Joomla cho người mới bắt đầu part 5 ppt

Chapter 3
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Time for action – tour the example site
Let's take a closer look at the demo site and see some real life examples of page layouts.
You'll see how the content in the mainbody and the modules in the surrounding content
area change depending on the menu hyperlink you click:
1. Enter the URL of your site (for example, ) in your
web browser. If in Chapter 2 you have installed Joomla! into another folder,
the URL would be You'll re-
cognize the home page, as displayed in the following screenshot. The mainbody
(the visible part of it outlined in the screenshot) consists of several arcle
intro texts; above it, to its le-hand side and right-hand side, are modules.
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2. Let's explore how the layout changes on a dierent page. In the Main Menu, click on
Joomla! Overview. You'll noce that the mainbody displays what Joomla! calls an
arcle, the most common type of page content (the mainbody is again outlined in
the following screenshot):
The mainbody takes up more screen space this me. On the right-hand side
column, the home page modules have disappeared. This is part of the site
design; the right-hand side column doesn't display when it contains no content.
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3. In the Main Menu, click on More about Joomla!. You'll see another type of page
layout. The mainbody now contains a short list of links to content secons:
The Project, The CMS, and The Community.
4. Now check out one last type of page layout. On the Main Menu, click on The

News. As you can see, the mainbody displays a series of short introducons
(or teasers). Below each intro is a Read more link that shows the full arcle.
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What just happened?
At rst sight, the Joomla! example site may seem overwhelming. There are many bits of
content, many hyperlink lists, menus, and many dierent types of web page layouts. But
in fact, many pages on Joomla! sites are built around the four page layouts you've just
discovered: the home page, content pages (with one main arcle in the mainbody), and two
types of "pages in between". These "pages in between" funcon as hyperlink lists combined
with either short descripons of the content secon or introductory texts to the arcles
themselves. These "in-betweens" help users discover the site contents by oering them an
overview of arcles on related topics.
You've also discovered how the mainbody can be combined with dierent modules. In the
example site, the home page is jam-packed with modules. All of the other pages just show a
few module items in the top bar and le-hand side column. On those pages, the right-hand
side column has no content and its place has been taken by the mainbody content.
Have a go hero – get familiar with the example site contents
Take some me to browse your example site. By now, you'll be able to see the framework
behind the dierent pages and understand how dierent combinaons of mainbody and
modules are put together to create unique web pages.
You'll also noce that there is more to explore than just pages with "classic content" (arcles,
text, and images) that we've seen so far. Although classic content pages may be at the core
of many websites, in a dynamic site all kinds of dynamic content can be displayed in the
mainbody. Have a go at the Poll on the home page, or try out the Search box. You'll see the
mainbody will show the (dynamic) poll and search results.
For now, we won't go any deeper into these dierent types of dynamic content—though it's
important to realize that they exist and that they take Joomla!'s capabilies much further

than just plain old "presentaon of text and images". We'll cover this subject in more detail
in the next few chapters.
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Taking control: Administering your site in the backend
The backend is the cockpit of your Joomla! jet. It's the administraon interface that lets you
take your website to new heights. From the backend, you manage your site. It's organized
quite neatly, so you'll learn to nd your way around it prey fast. Let's have a closer look at
the backend interface right now.
Time for action – log in to the backend
1. To access the backend of your site, you' ll add /administrator to the
address of your website. If your site is , type http://
www.mysite.com/administrator in the address bar of your browser.
2. There it is, the secret entrance to your site! You'll see a login prompt:
3. Enter your username (by default, that's admin) and the password you've entered
when installing Joomla! (see also Chapter 2). Click on the Login buon.
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4. Aer you've successfully entered your credenals, you'll enter the actual ad-
ministraon interface: the backend home page (the Control Panel). This interface
provides access to all of the funcons that you need as a site administrator,
(such as adding content, changing menus, customizing the layout, and so on):
What just happened?
You've logged in to the backend of your site, and—lo and behold!—you've entered the
Control Panel, only accessible to users with special access rights. You'll be coming back there
for every site management acvity. As the site administrator, you'll probably want to make a

shortcut in your browser to the /administrator URL.
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Taking a closer look at the Control Panel
Let's look at the Control Panel in more detail. In the following screenshot, the four main
screen areas of the Control Panel are outlined:
1. Menu bar
The top menu bar is an essenal feature of the Control Panel. This is really where all of the
acon is. The seven items in this drop-down menu (listed as follows) give you access to all of
Joomla!'s content management tools and funcons:
 Site: User access management, le management, global conguraon
 Menus: Menu management
 Content: Add or change arcles, change site structure
 Components: Manage special features, such as banners and polls
 Extensions: Manage extensions and templates which extend the funconality
and capabilies of your website
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 Tools: Send simple e-mail messages to site users (private messages), clear site
cache, and so on
 Help: Joomla!'s online help funcon
This top menu is the one you'll use over and over again when working on your site. For now,
we'll rst have a look at the other panels and controls; aer that we will start exploring the
wide range of capabilies hidden behind all of the top menu items.
2. Shortcut buttons
A series of buons that oer quick access to frequently used funcons (which you can also

access through the top menu), such as adding a new arcle or changing site sengs.
3. Preview and Info Bar
In this part of the Control Panel you'll nd the following funcons:
 Preview: Open the website's home page in a new browser tab or window
 Informaon on the number of private messages (messages sent to you by other
users of the site) to be read by you, and the number of users logged in
 Logout: Logout from the backend
4. Information panels
Click on the tle of these six informaon panels to show their content. The Welcome to
Joomla! panel contains helpful links for new users. The other panels are self-explanatory.
Click on the tle (such as Logged In Users or Popular) to browse up-to-date informaon on
your site's users and content. The Joomla! Security Newsfeed panel keeps you informed on
security issues.
Understanding backend tools and controls
The Control Panel is the home page of the backend. Whatever acon you want to perform,
the dozens of links on the Control Panel page lead you to the appropriate tools or Managers,
as Joomla! calls them. Examples are the Arcle Manager, the Menu Manager, and the User
Manager. That's where the real acon takes place.
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Although there are many dierent Managers and other types of administraon tools, it's
quite easy to grasp the way they work. All of the interface pages share the same base layout
and show a toolbar in the top right posion of the screen. In the following screenshot you
can see the control buons of Joomla!'s Arcle Manager toolbar:
Many Managers share commonly used features, such as New, Edit, Copy, and Trash. Let's
look at the funcons of the toolbar buons in more detail:
It's prey straighorward to grasp what the buons are about:
 Unarchive, Archive: Archive arcles and make these accessible only through a

special archive menu
 Publish: Make an arcle visible to your visitors
 Unpublish: Make an arcle invisible to your visitors (without throwing it away)
 Move: Move an arcle to another content category
 Copy: Create a duplicate of an arcle
 Trash: Send an arcle to the Trash (to delete it)
 Edit: Edit an arcle
 New: Create a new arcle
 Parameters: Change general arcle sengs
 Help: Browse to Joomla!'s online help
The toolbar is context sensive. It will display the buons relevant to the current acvity.
When you click on the Edit buon in the Arcle Manager you'll be taken to the arcle editor
screen. In this screen you'll see the following set of toolbar buons:
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 Preview: Open a pop-up screen giving you a rough impression of what the
formaed arcle will look like
 Save: Save changes and close the current window (this takes you back to the
Arcle Manager)
 Apply: Save changes, without closing the current window
 Close: Cancel without saving any changes
 Help: Browse to Joomla!'s online help
As you can see, most toolbar buons are self-explanatory. Note, however, the dierence
between the Apply and Save buons. Click on Apply to save changes without leaving the
current page. You'll nd that when eding the text of an arcle, it's easiest to click on Apply
and Preview to check the results in a new browser window. To correct a typo or change
the arcle layout you don't have to re-select the arcle and open it again for eding. When
you're sased with the results, click on Save to leave the eding screen. The same applies

to any occurrence of Save and Apply on other Joomla! interface screens.
Clicking on the Apply buon every now and then, when wring a long
arcle, will ensure your arcle contents are saved. You can lose all of
the unsaved changes when you leave the arcle editor open (without
acon) for more than 15 minutes. Later in this chapter you'll learn how
to change this 15 minute seng to allow you to take some more me
for your well-deserved coee breaks.
Getting your feet wet: Start administering your site
We have had a rst look at the Control Panel screen layout and the main backend toolbars.
You're probably dying to try out how the thing actually works! I'll test your paence just a
lile more. First, we'll make some more sense of the Control Panel and nd out what you
really need to know to get started on this impressive tool box. Aer all, its main menu bar
consists of seven menu opons with more than 40 submenu items. That's a wealth of CMS
power—but it's also quite daunng.
We won't go into all of the menu items and their capabilies here; rather, you'll learn how to
use the important menu opons as you go along building your site in the next chapters. For
now, let's go ahead and see what the primary funcons are.
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