Starting Joomla 4

[johnhardy]

I am new to Joomla.
I am looking at the Joomla4 homepage and it looks quite different to that which I was expecting.

Can anyone please point me to videos, templates and extensions where I may be able to get some information on how the selections in Joomla 4 are best used.

Many thanks
John

[cyana]

Hi John,

welcome to the club!
Depending on your 'newness' the answers will be different - are you new to Joomla 4 but have experience with Joomla 3, or are you switching from another CMS like Wordpress or Typo3, or is Joomla your first experience with a CMS?

The best starting point IMO is to download the demo data from within your Joomla installation (look at Dashboard/Sample Data), this installs a small demo blog application allowing you to experiment with the features of Joomla.

Extensions can be found at the official extensions directory:
https://extensions.joomla.org/

and here is your starting point for documentations, videos etc.:
https://docs.joomla.org/Main_Page

hth
Cyana

[johnhardy]

Hello and thanks for your reply the helpful hints and your welcome.

FWIW I am familiar with CMS and databases but have not used Joomla previously and had a short time with WP.
Regards

John

[gws]

See for more info. https://domorewithcore.com/new-in-joomla-4-1

[Webdongle]

The Template has 'Positions' and a 'Component' area that have variables in them
The value of the variables are defined in site.com/administrator

Modules, like menu modules are displayed in Positions.
Components are displayed in the Component area

viewtopic.php?f=48&p=3499226#p3496803 may be of interest

[johnhardy]

Thanks to all for the excellent links and information that is covered.
I doubt I will be able to absorb much of the various information but at least I am starting to see where to look for future references.

There's much to learn but Joomla provides far better information and instructions than most!
Gives me a good chance!

Regards
John

[Webdongle]

I find the best method that suits me is first and foremost decide what to do. e.g. pick a subject like Cats. Then set out like in the post I kinked to. Building a site like that then trying a few extensions like calenders etc. will help learn

In other words look for something that does what you want to achieve rather than trying to work out what is achieved by a Joomla setting or extension.

[johnhardy]

Thanks Webdongle for the help.
My problem at the moment is that when I open the site via localhost it takes me to a page headed
Caasiopeia.
On that page I have a few selections
Home
Main Menu
Login Form

When I select main menu I see many options which I do not recognise.
Are there explanations the function of the options (headings).

John

[Webdongle]

In your browser go to localhost/your_joomla_folder_name/administrator
Sign in with the credentials you defined when you installed
Install 'Blog sample data' (1/2 way down right hand side of the page)
You will see more in the front end. read a few pages

In the Admin page you can explore the menu on the left hand side
e.g. Content > Categories ... You will see a help button ... click it
Add a Category ... save and close

Then Content > Articles ... You will see a help button ... click it
Create an Article ... select your new Category... save and close

Then Click Menus > Main menu ... You will see a help button ... click it
Then add a menu item to the Main menu ... Article > Single Article
Then select your new Article... save and close

View from the front end

Repeat but don't fall down the rabbit hole

Then you can create a fresh Joomla install in a new folder and a new database. Without adding sample data create your own Categories, Articles and menu items (you did use pen and paper to plan the content yes?)

[cyana]

Cassiopeia is the default template of J4
What you see on the main page are main articles - you can adjust or rewrite them either on the front end or in the backend (Content/Articles or Content/Main Articles)

Joomla is menu driven, so look at backend/Menu to see how the menus are defined and what they are doing.

It takes a little while to get into the Joomla paradigm, in fact it's quite confusing for starters - the best is to duplicate an article or a menu and experiment with all the features to see how they behave.

The Cassiopeia template is a grid of 3 vertical stripes and a lot of horizontal sections, called module positions:



The central place called MESSAGE is where your articles appear, all places around are filled with (optional) modules. You find the implemented modules in Content/Site Module. For a start, try to change their positions, and duplicate them and edit them to see what happens. Once you are familiar with the basic options modules can offer, you'll find your way through Joomla quite easily.

Template adjustments can be done in System/Site Templates. It's advisable to create a child template of Cassiopeia and experiment with styles, overrides, adjust the name of your site and so on.

This article is a reference for the Cassiopeia template: https://magazine.joomla.org/all-issues/ ... ips-tricks

hth
Cyana

[johnhardy]

Thanks Webdongle for your very valued information.
I will follow your suggestions.

I have not planned with pen and paper as you suggested as I am recreating a site. This has all structural ie Categories, types by length, manufacturer etc details already in existence which I intend to follow.

John

[Webdongle]

Great, then you are more than 1/2 way there. Two imho essential extensions
https://extensions.joomla.org/extension/akeeba-backup/
https://extensions.joomla.org/extension/jce/ also their mediabox is useful.

[johnhardy]

Thank you Cyana for the excellent articles and video on the Cassiopeia Template information.

I watched some of the video and it seems very interesting and heading in the correct direction especially as it is constructed to get such excellent performance etc

From the point of view of my being new to Joomla and never having used a Joomla Template are there any simple templates you can recommend where I can start easily, just for my own testing and learning not for publishing.

Thanks for any further help.

Regards

John

[gws]

Cassiopeia is probably the simplest.

[Per Yngve Berg]

The central place called MESSAGE is where your articles appear

This is wrong. The Message Area shows System Messages. The Article is shown in the Component Area below.

[cyana]

This is wrong. The Message Area shows System Messages

Yes, I was a bit too fast

[cyana]

From the point of view of my being new to Joomla and never having used a Joomla Template are there any simple templates you can recommend where I can start easily, just for my own testing and learning not for publishing

The template integration changed quite a lot from J3 -> J4, they are now spread across the Joomla installation. Also, for whatever reason, there is no Template section in the JED, so you have to rely on Google search.

However as said by gws, Cassiopeia should be the simplest, and it's not so hard to edit basic things like your logo, colors or the introduction screen.

I heavily relied on a premium vendor for templates and other great stuff for J3 and had a life-time license for all of their products. Now the company went out of business, and although the products are still available and working fine, no more support or updates are. So I decided not to use 3rd party frameworks on J4 anymore and do all by myself; most vendors of easy-to-use templates come up with their own framework like Zoo.

The only extensions I use so far are the JCE editor and JLex review, since J4 has no native review component.

hth
Cyana

[Webdongle]

....

The only extensions I use so far are the JCE editor and JLex review, since J4 has no native review component.

...

Hmmm imho Akeeba backup is essential https://extensions.joomla.org/extension/akeeba-backup/

[cyana]

Hmmm imho Akeeba backup is essential https://extensions.joomla.org/extension/akeeba-backup/

I'm using the backup facility of my provider aka Installatron, but sure a backup option is essential. Has Akeeba any advantage over installatron, in your experience?

thanks
Cyana

[Webdongle]

Not keen on 3rd party installers. Joomla updates are tested on Joomla installations not 3rd party ones.

[cyana]

Not keen on 3rd party installers. Joomla updates are tested on Joomla installations not 3rd party ones

True. I did a manual install of J4. However you can add the site to Installatron for backups.

[Webdongle]

With Installatron can you use the backup on any Host? In any case whatever backup system is used the important thing is to back up.

[cyana]

With Installatron can you use the backup on any Host?

My provider has Installatron as a service (showing up in cPanel)- so I don't know if it is available for any host. Inside Installatron you can add all of your sites (those hosted by your provider) into a backup list, and select various backup options for each individual site.