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:
- If you receive an error message, copy the error and Google it. You may find a page where others are describing the same problem and hopefully a solution.
- Search the Joomla forum and if there are no other relevant posts, start your own. It is helpful to describe your problem in as much detail as practical, including any errors you receive. Just be aware that this is a public forum and so it is a very bad idea to include private information such as passwords. If you are polite, you will most likely receive a friendly response.
- If the problem relates to an extension, contact the extension developer directly. Many have a support page or forum on their site.
- If time is against you, or you can't find an answer, consider paying an expert to fix the problem. You can try freelance sites such as Joomlancers, ODesk, Elance or Guru