Joomla Tutorials

Joomla 3.1 Has Been Tagged and Released

Steve Burge — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 07:43:00 +0100

Joomla 3.1 is now available.

3.1 is available as a one-click update for all Joomla 3 users.

The major new feature in 3.1 is Tags. We wrote a detailed introduction and said that Tags "is one of the best new features to be added to Joomla in a long time."

In addition to Tags, there are some bug fixes and 7 security fixes, so we recommend that Joomla 3 users update immeadiately. If you have a lot of sites, try using Admincredible.com to update quickly and easily.

How to Enable Joomla SEF URLs on GoDaddy for SEO

Nick Savov — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 20:43:00 +0100

Recently, some of GoDaddy's servers have been producing a "No input file specified" error message when enabling Search Engine Friendly (SEF) URLs in Joomla.

This tutorial will show you step-by-step how to get your Joomla site working on GoDaddy's servers with SEF URLs enabled.

The New Tags Feature in Joomla 3.1

Steve Burge — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 19:14:01 +0100

Over the last few days I've had the chance to test the new Tags features in Joomla 3.1, which is scheduled for release on April 24th, 2013.

My conclusion is that Tags is one of the best new features to be added to Joomla in a long time.

Not only do Tags work really well, but they also give a glimpse into Joomla's future.

In this blog post, we'll give you an overview of how Tags work. We'll also see how Tags shows Joomla growing into a better, more unified system where features and data are shared between extensions.

Install the AreYouaHuman Game CAPTCHA in Joomla

Nick Savov — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 20:03:46 +0100

One of the downsides to using popular software such as Joomla, WordPress or Drupal is that lots of spammers know how to target that software. It's not unusual to get a lot of spam registrations on your site.

On the other hand, one of the most frustrating experiences on the web is attempting to fill-in a really hard-to-read CAPTCHA. After several failed attempts, many users give up and leave your site. That's one reason that we've not used CAPTCHA's at OSTraining. We'd rather deal with spam, than lose our valued customers and visitors.

Essential Health Checks for Your Joomla Site

Steve Burge — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 20:55:49 +0000

Over the last few years, between OSTraining and Admincredible, we've helped a LOT of people fix problems with their Joomla sites.

Although the problems sound different, we've found that many can be fixed with only 6 solutions.

If you implement all 6, you'll have a safer, healthier and faster Joomla site.

Here are those 6 solutions ...

Update your Local Joomla Repository on a PC using TortoiseGit

Nick Savov — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 11:22:03 +0000

In the last tutorial, we showed you how to create a local repository.

In this tutorial, we will show you how to update the local repository with the latest development changes from Joomla.

This should be done each time before testing bugs or applying patches to make sure that we have the latest fixes.

Create a Local Version of the Joomla Github Repository using TortoiseGit

Nick Savov — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 11:21:02 +0000

This tutorial will show you how to create a local version of the Joomla github repository, which houses the latest code base for Joomla.

How to Install TortoiseGit on a Windows PC

Nick Savov — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 11:20:00 +0000

This tutorial will show you how to download and install TortoiseGit, which we will use in subsequent tutorials to test and create patches.

TortoiseGit is not the only software that you can use to test and create patches, but it's easy to use, so that's why we decided to use it for our tutorials on patches. TortoiseGit is only available on Windows. I will be posting a Mac tutorial later today.

How to Report a Joomla Bug on Joomlacode.org

Nick Savov — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 11:16:10 +0000

If you want a Joomla bug to get fixed, you should report it to the Joomla Bug Squad with the bug tracker.

This tutorial will show you step-by-step how to file a Joomla bug report.

Test a Joomla Patch on a Windows PC using TortoiseGit

Nick Savov — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 01:23:11 +0000

This tutorial will teach you how to test a Joomla patch (i.e. code fix) on a Windows PC using TortoiseGit. It assumes you've already installed TortoiseGit and created a local repository of the Joomla using TortoiseGit.

How to Test Joomla 3 Beta Versions

Steve Burge — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 20:36:48 +0000

Joomla 3 is the Short Term Support version of Joomla and so new versions with new features arrive regularly.

Joomla 3.1 is due at the end of March. The major new feature is likely to be Tags, which can be added to articles and extensions to organize them more effectively.

You can see our full introduction to the Tags feature here.

A Beta version of Joomla 3.1 is already out. The Joomla team wants as many people as possible to test each version before release, so they make it easy to install and test Beta versions. Here's how to test Joomla 3.1 and Tags.

Joomla 3.1 Tags Preview

Nick Savov — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 06:58:14 +0000

Joomla 3.1 is just around the corner; and one of the most exciting proposed features for it is Tags.

The Tags feature is still currently under review. If Tags are included, it would likely be the "poster-child" for the Joomla 3.1 release.

One of the best features about the Tags component is that it allows other extensions to connect to its API and use the tags. Eextension developers can implement tagging into their component and interact with other tags easily.

In the following screenshots, I'll take you through the Tags component, its menu items, and extensions, as well as highlight some of its coolest features along the way.

How to Upload Large Joomla Extensions

Steve Burge — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 00:55:37 +0000

Uploading large extensions can be a tricky business.

Because some extensions contain a large number of files, it's often hard to install them via the Joomla administrator area. This is because hosting companies often put strict limits on the amount of resources you can use on your server, and uploading large files can take a lot of resources. When you try to upload these large extensions, you may end up with timeouts or error messages.

We're going to show you two methods for upload large extensions. One of these methods will also allow you to install dozens of extensions at once.

Finally, at the end of the tutorial, we'll show you a technique that (to our knowledge) has never been documented in Joomla before.

Joomla 2.5.9 and 3.0.3 Released

Steve Burge — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 00:07:27 +0000

Start using your one-click update fingers: Joomla 2.5.9 and Joomla 3.0.3 have been released.

Remember that updating Joomla is now as simple as logging in to your Joomla site and clicking on the flashing icon that notifies you of an update.

Both of these releases are regularly scheduled maintenance releases which provide bug-fixes and low-level security patches. Updating immediately is recommended.

The Secrets of the Joomla Messaging Extension

Steve Burge — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 05:56:17 +0000

We've been teaching Joomla 2.5 for around two years now.

2.5 is a successful, reliable platform. We run OSTraining.com on 2.5, and lately we've found that nearly 100% of our live training students are using it.

However, some part of 2.5 are often confusing to our students. One of these is the Messaging extension.

In this blog, 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.

Embed YouTube Videos in Joomla 2.5 and 3

Steve Burge — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 15:45:08 +0000

Displaying YouTube videos is one of the most popular things you can do with your Joomla site.

Our YouTube Embedder plugin is the fastest and easiest way to do it. All you need to do is add the URL of the video into your articles.

We've just released a completely free version of YouTube Embedder for Joomla 2.5 and Joomla 3. Here's how it works ...

The New Joomla 2.5 to 3 Pre-update Check

Nick Savov — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 21:41:00 +0000

Over the last two years, Joomla! has been working really hard to make it easier to update to the next Joomla version (for example, from 2.5 to 3.0).

Joomla has been able to do this through its smaller, more manageable releases and through its relatively new (since Joomla 1.6) one-click updater. The one-click upgrader is now quite mature and has proven itself to be very reliable.

However, a major improvement is coming soon. Joomla will soon provide a check to make sure your updates are always done safely and securely.

Move Joomla 1.5 content or users to 2.5 with J2XML

Steve Burge — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 23:21:37 +0000

We've had a series of blog posts on how to migrate your site from Joomla 1.5 to 2.5.

This week we're going to focus on something simpler: moving only your content or users.

One of our students didn't need to migrate their whole site, only their articles. We recommended J2XMlL

7 of our favorite presentations from the Joomla World Conference

Steve Burge — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 03:49:46 +0000

This November was the first Joomla World Conference in California.

There were over 80 presentations at the conference and nearly all of them can now be watched on Joomla's YouTube channel.

To save you time, we've picked 7 of our favorite presentations.

These presentations include keynotes and how-tos. They also cover a wide variety of topics, from Mozilla and internationalizing Joomla to Bootstrap and Node.js.

How to Upgrade from Joomla 2.5 to Joomla 3

Nick Savov — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 21:22:47 +0000

In this tutorial we're going show you how to update from Joomla 2.5 to Joomla 3.

Three things to note before we begin:

Joomla 2.5 is the Long Term Support version and offers a stable platform for most sites.
This update is currently recommended only for relatively simple sites.
A more sophisticated update process is expected to be available for Joomla 3.1 early this year. Look for more details on that later this week.

However, for people who do want to use Joomla 3, the update process from Joomla 2.5 to 3 does work and in this tutorial, we're going to show you how to use it.

Using Videos to Train Your Clients

Steve Burge — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 22:14:27 +0000

Rod Martin, our Director of Online Training, presented at the Joomla World Conference in November.

Rod is in charge of creating all our videos, and his presentation in San Jose was called, "Using Videos to Train Your Clients":

Load Custom CSS for Each Joomla Component

Steve Burge — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 12:57:24 +0000

During September and November, we migrated OSTraining.com to Joomla 2.5.

Our old Joomla 1.5 site had been live for years and had accumulated all sorts of junk, particularly when it came to CSS.

Here's a useful trick we used to clean up our CSS and also make our site load faster.

A Beginners Guide to Joomla Overrides

Steve Burge — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 02:08:31 +0000

Making changes to Joomla's core files is often neccessary, but there's a right and a wrong way to do it.

The wrong way is to directly edit Joomla's files. If you do, you'll lose all your changes when you next update your site.

The right way is to use an override. In this post, we'll show you what overrides are and how you can use them to safely edit components, modules and languages.

Joomla 2.5.8 and 3.0.2 Released

Steve Burge — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 05:00:00 +0000

Start using your one-click update fingers: Joomla 2.5.8 and Joomla 3.0.2 have been released.

Remember that updating Joomla is now as simple as logging in to your Joomla site and clicking on the flashing icon that notifies you of an update.

Both of these releases are regularly scheduled maintenance releases which provide bug-fixes and low-level security patches. Updating immediately is recommended but not absolutely essential.

Case Study: Migrating from Joomla 1.5 to 2.5

Steve Burge — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 22:37:40 +0000

Last month we completed the migration of our main OSTraining.com site to Joomla 2.5.

We learned so much during the migration that we decided to turn it into a case study for others who also wanted to move to 2.5.

Our site is a fairly large one with arond 10,000 users, 7000 articles and 60,000 forum posts. Here's an overview of the process we went through to move the site to Joomla 2.5.

Notices, Warnings and Errors on Your Joomla Site

Steve Burge — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 05:00:00 +0000

Websites inevitably have problems. Whether you're using Joomla or anything else, you'll need to spot and fix problems.

Joomla uses PHP and when PHP has problems, it reports them to you. However, often these errors will appear on your site and will be visible to visitors:

In this tutorial, we're going to give you a quick introduction to these errors. We'll explain the different types that might appear on your site and how you can stop them from showing.

Connecting to Joomla 2.5 Via XMLRPC

Steve Burge — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 15:00:00 +0100

XMLRPC is an old, but widely used tool for connecting websites to other applications.

If you're using XMLRPC to connect to Joomla, there's a good chance that you're using desktop software such as Windows Live Writer or Screensteps. Even some more modern software such as ScribeFire relies on XMLRPC. All of these applications will connect to Joomla and automatically upload blog posts and images for you.

This tutorial will show you how to connect to a Joomla 2.5 site using XMLRPC.

Where to Get Joomla 3 Templates

Steve Burge — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 00:14:03 +0100

Joomla 3 has only been out for 3 weeks.

Even after such a short time, it's really encouraging to see many designers jumping onto the Joomla 3 bandwagon.

We found that many template companies are Joomla 3 ready. Those who aren't ready yet tend to have more complex frameworks and need a little longer to be ready.

If you want to start using Joomla 3 today, here are some places to look for designs.

10 Great, Mobile-Ready Joomla Templates

Steve Burge — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 17:37:55 +0100

You probably know that Joomla has made great progress in becoming mobile-ready.

Joomla 3 was the first major CMS to be completely mobile-ready for visitors and administrators.

Joomla template designers are also making great progress in preparing for mobile use.

Here are 10 of the best mobile-ready Joomla templates:

Joomla 3 Sample Data is Much Improved

Steve Burge — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 09:28:50 +0100

There are many improvements to enjoy in Joomla 3.

One small but highly useful improvement is the new sample data. Honestly, in Joomla 2.5, the sample data wasn't good at all. Because it was so confusing, we recommended that our students avoid using it.

With Joomla 3, you have 6 different sample data options, and almost all of them are useful. When you get to the final step of the Joomla 3 installation process, you'll see these 6 options: