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The Official Joomla! Book
- By Jennifer Marriott, Elin Waring
- Published Dec 17, 2010 by Addison-Wesley Professional. Part of the Joomla! Press series.
- Copyright 2011
- Dimensions: 7" x 9-1/8"
- Pages: 368
- Edition: 1st
- Book
- ISBN-10: 0-321-70421-5
- ISBN-13: 978-0-321-70421-4
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Product Author Bios
Jennifer Marriott owns and operates a web development company, Marpo Multimedia, in partnership with Wendy Robinson, which specializes in Joomla! CMS powered websites. Her company is located in Northeastern Oklahoma, and although separated by distance, Jennifer stays close to her Canadian roots.
Jennifer joined the Joomla! Community during the beginning days in 2005 and began volunteering as a forum moderator shortly after. Over the years she has taken on various roles in the community in addition to moderator, such as Joomla! Bug Squad member, Joomla! Google Summer of Code co-administrator and mentor, as well as Trademark and Licensing Team Leader. While Jennifer has stepped down from her official roles in the Joomla! Project, she still remains an active community member.
In addition to her work in all things technology related, Jennifer is a professional musician. She has two CDs released, and in 2010 she went back into the studio to record her third release.
Elin Waring is a long time Joomla! user and former President of Open Source Matters, the non profit organization that provides legal, financial and organizational support to the Joomla! Project. In that role she led a number of initiatives ranging from writing the translation policy to obtaining a trademark for the Joomla! Brand. She has made over 5000 posts on the Joomla! forums and wrote most of the Frequently Asked Questions for Joomla! 1.0. She is an active member of the Joomla! Bug Squad and participates in many Joomla! events.
Elin is a professor of sociology at Lehman College, City University of New York where she teachers research methods. She has published a number of books, including White Collar Crime and Criminal Careers, Crimes of the Middle Classes: White Collar Offenders in the Federal Courts, and Russian Mafia in America: Crime Immigration and Culture, and scholarly articles in the areas of white collar crime, organized crime and social organization.
The Official Joomla! Book is the authoritative and comprehensive Joomla! reference for every administrator, developer, designer, and content manager. Distilling the unsurpassed experience of two long-time Joomla! contributors, it teaches exactly what you need to know, through practical example sites and crystal-clear explanations.
If you’re new to Joomla!, you’ll learn how to quickly create usable, effective sites. If you’re an experienced Joomla! user, you’ll learn how to make your sites more flexible, feature-rich, visually attractive, and useful. And whether new or experienced, you’ll learn how Joomla! really works, so you can fully leverage its power whenever you’re ready. You’ll also get to know the Joomla! community by hearing from twelve community members through in-depth interviews, and you’ll learn how to participate in the Joomla! project in ways that make sense for you.
The Official Joomla! Book covers everything from installation to usability, templates to extensions. The authors explain each key concept conversationally, helping you learn to help yourself and confidently gain control over Joomla! and the sites you build with it. They also present chapter-length application case studies for business, non-profits, and education. You will learn how to
- Plan sites effectively before you start building them
- Create production sites quickly while avoiding common mistakes
- Install and configure Joomla! for maximum efficiency
- Create and edit content for your Joomla! site
- Customize and work with Joomla! templates
- Work with extensions: components, modules, plugins, and languages
- Efficiently administer Joomla! sites
- Participate in the Joomla! community as a user and contributor
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65 of 69 people found the following review helpful
Good "concepts" book for getting familiar with the basics, but not for developers, By
This review is from: The Official Joomla! Book (Joomla! Press) (Paperback)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
Advertised as a "comprehensive Joomla! reference for every administrator, developer, designer, and content manager", I expected a lot more from this book. As a PHP developer who has worked extensively with Wordpress writing custom code and templates, I'm very disappointed by the misleading product description. While good for getting acquainted with CMS concepts and getting your feet wet with Joomla for project manager types, this book is not for programmers looking for a O'Reilly-styled reference manual on coding Joomla modules or creating your own templates. There isn't a single block of PHP code anywhere in this entire book.It leans heavily towards the non-technical aspects of Joomla and web management principles in general and seems to be written for a tech-savvy, but non-programmer lay audience. In the beginning is a chapter of non-Joomla fluff like branding (choosing a memorable logo), identifying your target audience, how to register a domain name, color schemes,... Read more
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Good for beginners, By Loren Woirhaye "Direct Response copywriting ... (Easthampton, Massachusetts - Los Angeles, California) - See all my reviews 
This review is from: The Official Joomla! Book (Joomla! Press) (Paperback)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
No book on a system as flexible as Joomla! can help everyone.The authors followed their own advice and determined who would benefit most from this book and wrote it for those people. This book is, in my opinion, targeted at the person in an organization who needs to understand what Joomla! can do but is not technically inclined or familiar with content management systems. If that person were familiar, he or she would probably be capable of researching Joomla! options online and wouldn't need a book. There is some good information on color schemes, branding, clarifying your objectives for your site. Planning what a site is for and identifying potential user needs is an important step for the developer who doesn't want to waste a lot of energy pursuing dead ends. This book wisely addresses these issues. In terms of technical explanation of how to do stuff with Joomla! the book sticks to... Read more
18 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Excellent coverage but no color screenshots!, By
This review is from: The Official Joomla! Book (Joomla! Press) (Paperback)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
This is basically the official Joomla guidebook and has extensive coverage of all things Joomla, including installation and configuration, customizing templates and using extensions. The book is very wordy which can be a good thing for those needing a lot of detail, but somewhat of a detriment to those who learn more visually. In addition, the screenshots are in grayscale, not color. The book's strongest points are the three chapters dealing with practical applications (Chapters 8-10) which are specifically geared to Business (8), Groups, Clubs, and Organizations (9), and Education (10). If you have decided on Joomla (vs Wordpress or Drupal) this is a must-buy and will definitely save you many hours (days? weeks?) of trying to go it alone.
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Online Sample Chapter
Caring for Your Joomla! Web Site and Helpful Tips
Table of Contents
Foreword xvii
Joomla! Press Mission Statement xviii
Preface xix
Acknowledgments xxi
About the Authors xxiii
Chapter 1: All About Joomla! 1
A Brief History of Joomla! 1
Joomla! the Content Management System 4
Joomla! the Framework 4
The Joomlasphere 5
Conclusion 16
Chapter 2: What Now and Where Do I Begin: Before You Install Joomla! 17
Identifying Your Purpose 17
Domain Names: Registering Your Domain Name 18
Trademarks, Licensing, Copyright, and Legalities 19
The Basics of Branding 23
Identifying Your Target Audience: The Who, What, Where, and Why 28
Wireframes, Storyboarding, and Visualization 32
Creating Great Content 33
Mission Critical: Why Choosing a Good Host Matters 34
Conclusion 36
Chapter 3: Installing and Configuring Joomla! 37
Downloading Joomla! 37
Creating a Database 38
Using File Manager to Upload Joomla! 43
Joomla! Web Installation 45
Basic Configuration Steps for Your New Site 52
Conclusion 60
Chapter 4: Working with and Creating Content for Your Joomla! Site 61
Defining Content 61
Managing Content 66
Working with the Media Manager and Inserting Images 72
Menus and Menu Items 75
Conclusion 82
Chapter 5: Customizing Templates and the Basics of Templates for Joomla! 83
Customizing the Default Template Beez 84
The Basics of Joomla! Templates 96
Conclusion 101
Chapter 6: The Basics of Joomla! Extensions: Components, Modules, Plugins, and Languages 103
Core Joomla! Extensions 103
Components 103
Modules 112
Plugins 114
How to Choose Extensions 115
Using the Joomla! Extension Directory 116
Installing Extensions and Viewing Extension Information 117
Popular Extensions 119
Conclusion 120
Chapter 7: Caring for Your Joomla! Web Site and Helpful Tips 123
First Impressions Count: What Your Home Page Says About You 123
Search Engines, SEO, Getting Listed, and Staying There 125
Using Navigation 129
Engaging Your Visitors and Keeping Your Content Fresh 137
Marketing Basics and Social Networking 138
Why You Need to Keep Your Web Site Up to Date 139
Conclusion 140
Chapter 8: Practical Application: Joomla! for Business 141
Basic Planning of Business Sites 141
Brochure Sites 142
Extending Joomla!: Some Extensions to Consider for
Business 142
E-commerce Web Sites 143
Other Business Site Extensions 145
Joomla! Authentication Tools 146
Business Web Site Demo 146
Conclusion 169
Chapter 9: Practical Application: Joomla! for NGOs/NPOs, Groups, Clubs, and Organizations 171
Basic Planning of Group Sites 171
Leveraging Your Site to Raise Awareness and Gain Momentum 172
Creating a Community Portal 176
Fund-Raising 177
Nonprofit Web Site Demo 178
Modifying the Template 184
Conclusion 192
Chapter 10: Practical Application: Joomla! for Education 193
Basic Planning of Educational Sites 193
Extensions to Consider for Education 194
Additional Tools 198
School Web Site Demo 201
Conclusion 223
Chapter 11: A Look at Joomla! 1.6 and the Future 225
Changes in Minimum Requirements 225
User Interface Changes 226
No More Sections, Only Categories 228
Templates 229
Access Control (ACL) 231
Languages 234
Extension Manager 234
Updating Joomla! 234
New Extensions 234
Conclusion 236
Chapter 12: Interviews with Experts 237
Expert Q&A with Andrew Eddie: Owner of NewLifeInIT and Lead Developer of Joomla! 237
Expert Q&A with Mark Dexter and Sam Moffatt: The Joomla! Bug Squad 241
Expert Q&A with Ian MacLennan: Joomla! Production Leadership Team and Joomla! Security Strike Team 246
Expert Q&A with Elin Waring: Professor, Author, and Joomla! Contributor—Trademark and Licensing 247
Expert Q&A with Wendy Robinson: Rochen Ltd.—Creating Your Brand 252
Expert Q&A with Brad Baker: Rochen Ltd.—Joomla! Hosting 254
Expert Q&A with Chris Davenport: Joomla! Production Leadership Team—Finding and Editing Templates 255
Expert Q&A with Vic Drover: Owner of Anything Digital—Extending Joomla! 258
Expert Q&A with Gary Brooks: President of CloudAccess.net—Benefits of Joomla! for Business 261
Expert Q&A with Ryan Ozimek: President of Open Source Matters, and CEO and Founder of PICnet Inc.—Joomla! In the NPO/NGO Sector 265
Expert Q&A with Jennifer Marriott: Owner of Marpo Multimedia and Joomla! Contributor—Sites for Education 268
Expert Q&A with Louis Landry: Lead Architect of Joomla! and Joomla! Professional 272
Appendix A: Common Problems and Solutions 275
Lost Administrator Password 275
File Permissions and Ownership Problems 279
“Location not found” When Using an Extension 280
Editor Background Has a Color or Looks Strange 280
Template Disappears When Turning On SEF URLs 281
Site Displays Differently or Incorrectly in a Certain Browser 281
Appendix B: Resources 283
Basic Joomla! Resources 283
Tools for Webmasters and Site Developers 284
Search Engines 285
Learn HTML and CSS Skills 286
Improve the Design of Your Site 287
Web Standards, Usability, and Accessibility 288
Underlying Software 289
Other Resources for Business 290
Other Resources for Nonprofits and Organizations 290
Other Resources for Schools and Education 291
Appendix C: A Look at Joomla! 1.6 ACL 293
Controlling What People Can Do 293
Controlling What People Can See 301
Appendix D: Managing Content in Joomla! 1.6 305
Category Manager 305
Conclusion 314
Appendix E: Working with Templates in Joomla! 1.6 315
Template Manager 315
Conclusion 323
Appendix F: Creating Menus in Joomla! 1.6 325
Menu Manager 325
Menu Items 326
Menu Item Type Layouts 332
Appendix G: Joomla! 1.6 Education Site 339
Creating a School or Education Site 339
Changing the Template 356
Glossary 361
Index 371
Sample Pages
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