Creating Sections, Categories and Articles
Consider this metaphor:
You’re running a library.
Within the library you have sections: the History Section, the Fiction Section, the Do-It-Yourself Section and so on.
Within each section, for instance the History Section, you have Categories: English History, Russian History, New Mexico History and so on.
Within each category, you have articles: “The Pueblo Revolt,” “Governors of New Mexico,” and so on.
This is exactly how Joomla! organizes content.
Design From the Top Down
What are your Sections? Use the Content Menu to define them. Take care of options like images and descriptions. *Don’t agonize over these details at this point; just pick an image and type in a short blurb, of nonsense if necessary.*
Now, within your Sections, define your Categories. Yes, define images and include descriptions.
Finally, create stubs (dummies) of Articles within each Category. Again, don’t agonize over details. We’re just learning ot get organized here.
Display Articles Using the Menus Menu
Remember, the Menu Manager menu item is an overview of menus.
You want to manage your Main Menu, which is on the bottom of the list.
Create menu items pointing to each of your articles. Use the Articles –> Article Layout option for each one.
Notice how this is a really repetitive job….
Using Other Layouts
Example of Category Blog layout – http://joomla15.siteground.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=31&Itemid=46
Example of Category Table layout – http://joomla15.siteground.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=32&Itemid=47
Example of Section Blog layout – http://joomla15.siteground.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=section&layout=blog&id=3&Itemid=44
Example of Table Blog layout – http://joomla15.siteground.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=section&id=3&Itemid=45
Learning What the Joomla! Core Can Do
Go to The Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Joomla!
particularly http://docs.joomla.org/Beginners#Maximize_Use_of_the_Core.2C_Then_Install_Extensions
Then Go Completely Over the Top
The Joomla! Extensions Directory
http://extensions.joomla.org/
