Joomla! for Dummies

by Seamus Bellamy, Steven Holzner

Build template-based web sites without the hassle of writing code! Joomla! is a free, open source PHP & MySQL-based content management system that allows you to create interactive, community-based Web sites without having to write or program code in PHP or ASP.NET. This fun and friendly introduction to Joomla! shows you how to create a rich, interactive Web site that does not require any code.No matter your skill level, this easy-to-understand resource demonstrates how to drop preconfigured modules that already contain PHP and MySQL code directly into your Joomla! site. Thanks to the Dummies fun and friendly approach, you'll quickly see how easy to create a rich, interactive Web site with Joomla!Demonstrates how to create a business site--complete with shopping cart--quickly and easily Walks you through developing Web sites with discussions, RSS feeds, picture submissions, and more Includes coverage of the newest version of Joomla!, explains its completely new administrative features, and reviews its ability to provide different levels of access to different users via much-requested access control lists Find out why Joomla! is the easiest way to build an interactive, community-based Web site!

Genres: Business

360 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 8, 2009

About the author

Seamus Bellamy is a writer and editor whose work can be found at The Wirecutter, The Sweethome, Men's Journal, Wired Gadget Lab, Irish Music Magazine, The Loop Magazine and The Globe and Mail.

He's also written a couple of books: Joomla for Dummies and Drupal for Dummies (with Lynn Beighley.)

Reviews

[Tamara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't help it. As much as I try, Joomla! is just not my favorite CMS. The organization of the elements is extremely confusing to me, even after struggling through this book.

Notes

CMS are like word processors for the web.

CMS adds CSS (from website templates you've chosen) and creates actual HTML that is delivered to the browser.

To set up: you need to choose a host, such as GoDaddy or HostGator. Set up a MySQL database to connect to.

Multiple modules can point to the same menu.

In browsing through Module Manager's contents, you'll notice a few menu items such as About Joomla! and This Site. But don't you manage menus by using Menu Manager? Why do these menus appear in Module Manager? Modules are responsible for handling the display of menus, so when you want to edit the settings of a menu as a whole, you turn to Module Manager. When you want to work with only the structure and items contained in a menu, you work with Menu Manager.

Questions This Book Didn't Answer for Me

Can you change the organization of the buttons on the WYSYWIG editor?
Is there a default article template that can be edited? (i.e. Why do all of my pages default to center align?)
Do the templates define where menu items are located?
Is there an easier way to reorder articles besides clicking the UP or DOWN errors a hundred times?

[Eugene Cordell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don't be fooled by the title, this book will help you understand Joomla properly. As a novice to Joomla, I found that working with the steps they've provided insightful...eventhough the example was on GoDaddy. I'd like for programmers to get into this, as it is in demand to know!

If you know how to function Joomla already, then move on to the advanced stuff. Otherwise, this is all you really need to create a proper CMS.

[Chet · Rating 4 out of 5]

As other Dummies books, gives a nice overview of the subject matter (Joomla) making no presumptions of previous knowledge of the subject. It is a quick way to get up to speed on the subject. The "dummies" are the ones who do not read these books. :-)

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this book and the one I read are two different books even though the search using ISBN came up with this one. The one I read was titled "Joomla! for Dummies 2nd Edition", and was by "Seamus Bellamy" only.

The book itself is well worth the read if you want to learn about this software.

[Kimberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Never really finished it. Because of the project I was working on, I was able to figure out most of Joomla with a coworker by trial and error instead.

[Chrysa · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a quite helpfull book for a quick look at Joomla!

[Russ Little · Rating 3 out of 5]

My 3-star rating is as much for Joomla as the book. The combination just didn't get me where I wanted to be. But, as with most of the Dummies titles, the writing is clear and accessible.

[Rebeca · Rating 2 out of 5]

Joomla! must be an invention from hell. I gave up trying to learn it discouraged by this manual.