Mediart Joomla 1.5 HowTo by Mediart Solutions

How To Use Your Joomla 1.5.x CMS [This document explains the basics of the Joomla CMS, from adding content to creating your own menu items.]

[2009]

Table of Contents Table of Contents............................................................................................................................................................2 Introduction.................................................................................................................................................................... 3 How to Log In.................................................................................................................................................................. 3 Content Items (Articles)...................................................................................................................................................4 Creating a content page (Article).................................................................................................................................4 Basic Editor Buttons Explained....................................................................................................................................7 Creating a Table inside a Article..................................................................................................................................9 Uploading & Inserting an Image................................................................................................................................10 Editing/Changing an Image........................................................................................................................................13 Creating a Section......................................................................................................................................................14 Editing a Section........................................................................................................................................................14 Creating a Category...................................................................................................................................................14 Editing a Category......................................................................................................................................................15 Menu System.................................................................................................................................................................17 Creating a New Menu Item.......................................................................................................................................17 Editing a Menu Item..................................................................................................................................................19 How to Unlock Padlocks................................................................................................................................................20 Web Link Component....................................................................................................................................................21 Creating Categories for Website Links.......................................................................................................................21 Creating Website Links..............................................................................................................................................21 DocMan......................................................................................................................................................................... 23 Uploading a File.........................................................................................................................................................23 Updating an Already Existing File..............................................................................................................................23 Creating a Category in DocMan.................................................................................................................................23 Creating a Document in DocMan...............................................................................................................................24 VirtueMart..................................................................................................................................................................... 25 Adding a Product.......................................................................................................................................................25 Adding an image to a product...................................................................................................................................28 Adding downloadable files to your product..............................................................................................................29 Adding a sub-product................................................................................................................................................31

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Introduction Welcome to your Joomla Content Management System, throughout this manual I will show you how to get the most out of your Joomla CMS, from adding content pages to creating a diverse menu system to managing a full functioning gallery. I have also explained how to use some of our more commonly used components for those people who are using them. Whenever I mention a domain name in this manual I will reference it as www.yoursite.com.au, this is not the actual site to go to please replace yoursite with the actual name of your website. For example if I was reading this instead of going to www.yoursite.com.au I would go to www.mediart.com.au.

How to Log In 1. Go to the admin of your website (www.yoursite.com.au/administrator) 2. In the log in section type in your Username and Password 3. Click the button name Login 4. That’s it

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Content Items (Articles) This section will explain how to create your own content pages and use a range of tools to develop the look you desire

Creating a content page (Article) 1. From the Home section of your Administration section you will see a button called Article Manager. Alternatively you can go to the menu item named Article Manager. This is located in the top menu under content.

2. This will bring you to a page that lists all the content items (Articles) that have been created. To create a new Article click on the button on the top right hand corner that says New.

3. This will then open up a new page that will allow you to add content to the Article.

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4. Give the Article a name by typing it into the field marked Title. Also type this same name into the field marked Title Alias. 5. Select the section you would like to assign the content item to 6. Select which category you would like to assign the content item to 7. Start typing text/content into the text field. If you wish to have intro text and main text go to the end of the line that you want to be the intro text and click the read more button. A line will appear, whatever is above that line is the intro text and what is below the line is the main body as shown in the picture below.

8. Once you have finished entering your content click the Save button located in the top right hand corner.

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Basic Editor Buttons Explained

Undo/redo buttons: These buttons will either undo the last change you made or redo the undo.

Bold Underline and Italic Button: Just like in word these buttons will bold, underline or make your selected text italic

Dot point or Numbering button: This button will put your selected text into either dot points or numbered lists.

Cut and Copy buttons: These buttons like in word will copy your selected content and then paste it into the area you like.

Align Right, Centre, Left and Justify buttons: Like in word these buttons will align your selected text to the selected position (right, left, centre or justified).

Link and Unlink buttons: these buttons are used to link content to other websites, content items, images and really anything that has a URL. To insert a link into a page simply highlight the text you want to link (just like in Word) and the click the Link button, a new window will pop up. In the field named URL type the address of the page that you would like the text to link to e.g. www.google.com.au. Once you have done this click the Insert button in the bottom left corner of the window. To remove a link, simply highlight the text that is already linked and click the un-link button, that’s it. To edit a link highlight the already existing linked text and then click the Insert Link button, change the URL and then click update.

The other buttons will be explained later when needed.

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Creating a Table inside a Article 1. Open up an Article, new or old. 2. In the text areas you will notice a bunch of small buttons.

3. Click the button that looks like a table with a pencil on it. 4. This will open up a new window 5. Fill in how many Rows and Columns you would like your table to have, How much cell padding you would like (this is how many pixels from the inside of the cell the image/text will be. i.e. 9 means that the item inside the cell will be 9 pixels in from the left, right, top and bottom sides.) and also the cellspaceing (this is the spacing in pixels between each cell in the table). Also fill out the Boarder Size (also done in pixels), Width and Height (both best left blank but if you would like to have them set you can) and also select the alignment. 6. The Advanced tab gives you more options such as Id, Summary, Style, Language Direction, Language Code, Background Image, Border Colour and Background Colour. 7. Feel Free to fiddle with all of these.

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Uploading & Inserting an Image 1. Open up an Article, new or old. 2. Scroll down the page and click where you will like to add your image. The image below shows that I am going to put the image below my heading and to the left of the normal text.

3. Click on the Insert/Edit Image button 4. You will see the following window

5. Select the location you wish to upload to (this is done by click on the folder icons in the bottom middle window) 6. To upload an image click on the upload button

. It is located on the right side of the window.

7. You will see the following window Page 10 of 31

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8. Click the browse button button 9. Now click the upload button

and then select the image from your computer and click the open

the file will automatically now start to upload.

10. Your image is now uploaded. 11. To insert the image simply click on the name of the image in the bottom middle section (on the image below it is the section inside the red box). As you can see I have selected the aboutus.jpg image.

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12. Make sure the alignment is set to default, this means that no alignment will be set and that the text will not wrap around the image. If the alignment is set left the image will be aligned to the left of the text and the text will word wrap around the image. The same is for when you set the alignment to right except everything is opposite. There are other alignments such as Top, Bottom and middle but Left, Right and Default are the main ones. You can see how the image will be aligned by looking at the image of the strawberry in the top right hand corner of the window. It gives a live preview when you select how you are going to align the image to the text. 13. Once you have finished click the Insert button

in the bottom right hand corner.

14. The image below shows my page after I have inserted the image

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Editing/Changing an Image 1. To edit an image go into the Article you wish to edit 2. Click on the image that you wish to edit, and then click on the Insert/Edit Image button 3. If you wish to replace the image with a different image simply click on the image you wish to replace it with, make any other changes you wish to make and then click the update button right hand corner (this button has replaced the Insert button.).

in the bottom

4. If you don’t wish to change the image just simply make any changes you wish to make i.e. alignment and then click the update button.

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Creating a Section 1. Select Section Manager from the Content menu item in the main top menu. This will bring you to a list of all the Sections that have been created.

2. Click the New button in the top right hand corner 3. Fill in the Title and the Section Name (usually the same thing) 4. If you would like to select a section image (this is not necessary) 5. If you did select an image, then select the image location i.e. left, right or centre 6. Select the access level 7. Tick whether or not the section is published 8. If you would like also add a section description in the text area/s below 9. When finished click the Save button in the top right hand corner

Editing a Section 1. Go to the Section Manager 2. Click on the Section you wish to Edit 3. Once you have finished editing the Section click either the Save or Apply button in the top right hand corner

Creating a Category 1. Select the Category Manager Menu item from the Content menu item in the main top menu (located just below the menu item Sections Manager). This will bring you to a list of all the Categories that have been created. 2. Click the New button in the top right hand corner Page 14 of 31

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3. Fill in the Category Title and the Category Name (usually the same thing) 4. Select which Section that you would like to assign the category to 5. If you would like to select a Category image (this is not necessary) 6. If you did select an image, then select the image location i.e. left, right or centre 7. Select the access level 8. Tick whether or not the section is published 9. If you would like also add a section description in the text area/s below 10. When finished click the Save button in the top right hand corner

Editing a Category 1. Go to the Category Manager 2. Click on the Category you wish to Edit 3. Once you have finished editing the Category click either the Save or Apply button in the top right hand corner

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Menu System This section will explain how to create menu items for the content pages you have created. A content page cannot be easily accessed without some form of link to it, and the best way to link to it is via a menu item.

Creating a New Menu Item 1. From the top main menu select the menu item named Menu and click on the menu item named Main Menu (this is the main menu of your website) 2. Click on the button named New in the top right hand corner 3. Select what type of link the menu item will be by clicking on it. (If you put your mouse over the different types of links, a description will be displayed to explain what each one does) 4. Each menu link type has a different form to fill out but most have some similar things, i.e. Name, Parent Item, On Click Open In and Access Level 5. Type in the Name of the menu item (this will be displayed in the menu on the frontend of the website) 6. Fill out the necessary parts, most of the time leave On Click, Open in is left to Parent Window With Browser Navigation 7. Parent Item: If you want the item to be the first item of a menu part then select top but if you would like it to be under something i.e. say your item is Junior Members and you would like it to be under the menu item The Society. Then in the Parent Item selection you need to select The Society as the parent item. This will cause Junior Members to be in the drop down menu when a user puts there mouse over the menu item The Society 8. Access Level: This is used to restrict menu items to certain levels of users. Public is everybody who goes to the website, Registered is everyone that is a registered user of the website; these people need to log in to view these items. Special is rarely used. 9. Once you have finished filling out the form click the Save button in the top right hand corner

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Editing a Menu Item 1. Go to the menu item manager (Menu/Main Menu) 2. Click on the name of the menu item you wish edit 3. Make the changes. (in this part you can also change the order of the menu item) 4. Click the Save button in the top right corner when finished

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How to Unlock Padlocks When you see a little gold padlock next to something this means that that item is locked whether it be a content page, category, module or section. This prevents more than one person editing the item at the same time. In some cases a person may exit the item in the wrong fashion i.e. press the back button, this will cause the padlock to stay where it is until that person goes back into it and exits properly (by pressing either the save or cancel buttons). To unlock these padlocks do the following: 1. From the top menu go to the menu item named Tools 2. Go down the menu till you see Global Check-in 3. Click this menu item (Global Check-in) This will go through your whole Joomla CMS and unlock everything that is locked

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Web Link Component The Web Link component is a component that allows you to add links to other websites into a page on you website. To view the links that are made in the component a menu item needs to be created that links to the Web Link component. Please note that the links that are added into the component can only be viewed via a menu link to the components page. You can have an unlimited amount of categories and an unlimited amount of links under those categories. For example you may have the Category of Other Cow Websites; under that category you may have links to CrazyCow, Bluechip Genetics and Boggabilla Jerseys. This component is a quick and easy way to organise, view and use all the links that you would like to have in your website.

Creating Categories for Website Links 1. Go to the menu item in the top menu named Components 2. Go down the menu till you get to the item named Web Links and click on Web Link Categories 3. Click on the New button in the top right hand corner 4. Fill in the Category Title and Name 5. Select the access level 6. If you would like the category to have a description, type it in the field named description 7. When finished click the save button in the top right had corner

Creating Website Links 1. Go to the menu item in the top menu named Components 2. Go down the menu till you get to the item named Web Links and click on Web Link Items 3. Click the button named New in the top right hand corner 4. Fill in the name for the Link 5. Select the Category 6. Fill in the URL (this is the website address i.e. www.yoursite.com.au) 7. Type in a description (this is optional) 8. Select the target (this is located on the right hand side, usually best to have this as New Window with Browser Navigation) 9. When finished click the Save button in the top right hand corner Page 21 of 31

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DocMan DocMan is a specific document management system that works similar to an image gallery only it is aimed to manage files like "PDF DOC XLS TXT" etc. You can have infinite categories to help you organise all the files you would like people to have access to. You can even assign user privileges to some categories so that only "Registered" users of the site can see.

Uploading a File 1. Go to the menu item in the top menu named Components 2. Go down the menu till you get to the item named DocMan, click on the item named Files 3. Click the button named Upload in the top right hand corner 4. Make sure that Upload a file from your computer is highlighted 5. Click on the button below called Next>>> 6. Click on the button named Browse 7. Go through your computer and locate/select the file you wish to upload and then click the button named Open 8. Next click the button named Submit and wait 9. From the next page you can go straight into creating a new document with the file, upload more files or display all the files you have uploaded

Updating an Already Existing File There is no easy quick way to do this, all in all you need to either re-upload the new file but give it a different name and then go to the document that the old file is in a change it so that it uses the new file. Once you have done this you need to delete the old file by selecting the tick box next to its name and clicking the Delete button in the top right hand corner. Alternatively you need to delete the old file and then upload the new version of it with the same name. Still go into the document and make sure it is using the right file. N.B Once you change the document all the links in content pages should automatically change to what the document says.

Creating a Category in DocMan 1. Go to the menu item in the top menu named Components 2. Go down the menu till you get to the item named DocMan, click on the item named Categories 3. Click the Add button in the top right hand corner 4. Type in the category Name and Title Page 23 of 31

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5. Select the Parent Item (select top if you want it to be a main item) 6. Select the Access Level 7. Type in a description (optional) 8. When finished click the Save button in the top right hand corner

Creating a Document in DocMan Please note that in order to use an uploaded file you must create a document. 1. Go to the menu item in the top menu named Components 2. Go down the menu till you get to the item named DocMan, click on the item named Documents 3.

Click the New button in the top right hand corner

4. Type in the document Name 5. Select which category the document belongs to 6. Select whether or not the document is approved and published (documents must always be approved so you should always tick yes for approved) 7. Type in a description (optional) 8. At the bottom of the page you can do a bunch of things in regards to the Document, Permissions, License and Details 9. In the Document tab you need to select the file you wish to use for this document 10. In the Permissions tab you can select who can view the document i.e. say you want only registered users to view the document then in the views filed select All Registered Users from the drop down 11. The rest is not required but feel free to play around 12. Once finished click the Save button in the top right hand corner

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VirtueMart VirtueMart is a Online-Shop component built for Joomla. This component will allow the easy management of products, orders and other useful things for your website.

Adding a Product

1. In the left menu under the products section click “Add Product” 2. Or click “List Products” then click button that says “New” in the top icons

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3. Add Info as specified using: •

SKU (product code)

•

Name

•

Price Gross (0.00 for free items)

•

Discount Price (if applicable)

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•

Category(s) (for multiple category selection, like adding to free designs, hold the CTRL key while selecting the categories from the list).

•

Short Description = width and height

•

Description = stitch count and file formats (or anything additional you might like to add)

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Adding an image to a product 1. Go to “Product Images tab”

2. Browse and select the image from your computer (size should be about 600 pixels wide and square) 3. Select “Auto Create thumbnail” 4. Click save up the top Page 28 of 31

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Adding downloadable files to your product This is for adding files to your product for a downloadable purchase

1. Select your product from the products list then click the name of the product to go into the edit window. 2. Click “Add Image/File”

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3. Browse for file 4. Important! File Type has to be “product t to be sold”. 5. Select the Upload to “Download Path” 6. Now click “APPLY”

then cancel once the file is uploaded. Clicking save directly seems to cause an error. Page 30 of 31

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Adding a sub-product 1. Click “List Products” and tick the box next to the product you wish to add a sub product to.

2. Click the Add Attribute button in the top menu (should be the first button) give the attribute a name i.e. PEZ or VP3 and then an order number, in this case just enter 1. 3. Click the save button in the top right hand corner. Go back to the product list and this time click on the product you added an attribute to. 4. Click the New Item Button in the top right hand corner (should be the fourth button) now fill out the details like you would a normal product but don’t upload an image. I advise to use the file format as the name of the product eg. Vp3, rgb etc. When done click the save button. Page 31 of 31