IT 200: Content Management with Joomla

Understanding Joomla and Web Site Management

New River Community and Technical College currently uses Joomla 1.5.18 as our Content Management System (CMS) for the official College web site (www.newriver.edu). Joomla provides a web interface for managing the online information that is reasonably intuitive and it also provides multiple levels of user access so that some folks can be designated as the Content Managers and others can be responsible for approving the content (see page 34 of the user manual).

Generally speaking, the content on your web site should NOT be your ONLY copy. You should maintain a copy on your local computer AND a copy on your web site. That way you can make the edits on your local copy and you won't be delayed by the Joomla interface. And in the event of something terrible happening to the web server, you would still have a copy of all your information. It is much easier to create your information in Microsoft Word (or even in a program like Word Pad or Note Pad) and then publish it as a PDF file or by converting it to HTML. One exception to this is the Table of Contents that you'll need for providing links to all your PDF files. It must be done in HTML and you'll probably make your edits using the Joomla interface. Creating entirely new documents in the Joomla system will probably require my assistance, since it involves some decisions about the name of the file as well as where to organize it within the overall system. Modifying existing documents should be something that you can do with very little assistance or even completely by yourself.

Here is some overview information for Joomla.

Common Tasks and Procedures

1. File types (TXT, RTF, HTM, HTML, DOC, DOCX, XLS, XLSX, PPT, PPTX, PDF, JPG, GIF, TIF, PNG).
2. Naming conventions (no_spaces, lowercase, descriptive names, file suffixes).
3. Front-End Editing (for simple management of existing content).
4. WYSIWYG Features.
5. Standardization of Design (graphic standards manual) (template user guide)
6. Content Areas of Responsibility (see table)
7. Metadata (description and keywords).
8. Back-End Editing (for creating entirely new content or pages).
9. Creating PDF documents.
   

Exercises and Frequently Asked Questions

(1) What are the steps for getting my information from a Microsoft Word file to the College's web site as a PDF file?

1. Open the document in Microsoft Word, click the File menu and choose Save As PDF (if this option is not available you must download the freely available add-in from Microsoft). Be sure to name the file without spaces so that it will comply with web naming conventions and it should have a .pdf file suffix.
2. Login to the back-end of the CMS then choose Media Manager. Click into YOUR folder then click the Browse Files button to locate the PDF file you want to upload.
3. Click the Start Upload button.
4. Navigate back to the Control Panel using the Site menu.
5. Click the Article Manager button and locate the article where you want to create a link to your PDF file. You can locate YOUR article by (a) searching for it by name or (b) using the author filter to select YOUR name.
6. Create your link and Save your changes.

(2) I see some information on a College web page that is not accurate. The page is not my responsibility but I think the information should be fixed. What should I do?

Every page on the College's site should have the name of the author published at the top of the page. For example, Dave Ayersman is responsible for the Technology Services information so when you go to that page of the site you'll see his name at the top. As others begin contributing to the site additional names will be shown on pages to reflect who is responsible for the content. If a name is not provided it is okay to contact Dave Ayersman but please provide the complete URL of the page with the error(s) as well as a brief description of the problem that should be corrected.

(3) How do I login to the College's Web Site?

To access the front-end (Intranet) navigate to the Faculty and Staff section and click the Intranet Login/Logout link. To access the back-end use the link http://www.newriver.edu/administrator

(4) I need to create an entirely new HTML page but I need it to be available through the Main Menu in my area. How do I do this?

Creating new Articles in Joomla doesn't automatically create links on the Main Menu. You have to create a new Menu Item and link to the article you've just created. Also, organization of the site is achieved through the Sections and Categories that have been created. There are so many steps for creating brand new HTML pages in Joomla that we will reserve this task for advanced users. Anyone else can just contact Dave Ayersman with the request.

(5) How do I upload files using Joomla?

When we do the initial workshop I created folders with your username to identify your personal space for storing files on the Joomla server (mggriffin, belliot, etc.). Before you upload any files to that space you should change the name of the file so that it complies with Internet naming conventions (lowercase, no spaces, and use the underscore or hyphen character to separate multiple words in the filename). Any file you upload should have the appropriate extension (JPG, PDF, etc.). If you don't see an extension on your filename you probably need to change your Folder Options by opening the Control Panel on your local computer. You may need to deselect the option to Hide File Extensions.

Once you've logged in to the Joomla backend and your know your filename is appropriate for the Internet, you can choose Media Manager from the Joomla Control Panel and navigate to your folder (everyone's folder is inside the STORIES folder). Once you've found your folder and clicked on it, click the CHOOSE FILE button at the bottom of the screen and browse to the file on your local computer that you'd like to upload. Once you've found it an clicked on it, then click START UPLOAD. You'll see it appear in the Joomla folder that has your name on it if you did it correctly.

When you exit the Media Manager, open the Article Manager and locate the page that you want to modify (by creating a link to the file you just uploaded). Click the article name and within the article highlight the text that you want to be a link. Click the link tool (looks like a chain link). Click the little icon to the right of that empty URL field and it will allow you to browse to your Media Manager folder and choose the file you uploaded.

It is good practice to type in something in the TITLE field of this pop-up window as well. Then click INSERT and you're finished. In another browser window review your page to be sure your link performs as you intended. Contact me if none of this makes any sense.

(6) How do I create a Page Title?

The Page Title is actually NOT something you have to include in your page, but instead the title is pulled from the field "Title" from the Article Manager screen. Here is a brief video explaining it.

(7) How do I view past events on the official College Calendar?

We have the College Calendar configured to hide past events. The reason we've done that is that most folks are not interested in past events and they tend to make finding upcoming events more difficult. Here is a brief video explaining how to hide/show the past events.