Joomla - Beginners Guide to Joomla Terms
by Tiara Rea
Joomla is such a powerful web development and management system, but like any system, it has its own special terms that can leave beginners at a loss for words. It’s like when my computer-and-internet-phobic mother calls up a Dell technician and they tell her to look at the icons on her desktop. Because she has no idea what an ‘icon’ or ‘desktop’ is (other than icon being a famous person and desktop being the physical counter of her desk) she grows increasingly confused, frustrated, and bitter.
So knowing terminology will really help you take the first steps to working with and understanding Joomla. To assist, here are some popular Joomla terms and their definitions.
Articles / Content Items
These are basically ‘articles’ or ‘posts’ that you write, which make up the better part of your website. Because Joomla is organized like a magazine, newsletter, or blog, content items represent individual articles that can contain an “intro” to the content item but don’t necessarily have to. If you’re posting a blog article that’s longer than 300 or 500 words, intros are helpful. If you’re just writing up some content for your website, you can enter all your text in the “intro” area as below and you’ll be fine!You can find, add, edit, and maintain the content items via your main Joomla control panel or by navigating to Content > Article Manager (1.5) or Content > All Content Items (1.0).
Joomla 1.5:
Joomla 1.0:
Categories
Categories are vastly important to the way Joomla organizes your website content. And luckily, categories are pretty easy to define because they are the same as how you normally define that word. A Joomla category is simply a collection of content items. So in other words, you can relate various articles to different categories. For example, if you have 5 content items on Flower Arrangements, 10 on Interior Decorating Ideas, and 32 on Florist Reviews in the
You can find, add, edit, and maintain your categories via your main Joomla control panel or by navigating to Content > Category Manager.
Sections
Sections are the big guys – they keep track of every single Category you create and help you effectively manage and organize the look and layout of your website.
You can find, add, edit, and maintain each section via your main Joomla control panel or by navigating to Content > Section Manager.
Modules
Joomla modules are awesome! No, seriously, they are. Joomla modules can extend the basic functionality of Joomla. Modules are just like content items, except they can be displayed literally anywhere on your website. Unlike content items, they are not normally comprised of content and you must install them, though Joomla comes preinstalled with a few module gems like Polls, Newsflash, Hit Counter, and others.
You can manage your sites modules or add new ones by navigating to Modules > Site Modules.
Component
Joomla components are even more awesome than modules! Components are actually a set of files and configurations that are like add-ons for your Joomla website. Essentially, they offer additional functionality in a much larger way than modules, because components can take over the entire layout or design of your website. Components are created daily by Joomla developers, and offer anything from RSS Feeds, Advertising Extensions, Layouts, and more. Components are essentially applications that help you manage your Joomla website, and for those new to running Joomla, they can be life savers!
You can see preinstalled components by navigating to the Components tab.
Helpful Tools
Don’t want to worry about Modules, Components, Sections, etc? Then let iJoomla’s Magazine Extension take the hassle out of it for you. Professional webmasters use iJoomla Magazine to edit the layout and design of their Joomla websites. With just a few simple clicks, you can take your website to the next level:
With 12 possible layouts and unlimited potential, many businesses and personal webmasters are using iJoomla Magazine to create a functional and powerful look for their websites. So instead of worrying over the terminology, you can just delve into the design and functionality of your website. No worry, no hassle, no headaches!
Try iJoomla Magazine today for free or purchase the full version and give your website the makeover it deserves.
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