Step 1 |
Go to your new Joomla website by typing "www.YOURDOMAINNAME.com" into the address bar of your browser, if you have not already done so. |
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Step 2 |
| 2. After entering your domain name and going to your website, you should see an address like this "http://www.YOURDOMAINNAME.com/". At the end of the address, type "administrator" and hit return. This will load the administrative login page. |
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Step 3 |
| Enter the Username and Password you created in "Step 5 - Set Up Joomla" and click "Login". |
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Step 4 |
| You will now see the Administrative Control Panel. Go to the "Content" drop down menu and select "Article Manager". |
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Step 5 |
| When the Article Manager opens, select "New". This will create a new article which we will later use as a web page. |
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Step 6 |
| After the new article page loads, next to "Section" Click on "-Select Section-" and choose "Uncategorized". Note that Category will automatically be set to "Uncategorized" as well. We will discuss Sections and Categories in more detail in Step 11 - Learn More Joomla. |
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Step 7 |
Now enter "Home Page" into the "Title" field, then enter the word "text" into the content editor and select the "Apply" button to save your work.
Note: For security purposes, Joomla logs out an administrator who does not save a page after a certain period of time. The default time is 15min. The reason why we are applying the changes now, is to ensure that we have another 15min to explore the content editor in more detail. As a result, it is always a good idea to write and save your text in a separate document (notepad or an email).
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Step 8 |
Now let's look more closely at the Content Editor. The Content Editor is in fact the "TinyMCE WYSIWYG" editor. "WYSIWYG" means "What Your See Is What You Get". The purpose of the WYSIWYG editor is to allow administrators to create and edit content with an intuitive graphic user interface (much like a standard word processor), while the WYSIWYG automatically translates the content into html code on the front end of the website.
Note: The WYSIWYG editor is an advanced and complex tool with many functions and settings. For every font size, color, text alignment etc., the WYSIWYG stores html code. If you apply a lot of formatting to your documents, the code may loose its elegance and you will see unpredictable results.
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Step 9 |
Lets start with a Notepad document. Notepad is a free program with Microsoft operating systems. Depending on your set up, it should be located either in the Start menu or in the Programs menu. Once you have Notepad open, write the text for your Home Page. Keep in mind that you can change or update the text later (without hiring a web designer!). Save the Notepad document. (Word or OpenOffice are fine too. Just keep in mind, you will loose all formatting, line breaks, font size etc.)
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Step 10 |
We're going to deploy a little trick to make sure we start out without any formatting. Select the "html" tool in the center of the editors tool bar. The HTML Source Editor will open in a new window. Select your text in Notepad, paste it into the HTML Source Editor and select the Update button. You will now see the text appear in the editor with absolutely no formatting or line breaks.
Note: This process is aimed at achieving a consistent and reproducible result for the purpose of this tutorial. If you really want to copy and paste formatted text into the text editor, you are welcome to. The editor will do a decent job of reproducing the formatting, but there may be unpredictable effects leading to various inconsistencies. Also, the editor works great if you want to type directly into it. Just keep in mind that you should "Apply" the document every couple minutes and that applying a lot of formatting may cause undesired effects.
Also Note: You are not alone! If you want help with something or want an explanation of something, Let us Know.
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Step 11 |
In our example we have a heading and a paragraph. Click in the text after the heading to place the cursor and hit return. This formats the heading as a paragraph and formats the paragraph as a paragraph.
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Step 12 |
| Now select the text of the heading and select "Heading 2" from the Format drop down. |
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Step 13 |
Repeat the process as needed for further headings and/or paragraphs. Select "Save" when you are done.
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Step 14 |
You will be returned to the Article Manager. Repeat step 5-13 to create additional pages. We recommend creating at least one additional page before continuing the tutorial. Take note that each article has either a "check" or an "X" in the "Front Page" column. This determines whether a page will be displayed on the Home Page by default. Click on the "X" next to the Home Page to make it a "check", but make sure all other pages remain "X'ed".
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Step 15 |
Select the "Parameters" Icon. This will open the Article parameters box.
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Step 16 |
There are many settings in the Article parameters box, which have a variety of effects on how your articles display. For now duplicate the settings displayed in the image shown on the right. Essentially, you will be setting all the extra features to "Hide". When you are done, click "Save".
Note: You can also set Article parameters for individual menu items or individual articles. |
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