll to your Joomla site: Step 1. From the top menu in the Joomla admin area choose Components -> Polls:

Step 2. Click [New] from the top right menu. Let's call the poll: "What do you think about our site?". Step 3. In the left menu we will list the poll options: "Great", "Not bad", "Awful".

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Step 4. To save the new poll, click on [Save] from the top right menu. Step 5. Now the poll has to be made public, i.e. to be published. For this purpose click on Extensions -> Module Manager from the top menu:

Step 6. Choose [New] from the top - right menu, find Poll from the options listed and check it.

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Step 7. Click on "Next" from the top right menu. Step 8. Set the poll title to: What do you think about our new site? Step 9. Set "Show title" to "No". Step 10. From the right box, Module Parameters > Poll select the poll called "What do you think about our new site".

Step 11. Click on [Save] from the top right menu and you will have the poll published on your frontpage. If you experience any issues creating your polls, you can contact the SiteGround support team for assistance.

Advanced options in Joomla 1.5: Counter

This tutorial will show you how to add a counter to your Joomla. It will display the number of people that have visited your website. With Joomla you can do this with just a few clicks.

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Adding a counter to your site

Joomla 1.5 offers an easy way to add an advanced web counter to your site. To add the counter, follow the steps below: Step 1. Log in to your Joomla admin panel and go to Extensions -> Module Manager:

Step 2. From the top right menu choose [New]. Step 3. From the listed options check "Statistics" and click "Next" from the top right panel. Step 4. The next page has many advanced counter options. We will change only:

Title: Counter Show Title: No Hit Counter: Yes (From the right box)

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Step 5. Click on [Save] from the top-right menu to save the counter.

Advanced options in Joomla 1.5: SEF URLs

This tutorial will show you how to enable the "Search Engine Friendly" URLs functionality of your Joomla 1.5 application. When SEO is enabled, your links will be in human-readable format and this will help your website rank higher in search results. If you are looking for the perfect environment to create your Joomla website, you can check our Joomla hosting package.

Search Engine Optimization

To have the website better indexed by search engines such as Google and Yahoo, the pages have to be with meaningful names. That's why SiteGround recommends using Joomla's SEO functionality. To enable SEO for your Joomla website, follow the steps below: Step 1. Enable mod_rewrite. Mod_rewrite is installed on all SiteGround servers and in order to enable the rewrite rules, you will have to rename the htaccess.txt file in your Joomla installation directory to .htaccess. Step 2. Enable Joomla's SEO functionality from Site -> Global configuration in the admin panel.

Step 3. In the SEO Settings section change Search Engine Friendly URLs and Use Apache mod_rewrite to Yes. Step 4. Click on [Save] from the top right menu. This will change the link to, for example, the "About us" page from:

http://your_domain_name.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1& Itemid=2
to

http://your_domain_name.com/About-us

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If you experience any issues with enabling the SEF functionality of your Joomla, do not hesitate to contact our Support Team. We are experts in Joomla related questions and will happily assist you.

Joomla Layout
This tutorial will explain the different parts of the Joomla layout. If you don't have a Joomla website installed yet, you can check our tutorial on How to install Joomla. You can also get a free professional Joomla installation with your Joomla Hosting account at SiteGround.com.

How to change the Joomla Frontpage Layout?

The layout and content positioning of your Joomla website is defined by the Joomla template you currently use. Below you can see a screenshot that represents the basic items,added by the default Joomla template. You will find a short explanation of each item under the image. This will help you understand better the structure and key concepts of a Joomla website layout and how to change it.

The available positions in Joomla are defined by the template you are using. In this tutorial we will show the positions 1-10 in one of Joomla's default templates which is included in the official installation package. To change the position of a certain module, you can access it from the Extensions -> Module Manager page and then change its "Position" setting. Some of the most commonly used position names are top, user1 to user6, left, right, header, footer, breadcrumb, andnewsflash.

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1.

In the "top" position of the Joomla website the "Banners" and "Newsflash" modules are placed by default. The Banners module allows you to upload images that link to a desired URL. You can define your banners from Components -> Banners and then display the selected items by publishing the "Banners" module from the Extensions -> Module Manager page in your Joomla administrative area. The Newsflash module displays a single random article, or a number of articles in a horizontal or vertical configuration. From your Joomla administration area you can select a category of articles that will be displayed by this module.

2.

The "Top menu" module is published into the "user3" position by default. You can easily create and manage menus from the Menus -> Menus Manager page. You can then set your "Top menu" module to display the menu you have just created. The "Breadcrumbs" module is placed into the "breadcrumb" position. It is a convenient navigation method which displays the current page you are on and the full "path" to it. If you are in a page called "Sample Page" that is under the main menu, the "Breadcrumbs" will display Home -> Sample Page. Using Breadcrumbs is very useful especially when you have multi-level menus. The "Search" module is published in the "user4" position of the template. It gives your users the option to search within the content of your website. Several modules are published into the "left" position of the template. In this position you can publish vertical menus, login forms and many other modules depending on your particular needs. The "Latest News" module is published into the "user1" position of the template. It displays the most recently added articles from the selected category or from all categories. In addition, you can specify the number of displayed articles depending on your preferences. The "Popular" module is published into the "user2" position of the template. It will display a selected number of articles that are visited the most. You can either select a category from which the articles will be displayed or you can set the module to display the most visited articles in the entire site. This is the main part of your website. Here are the newest articles you have set to be displayed on the front page. A "Polls" module is published into the "right" position of the template. You can create the actual polls from the Components -> Pollspage in the administrative back-end of your Joomla application. Once you have created your Polls, you can choose which one to be displayed on your website by editing the preferences of the "Polls" module from the "Module manager".

3.

4. 5. 6.

7.

8. 9.

10. "Banners" and "Footer" modules are displayed in the "footer" position of the template. You can use the "Footer" module to display useful links, your copyright and other useful information at the bottom of your page.

In the SiteGround Joomla templates Gallery you can find a variety of free Joomla templates with different layouts and themes! Here are instructions on how to change Joomla templates or create a basic Joomla template yourself.

Create a simple Joomla 1.5 template

This tutorial will show you how to create a simple Joomla 1.5 template. You can get ideas how to create your new Joomla template from our Free Joomla templates gallery.

How to create a basic Joomla 1.5 template?

First, open the "templates" directory in your Joomla installation. Then create a subfolder in it named "tutorial_template". All the files of your template will reside in it.

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Inside your new directory, create a file called index.php, and another named templateDetails.xml. Then create a folder named css and in it - a new file name template.css. In order to create these files, you can use a simple Notepad and store the files on your computer, and upload them later via FTP or the File Manager of your cPanel. Those are the basic files that each Joomla template needs to function properly. O index.php - Specifies the available module positions and the path to your Stylesheet file. This is the main "section" of your template; templateDetails.xml - This is a system file that provides information about your template to the Joomla application; css/template.css - The stylesheet file of your template. It defines the looks of your website; Once you have done that, change the default template for your website to the newly created one. For more information how to do this, check our tutorial on Changing the default template of Joomla 1.5. Now, let's take a detailed look on what each file should contain: The index.php file should start with:

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="<?php echo $this>language; ?>" lang="<?php echo $this->language; ?>" > <head> <jdoc:include type="head" /> </head>
Those lines specify the beginning of the HTML output of your website. This PHP code - <jdoc:include type="head" /> will include in your page the Joomla header content (the page title, meta description, keywords, etc.) that you have added in the administrative end of your application. Next, we have to add the "body" part of your website:

<body> <jdoc:include type="component" /> </body> </html>

The <jdoc:include type="component" /> line will display the main content of any given page. Now, it is time to check our template. Save the index.php file and login to the Administrative end of your Joomla application. From it, make the new "tutorial_template" template default for your website. For more information on how to do that you can refer to our tutorial on how to change the default template of Joomla 1.5. Your page should look like this one depending on the content you have:

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This page includes only your articles without any styling or modules displayed. Now, let's add some module positions. Edit your index.php file and change the lines between <body> and </body> to:

<div id="container"> <div id="header"> <jdoc:include type="modules" name="top" /> </div> <div id="sidebar_left" class="float"> <jdoc:include type="modules" name="left" /> </div> <div id="content" class="float"> <jdoc:include type="component" /></div> <div id="sidebar_right"class="float"> <jdoc:include type="modules" name="right" /> </div> <div id="footer" class="clear"> <jdoc:include type="modules" name="footer" /> </div> </div>
The <jdoc:include type="modules" name="left" /> line tells the Joomla application where to insert the modules published in the "left" position. We have just added the top, left, right and footer positions to your template. Note that we have surrounded those in <div> tags and added information about their classes and ID's. In addition, we have wrapped everything in a div with ID "container" which allows us to set the basic dimensions of your page. The div classes will be defined in the template.css file once we create it. At this point, however, your index.php should look like this:

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="<?php echo $this>language; ?>" lang="<?php echo $this->language; ?>" > <head> <jdoc:include type="head" /> </head> <body> <div id="container"> <div id="header"><jdoc:include type="modules" name="top" /> </div>

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<div id="sidebar_left" class="float"><jdoc:include type="modules" name="left" /></div> <div id="content" class="float"><jdoc:include type="component" /></div> <div id="sidebar_right"class="float"><jdoc:include type="modules" name="right" /></div> <div id="footer" class="clear"><jdoc:include type="modules" name="footer" /></div> </div> </body> </html>
Now we have to edit the templateDetails.xml file. In it, paste the following lines:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <!DOCTYPE install PUBLIC "-//Joomla! 1.5//DTD template 1.0//EN" "http://dev.joomla.org/xml/1.5/template-install.dtd"> <install version="1.5" type="template"> <name>tutorial_template</name> <creationDate>02/2008</creationDate> <author>SiteGround</author> <authorEmail>templates@siteground.com</authorEmail> <authorUrl>http://www.siteurl.com</authorUrl> <copyright>SiteGround</copyright> <license>SG TOS</license> <version>1.0.0</version> <description>Basic Joomla Template</description> <files> <filename>index.php</filename> <filename>templateDetails.xml</filename> <filename>css/template.css</filename> </files> <positions> <position>left</position> <position>right</position> <position>top</position> <position>footer</position> </positions> </install>
Let's take a more detailed look on the lines of the templateDetails.xml file:

<install version="1.5" type="template"> - This line shows the Joomla version which your template is designed for. It will allow the Joomla template installer to correctly install your template if you decide to make an archive of the template and use it on a different Joomla instance. <name>tutorial_template</name> - This line defines the name of your template. For the purpose of this tutorial, we are using "tutorial_template"; <creationDate>02/2008</creationDate> - This line displays the creation date of your template; <author>SiteGround</author> - This line defines the author of the template; <authorEmail>user@yourdomain.com</authorEmail> - Add your e-mail in this line; <authorUrl>http://www.siteground.com</authorUrl> - This line specifies the website of the template creator; <copyright>SiteGround</copyright> - You should add the copyright information for your template in this line; <license>SG TOS</license> - This line specifies the type of license your template is published under; <version>1.0.0</version> - This line defines the version of your template; <description>Basic Joomla Template</description> - Here you can add additional information for your template;

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<files>

<filename>index.php</filename> <filename>templateDetails.xml</filename> <filename>css/template.css</filename> </files> - Those lines specify all the files that your template uses. <positions> <position>left</position> <position>right</position> <position>top</position> <position>footer</position> </positions> - Those lines define the positions you have enabled in your template.

The next step is to add some styling to the template. First, open the index.php file and add the following line just before the</head> tag: <link rel="stylesheet" href="<?php echo ?>/templates/tutorial_template/css/template.css" type="text/css" /> This line will tell your website where to load its stylesheet file from. Now, you should edit the css/template.css file and add the following lines to it: $this->baseurl

* { padding: 0; margin: 0; } img { border: 0; } body { font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0; padding: 0; font-size: 13px; color: #0F0F0F; } a:link, a:visited { text-decoration: underline; font-weight: normal; color: #000; outline: none; text-align: left; } .float { float: left; } .clear { clear: both; } .overall { background-color: #fff; } div.center { text-align: center; margin: 0px auto 0 auto; padding: 0; width: 950px;

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background: #FFFFFF; } #container { width:960px; margin: auto; background-color: #f4f9fc; border: 1px solid #e2e2e2; text-align: left; } #header { text-align: center; background-color:#f4f9fc; height: 80px; } #content { width: 598px; text-align: left; background-color:#f4f9fc; padding: 5px; } #sidebar_left { text-align: center; background-color:#f4f9fc; width: 165px; border-right: 1px solid #e2e2e2; border-bottom: 1px solid #e2e2e2; padding: 5px; } #sidebar_right { background-color:#f4f9fc; text-align: center; width: 165px; border-left: 1px solid #e2e2e2; border-bottom: 1px solid #e2e2e2; padding: 5px; } #footer { background-color:#f4f9fc; text-align:center; border-top: 1px solid #e2e2e2; border-bottom: 1px solid #e2e2e2; padding: 5px; }

Those lines will add some clean basic design to the different parts of your website. You will need some basic skills in working with CSS in order to make changes in the outlook of your Joomla site. Your template is now complete, at this point your website should look like this :

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From now on it is up to your imagination to create the design of your website as you want it. You can add different module positions, play with the css file, add images for backgrounds and much more. Joomla's template structure gives you the freedom to create the website you have always wanted. Good luck!

How to create drop-down menus in Joomla 1.5

This tutorial will show you how to create horizontal drop-down menus in your Joomla 1.5 website using the Extended Menu extension. Disclaimer: Please note that this is an example tutorial. Exact steps might differ depending on the Joomla 1.5 template you are using for your website. In order to successfully accomplish creating a drop-down menu it might require at least basic knowledge of Joomla 1.5 CSS and the ability to adjust the CSS code according to the specific needs of your website. Step 1.You need to install the Extended Menu module in your Joomla application. For more information on how to install extensions to Joomla check our tutorial on How to install extensions to your Joomla website. The module can be downloaded from the Official website of its creators. Step 2.Go to Extensions -> Module Manager and click on the newly installed Extended Menu module. Step 3. Now you have to configure the Extended Menu module. It provides you with the ability to set many different variables that change the way your menus will work. You can, however, leave most of the settings in their default values. You can only change the Menu Style option to Tree List ,Active Menu Class to Both, Enable Menu Template to No and Element Id to Yes. In addition you have to select which menu should be loaded from the Menu Name drop-down box.

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Step 4. Now you have to organize your menus properly in order to make them display as a drop-down menus. For the purpose of this tutorial we will create a sub-enu of the Features menu and display it as a drop-down. To do this go to the Menus -> Top Menu(or if you changed the name of this menu - the one you have set) page and click on the New button. Once you set your menu to display the desired content, make sure you set its "parent" menu. In our case that will be the Features menu.

For more information on how to create menus take a look on our tutorial on Creating articles in Joomla. Step 5. Finally you should add to your CSS file some lines that specify the behavior of the drop-down menu. You can simply add those lines at the end of the stylesheet file of your template (usually template.css):

ul#menulist_root li ul { display:none; } ul#menulist_root li:hover ul{ display:block; background:none;

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} ul#menulist_root li ul li{ background:#000000; opacity:.85; filter: alpha(opacity=85); -moz-opacity: 0.85; clear:both; } ul#menulist_root li ul li a{ background:none; width:66px; } ul#menulist_root li ul li a:hover{ color:#AA0000; background:none; }
This style sheet will display a stylish, transperant drop-down menu once you point your mouse to the Features menu (i.e. on hover). You can use different CSS to achieve the looks you want for your menus. Well done! you have successfully added a stylish horizontal drop-down menu to your Joomla website! At this point your page should look like this:

Joomla Extension Types

Joomla Components, Modules, Plugins, Templates, and Languages
This tutorial describes the different extension types available for Joomla. For more information on how to install an extension you can check our tutorial on How to install extensions to your Joomla website. There are five types of Joomla extensions that you can use to add functionality to your website: Components, Modules,Plugins, Templates, and Languages. Each of these extensions adds specific functionality to your pages.

Components can be considered as mini-applications. A component can add a completely new functionality to your website. Components can vary from search engines to entire shopping cart solutions. Each component is driven by a menu and each menu item runs a component. You can manage your components through the sub-items of the "Components" menu in your Joomla administrative panel.

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Each component has two parts - back-end that allows you to configure and manage its content and a front-end that displays your information in the selected way.

Modules are more lightweight extensions that display information on your website. They can be attached to a component like the "Popular" module for example, which is attached to the com_content component and shows the most popular articles in your website. Modules can display information even if they are not attached to a component. Actually, they can display everything - from static HTML to complex slide shows. Your modules can be managed through the Extensions -> Module Manager page in your Joomla back-end. Plugins are usually used to add extra functionality to your website. They are complex extensions that handle different events. For example, plugins can allow you to embed movies to your articles, show tooltips and many other different types of functionalities. The legacy name of the plugins is "Mambots". You can manage your plugins from the Extensions -> Plugin Manager page in your Joomla administrative area. Templates specify the way your website looks. The Joomla template handles the entire design of your pages. In addition, the template specifies in which parts of your page the different module positions are displayed. You can change the default template of your website from the Extensions -> Template Manager menu in your Joomla admin area. Languages are core packages that translate the entire Joomla interface of your administrative panel and/or the front-end of your website. You can manage the already installed languages in your Joomla application through theExtensions -> Language Manager menu.

Our technical staff demonstrates tremendous skill and expertise in troubleshooting Joomla-related issues. If you experience any issues with the installation of your extensions, contact the SiteGround support team.

How to install Joomla extensions

When using Joomla you can easily extend the funtionality of your website by adding Joomla extensions. There many types of Joomla extensions you can add to your Joomlasite such as components, modules, plugins, which allow you to change the looks and/or functionality of your website. In Joomla 1.5 all extensions are installed in the same way.

How to install Joomla Components, Modules, etc.

In Joomla 1.5 the installation of Joomla Components, Modules, Plugins, Templates, and Languages, the so-called Joomla extensions, is done from one place and requires the same actions. For the purpose of this tutorial we'll install the VirtueMart component for Joomla 1.5. Follow the steps below to complete the installation of any Joomla module, component, etc.: Step 1. Download VirtueMart from the official website. Make sure you download the complete package for Joomla 1.5. Step 2. Go to your Joomla admin area > Extensions > Install/Uninstall.

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Step 3. In the Upload Package File section click Browse and locate the VirtueMart archive.

Step

4.

Click Upload

File

&

Install to

upload

the

file

and

complete

the

installation.

Step 5. Some components, including VirtueMart, need an additional step in order to complete their installation. In the case with VirtueMart you should choose whether to install sample data or not. Let's install it by clicking the Install SAMPLE DATA >> button.

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This will complete the VirtueMart installation and you will be able to manage it from the Components menu > VirtueMart. You will be able to install any other component/module/plugin/theme for Joomla 1.5 following the same steps. Please note that components built for Joomla 1.0.x cannot be installed on Joomla 1.5 unless Legacy mode is enabled. More information on how to install Joomla 1.0.x components to Joomla 1.5 is available in our Knowledge base.

How to remove extensions from Joomla 1.5

You can remove extensions in Joomla 1.5 from the admin area > Extensions > Install/Uninstall. Depending on the type of extension you wish to remove, you should click on one of the following Components, Modules, Plugins, Languages, Templates. Then from the available extensions select the one you want to uninstall and click the Uninstall button. This will remove the extension from your Joomla installation.

At SiteGround we will help you extend the functionality of your website according to your needs, and you can get the required extension professionally installed on your SiteGround hosting account.

Joomla Common Issues

This tutorial will show you how to fix some of the most common issues that Joomla users experience. It covers the following topics:

How to resolve a Database Error: Unable to connect to the database:Could not connect to database error; How to fix the issue with your menu items opening a 404 Page Not Found error;

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How to add your module into the desired position even if the position is not available in the Position dropdown menu; How to resolve an Error:"xml file is missing in package" issue when installing a new template; How to fix an issue with a "MySQL Server has gone away" error while installing a new extension; How to resolve an '404 - Component not found' error in Joomla 1.5;

If you encounter the following error when browsing your website: Database Error: Unable to connect to the database:Could not connect to database You should check the configuration.php file of your Joomla application and make sure the following lines are correct:

var var var var var var

$dbtype = 'mysql'; $host = 'localhost'; $user = 'user_jo151'; $password = 'YourPassword'; $db = 'user_jo151'; $dbprefix = 'jos_';

You should make sure you are using the correct MySQL username and database in your configuration.php file. You can use the MySQL Databases tool in your cPanel in order to check the correct username and database for your Joomla. In addition, make sure that your MySQL username is added to your database. More information on that matter can be found in our tutorial on How to create a MySQL database and user. This issue can also be caused by errors within the database itself. In such cases you can try restoring your Joomla database. For more information on how to do this you can refer to our tutorial on How to backup and restore a MySQL database. Your main website looks fine but all of your links return a "404 Page Not Found" error. Such issues are usually caused by the SEF functionality of Joomla. There are several things you should check in order to fix this:

Open your configuration.php file and edit the var $live_site = ' '; line to match the actual URL of your website. If your website is http://yourdomain.com for example, the line should look like this:

var $live_site = 'http://yourdomain.com ';

Go to the administrative end of your Joomla website -> Global Configuration and make sure that both Search Engine Friendly URLs and Use Apache mod_rewrite are set to Yes. Make sure you have renamed the htaccess.txt file in your Joomla folder to .htaccess.

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If you follow all of the steps above you should have a fully operational Joomla website with the SEF functionality enabled. For testing purposes you can temporarily disable the Search Engine Friendly URLs in order to check whether they are the cause for your issues. If you want to publish a module in a certain position but you can't find it in the "Position" drop-down menu, you can simply type it. For example, if you want to publish a menu in the "user3" position and it is not in the list, you can simply typeuser3 in the field. Joomla displays only the positions that have published modules in them. Therefore, if the position is defined in the template you are using you can safely type it even if it is not shown in the Position options. If you receive an Error:"xml file is missing in package" when installing a new template, first check whether it is designed for Joomla 1.5. If it is created for Joomla 1.0 you can try enabling the Joomla Legacy plugin. For more information on how to do that you can check this article. Another reason for this issue could be that the archive you are trying to install contains the actual installation package; i.e. there is an archive within the archive. The solution is simple - you should extract the archive and install the actual installation package. When installing a new extension you may receive a "MySQL Server has gone away" error. Usually this error occurs when you try to install a big extension and you have the FTP Layer of your Joomla application enabled. As a workaround you can disable the FTP Layer by logging to your Administrative area -> Global Configuration -> Server -> FTP Settings. There set the value of "Enable FTP" to "No". Then try installing your extension again. If you receive a '404 - Component not found' error in Joomla 1.5 error when going to your main page you should check whether you have a default menu item published. Joomla needs a default item for the front page. In order to do this, go to your admin area -> Menus -> Your main menu. Then select the menu item that you want to be loaded when you visit your main page and click on the "Default" button at the top-right of the page.

You can submit new topics/issues/solutions using the "Feedback" button at the top of this page.

Joomla Security

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RECOMMENDED: jHackGuard - Joomla 1.5 Plugin

As an addition to the security tips given in this tutorial we have developed a plugin to further protect your Joomla websites! We still advise you to follow the steps explained below to make sure your Joomla website is safe. More info about jHackGuard... The purpose of this tutorial is to show you how to secure your Joomla website. There are several steps you can take to protect your Joomla application. Joomla's security can be improved significantly by following these simple steps.

Change the administrative username of your Joomla Change the default table prefix of your Joomla database Password protect your Joomla administrative area Keep your Joomla up-to-date Use the .htaccess file to additionally secure Joomla

How to change the administrative username of your Joomla website

By default your administrative username is admin. The majority of the attackers would expect the username to be admin. Changing it will protect you against many attacks. To do this, you should: Step 1. Log in to the Joomla administrative area and click on the User Manager menu.

Step 2. Click on your administrative user in order to edit it. You can either check the box next to the user and click the "Edit" button or directly click on the user's full name.

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Step 3. In the next page you should edit the Username field. Change it to something different than "admin" and click on the "Save" button.

Alternatively, you can do this by modifying the database of your Joomla website: Step 1. Open the phpMyAdmin tool in your cPanel and load your Joomla database. Step 2. Select the jos_users table from the left column and click on the Browse button to edit the rows in it.

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Step 3. Locate the line for the "admin" username and click on the pen icon next to it to edit it.

Step 4. Change the value of the "username" field to something different than "admin". Using lower and upper case characters as well as numbers is highly recommended. Step 5. Once you change your administrative username, press the Go button at the bottom right part of the page.

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Now you can login to the administrative area of your Joomla application with the new username.

How to change the default table prefix of your Joomla database

Changing the default table prefix will stop the majority of attacks against your database. You can use the DB Admin component in order to do this. Although it is originally designed for Joomla 1.0.x, it works on Joomla 1.5 too. Step 1. Install the component and go to Components > DB Admin. Step 2. Using the intuitive interface, change the default "jos_" prefix of your Joomla 1.5 tables to a different value. Step 3. Modify the configuration.php file in your main Joomla folder. In it locate the following line: var $dbprefix = 'jos_'; You will have to edit it to correspond to the new table prefix you have set. For example, if you have changed the table prefix to "smth_" the line in the configuration.php file should look like this: var $dbprefix = 'smth_'; The default table prefix of your Joomla database is now changed. This should block the majority of attacks against your database.

Password protect your administrative area

Password protecting the "administrator" folder will add an additional layer of protection to your Joomla website. For more information on how to do that you should refer to our tutorial on How to password protect directories. You should set username and password for your website different from the ones for your Joomla application. Once you do this, you will have to login twice. First to access the login page of Joomla and then to login in the application itself. That would make guessing your passwords a very difficult task for any attacker. In addition, even if there is a security breach within the Joomla script itself, a potential attacker won't be able to gain access to your administrative end even if s/he knows your login details.

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Keep your website up-to-date

You should always keep your Joomla application up-to-date. We recommend you to subscribe to the Joomla newsletter in order to receive news about new versions. You can do this at Joomla's official download page. Once you receive a notification that a new version of Joomla is released, you should upgrade your website immediately. For detailed information on how to upgrade your site, you can refer to our Joomla upgrade tutorials:

How to upgrade Joomla 1.0.x How to upgrade Joomla 1.5.x

If your website is running Joomla 1.0.x it is recommended to migrate it to Joomla 1.5.x. In Joomla 1.5 there are many security improvements in the core elements of the application. The migration, however, should be performed with caution. You should always backup your Joomla before proceeding with the upgrade. For more information you can check our tutorial on How to upgrade from Joomla 1.0.x to Joomla 1.5.

Use the .htaccess file to additionally secure your Joomla

You should make the following changes to the .htaccess file in the Joomla directory:

First, If you don't have a .htaccess file in your Joomla folder, you should rename the htaccess.txt file that comes with your Joomla installation package to .htaccess. To do this, you can use the File Manager tool in your cPanel. In addition, doing this will allow you to enable the SEF functionality of your Joomla application. The rules in it will block the majority of well-known attacks against your website. Make sure you are running your website on PHP 5.2 or newer. All SiteGround customers have their accounts running PHP 5.2 by default. Block the access to all files except index.php and index2.php. Note, however, that you may have to allow the access to some additional files if your extensions require them. If certain parts of your website do not appear, you can check the files that they rely on. Then, you can add them to the access rules. Generally, if you add the following lines to your .htaccess file, everything should work just fine:

deny <FilesMatch allow </FilesMatch> <FilesMatch allow </FilesMatch>

from from from

all "index.php"> all "index2.php"> all

The SiteGround Web Hosting servers are perfectly optimized and secured in order to provide you with the best environment for your Joomla website. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions regarding the security of your Joomla website.

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Joomla backup
This tutorial will show you how to create a backup of your Joomla 1.5 website. It is important to create an archive of your website before you upgrade your Joomla application or add a new extension to it. This will provide you with the option to restore your site if anything goes wrong with your modifications. To make a backup of your Joomla 1.5 application you need to download all your Joomla files to your computer and export the database that Joomla uses.

How to download your Joomla files?

To back up the Joomla files to your computer you can use an FTP client to connect to your account. Then navigate to your Joomla application folder and download it to your local computer. You can also check our tutorial on how to configure and use an FTP client.

FTP Client Tutorial

How to use FTP for File Transfer?
To transfer files via File Transfer Protocol (FTP), you need to establish an FTP connection. To make an FTP connection you can use a standard Web browser (Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, etc.) or an FTP Client. To transfer a file with FTP you need to have an FTP accounts for the web space you are going to transfer the file to. FTP hosting account where you plan to upload your files. You can also create additional for other users. When using a web browser for an FTP connection, FTP uploads are sometimes very slow, and downloads are not protected (not recommended for uploading or downloading large files).

FTP Client Software

An FTP Client is a software designed to transfer files back-and-forth between two computers over the Internet. It needs to be installed on your computer and can only be used with a live connection to the Internet. With an FTP Client (such as FileZilla, CuteFTP or SmartFTP) uploading/downloading a file is really easy. Furthermore, FTP clients have some extra features. For example, you're can resume a download that did not finish successfully. This is a very nice feature for people with slower Internet connections. FTP clients' interface is usually divided in two - the pane on the left shows the files and folders on your computer (your Desktop, My Documents, etc,) and the pane on the right displays the files on the remote server (if this is your website hostingaccount, you will see the public_html folder, where the files of your site are stored).

FTP File Transfer

File transfers are made by simply dragging and dropping files from one pane to the other. Additional features of the FTP Client include: multiple file transfers at a time, auto resuming of the transfer, file queueing and more. You can read the following tutorials for two of the most popular FTP clients:

Free FTP Client Software

FileZilla Tutorial

How to export/backup your Joomla database?

To export/backup your database you can check the how to backup/restore MySQL database tutorial.

MySQL Export: How to backup your MySQL database?

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You can easily create a dump file(export/backup) of a database used by your account. In order to do so you should access thephpMyAdmin tool available in your cPanel:

The phpMyAdmin tool will be loaded shortly. You can select the database that you would like to backup from the drop-down menu called Database (located in the upper left corner of the page).

A new page will be loaded in phpMyAdmin showing the selected database. In order to proceed with the backup click on theExport tab:

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The options that you should select apart from the default ones are Save as file (which will save the file locally to your computer in an .sql format) and Add DROP TABLE (which will add the drop table functionality if the table already exists in the database backup) as shown below:

Click on the Go button to start the export/backup procedure for your database:

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A download window will pop up prompting for the exact place where you would like to save the file on your local computer. It is possible that the download starts automatically. This depends on your browser's settings.

MySQL Import: How to restore your MySQL database from a backup

To restore (import) a database via phpMyAdmin, first choose the database you'll be importing data into. This can be done from the drop-down menu on the left. Then click the Import tab:

You have the option of importing an .sql file. Use the Browse button to find it on your local computer. Note that you are given the option to choose the character set of the file from the drop down-menu just below the upload box. If you are not certain about the character set your database is using just leave the default one.

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In order to start the restore click on the Go button at the bottom-right. A notification will be displayed upon a successful database import.

You can also check our tutorial on how to create a backup of your site and restore it.

Backup Tutorial
How to create a backup of your site and restore it?
You can do your backup quite easily. Account backups can be performed using the cPanel -> Backups functionality for your hosting account. If your account is not too big in size you can perform a full account backup just with one click. If the account is too large for the full automatic backup the files and the databases should be backed up separately. In this case you would need to know what your web site consist of and thus what should be backed up/restored. Usually sites are composed of files and databases. You must take care of them all if you want to have your site exactly the way it has been before.

How to backup/restore your files?

In order to backup your files, please download all the files from your public_html folder to your computer by using your favorite FTP client. After that you can easily upload back the files to your hosting account and your website will be restored.

How to backup/restore your database?

Once having all the files on your computer, you should make a dump of your MySQL database. Please, click here to learn how to backup/restore your MySQL database. You may also request an affordable backup creation of your whole account by posting a ticket from the Exclusive Professional Services tab inside your Help Desk area.

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