Splash pages (those annoying pages with some sort of fancy graphic or flash intro that say "Click to Enter" or "Skip Intro") are bad. I could spend a whole article trying to convince you of this fact, but I think this article does a better job of it than I could ever do.

One of the most common mistakes made by Joomla! designers is to assume that just because you loaded Joomla! in a directory called "http://www.yourdomain.com/joomla" or "http://www.yourdomain.com/cms" or "http://www.yourdomain.com/home" rather than your root web directory, you are stuck needing to create a splash or intro page in your root directory to point your users to the real site. Nothing could be futher from the truth. As a webmaster, you have a couple of options for pointing users to your content without the need for a splash page. I will try to cover those options in this tutorial.

Option 1: Move Your Installation

In my opinion, this is the best option. Why would you not want to move your installation if your root directory is just pointing to a subdirectory? Simply move your Joomla! installation from your subdirectory to your root directory. This is a relatively simple process, which I will cover here.

Step 1: Move all of your files to your root web directory.

Move the files from /path/to/your/web/root/subdirectory to /path/to/your/web/root. There are a number of ways to do this, but it is a pretty straight-forward process using an FTP client application. If you need further explanation, please don't hesitate to ask.

Step 2: Modify your Joomla! 'configuration.php' File.

You will need to modify some variables in your 'configuration.php' file. Here is a list of the settings you need to change:

• $mosConfig_absolute_path
• $mosConfig_cachepath
• $mosConfig_live_site

Option 2: Change your Server Settings to Make the Subdirectory the New Web Root Directory

This is the second-best option, but it is probably not available to you if you are using shared hosting. Also, I only recommend it for advanced users or network administrators. I will not take time in this article to explain how to do it, but just know that this is an option if you have root access to your server.

Option 3: Automatic Re-Direct With .htaccess

I do not recommend this option, but if you have no other choice for reasons outside of your control, then use a .htaccess file to automatically re-direct visitors to your subdirectory. Here is a link to a site that explains how to do this.

Let's Sum it All Up

Splash pages are bad. Moving your Joomla! installation to your root web directory is good.

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to post them.

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