Introduction
Joomla is one of the most popular content management systems after WordPress. More than 3 percent of the sites that you can find on the internet use Joomla. With Joomla, you can develop your own website. You can do it with utmost ease because you don’t have to necessarily learn programming to create a website with Joomla.
Joomla offers the latest features that are advanced when compared to its competitors while providing a user-friendly platform. Besides all these, Joomla’s platform is open-sourced and is available for free. Let us now get to know Joomla!
Joomla was launched in 2005 and ever since then, it has been the most widely preferred alternative CMS tool. Joomla enables the users to develop, save, control, and publish their content on the digital platform. Most commonly, Joomla is being used for creating websites.
To use Joomla, you can just download it and install it. If you don’t want to use the hosting of your own, you can probably launch a service to serve the purpose of developing the website.
Why Use Joomla?
So what is nice about Joomla? The flexibility and scalability of this content management system are amazing. You may find it comparatively more difficult to use than WordPress. This is because Joomla is technically complex. It serves the very purpose of creating an aspiring project. As you progress in your usage and begin to expertise in Joomla, you can even experiment with Joomla Framework. Joomla Framework, which is a collection of software packages, helps you to get your hands on this platform in a complicated manner.
For instance, you can develop a control system to manage your inventory or you can evolve a system for reservations. In spite of this advanced feature, this tool is totally user- friendly and you can probably use it without any necessity for knowledge in coding or website designing. We are here to speed up your “Get-to-Know-Joomla” session!
Having E-Commerce for your business is an advantage. Combine it with the best E-Commerce tools and you will see rapid growth.
So for all of you asking me “Where to Start?”, here is your answer.
Domains and Hosting
Let’s start with registering a domain. You can probably skip this step if you have already registered your domain. This is very important because the domain creates the first impression on the customers and it takes up the responsibility of defining your brand. Moreover, if you get the keywords in your domain perfect, you will receive a good SEO ranking.
As soon as you are all good with the domain name and registering it, you will have to choose the web hosting service of your preference. But make sure that they all go well with the requirements of Joomla which can be found in any of the sources from Google.
Installation Of Joomla On Your Website
Before you can do anything else, you’ll need to install Joomla! on your website. There are a few different ways you can go about this. There are many ways to install this content management system. Joomla Launch is one such option. You can simply use it to develop a free website. But the site needs to be renewed every 30 days manually to keep it in existence. This might not be a good option for a permanent site.
If not Joomla Launch, you can also go for manual installation which is kind of an advanced procedure. You should first download Joomla and then install it to the server of the web host.
You can follow the given steps to do a manual installation.
Manual Installation
- Make a database of SQL for your website.
- Upload the Joomla files to the root directory of your website.
- With your site’s URL, you can get access to Joomla configuration Wizard. Run it.
- Now you should configure the database.
- You should now install the sample data that has been included and then configure the email.
If you find it to be a tedious process, then you can go with a one-click installation option.
One-Click Installation
Some of the hosts like DreamHost will permit you to do the installation with one click. Here is how you gotta do a one-click installation of Joomla.
- Sign in to the control panel of your DreamHost web host.
- Go to Domains.
- You will find the one-click installs in the menu to your left-hand. Select it.
- You will be directed to a page that lists out all the one-click choices available.
- Joomla is one of the options. Click on it. A window with all the necessary details about Joomla will be displayed.
- To configure your new website, you will find options at the bottom of this window. Choose the requirements and click on “Install it for me now”.
The installation will take a few minutes to complete and then you will receive the details of login to the registered email.
What next? Obviously, it is content creation.
Content Creation
As soon as you log in, your window will display the control panel of your new site.
In the Content menu, you will have to click on the “New Article” option to start creating brand new content. You can find the content menu on your left-hand side on the screen.
You will be directed to the TinyMCE-based HTML editor of Joomla. This is an interface to write your articles. This interface has got a lot of options to format the test. You can even put on some elements. Apart from this, you can find a row that lists out links that will direct you to secondary options. Almost all the options in this content management system are self- intelligible.
If you have completed typing your first article, you should save it. For this, go back to the content tab. You will find some options on the right. This is the right place to assign tags to your article and categorize your article. Once you are done with it, select the save option on the top-left corner.
Extensions in Joomla
If you want your website to function as an E-Commerce site or as a social interaction platform, you can very well convert your site with some extensions. These extensions are exclusively for expanding the functionality of your website. You can compare the extensions with the plugins of WordPress.
They are more or less alike. You can find plenty of extensions in the directory and some of them are even available for free. Once you choose an extension of your requirement, you will be able to download it to your computer.
And then in the main menu, with the “Install Extension” option, you can install the same on your website. All you gotta do is just drag and drop the extension file from your computer folder to the Joomla window. You can even remove the extension file from the Joomla site if you wish. Your extension is all set once you receive the success message.
Templates and Layouts
Talking about the appearance of your website templates inbuilt in the content management system comes into play. Despite the fact that the content matters the most, the way your website looks matters equally too. This is simply to attract visitors.
Joomla comes with a lot of options for free or paid. You can just choose any one of them to suit your website. If you want to bring in a new template from an external site, you should first install it on your Joomla site. Upload the downloaded extension file to the “Extensions” screen. A success message will pop up as soon as the installation completes and you are now good to go.
Joomla also offers you advanced options like using more than one template for the same website. To add and assign a new template go to “Templates” from the control panel. You will be directed to the Template Manager. Click on the star button to make the corresponding template default. Now you find that the template is in action.
Final Words
So, that is it about Joomla when it comes to a quick beginner’s guide. As we’ve already seen Joomla is the most preferred Content Management System to create and manage websites after WordPress. This tool obviously comes with its own special features and still provides a user-friendly interface.
With very little to no knowledge in programming or coding, one can simply get their hands on Joomla. Be it an e-commerce site or a blog or a picture gallery, with Joomla You can create wonderful content. Moreover, this content management system is affordable and easily accessible while there are a lot of sources that provide you guidance for using Joomla.
If you’re someone who is just weighing out their options to pick the perfect CMS tools, here’s a list of the best content management systems that you could choose from.