The Joomlashack Blog
Review of New Joomla Security Extension
- Written by Barrie North Barrie North
- Published: 24 June 2009 24 June 2009
Be sure to read a full description of SecureJoomla on in our Joomla Extensions and Components store.
Once in a while a product for Joomla comes along and really makes me sit up and pay attention. One such recent product was a <https://www.joomlashack.com/extensions/388-securejoomla-joomla-security-system">new Joomla security component called SecureLive. A simple module that you can install on your site and immediately secure Joomla more effectively.
Now, I'll admit to not knowing much about the hard core details of server and Joomla 1.5 security, so, I contacted someone who did, Tom Canavan, the author of Joomla! Security and a frequent speaker at Joomla events on the subject. I thought that we could install SecureLive on a real production site and we'd see if Mr Canavan could break in.
Over to you Mr Canavan....
10 Hours of Joomla Video Training Released
- Written by Barrie North Barrie North
- Published: 22 June 2009 22 June 2009
We are very excited that some great new resources to learn how to Joomla are now available, Joomla! 1.5: A User's Guide: Building a Successful Joomla! Powered Website (2nd Edition) and Fundamentals of Joomla! (Video Training)! The author is Joomlashack's own Barrie North.
The second edition of the book is an update of the best selling book on Joomla, bringing it up to date with the latest version of Joomla 1.5. It also has a completely new chapter on marketing your site and SEO, two topics that change continuously.
The Joomla Video Training is a completely new release. Its a packed 9 hour training video on Joomla 1.5. You can listen as I explain some of the most difficult Joomla concepts, like sections and categories and creating your site navigation.
If you'd like to get some insight into the background behind these new releases, you can head over to cmswire and Dee-Ann LeBlanc's interview about them.
New Update to Inspirion Joomla Template
- Written by Barrie North Barrie North
- Published: 18 June 2009 18 June 2009
Joomlashack's Inspirion Joomla Template is one of the most innovative templates currently on the market. Its built using the 960 grid, a CSS system that gives you a tableless layout and a fast loading site, great for SEO!
Its one of the first commercial professional templates to validate XHTML Strict. This is a high benchmark to meet, and provides a great foundation to help you site rank in search engines.
On top of that, Inspirion has a full set of core Joomla template overrides. This means that your Joomla 1.5 site will be shown with no tables at all and makes use of semantic headings (h1-h3). I'll give you one guess why that is good!
I think that the Inspirion template might be the best template around for SEO right now. Making sure your template helps your SEO efforts, rather than hurts them, involves lots of factors, tabless layouts, valid code, semantic headings, SEO-friendly logo replacement- Inspirion has it all.
Ultimate Top Ten Joomla Extensions REVEALED
- Written by Tom Elliott Tom Elliott
- Published: 09 June 2009 09 June 2009
Last month Joomlashack asked our community, "What are the Top Ten Joomla extensions?" So what did 2,591 voters and 12,642 votes reveal?
Announcing the Joomlashack Ultimate Top Ten Joomla Extensions, with cash prizes to the top two extensions. The grand prize winners:
#1 Virtuemart, "the complete e-Commerce shopping cart solution for Joomla" wins a $200 donation from Joomlashack!
#2 JoomlaPack, "an open-source backup component" wins a $100 donation from Joomlashack!
Congratulations to these two high-profile open source projects. Both of these extensions are licensed under the GPL and are available for free on their project websites.
Now, what about the other 120+ extensions suggested and voted on? And oh yeah- what's the Top Ten?
Read about the official Joomlashack Top Ten- with a tie!
Millions and Millions of Joomla Sites
- Written by Tom Elliott Tom Elliott
- Published: 09 June 2009 09 June 2009
The Joomla Project announced last weekend that Joomla has been downloaded from its site ten million times. An impressive number worthy of attention.
The more interesting question is how many Joomla-powered website are there?
Beginner Joomla Training June 11th 2009
- Written by Barrie North Barrie North
- Published: 08 June 2009 08 June 2009
Need to learn Joomla in the New England Area? Our upcoming Beginner Joomla training on June 11th in Burlington, Vermont, still has a few spots available!
You can find out more about the class at Beginner Joomla Training June 11th Burlington, VT
How to Apply a Module Class Suffix in Joomla! 1.5
- Written by Barrie North Barrie North
- Published: 05 June 2009 05 June 2009
This tutorial will explain how to apply a module class suffix in Joomla!. This tutorial depends on the available styles for individual templates. Some settings may be different. See the templates corresponding docmentation for more information.
Go to your Joomla! administration console
Go the administration of your website at ww.yourjoomlasite.com/administrator/
Login to your Joomla! administration
Enter the username and password you created when installing Joomla!
Go to the Module Manager
Navigate to Extensions > Module Manager
Go to the module you want to edit
Select the module you want to apply the Module style..
Apply the Module Class Suffix into the parameters to the right
Apply the Module Class Suffix. (S1 example shown)
Save the Module Setting
Click Save
Understanding the Module Manager
- Written by Amanda Tabush Amanda Tabush
- Published: 05 June 2009 05 June 2009
Modules are the blocks of content in your site and are distinctively separate from your main content area. For example, a module may appear to the left,right,above, or below your main article content. The Module Manager allows you to customize each module to your preference.
To access the Module Manager in Joomla! 1.0: Navigate to Modules - > Site Modules
To access the Module Manager in Joomla! 1.5: Navigate to Extensions - > Module Manager
Each module in Joomla! has some persistent features. Below are the fields you will see in every module. Modules have more individual parameters but these are the most important ones to understand first.
Note: Some of the terminology is different across Joomla! 1.0 & Joomla! 1.5 but they both have the same functionality.
- Title
- Show Title
- Enabled (1.5) / Published (1.0)
- Position
- Module Class Suffix
- Pages/Items (1.0) / Menu Assignment (1.5)
- Ordering
Title:
The title of the module is displayed above the module on the frontend. It is also called a "Module Heading". After a module is saved, the module's title is also shown in the Joomla! backend administration.
Show Title:
This setting allows you to specify whether or not the module's title should be visible on the frontend.
Enabled (1.5) / Published (1.0):
Allows you to enable (or publish) the select module. To enable a module only on specific pages see below *Pages/Items (1.0) / Menu Assignment (1.5)
Position:
A module position may be labeled as left, right, bottom, top, etc.
Module positions are defined by the template. If a module is published in a position that is not supported by the template, it will not show up. It is important to be aware of your template's supported module positions. In Joomla! 1.5, only the module positions of the default template are available in the module manager.
Module Class Suffix:
A module class suffix allows you to specify a preset style which is defined by the template. You'll need to consult your individual template documentation to see what module styles/suffixes are available.
(See also: How to apply a Module Class Suffix)
Pages/Items (1.0) / Menu Assignment (1.5):
When a module is enabled/published it can be assigned to all pages or pages specified in the Pages/Items (1.0) / Menu Assignment (1.5) dialog. Modules can only assigned to pages that have menu items.
Ordering:
You can set the order of a module to appear in the ordering dialog as well as the module manager main page by clicking the up/down arrows.
Joomla template CSS and images only displayed on home page
- Written by Amanda Tabush Amanda Tabush
- Published: 05 June 2009 05 June 2009
Sometimes your template will lose all its styles and images when navigating away from the Frontpage.
This is caused by an incorrect path to the stylesheet due to SEF errors. If you've enabled SEF, make sure your htaccess.txt file is renamed to .htaccess. You may need to temporarily disable SEF. For more information on the correct way to set up SEF in Joomla! 1.5, see the official doc item at joomla.org: SEF URLs in Joomla! 1.5
SEF quick checklist:
- Make sure htaccess.txt is renamed to .htaccess if SEF is enabled
- Make sure your server/host supports all requirements
Creating sublevel menu items
- Written by Amanda Tabush Amanda Tabush
- Published: 05 June 2009 05 June 2009
Creating sublevel menu items in both Joomla! 1.0 and Joomla! 1.5 is achieved by same general process. Think of Joomla's menu items as "parents" and "children". In order to create a sublevel item, you will need to assign a "parent" to that item. This is done inside the Menu Manager. Navigate to the menu manager and select the menu to be modified.
Example:
Joomla! 1.0: Menu > mainmenuJoomla! 1.5: Menus > Main Menu
Select the menu item you would like to assign as a sublevel (or child) item.
You will see a dialog below titled "Parent Item"
Choose the item to assign as the parent and save.
