Thiết kế web với joomla 1.6(5).x part 10 pps

In the default system, with the sample data loaded, you can see that three sections have already been created: The toolbar at the top of the Section Manager provides quick access to the

Part II

Working with Content

and Users

IN THIS PARTChapter 5:

Managing Content

IN THIS CHAPTERWorking with the Joomla! content hierarchy Managing articles Working with the article parameters

Using the Article Trash Manager

Working with archived articles

The management of content is at the very core of the Joomla! CMS

Not surprisingly, the content management options in the system

include a wide variety of possibilities This chapter documents the

key concepts and features associated with the creation, organization, and

management of content in your Joomla! site

Getting the most out of the system requires gaining an understanding of the

way the sections, categories, and articles work together to create a hierarchy

of items Logical structuring of content not only makes the site easier to use

for your visitors, but also enhances the efficient management of the site This

chapter covers the most common approaches to handling content

organiza-tion challenges as well as the various parameters that enable you to tailor the

system to your needs

Understanding the Joomla!

Content Hierarchy

Like most content management systems, Joomla! allows you to organize your

content inside of a hierarchy Joomla! was built with the capacity to handle

large and complex sites, which can be good and bad The capacity is an

advantage when you need the flexibility to manage large amounts of content,

but it can be a challenge where you have a small amount of content, as

improper use of the system can result in a site that is confusing to manage

articles, categories, and sections.

l The most basic level of the content hierarchy is the article

l Articles can either stand alone as uncategorized content, or they can be grouped together inside of categories

l Each category belongs to a parent grouping called a section

Joomla! 1.6

There are significant differences between Joomla! 1.5.x and Joomla! 1.6 in the way articles are organized Joomla! 1.6 has significantly more flexibility and the administrator is not restricted to the fixed hierarchy of articles, sections, and categories.

The Joomla! 1.5.x system includes dedicated management tools for handling both sections and egories; these managers can be found under the content navigation menu The number of sections you can create is limitless, and there is no limit to the number of categories that can be contained

cat-in any one section It is important to remember that the imposition of the sections and categories hierarchy creates sets and subsets of your articles and that this can impact significantly the display

of information, the ease of navigation, and the ease of administration Sloppy use of the hierarchy can result in sites that are both hard for visitors to navigate and hard to administer It is best to plan before building as it can be time-consuming exercise to have to move things around later (but not impossible if that need arises)

Creating Content Hierarchies

In all but the most basic sites you will want to create sets and subsets of content, that is, a content hierarchy Joomla! 1.5.x is, unfortunately, restricted to presenting content in a maximum of three

levels This section is concerned with working inside of that restriction and making the most of the restrictions in Joomla 1.5.x.

Working with sections and categories

Sections and categories are critical organizational structures Joomla! provides you with dedicated tools for managing both The Section Manager and the Category Manager are located under the Content menu on the main admin navigation bar

Overview of the Section Manager

The Section Manager is your workspace for creating, editing, and deleting the sections in your site

It can be reached either from the Section Manager icon on the Control Panel, or by clicking the option labeled Section Manager under the Content Menu on the main admin nav bar Clicking either choice brings up a screen that contains a list of all the sections, as shown in Figure 5.1 You can accomplish a number of tasks directly from this screen, all related to managing your sections

In the default system, with the sample data loaded, you can see that three sections have already been created:

The toolbar at the top of the Section Manager provides quick access to the following functions:

l Publish: Select one or more sections from the list and then click this icon to publish

them

l Unpublish: Select one or more sections from the list and then click this icon to unpublish

them

l Copy: Select one or more sections from the list and then click this icon to make copies of

them, including their contents

l Delete: Select one or more sections from the list and then click this icon to delete them.

l Edit: Select a section from the list and then click this icon to edit the section’s details.

l New: Click to add a new section.

l Help: Click to access the online Help files related to the active screen.

The Section Manager interface.

Below the toolbar and above the list of sections are two sorting and searching tools to help you manage long lists of sections:

l The Filter field on the left works like a search box Type a word or phrase into the field and then click Go The page reloads and displays the results of the search To clear the screen and return to a full listing, click the Reset button

l The Select State filter on the far right allows you to filter and display the sections ing to whether they are published or unpublished This provides an easy way to identify all sections that are currently active on the site To reset this filter, change the combo box back to the default setting

accord-The main content area of the screen contains a list of all the sections in your Joomla! site accord-The umns provided are:

col-l # : An indexing number assigned by Joomla! This cannot be changed.

l Checkbox (no label): Click a checkbox to select a section; this is needed if you want to

use several of the toolbar options

l Title: This field displays the full name of the section Click the name to edit the section’s

details

l Published: A green check mark in this column indicates that the section is published A

red circle with an X in it indicates the Section is unpublished Click the icon to toggle between the two states

l Order: The number indicates the order of the section relative to the other sections You

can reorder the sections by either clicking the green arrows to move an item up or down

in the order, or by entering numbers for the order and then clicking the Save icon at the top of the column

l Access Level: Shows the access level set for that section The options are Public,

Registered, and Special Click the word to change between the three options The default setting is Public

l # Categories: Shows the number of categories assigned to the section.

l # Active: Shows the number of articles that are active within the categories of the section.

l # Trash: Indicates how many articles inside the categories in the section are currently in

the Article Trash Manager

l ID: The system-generated user ID number This is used internally by the system and

can-not be changed by the user

At the bottom of the screen, below the content area, is the Display # option Change the value in the combo box control to alter the number of sections that are displayed on the page The default value can be altered by changing the List Length option on the Global Configuration Manager

Adding new sections

New sections can be created as needed by using the New option on the toolbar of the Section Manager Clicking the New icon opens the New Section dialogue, as shown in Figure 5.2

The toolbar at the top of the New Section dialogue provides quick access to the following

functions:

l Save: Click this icon to save your work, create a new section, and exit the New Section

dialogue

l Apply: Click this icon to save you work without exiting from the New Section dialogue.

l Cancel: Cancels the task and exits the New Section dialogue.

l Help: Click to access the online help files related to the active screen.

The New Section dialogue.

The workspace is divided into two areas At the top of the workspace, immediately below the title,

is the Details area The fields available are:

l Scope: The value — content — is supplied by the system and cannot be changed.

l Title: Type a name for your section in this field This field is the only required field.

l Alias: This field holds the internal name for the section If left blank, the system uses your

section’s title This field only accepts lowercase letters and the hyphen (dash) character

No spaces are allowed In some situations, the alias may appear as part of the URL string

l Published: Click Yes to publish the section.

l Order: New sections automatically default to the last place in the order of sections This

cannot be altered at the time the section is created but it can be changed after the section

is saved

l Access Level: Set the access level applicable to the section The options are Public,

Registered, and Special The default value is Public

l Image: If you want to associate an image with this section, select one from the combo box

You can use your own images by uploading them to the images/stories directory

l Image Position: Set the alignment of the image by selecting an alignment value from the

combo box

Below the Details area in the workspace is the Description area This area contains only one field, the text field used to enter the description of the section Note that in the default configuration, the description field includes the TinyMCE editor and it also includes the Insert Image button below the text field

Note

Whether the Section description shows on any pages is determined by the values set in the Parameters field of the Menu Item Type used to display the pages.

To create a new section, follow these steps:

1 Log in to the admin system of your site.

2 Access the Section Manager by clicking the Section Manager option under the Site

menu on the admin nav bar The Section Manager loads in your browser.

3 On the Section Manager interface, click the New icon on the toolbar at the top of

the Section Manager When you click that icon, the New Section Dialogue opens (Refer

to Figure 5.2.)

4 In the Title field, enter a name for the section This field is required.

5 Complete any other fields you want; all other fields are optional.

6 Click the Save icon on the toolbar at the top right to save your new section The

dia-logue closes and returns you to the Section Manager

Copying sections

The Joomla! Section Manager provides the option to create copies of sections Technically, you are not copying a section but rather copying all the contents of an existing section and moving the copies of the items into a new section The distinction is meaningful because one of the character-istics of the process is that you can select multiple sections and by using the Copy command, you can merge the copies of the contents into a single new section The Copy Section dialogue is shown in Figure 5.3

Caution

The merging of section content is sometimes problematic, with the system creating multiple new sections, all

of the same name, but containing varying numbers of categories and articles Given this bug in the system, if you want to merge sections, the better course is to do it by moving the categories one at a time.

The Copy Section dialogue, showing the name of the sections being copied together with a list of all the categories and articles to be copied.

To copy a section, follow these steps:

1 Open the Section Manager.

2 Click the select box next to the section you want to copy.

3 Click the Copy icon on the top right toolbar The Copy Section opens (Refer to

Figure 5.3.)

4 Type a name for New Section.

5 Click the Copy icon on the top-right toolbar The system creates a new section and

returns you to the Section Manager

Editing and deleting sections

Existing sections can be edited from the Section Manager To edit a section, either click the Section name in the Section Manager, or click the checkbox next to the section and then click the Edit icon

on the Section Manager toolbar Regardless of which method you use, the system opens the Edit Section dialogue

The Edit Section dialogue is identical to the New Section dialogue, with the same fields and requirements.

To make changes to a section, simply alter the desired fields in the Edit Section dialogue and then click the Save or Apply icon on the toolbar Any changes you have made are applied immediately

Complete Ssection deletion can be achieved through the Section Manager Deletion via the Section Manager bypasses the Trash Manager and deletes all the elements immediately Deleting a section results in the removal of the section itself, the categories assigned to the section, and also the arti-cles assigned to those categories

To delete a section, follow these steps:

1 Open the Section Manager.

2 Click the checkbox next to the name of the section you want to delete.

3 Click the Delete icon on the top-right toolbar The system deletes the section, along

with its contents and then returns you to the Section Manager

Caution

You cannot delete a section that contains categories Categories must be deleted first and then the section can

be removed Note also that deletion does not require a confirmation; the deletion is instantaneous and the tents are removed from the system permanently.

con-Also you can not delete a category that has articles in it They need to be moved or deleted first.

Overview of the Category Manager

Clicking on this navigation choice brings up a screen containing a list of all the categories You can accomplish a number of tasks directly from this screen, all related to managing your categories This interface is shown in Figure 5.4

In the default system, with the sample data loaded, you find the following nine categories:

The Category Manager interface.

The toolbar at the top of the Category Manager provides quick access to the following functions:

l Publish: Select one or more categories from the list and then click this icon to publish

them

l Unpublish: Select one or more categories from the list and then click this icon to

unpub-lish them

l Move: Select one or more categories from the list and then click this icon to move the

items in the category into a different category

l Copy: Select one or more categories from the list and then click this icon to make copies

of them, including their contents

l Delete: Select one or more categories from the list and then click this icon to delete them.

l Edit: Select a category from the list and then click this icon to edit the Category’s details.

l New: Click to add a new category.

l Help: Click to access the online Help files related to the active screen.

Below the toolbar and above the list of categories are three sorting and searching tools to help you manage long lists of categories:

l The Filter field on the left works like a search box Type a word or phrase into the field and then click Go The page reloads and displays the results of the search To clear the screen and return to a full listing, click the Reset button

l The Select Section filter allows you to filter and display the categories according to the tion to which they are assigned To reset this filter, change the combo box back to the default setting

sec-l The Select State filter on the far right allows you to filter and display the categories ing to whether they are published or unpublished This provides an easy way to identity all categories that are currently active on the site To reset this filter, change the combo box back to the default setting

accord-The main content area of the screen contains a list of all the categories in your Joomla! site accord-The columns provided are:

l # : An indexing number assigned by Joomla! This cannot be changed.

l Checkbox (no label): Click a radio button to select a category; this is needed if you want

to use several of the toolbar options

l Title: This field displays the full name of the category Click the name to edit the

catego-ry’s details

l Published: A green checkmark in this column indicates that the category is published A

red circle with an X in it indicates the category is unpublished Click the icon to toggle between the two states

l Order: The number indicates the order of the category, relative to the other categories

You can reorder the categories by either clicking the green arrows to move an item up or down in the order, or by entering numbers for the order and then clicking the Save icon

at the top of the column

l Access Level: Shows the access level set for that category The options are Public,

Registered, and Special Click the word to change between the three options

l Section: Shows the name of the section to which the category is assigned Click the name

of the section to open the Section Editing dialogue

l # Active: Indicates how many articles are assigned to this category and are active.

l # Trash: Shows the number of articles in this category that are currently in the trash.

l ID: The system-generated user ID number This is used internally by the system and

can-not be changed by the user