PHP Programmer Lost In Joomla!
Alright, I am that PHP programmer. Yes, I can code PHP, but when it comes to Joomla, man … I AM LOST!!!
I have this new project that I thought of since last year. I bought the domain name, and then thought of another domain name and bought that. Yet, the site is no where to be seen. Until just now …
Recently, I have been looking at membership sites and that made me look at Joomla. Before you jump into conclusion - no, this project is not a membership site. It’s going to be a community portal project. I don’t really know, but Joomla looks like a solid solution for my project. It’s looks like a great software, that is robust and flexible at the same time.
So I decided to check it out. Being a PHP programmer, installation is not a problem. Plus, Joomla even comes with a web installer. Just like any other web software with an installer, all that you need to do is create a MySQL database for it. That’s done, you just follow the step-by-step process.
Now here’s where all hell break lose …
Once installation is done, I struggled a little bit trying to install a different template for my site. I don’t know why, but with Joomla, most of the sites offering commercial template sell them as a club membership. This is where you subscribe to a membership period, and have access to all of their 20-40 templates they have at that moment. Normally, the minimum membership period is 6 months. I found a template I like, and subscribe to a 6-month membership for $35.
Though I struggled through installing the template, it’s quite easy actually. All that you have to do is locate the ZIP installation package for the template, and then use the Upload and Install feature. This is great. No need to FTP, finding the right folder and what not. And they have this feature for all other installations - modules, components …
Now, here’s the part where I don’t get yet … now that I have my Joomla up and running, how do I work with it. I still don’t know how to edit the menus, how to manipulate the content, and more … And I am also trying to understand what these things mean …
- Section?
- Category?
- Component?
- Modules?
- Mambot?
So where do I go from here …
At least I have my Joomla installed. Have you heard about this acronym - RTFM? It stands for “Read The F**king Manual”. I guess that’s what I’ll do now. If you are like me, you can get the Joomla User Manual here.
I also found that PACKT Publishing has a book on Joomla … well, four books actually. They have a book on Joomla template designing, a book for developers, a book on Joomla 1.0.X, and another on the Beta 1.5.
In the next few days, I guess I will be busy figuring out Joomla and how to make it work for my new site. And after that, I will be busy promoting the site … Don’t worry, you’ll know about it pretty soon …
