DISCUSSION: Mini tutorial: Frontpage

[eyezberg]

discussion thread from this post: http://forum.joomla.org/index.php/topic,45455.0.html

[guilliam]

hi joe,.

can you post the tutorial here as a thread post? would love to add it in the main FAQ's

thanks for putting the explaination up. very helpful for newbies like me

- g

[eyezberg]

...newbies like me.. yeah, right..

You mean, copy paste that into a post? sure.. new thread, or this one?

[guilliam]

...newbies like me.. yeah, right..

You mean, copy paste that into a post? sure.. new thread, or this one?

new thread.. and i'll lock it, then this thread will be its dicussion thread

- g

[eyezberg]

Done: http://forum.joomla.org/index.php/topic,45455.0.html

[Sicarii]

Great little 'mini tutorial' you have written there eyezberg. Nice, simple, and straight to the point.
I hope to see more of your well written, and informative tutorials in the future.

While I can't answer the first part (hell, I never said I know it all, and I didn't design the interface ...),

lol

[guilliam]

Done: http://forum.joomla.org/index.php/topic,45455.0.html

added joe.

- g

[leolam]

Joe,

extremly helpful..have added this to my standard reply buttons

Thanks !

Leo

[elpino]

I'm interested in creating a custom content item (as mentioned in the mini-tutorial), displaying items in a blog fashion yet grouped and separated in categories, each group having it's own header (section or category title). I also wan't to be able to manipulate it's layout, I guess this would be done aplying different class suffixes, but to do this each category blog would have to be some kind of module... but I don't know how to do any of this... is it even posible??

I've seen a site done in mambo that does something similar. I suppose joomla can do it too.
http://scannerfm.com/site/index.php

I'd apreciate any help in directing me towards any info (other threads, faqs or tutorials). 

[Rimsky]

Thank you. I finally started to understand the concept. 

Rimsky

[webcentred]

Great mini-tute.  This is often asked, so i thought i would add an alternative for entry pages - or any other for that matter

--------------------

    *  Install a second (or third..) template (doesn't matter which ones) on your site
    *  Copy both the templates/index.php and template_css.css of the preferred/existing template
    *  Replace the new template's templates/index.php and template_css.css with these copied files (this step helps preserve your sites' existing style, configuration and structural php)
    *  Make the modifications you want to this new (second) template - perhaps dhtml , php or javascript
    *  Assign the this template to a page in your site - maybe the frontpage but could be any page
    *  Set the modules to the new module positions to display on this new template page
    *  Repeat as necessary


This is a workaround that works very well and it is good for

    *  image maps, entry pages, login only pages etc
    *  issues with valign, difficult templates or custom coding within pages
    *  setting the same module to display in different locations on your site (eg. user1 displayed within the header on custom page, under main menu on other pages etc)
    *  displaying differing looks/layouts for particular sections of your site or for logged in users
    *  other issues such as particular javascript/php/css formatting in the body of text where you want to preserve the wysiwyg editor for regular pages.


Note:

    *  Upload your image files to the original templates/images/ folder
    *  Components "co-exist" with the template, and as such assert their own formatting within the "Mainbody"
    *  Edits to the various template's may need to be done on more than one template depending on what you are trying to achieve - a minor and infrequent issue.

www.webcentred.com

[GumboYaYa]

I got a problem and it might fit into this thread:

I deleted the frontpage component (Home button in main menu). How can I get it back? I tried to recover it from the trash bin and Joomla said that it has been recovered and moved to its original position as an unpublished item. But I cannot find it anywhere. It seems to be at a special place now - one which I don't know about.

How can I get my frontpage component back working without reinstalling the whole thing?

Thanks a lot in advance!
GumboYaYa

[eyezberg]

If you can't "find" it in the mainmenu (check at page bottom: number of displayed items, maybe there's a second/third.. page it is on), you should be able to
Click New (menu item), select component, select frontpage from the list and then move the new item to first position..?

[ch4r7ie]

great explaination, but i dont get it..

i edited my front page as my home page, or intro page, anyways, what i want is for the front page to be the first thing that someone sees upon going to

http://www.lotusimages.com

instead they see a couple of things, a notice that something is missing,
and if they click on 'home' then they see the front page..

i don't know how this could have happened, i was very careful to only delete things at 2am when i was jacked on too much coffee and screwing around with a software package (that is smarter that i) for the 1st time

thanks for any help, ps, please make you answer as simple (really really simple) as possible, i've used windows for so long i'm almost an idiot

and, that missing thing from the front page, how can i figure out what's missing?

i'm guessing i zapped news or latest news, but it doesnt show up in 'site components'

[eyezberg]

Which file exactly did you edit there? index.php of template, or another?
can i get backend access to take a look?

[ch4r7ie]

wow, thanks, do you mean join and me bump you up to super admin? that would be great...




actually, i just zapped the whole shebang, and started over from scratch, it's going faster than last time, and i am hitting refresh on the fro home page exclusivly...


thanks

i want to own the site so i'd better be able to do it from scratch..


when i did tht i zapped your user thingy too, i'll put that back in about 30 mins, after i get the site more usable...

[booshan]

Eyezberg, thanks for the tutorial....

Can you elaborate more on how to do the following...

"You could even create a custom content item, with embedded modules ... and use that"

Is there any other thread having this information?

Thanks
Booshan

[Bigjohn]

Ok.  Here is my thought...

If you make a static content item, and then make that the first item in the MainManu, that content is displayed when you load the url.

It will be displayed in the browser as http://www.mywebsite.com/index.php

However, if you click the home menu button, you're URL displayed in the browser (referrer?) will be much different.  Example, with SEO/SEF turned on, you'll see something like http://www.mywebsite.com/content/view/12/26/, and the pathway will show home>home, instead of just home.

Is this a configuration error on my part, or is this a design issue?

John

[Chris]

The answer is easy: use a file named "index.html" in your site's root folder (where Joomlas index.php is found). Your server should serve this BEFORE any php file on most setups (test!), so as long as this file is present, noone will even know Joomla is installed there, unless they access directly (by typing into the adress field) http://www.yourdomain.com/index.php

I just saw this thread, maybe a bit late. But then, better late than never.

I think there might be something not 100% correct here.

I always thought that not al servers, when they are setup for PHP server index.html before index.php
Some will serve index.php BEFORE a index.html

[raphaelrizzo]

great article!

[netwerker]

I have a question that's closely related to this topic (I think ...).

See, I want to use the standard Joomla homepage/frontpage, with all the public content intro's on it, but I need it to start with some kind of static content on top of the page.
A short text that welcomes my visitors and explains what we're trying to accomplish with our (membership) website.
A text that ALWAYS stays there!

So, maybe I would have to add a new content item that is displayed in it's entirety (intro text and main text) on top of the other content intro's on the homepage? (always show on frontpage, public viewing, ordering 0(first))?

Am I right, or is there some other solution to do this? 

regards,
netwerker.

[Chris]

I thought that you could make a content item and make that the first item on the main menu.

[netwerker]

I thought that you could make a content item and make that the first item on the main menu.

That's right, a new static content item, but as far as I know, you can't put a list with other content intro's on a page like that, just like you can on the frontpage?

I just tried it the way I mentioned above, but now (of course) that new content item is displayed in the list with latest news & most popular items .... and it also has a "read more" button ...

This is not the way to do it, unless somebody knows how to solve the 3 problems mentioned in the above sentence ...

HELP?

netwerker.

[webcentred]

There are a couple of ways. This is native Joomla, but there are modules (eg mod_contentitem) at http://extensions.joomla.org that will certainly do the job.

This next series of steps to create a new user module (static content) for 'permanent' positioning in your template without HTML
'hardwiring' and is suitable for a newbie.

1. Go to 'Admin::Modules>Site Modules' & click 'New'.

2. Enter the content you want in this new module and assign it to 'user9' instead of 'left'. Make sure it is published.

3. Save.

Then create a module position where you want the text placed in your template.

3. Go to 'Admin::Site>Preview>Inline with Positions' for a visual of your default template.

4. Go to 'Admin::Site>Templates>Site Templates' and select the template and then select 'Edit HTML'.

5. Load the modules for 'user9' with      (placed in the HTML where you want the module) but keep in mind your template's layout, and the amount of screen realestate you have to work with.

6. Save and view in public view.

7. Edit or unpublish as for a regular dynamic module/content item easily through Joomla backend.









Try - mod_contentitem and

[wilfrido98]

Hello,

I'm running into a little problem with linked titles with content items on the Frontpage, for background info, I have the Latest News and Most Popular components displayed in user1 and user2, those module position display above the content items in my frontpage that has a blog content look.

The problem I run into, is that the linked titles for the content items take me to a page that displays the full article but it uses the Frontpage (or "Home") module positions, this means that I get the latest news and most popular list displayed before the article and I just want it to display the content, I have come to this conclusion because in the pathway it only shows: Home (aren't I the Sherlock Holmes!!! hehehehehe)

I want the Linked Titles for the content items on the frontpage to have the behavior of the links in the Latest News or Most Popular modules, when I click on those in the Frontpage, they take me immediately to the content item page and in the pathway, I see the full path,  Home > Category > Title. Instead of just "Home" when I click on the link in the title in the content items

Thanks for the help.

Will.

[toad]

Hi,

great topic but silly question from a complete newbie:

I open /my_domain/com_menus as instructed and come to the mainmenu menu manager. In the right hand column I see a black "Component - FrontPage" which appears to be a link but nothing whatsoever happens when I click on it.

Can anybody point me in the right direction on this one?

Thanks in advance