March 2, 2021
8min Read
Domantas G.
Joomla is one of the best open-source Content Management System (CMS) that anyone can use to start a powerful website. In this Joomla tutorial, we will show you how to use Joomla! 3.9.12. Everything will be covered, from installation to creating a website.
Table of Contents
Joomla is the second most popular CMS after WordPress. It can be used to build any website, be it for a personal project or business. This is due to the vast amount of extensions available online.
Whether it’s for site management or core enhancements, the extensions allow you to develop your site further. They fall under several categories:
You can find them on the official Joomla! Directory and other third-party sources, such as Joomlart and Joomdev.With this flexibility, Joomla has been used by many famous brands and organizations. Including Harvard University, Linux.com, Guggenheim, MTV Greece, and the UNRIC (United Nations Regional Information Centre for Western Europe).
This platform may indeed have a steeper learning curve compared to other CMS. However, there’s a lot of Joomla tutorials, videos, forums, and documentation that are ready to help you.
Setting up Joomla can be done in just a few clicks using Hostinger’s auto-installer:
Once Joomla is installed, the required database has been created and configured accordingly. You can now login to your Joomla control panel and start creating your site.
Access the Joomla control panel by adding “/administrator” at the end of your site URL (e.g., www.mydomainname.com/administrator).
Through Joomla’s Control Panel, you’re given a lot of options to build and manage your website:
Once the post is created, it’ll appear in the Latest Articles page of your website.
You can also assign a category to your content. However, make sure to create the categorizations before assigning it:
You can display a featured articles page, and other dedicated pages on your website by creating menus:
Now Featured Articles will be accessible from the main menu on your Joomla website.
Joomla has several built-in components that allow you to create specific page types. In this Joomla tutorial, we’ll show you how to create News Feeds, Contact Us page, and Banners. You can access them through the Components section on the top menu of your Joomla Control Panel. Here are the most widely used components:
News Feeds
If you want your readers to be updated with newly published content, you can create a news feed:
Contact Us Page
You can also receive feedback and build visitors’ engagement by creating a Contact Us page.
Create a Menu for the Contact Us page, to make the contact form viewable and accessible from your main website.
Banners
The Banners component can be used to manage images or HTML banners. Here’s how to create a banner:
As an example, we have added a featured image banner to the footer of our “Hostinger Joomla Tutorial” Website. That should be it. Now you can tweak your website content with Joomla’s components.
You can manage all your extensions through the Extensions -> Manage section. Whether it’s installing a new extension, updating, or disabling existing ones, the process is straightforward. To manually install the extensions, follow these steps:
Enable the Install from Web tab to allow you to search and install any Joomla! extensions without leaving the administrator panel.
Here are a few must-have extensions for your Joomla website:
Choosing the right template and design is crucial to the function and look of your website. Joomla has plenty of free and paid templates available online, though not as much as WordPress or Drupal. The installation process of templates is almost identical as installing extensions:
Clicking the star icon will activate the template as your default user interface, but you can apply different templates for your front-end and back-end look.
Most hosting providers offer auto backup for your site’s files and databases regardless of what CMS you use. Hostinger’s Business hosting plan automatically does the daily back-up for you.
Access and download these backups through the Backups section on your hPanel.However, you can also backup up your Joomla files and databases on your own.
To create a backup copy, you need to archive all the Joomla files and the database.
This part of the Joomla tutorial will explain how to archive your files by creating a .zip file using Hostinger’s File Manager tool.
Alternatively, you can use an FTP client. The process is straightforward – all you need to do is navigate to the Joomla folder, select all files and press the Download button.
In Hostinger, you can create a database backup directly through the MySQL Databases menu instead of using the phpMyAdmin tool.
Find out which database Joomla is using by accessing the configuration.php file in the public_html folder.
Akeeba backup is probably the most popular Joomla extension. However, it’s not in the official directory, so you will need to download the extension from the official Akeeba website. Follow the Joomla tutorial below to set it up:
Once the backup is generated, we recommend you to keep a local copy of your backup. Click on Manage Backups, and select the Download button to save it on your computer.
Keeping Joomla up to date is very important. Every time you log in, Joomla will automatically run a check to see if any new versions are available.
You will see a new notification on the top of your control panel if there is a new version present in the official repository. It’ll contain the name of the update along with an Update Now button.
Click on the button to be taken to the Joomla update page. You’ll see the information regarding your current and new versions of Joomla. Tap Install to start the installation.
It’s recommended to create a backup before you begin the update.
Fast website loading speed is a vital part of good user experience. This Joomla tutorial will show you two ways to improve the performance and loading speed of your Joomla website.
Compression helps you decrease the total size of your website that visitors have to download. Therefore, it takes less time for a website to load.
Gzip compression is now enabled for your Joomla website.
By enabling cache, you’ll store your website content that is pulled from a database on the server. So, your website’s response time will be much faster whenever someone visits your site.
To enable caching for your Joomla website, follow this tutorial:
If you update your website frequently, then you can shorten the cache time value. If you rarely update the website, then you can increase it.
Select the Conservative Caching option if you have an extremely large website. Otherwise, choose the default Progressive Caching option that is best suited for most Joomla sites.
Another way to enable caching is by turning on the cache plugin.
Now your website loading speed should improve.
For further optimization, it is also advised to serve scaled images.
Joomla is an excellent open-source Content Management System (CMS). You can use it to build any kind of great websites.
It offers vast numbers of extensions that allow you to enhance your site’s functionality and features. You can add as many components, modules, plugins, templates, and languages as you need to your site.
Worry no more if you have no idea on how to use the platform, this Joomla tutorial is packed with a beginner-friendly guide on:
We believe you can quickly build your dream website through this Joomla tutorial. Good luck!
February 20 2019
Thanks for all the info, very clear and useful
September 19 2020
Great!
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