Using Joomla 1.5 To Create Your Website - Quick Start Guide

This Guide is structured to help step you through the whole process of creating a Joomla Website, starting with obtaining a Domain Name and Website Hosting account for your Joomla Website. However first I would like to point out two Articles that could help you understand Joomla better if you are still a bit confused to exactly what it is. The first Article “Content Management Systems Explained” helps you understand what a Content Management System (which is what Joomla is) is, the second Article “More About Joomla” is some extra information about Joomla not CMS’s in general.

Step 1 – Getting a Domain Name and Website Hosting Account

If you already have a Domain Name and Website Hosting then you can skip this step but I do recommend that you use Hostgator as your Hosting account.

Getting a Hosting account through Hostgator is very easy and for less than $10 a month, however Hostgator offer incredible service and I don’t believe you will find better hosting for that price.

Tutorial Link: Getting your Domain Name and Website Hosting Tutorial

Step 2 – Installing Joomla to your Website

Once you have your Website (Domain and Hosting) you now need to install Joomla. There are 2 ways to install Joomla, one way is extremely easy and if you joined Hostgator you can do it that way, the second way is a little bit more difficult.

The first (and easiest) way of installing Joomla is using Fantastico, Fantastico is a script that is part of CPanel (the Hosting account control panel used by Hostgator) and it automatically installs Joomla (among other applications) for you, with a few details entered.

Tutorial Link: Install Joomla Using Fantastico.

The second way is to install Joomla manually, this is a little bit harder and takes some more time.

Tutorial Link: Install Joomla Manually.

Step 3 – Setting up your own Template

You can tell what your current Template looks like by going to the address you installed Joomla to in the previous step. The default Joomla Template is ok but it’s plain and of course it’s the default one, you want to customize the Template to a style that suits you and the niche of your website.

To install a new Template you first need to find one, you can search for free Templates and also paid Templates, like always the paid Templates are usually better. The Templates I love and use for all my Joomla Website are Templates offered by Rocket Themes, I use their paid Templates as they are so good but Rocket Themes also off free Templates. Go to Rocket Themes and have a look at least.

Once you have a Template (even if you don’t) use the following tutorial link on how to change your Joomla Template.

Tutorial Link: How to Change your Joomla Template.

Step 4 – Learn to Structure Sections and Categories

Content in Joomla is saved into a structure of Sections and Categories, you need to create kind of a tree of these to organise your content into. Sections are used as a Top Level Topic where Categories are used as a Sub Level Topic and then Articles are saved into a Category. Example, I have a Section called Create then a Category in the “Create” Section is “Quick Start Guides” and an Article in that Category is this one your reading “Joomla – Quick Start Guide”.

For a better understanding read the Tutorial page for Structuring your Joomla Site and also watch the Tutorial video.

Tutorial Link: How to Structure your Joomla Site

Step 5 – Adding Articles to Joomla

Now comes the actual adding of Articles this is where you get to start populating your website with content. Every Article you add has to be saved under a Category or Uncategorized, no article can be saved to a Section, this would have been explained in detail in the “Structuring Joomla” tutorial.

Add as much quality content to your website as possible, the more quality content you can add the more Traffic you will receive later.

Tutorial Link: How to add Articles to Joomla

Step 6 – Building your Main Menu

Once you have your Sections and Categories sorted out and you have a handful of Articles added you can start piecing together a healthy, neat Main Menu. The main menu is treated a little differently from Template to Template but there is usually always a fixed Main Menu location either up the top (horizontally) or on one of the Sidebars.

You should now populate your Main Menu with the current Articles you have then as you make more Articles slowly add them to the Main Menu.

Tutorial Link: Making Menus in Joomla

Step 7 – Learn how to further Customize and use Joomla

By now you should basically see your site coming together and the structure of Joomla. That covers the basics you need to know to build your site but there are still a bunch of other tutorials you should go through to learn how to further customize and use your Joomla site.

Module Positions

First thing you should learn now is “Module Positions”, Modules are basically blocks that can be added to Joomla things like a Login Form, Menu, Newsletter Subscription box, video player, etc. Every Template has Module Positions  which allows you to move Modules around the page very easily, watch the following Tutorial to learn more.

Tutorial Link: Managing Module Positions in Joomla.

Installing Extensions

Once you know how to manage Module Positions it’s time to learn how to add more Extensions to Joomla. Extensions build on the functionality of Joomla and come in the form of Modules, Plugins, Components and Themes. You can get an Extension to do just about anything in Joomla, most Extensions are free too.

Tutorial Link: Adding Extensions to Joomla.

Creating New Users

In Joomla you can allow other people to sign up and become a member to your Joomla site that allows them to look at content you have set to Registered Only, etc. What if you want to add another user that can login to the admin side of Joomla and help you manage your Joomla site? What if you want to have a user that can add Articles but not access the Admin side of things? This is where you need to add your own users with different permissions.

Tutorial Link: Adding new Users in Joomla.

There will be more Tutorials to come that will help you further Customize and understand Joomla, if you have a Tutorial you would like to see added use the “Request a Tutorial” link from the Request Menu on the left.