Dynamic Web 2 Week # 10

Project Update Check

• Create an additional 3 articles
• Add 2 custom categories
• Add 2 of the articles to one of the 2 categories and the remaining article to the other category
• Add an image to each article
• Publish the articles
• Create a Menu
• Create menu items and link articles to menu items
• Create a custom position for your menu navigation
• Watch modules 5, 6, and 7! We will be doing work based on the modules.

Joomla! Essential Training

Please open up "Joomla! 3.3 Essentials: Modules, Components, Extensions, and Templates" on Lynda.com

Let's watch these together and then discuss what we learned. 

Joomla! Notes

Please begin by going to the "Introduction" and "Configuring Modules" sections of Joomla! 3.3 Essentials: Modules, Components, Extensions, and Template

• We'll first be covering modules, components, extensions, and then templates/configuration options for templates.

Modules

• Additional pieces of functionality that occur around the edges of the web page.
• Each template has its own map of where these modules occur.
• Modules can be configured at Extensions -> Template Manager. From here, you can find the different templates you're using. If you want to edit a templates preview settings, click on options and then make sure "Preview Module Positions" is set to "Enabled". If you click on the eyeball on any of the templates, you will see all of the different template positions that exist for your modules to be.
• Adding a module can be done by first choosing a template position for the module and then going to Extensions -> Modules. From here, select a module that you'd like to use and set the Position to what you chose from the Preview earlier. There also a wide variety of configurations for each module in the module window. From the "menu assignment" tab, you can decide where to include the module
• Custom HTML module is like a mini article where you can just put custom HTML, images, etc. You can place these modules wherever you want. This is a module you'll probably be using a lot, since it's customizable.

Joomla! Notes

Please begin by going to the "Configuring Modules" section of Joomla! 3.3 Essentials: Modules, Components, Extensions, and Template

Modules

• The NewsFlash module can be used to add random content to the page. This can be done by going to Extensions -> Modules -> News Flash
• You can limit where modules are displayed by going to the module -> Menu Assignment and then selecting where you want the element to appear. 
• You can duplicate a module by going to Extensions -> Modules, selecting the modules you want to duplicate, and then clicking on the "duplicate" button.
• You can include a module within an article by selecting a module and giving it a custom position (a unique name). You can then use the custom position within an article to display the module by using {loadposition NAMEOFPOSITION} within the TinyMCE editior.
• To change the order of modules or hide modules in your administrator panel, go to Extensions -> Modules -> Choose "Administrator" from the dropdown.

Discussion

• Discuss the concepts we just went over and
• Create a Random Image Module
• Create a Custom HTML module and add 3 images and 2 bodies of text to it. Add the module to any position you wish.

Please begin by going to the "Configuring Modules" section of Joomla! 3.3 Essentials: Modules, Components, Extensions, and Template

• A component is an element of the page that can only exist as one element per page and has to exist as a menu item.
• To create a Contact Component, go to Components -> Contacts -> New. You will need an email address to which the Contact Form will send information. Be sure to also add other relevant info such as a title. After creating the contact component, create a menu item of Type Contact -> Single contact
• Captcha (validation mechanism) can be found by going to Extensions -> Plugins -> Captcha - Recaptcha. Now, go to https://www.google.com/recaptcha/intro/index.html to make an account. Set up the domain for where the recaptcha will reside (only applies to live sites). Once you have the site key and secret key, put that information into your plugin.  Set the plugin to be recaptcha (plugin has to be published in order for it to show up)
• The redirect component logs any errors users have when trying to access your site. In order to use the redirect component, go to Extensions -> Plugins -> Redirect and enable the plugin. Once that's done, go to components -> Redirect and set up the destination url for where you want users to be redirected if they get stuck somewhere.

Joomla! Notes

Discussion

Go over the concepts we discussed and then

• Create a Contact Component

Joomla! Notes

Please begin by going to the "Extending Joomla!" section of Joomla! 3.3 Essentials: Working with Content

• Extensions that are not default in Joomla! can be found at http://extensions.joomla.org/
• You can install new extensions by going to Extensions -> Manage -> Install -> Install from Web
• Once you've installed the Extension, you can select it by going to the area where it was installed. For instance, if you installed a component, you can just go to Component and it should be in the list. 
• In order to use the backup system via Akeeba backup, go to Extensions -> Manage -> Install -> Install from Web and then install the Akeeba backup component. Once installed, go to Components -> Akeeba Backup -> Backup Now
• Site maps are used for SEO. XMap is used to configure sitemaps in Joomla! Download Xmap and install XMap as an extension. Enable the extension and then go to Components -> XMap. Once you've configured your site map, go to the menu items and then add the Site Map to Menu Type -> Site Map
• Joomla! Content Editor (JCEE) is an advanced editor specifically for Joomla! and replaces TinyMCE as the content editor. If you want to use the editor, download and install the extension. Now, you can change the editor by going to System -> Global Configuration -> Default Editor -> JCE
• You can link a pdf file with JCE by highlighting some text and then clicking the link icon. From there, upload a PDF file

Joomla! Notes

Please begin by going to the "Extending Joomla!" section of Joomla! 3.3 Essentials: Working with Content

• One thing about JCE is that it doesn't allow iframes until you tell it to. To change that, go to Components -> JCE -> Control Panel -> Editor Profiles
• Always check for updates to ensure security.

Discussion

Go over the concepts we discussed and then

• Install JCE and add a PDF Document to an article

Joomla! Project

• Finish all Work from previous class

• Finish all discussion modules

• Add a custom template

Due next week!