How to Use the Joomla Private Messages Extension

How to Use the Joomla Messaging Extension

Joomla is a successful, reliable platform. However, some parts of Joomla are often confusing to our customers. One of these is the "Messaging" extension.

In this blog post, I'm going to show you the two features of the "Messaging" extension. I'm also going to suggest two ways in which "Messaging" could be improved in future Joomla releases.

Read more: How to Use the Joomla Private Messages Extension

Get Email Notifications When Users Join Your Joomla Site

Email Notifications When Users Join Your Joomla Site

One of our users asked us how they could receive an email notification whenever a new user registered at their Joomla site.

In this tutorial, I will explain how to set up your Joomla site so that site administrators will get notifications of newly registered users.

Read more: Get Email Notifications When Users Join Your Joomla Site

How to Add Custom Fields to the Joomla Contact Form

How to Add Custom Fields to the Joomla Contact Form

Many people choose to use an extension such as Shack Forms to create their contact forms.

Shack Forms is a great choice, but with the arrival of custom fields in Joomla, you can also customize contact forms with the Joomla core.

Read more: How to Add Custom Fields to the Joomla Contact Form

All the Joomla News for April 2021

All the Joomla News for April 2021

Thanks for using Joomla and Joomlashack.

In JanuaryFebruary, and March, we posted a round-up of news from around the Joomla community. You told us this was useful, so we're back again for April! Here's our guide to what's interesting in Joomla right now.

I try to post one of these helpful items every day in the Joomlashack Facebook group, so join if you do want daily Joomla updates.

Read more: All the Joomla News for April 2021

OSCampus Has a New Drag-and-Drop Certificate Designer

OSCampus Has a New Drag-and-Drop Certificate Designer

OSCampus is the best way to build an online training site with Joomla.

This extension is incredibly robust and is used by 10,000's of people every week. OSCampus runs the video training at OSTraining.com, and also the official Joomla.org training site!

OSCampus has a new and powerful drag-and-drop designer for certificates. This is a great way to reward your users when they finish a class. You can create as many certificates as you need, and then assign them to different classes.

Read more: OSCampus Has a New Drag-and-Drop Certificate Designer

Your Ultimate Guide to Joomla 4

Your Ultimate Guide to Joomla 4

Joomla 4 is getting closer and closer!

The Joomla team have released the beta version of Joomla 4. This version is not ready for use on your live sites, but it is 100% ready for testing.

Click here to download the beta version of Joomla 4.

Read more: Your Ultimate Guide to Joomla 4

Get Your Google Maps API Keys for Joomla Extensions

beginners guide to google maps api key

The Google Maps API is used to power good number of Joomla extensions, including some here at Joomlashack: JCal Pro, jInbound, and Shack Locations.

Recently, Google introduced a few changes to their Maps API. They added extra functionality, new pricing, and enforced  the use of an API key. Previously, you could use the Maps API without a key, but that's no longer possible.

In this guide, we'll show you how to obtain your Google Maps API key for a production site and run your Joomlashack extensions with full Google Maps API support.

Read more: Get Your Google Maps API Keys for Joomla Extensions

Use Links to Automatically Fill a Shack Forms Field

Use Links to Automatically Fill a Shack Forms Field

Imagine that you create a link that says "Click here to book a trip to London". When your visitor clicks the link, they go to your booking form and "London" is already selected in the form.

This sounds pretty awesome, right? It makes things really easy for your visitors and increases the chance that they will buy from you.

In this tutorial, we'll show you how to modify links so you can automatically make form selections for your visitors. We'll be using the Shack Forms extension.

Read more: Use Links to Automatically Fill a Shack Forms Field

Shack Open Graph Has Improved Facebook and X / Twitter Support

Shack Open Graph Has Improved Facebook and X / Twitter Support

When you share Joomla links on Facebook and X / Twitter, those sites don't find the correct information ... unless you use Shack Open Graph.

This extension adds Open Graph and X / Twitter Card tags to your site. These tags help Facebook and X / Twitter pull the correct image and description from your site. Each social network requires different images sizes. For example, the header images on our blog posts are 2000 px wide and 900 px high. But our Facebook images are 1200 px wide and 630 px high and our X / Twitter images are normally 1200 px high and 675 px high.

In this week's release of Shack Open Graph, it's even easier to make your site look good on social media.

Read more: Shack Open Graph Has Improved Facebook and X / Twitter Support

How to Change Joomla's Date and Time Format

Change Joomla's Date and Time Format

Joomla comes with a standard format for showing dates and times.

However, there may be a site you have created that will need to use a custom date and time format. In this tutorial, I will show you a step-by-step method on changing your date and time format for articles.

This method will use no coding and will also introduce you to Language Overrides, one of Joomla's best and most underappreciated features.

Read more: How to Change Joomla's Date and Time Format