Joomla template developers can include parameters that allow the site owner to change certain functionality from a simple interface within Administrator. This post explores this feature called Form Fields and gives you an overview of how you can include these with your own Joomla templates. 

Sometimes when you have a list of articles on one page, such as a category blog layout, you might like to create a link to that page that jumps straight to the start of a particular article. It is easy to create an anchor within an article with Joomla, but making the title an anchor is rather tricky. Here's how to do it.

We've received a lot of emails asking about the different method that is used when storing articles in Joomla 1.6. The good news is, it's really easy and very similar to 1.5.

When you launch your website, you probably want it to be found quickly in the search engines. Although most search engines have some sort of "Add URL" facility, this usually achieves nothing. Search engines generally discover new pages by following links on existing pages. There are hundreds of sites that allow you to place a link to your site for free and this article will give you a few places to start.

It's now time to build the actual website and this stage comes with its own set of challenges. Cut corners here at your peril.

A major component of the project we're developing is a private, social network. JomSocial is an amazing Joomla extension that provides functionality similar to Facebook. This helps your community to engage with each other, either privately or publicly.

Last week's article included some recommendations on how to find a graphic designer if you want a unique template. This week, we will have a look at a successful process to find excellent Joomla developers.

In part 4 of this series on the steps to plan and build a Joomla powered website, you will learn some steps to choose a Joomla template.

In part 3 of our series on how to plan and build a Joomla Website from scratch, you will learn how to avoid the number one fear of web developers - scope creep.

In part 2 of how to build a Joomla Website from scratch, you will learn how to create a sensible navigation structure for your site. 

Part one of a series of posts describing the process of building a real Joomla website from start to stop.

Joomla 1.6 is coming towards the end of its beta phase which means it will soon be available as what is known as a "Release Candidate". This will not be the final version, but at this stage it is likely that there will not be any major changes. The latest status report suggests that 1.6 will be released before the end of this year. The main changes with this new version are more flexible access control and unlimited levels of categories. However some major changes were necessary to implement these features and as such, it will not be possible to simply upgrade your site from 1.5 to 1.6. Here are my thoughts on some questions that you might be asking.

The latest addition to the Joomla website is People. This is a social site with features similar to Facebook. Here you can mix with other Joomla people to learn more, make friends and simply experience the enormous size of the Joomla community. I encourage you to register and when you have logged in, head over to my profile and add me as a friend.

I get a lot of emails asking how to fix a particular problem in Joomla. Problems can arise for all sorts of reasons and are often caused by some incompatibility with your host or an extension. The following suggestions are very basic but I know many people are giving up too soon, so if you run into trouble, I hope you'll find this helpful.