Cory Webb's How to Joomla!

Packt Publishing has released an updated version of its popular Building Websites with Joomla! book series written by Hagen Graf to cover the release of Joomla! 1.5 Beta 1.

This book starts with the basics of what the term "content management" means, the structure of a content management system and features of Joomla!. Then it thoroughly covers topics such as installation, front-end and back-end tours, administration and configuration, and customizing extensions and components. It even has a chapter on creating your own template.

If you follow Joomla! development, you probably already noticed a problem with this book, though. Joomla! 1.5 Beta 1 was released back in October, and the development since that time has resulted in a many changes that could make the information in the book obsolete. Well, the people at Packt have already thought of that, and they are offering the opportunity to buy the book now and receive free e-books covering all future updates to Joomla! 1.5. Great idea!

I recommend this book for anyone looking to learn more about building their own website with Joomla!. Thanks to Hagen Graf and Packt Publishing for producing another one of the many valuable resources available for learning how to use Joomla!.

Click here for more information on Building Websites with Joomla! 1.5 Beta 1. Cost: $40.49 for the book or $29.99 for the ebook.

I just got a copy of the new Joomla! Search Engine Optimization (SEO) book at Alledia.com. In his book, Steve Burge does a great job of breaking down the concept of SEO and providing simple, easy-to-follow steps for implementing SEO techniques in your Joomla! website. The book costs $37, so if you care about SEO for your website (and you should care about it), then I recommend heading over to Alledia.com to buy Steve's book.

As you may know, I have been working with JoomlaShack for close to a year now. Before I started working with JoomlaShack, I knew about Barrie North from CompassDesigns.net and JoomlaShack. I knew about him because he has provided loads of free tutorials for the Joomla! community on his website. I learned much of what I know about template development from his Joomla! template tutorial.

Barrie is selling his 100+ page e-book, The Joomla! Admin Manual, at his website for $27. If you're like me, and you know the high quality of the tutorials produced by Barrie, then you know that $27 for a 100+ page e-book written by Barrie is a real bargain. I strongly encourage you to take a look at his site and decide whether or not this book is for you.

I am not a security expert, so I am always on the lookout for information that will help me keep my site more secure. Today, I came across a couple of great tutorials from Joomla-Addons.org that explain ways to make your site more secure. Check them out.

• Keeping your Joomla! installation safer against hacks and exploits
• Securing your administrator directory using .htaccess files

While you're there, check out some of the many extensions that they have created. Thanks for all of your hard work, Joomla-Addons.org!

SEF URL's are just a way to make your URL's look nice. The default SEF URL functionality in Joomla! takes URL's that look like this:

"index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=40&ampitemid=29"

and makes them look like this:

"content/view/40/29/"

This article will show you how to turn on the basic SEF URL functionality built into Joomla!, and it will also provide a list of SEF URL extensions that you can use to gain further control over your URL's. For this article, I am assuming that you are running your website on an Apache web server.

Dictionary.com defines jargon like this:

1. jargon: -noun, the language, esp. the vocabulary, peculiar to a particular trade, profession, or group: medical jargon.

It also defines jargon like this:

2. jargon: -noun, unintelligible or meaningless talk or writing; gibberish.

Joomla!'s roots go back a few years, and it definitely has a language all its own. Seasoned veterans are fluent in Joomla! jargon, but for "newbies", that second definition is probably the most appropriate definition for what Joomla! jargon really is. For that reason, I have decided to attempt to compile a list of the most commonly used words and/or phrases in Joomla!, and give them a definition that actually means something to a non-veteran Joomla! user.

Just in time for Joomla! 1.5, the documentation team has released the Joomla! 1.0.11 User Manual (link to large pdf file). Better late than never, right? I haven't had a chance to read through it yet, but it's 183 pages long, so I'm guessing it's pretty thorough.

Over at the Joomla! Developer Blog, willebil has written a great summary of the new features in version 1.5. Check it out.

A short overview on the goodies in the 1.5-beta

I just found a thread in the forums that is a must-read for all Joomla! beginners. The thread is titled Anna's Joomla Tips, and I strongly recommend you read it if you are a beginner.

Anna's Joomla Tips

I had a request from a reader to provide more detailed instructions on "database wrangling" with your Joomla! database. This article is an attempt at honoring that request. I will add an article later that explains how to import your Joomla! database using phpMyAdmin.

To perform the tasks in this article, you will need phpMyAdmin installed on your server. I am using version 2.8.0.2 of phpMyAdmin and version 4.1.21 of MySQL. For the sake of brevity, I have assumed that you have access to your MySQL server and left out details on how to gain that access. If you are unsure about how to gain access to your MySQL server, you should contact your hosting provider.