Joomla! For Dummies [Paperback]

Steve Holzner (Author), Nancy Conner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 14, 2009 | ISBN-10: 047043287X | ISBN-13: 978-0470432877 | Edition: 1

With its pre-coded modules, open source Joomla! is popular for building interactive Web sites without writing code. This Web site design tool lets you build sites with discussions, polling, RSS feeds, picture submissions, shopping carts, and a lot more, quickly and easily and the quickest, easiest way to learn how to use it is Joomla! For Dummies.

Learn to link articles on your site with drop-down menus, invite visitors to rate content, enable a full-site search, let your guests sign up for e-mail lists, and much more. Joomla! For Dummies helps you to:

• Acquire the free Joomla! content management system, install it, and customize the home page
• See how menus control the elements in Joomla! and use menu items to create your page layout
• Use templates— powerful collections of PHP and CSS—to make your pages do what you want them to
• Create searches, polls, page menus, newsflashes, and banners using built-in Joomla! modules
• Build search engine-friendly sites and see how Joomla! can help boost site traffic
• Explore additional Joomla! templates and learn what to look for when downloading and installing them
• Check into plug-ins, components, and additional modules to see how they differ and what they can do
• Find modules for ads, archives, banners, searches, syndications, and more

Joomla! lets you concentrate on content instead of struggling with code. So grab Joomla! For Dummies and start creating!

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Build cool Web sites without coding — it's easy with Joomla!

Joomla! makes it easy, and this book makes it easier yet! See how to link articles on your site with drop-down menus, invite visitors to rate content, enable a full-site search, allow your guests to sign up for e-mail lists, and much more, all with portable Joomla! modules. Instead of struggling with code, you can concentrate on content. Here's how!

• Jump into Joomla! — acquire the free Joomla! content management system, install it, and customize the home page

• The meaning of menus — see how menus control the elements in Joomla! and use menu items to create your page layout

• Taming templates — use these powerful collections of PHP and CSS to make your pages do what you want them to

• Module madness — create searches, polls, menus, newsflashes, and banners with built-in Joomla! modules

• Joomla! and SEO — build search engine-friendly sites and see how Joomla! can help boost site traffic

• Extend your options — explore additional Joomla! templates and learn what to look for when downloading and installing them

• Plug it in — check into plug-ins, components, and additional modules to see how they differ and what they can do

Open the book and find:

• Step-by-step instructions for downloading and installing Joomla!

• Examples of cool Joomla! sites

• How to remove and rename menus

• Easy ways to add pages to your site

• How to make menu options work for you

• Tips for tracking page hits

• Modules for ads, archives, banners, searches, syndications, and more

• The secrets of keywords

About the Author

Steven Holzner is the award-winning author of more than 100 tech books, with more than 3 million copies sold in 18 languages. He’s written ten For Dummies books and many computer-book bestsellers. He’s written on nearly every Web topic (including JavaServer Pages, PHP, HTML, and XML), and he specializes in topics such as Web-site design. He earned his PhD at Cornell University, and he’s been a faculty member at Cornell University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He used to design Web sites from scratch but uses Joomla! now.

Nancy Conner most recently wrote Google Apps: The Missing Manual (O’Reilly, 2008). Her ability to explain complex technical material in language that’s clear, simple, and fun has made her a sought-after author. She’s written on a wide variety of Web topics, including eBay, QuickBase, the Unifi ed Modeling Language, and fi eld-programmable gate arrays. Her fi rst novel, a mystery, will be published in 2009.

Product Details

• Paperback: 360 pages
• Publisher: For Dummies; 1 edition (January 14, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 047043287X
• ISBN-13: 978-0470432877
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 0.7 x 9.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #681,890 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

57 of 59 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Very concise and understandable intro to Joomla! April 1, 2009

By In My Opinion2!

Format:Paperback

This book is aimed at people who haven't used Joomla before and want to learn all of the fundimentals needed to get started. If you are an experienced Joomla programmer looking for a book on how to manipulate the underlying PHP, CSS, MySQL, and HTML, this ISN'T the book you need.

Personally, I needed a book that would teach me how to use the system. Before I purchased this book, I had never used Joomla in any way before. So, I was very happy to find that it only took several hours for me to read through this book and learn how to get a site up and running.

Unlike many other Joomla books, this one gets you into the program very quickly. The directions for using Joomla are very clear, as are the accompanying illustrations. Each of the chapters in this book are short and sweet.

If you are a newbie, like me, this is a great book to start with!

25 of 29 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The best Joomla! book I bought March 8, 2009

By Jan Kees -

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I was starting with Joomla! and checked some books from Amazon. I bouht one, what I thought, would be a good book as a start with sufficient detail to use it later a reference. But: it was too difficult. Then I got this e-mail notice from Amazon about this new "Dummy" on Joomla!, and I bought it directly. What a succes! This one really helps you to get insight in the software. It helps you understand what it is to work with a content management system and how to cope with "not having pages" but articles and menus. An easy step-by-step guide with sufficient detail to use it for a lengthy period. So: a real representative from the "for dummies" series!

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Clear and helpful May 9, 2009

By Margaret Gayle

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

For the struggling Joomla novice, this volume contains plenty of precise pictures and clear instructions to save the day. If Joomla is new to you, this is your book.

If you're advanced, this book will seem rudimentary. However if you need to teach Joomla to others, it makes a good and complete classroom manual.