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Tutorials, reviews, case studies and other tips to help website owners and website developers master the Joomla content management system.

Sneak Peek: Build a Joomla Website from Scratch #3

Sneak Peek: Build a Joomla Website from Scratch #3

I dropped into the Joomla Beat studios this week to share some Joomla installation tips. This coincided with some recordings I made this week for the latest version of our upcoming Build a Joomla Website from Scratch course, so I thought I should share these lessons publically. These tutorials demonstrate how to install Joomla using Softaculous and how to save time if you install Joomla manually. 

Recent Comments
Andrew
As always detailed explanation without going overboard on technical stuff to frighten us. What I did notice when I loaded Joomla ... Read More
Friday, 02 August 2013 11:17
Richard Pearce
I'm not quite sure what you mean, but keep in mind that frontend and backend logins are treated as separate sessions. If you have ... Read More
Friday, 02 August 2013 11:28
Andrew
Hi Richard, Yes what you describe is not a problem, standard from my first adventures with Joomla 1.5. What I am trying to descr... Read More
Friday, 02 August 2013 11:57
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Going Old School with Image Maps in Joomla

Going Old School with Image Maps in Joomla

Image maps were very widely used for web design in the past. Hand coding them was almost impossible for most people, but tools like Dreamweaver made them quite easy to create. A large, prominent image with hot spots linked to various pages of a website were at the edge of creative web design. They improved the look and feel of a website and helped to make branding easier for many businesses. So, what happened to image maps?

Recent Comments
Sue
Thanks so much Rob for this blog. I was taught to make image maps when I learnt HTML... and actually coded some sites completely ... Read More
Friday, 19 April 2013 21:43
Robert Wilson
You're very welcome. I'm often surprised how large a percentage of people in the Joomla world seem to come from the "old school" ... Read More
Saturday, 20 April 2013 02:19
Pat Vanden Bosche
I never really worried about image mapping being an issue for a site until I read your post. I have used this tool in the past, t... Read More
Monday, 27 May 2013 08:20
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How to add a PDF to a Joomla Article

How to add a PDF to a Joomla Article

VIDEO: A common request we receive is how to upload a PDF (or any file) to a Joomla site and then link to it in an article or module. Well, here is a step-by-step video demonstration on how to do just that.

Recent Comments
Richard Pearce
I downloaded the latest version specifically for this demonstration.
Thursday, 07 February 2013 20:24
Joe Podcast
Hi Richard, Been receiving your emails for some time now. So after the last one being the 200th one we wrote an article about yo... Read More
Sunday, 10 February 2013 03:03
Giovanni Yarabek
Hi Richard: With this process (described above) - is there a way to make the .PDF also a download for site visitors? #2. Is there... Read More
Thursday, 21 February 2013 05:40
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Directing Visitors to your Most Important Content

Directing Visitors to your Most Important Content

Don’t you hate it when you’re in the middle of something important on your computer and it suddenly stops working? That’s the dilemma I faced a few weeks ago when I had to put this site into maintenance mode while I made some changes to the template. I knew some people would be in the middle of watching some tutorials and I wanted to minimize the frustration they would feel when they found the site had switched off. Discover how I overcame this and how you can use the same approach to grow your website.

Recent Comments
Richard Pearce
Fixed. Sorry about that. I'm normally very good at picking up unusual spellings because of my own weird company name (RickSure). ... Read More
Thursday, 03 January 2013 19:07
Mike Martin
Richard Thanks for the information, what a great addition, cannot thank you enough.
Thursday, 03 January 2013 20:26
Richard Pearce
It IS a plugin. But unlike a module where you specify a template position, it always appears at the top of the page.
Sunday, 20 January 2013 08:03
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Kickstart Your Blog this Weekend

Kickstart Your Blog this Weekend

Your New Year’s Resolutions for 2013:

1. Exercise more

2. Spend more time with family

3. Do more with your website!

I can’t help you with the first two, but it is my job to help you do more with your website. So let’s get a head-start on 2013 with a simple project that you can complete this weekend. In just two hours, you will complete a vital task that is one of the best ways to attract new visitors. Regardless of where your site is at - if it is brand-new, established or even if you haven’t started building yet - this is something everyone can benefit from and your only investment is time.

Recent Comments
Marcus Thomas
Richard, Great idea. As a complete newbie there was an some enthusiastic activity back in November, but I have let it slip all t... Read More
Thursday, 27 December 2012 11:02
Mike Martin
Hi Richard What a great blogging idea, I started a blog but fell at the first hurdle, what should I blog about, this blog helps, t... Read More
Friday, 28 December 2012 20:11
Richard Pearce
I have African Chiclids. This year wasn't so kind to them so numbers have dwindled. There are no short answers to your other ques... Read More
Saturday, 29 December 2012 07:31
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How to Create a Modal Window in Your Joomla Website

How to Create a Modal Window in Your Joomla Website

What is a modal window exactly? How is it different from a popup window? When would I use them, and doesn't everyone hate them anyway?

These are all very good questions to ask yourself before implementing modal windows in your website, but thanks to a resurgence in the popularity of well written JavaScript libraries, this technique has definitely made a comeback. This is especially true of the type of modal window called a lightbox. Click here to see one in action.

Recent Comments
Smith Warnes
Modal windows are a great replacement for the pop ups as they are really hated by many. Using modal windows seems a much convenien... Read More
Tuesday, 25 September 2012 15:30
Frank Ugochukwu
fantastic idea I didn't know about this time to get busy. thanks for the info
Friday, 16 August 2013 17:08
Richard Pearce
That's a pretty specific requirement and probably something you'll need to get coded by a programmer.
Wednesday, 16 July 2014 16:32
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Move a Joomla installation to a new folder using cPanel

Move a Joomla installation to a new folder using cPanel

Where do you build your Joomla website, when you already have a live website? You could build the Joomla site locally, but this can be problematic and doesn’t allow an outsider to access the development site. You could setup a second web hosting account, but this costs money. Or you could build the new site inside a sub-folder of your existing site and move everything when you’re ready to change. That’s a popular approach, but what is the right way to move the files? This video tutorial demonstrates our recommended procedure.

Recent Comments
Richard Pearce
If the other site is within the same hosting account - i.e. you can access both site folders through the same File Manager - then ... Read More
Thursday, 09 August 2012 07:16
Tom Deighton
Thank You Richard. Nice job! Moving Joomla makes my head fuzzy. I have stories I can tell ... I'll wait for Halloween though. I d... Read More
Friday, 10 August 2012 20:58
Richard Pearce
This method saves time. We love, use and recommend Akeeba all the time. But this method is faster than creating the backup (althou... Read More
Saturday, 11 August 2012 10:31
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Getting Started with RSS Feeds

Getting Started with RSS Feeds

Joomla can display RSS feeds from other sites. But how do you create an RSS feed from your own site? This function is built-in to Joomla, but it isn’t so obvious how it works. In this video tutorial I demonstrate how to use the default Joomla RSS feed and how to create a unique feed using a free extension.

Recent Comments
Kevin Morrison
I thought it was my sound system at first but I hear the beginning really good and then your voice goes into some techno void and ... Read More
Friday, 03 August 2012 12:47
Richard Pearce
Huh? Seems okay to me. How many seconds in does it fail? If it continues to be a problem, click the YouTube icon on the video to w... Read More
Friday, 03 August 2012 13:47
Kevin Morrison
It is only happening in Chrome and at 8 seconds your voice fades out and it is garbled and very shallow. Happens on the site and o... Read More
Friday, 03 August 2012 16:21
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Joomla Hidden Menus

Joomla Hidden Menus

If you've built static websites before, making the transition to a dynamic site such as Joomla can cause frustration. Seemingly simple tasks can end up being a nightmare. That's potentially the case when you need to create a hidden page. But there is an easy way around this as demonstrated in this week's video tutorial.

Recent Comments
Douglas W McNeil
Richard, This seems like a convoluted way of accomplishing that task. What is the advantage to doing it this way? I solved th... Read More
Thursday, 26 July 2012 01:23
Richard Pearce
How do you "get to the page"? You need to know the URL. And the URL needs to include the Itemid, otherwise Joomla doesn't know whi... Read More
Thursday, 26 July 2012 07:11
Douglas W McNeil
Sorry Richard, I guess I left out one part. I am using Fox Contact which just has a drop down menu for the article I want to ... Read More
Sunday, 29 July 2012 22:54
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How to Install Joomla Extensions Manually

Recent Comments
Robin McCamont
Seems like I'm learning this stuff "one step ahead of you releasing your articles", Richard! However, this is really great stuff,... Read More
Thursday, 19 July 2012 08:07
Tristan Montano
Hy everyone, I want to use Community builder, i downloaded it and tried to install it through the installer, but the same error a... Read More
Wednesday, 06 March 2013 04:52
Richard Pearce
You're uploading the wrong file. Some extensions, and I'm pretty sure this includes Community Builder, need to be extracted before... Read More
Wednesday, 06 March 2013 09:14
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