The Advanced parameters section contains caching options: l Caching: This control allows you to exempt a specific module from the site’s caching, as set in the Global Configuration.. S
Trang 1To find a section’s ID number, view the section in the Section Manager To find a category’s ID number, view the category in the Category Manager In both cases the ID number appears in the far right column, under the column heading ID.
The Advanced parameters section contains caching options:
l Caching: This control allows you to exempt a specific module from the site’s caching, as
set in the Global Configuration Select the option No Caching to prevent the contents of this Module from being cached The default setting is Use Global
l Cache Time: The time, in minutes, you want the contents to be cached Enter an integer
value here The default value is 900 minutes, meaning that after 900 minutes the system will re-create, or refresh this module Note this control is only meaningful if the caching for the module is enabled
To add a Most Read Content module to your site, follow these steps:
1 Log in to the admin system of your site.
2 Go to the Extensions menu and select the Module Manager option The Module
Manager loads in your browser
3 Click the New icon on the toolbar at the top of the Module Manager The New
Module dialogue opens Refer to Figure 17.2
4 Select the option Most Read Content and then click the Next button The Most Read
Content Module dialogue loads in your browser
5 In the Title field, type a name for the module This is a required field.
6 Set the option called Enabled to the value Yes.
7 Set the Position control to assign the module to a position on the page.
8 Set the Menu Assignment to specify the pages upon which the module will appear.
9 Select any additional options or parameters you wish; all other fields are optional.
10 Click the Save icon on the toolbar at the top right to save your new module The
sys-tem creates the module, close the dialogue and return you to the Module Manager
Tip
You can create multiple instances of this module type then use the Category ID and Section ID to create mod-ules to display the most popular items in each of the various sections of your site.
Newsflash
The Newsflash module provides a way for you to insert into a module position a fixed or rotating content item The content displayed can be drawn from either a dedicated category or from existing
Trang 2content categories This feature is a useful because it enables you to place, typically, a small piece
of text that rotates to display news, announcements, or any other items you want to attract the visi-tors’ attention, as shown in Figure 17.24
In the default installation, with the sample data installed, there is one Newsflash module enabled and published The module is called simply Newsflash and it is assigned to the Top module posi-tion on all pages of the default site
Note
The system name for this module type is mod_newsflash.
The Parameters section is divided into two sections: Module parameters and Advanced parameters,
as shown in Figure 17.25
FIGURE 17.24
The front-end output of the default Newsflash module with the sample data loaded Here the module is shown in the Top module position of the default template
Newsflash module
Trang 3FIGURE 17.25
The Newsflash module parameters
The Module parameters section contains the following controls:
l Category: Use this control to select a content category for display by the module If you
do not designate a specific category, the module will display items from all categories
l Layout: The label for this control is a bit deceptive The combo box contains three
options: Randomly choose one at a time, Horizontal, and Vertical The last two do indeed impact the layout, but they also specify that the module does not randomize article, but rather shows a fixed display of articles In contrast, the default choice, Randomly choose one at a time, randomizes the articles selected and displays them one at a time Note that this parameter is also related to the # of Articles parameter, below
l Show Images: Decide whether the module shows images associated with the content
item The default setting is No
l Title Linkable: Decide whether the article title will; function as a clickable hyperlink that
leads to the article This control provides you with the option to break with the Global Configuration setting for this parameter The options here are: Use Global, No and Yes The default is Use Global
Trang 4l Show last separator: Set this to Yes if you want to show a separator in the module
imme-diately after the last article
l Read more… Link: Elect to show or hide the read more link at the end of each article.
l Article Title: Show or hide the article’s title.
l # of Articles: Set the number of articles to be displayed or randomized If this is left blank
the system will display five articles
l Module Class Suffix: This field allows you to specify a suffix that will be automatically
appended to all CSS styles that affect this module The use of a specified suffix makes it possible for you to style this module individually
Tip
The ordering of the appearance of the items in the Newsflash is dictated by the order in which the articles are displayed within the Category Manager in the Article Manager.
The Advanced parameters section contains caching options:
l Caching: This control allows you to exempt a specific module from the site’s caching, as
set in the Global Configuration Select the No Caching option to prevent the contents of this module from being cached The default setting is Use Global
l Cache Time: The time, in minutes, you want the contents to be cached Enter an integer
value here The default value is 900 minutes, meaning that after 900 minutes the system will re-create, or refresh this module Note this control is only meaningful if the caching for the module is enabled
To add a Newsflash module to your site, follow these steps:
1 Log in to the admin system of your site.
2 Access the Module Manager To do so, go to the Extensions menu and select the
Module Manager option The Module Manager will load in your browser
3 Click the New icon on the toolbar at the top of the Module Manager The New
Module dialogue opens Refer to Figure 17.2
4 Select the option Newsflash and then click the Next button The Newsflash Module
dialogue loads in your browser
5 In the Title field, type a name for the module This field is required.
6 Set the Enabled option to Yes.
7 Set the Position control to assign the module to a position on the page.
8 Set the Menu Assignment to specify the pages upon which the module appears.
9 Select any additional options or parameters you wish; all other fields are optional.
10 Click the Save icon on the toolbar at the top right to save your new module The
sys-tem creates the module, closes the dialogue, and returns you to the Module Manager
Trang 5This module is useful for both showing short news items and announcements and for displaying short versions — teasers — of articles In the sample data you can see what is probably the most common use, that is, the Newsflash is assigned to a prominent module position, and then configured to display short content items drawn from a dedicated category In the case of the Joomla! 1.5.x sample data, the dedicated category is named Newsflash and is part of the News section.
Poll
The Polls module allows you to display polls created in the Polls component inside module posi-tions, as shown in Figure 17.26 The module is tied closely to the Polls component and cannot dis-play content other than that generated by the component
Cross-Reference
The Polls component and module are discussed in more detail in Chapter 15.
FIGURE 17.26
The front-end output of the Polls module, showing the poll from the sample data
Poles module
Trang 6The default system with the sample data installed shows one Polls module in use The module is named Polls and is assigned to the right module position holder on various pages where it displays the Joomla! Is Used For? item from the Polls component
Note
The system name for this module type is mod_polls.
The Parameters section is divided into two sections: Module parameters and Advanced parameters,
as shown in Figure 17.27
The Module parameters section contains two controls:
l Poll: Select one of the Polls created in the Polls Component This is a required field.
l Module Class Suffix: This field allows you to specify a suffix that will be automatically
appended to all CSS styles that affect this module The use of a specified suffix makes it possible for you to style this module individually
FIGURE 17.27
The Poll module parameters
Trang 7The Advanced parameters section contains caching options:
l Caching: This control allows you to exempt a specific module from the site’s caching, as
set in the Global Configuration Select the No Caching option to prevent the contents of this module from being cached The default setting is Use Global
l Cache Time: The time, in minutes, you want the contents to be cached Enter an integer
value here The default value is 900 minutes, meaning that after 900 minutes the system will re-create, or refresh this module Note this control is only meaningful if the caching for the module is enabled
To add a Polls module to your site, follow these steps:
1 Log in to the admin system of your site.
2 Access the Module Manager To do so, go to the Extensions menu and select the
Module Manager option The Module Manager loads in your browser.
3 Click the New icon on the toolbar at the top of the Module Manager The New
Module dialog box opens Refer to Figure 17.2
4 Select the option Polls and then click the Next button The Polls Modules dialog box
opens in your browser
5 In the Title field, type a name for the module This is a required field.
6 Set the Enabled option to Yes.
7 Set the position control to assign the module to a position on the page.
8 Set the Menu Assignment to specify the pages upon which the module appears.
9 Choose a poll to display using the Poll parameter.
10 Select any additional options or parameters you wish; all other fields are optional.
11 Click the Save icon on the toolbar at the top right to save your new module The
sys-tem creates the module, closes the dialog box, and returns you to the Module Manager
Random Image
The Random Image module displays a selection of images in a module position, according to the parameters you set, as shown in Figure 17.28 Images are drawn from a single directory that you designate in the configuration parameters The display of the images is randomized There are few options for controlling this module
Trang 8FIGURE 17.28
The front-end output of the Random Image module
Random Image module
Note that the default system with the sample data installed includes a Random Image module, but the module is neither published nor assigned to any pages The default module is named Random Image
Note
The system name for this module type is mod_random_image.
The Parameters section is divided into two sections: Module parameters and Advanced parameters,
as shown in Figure 17.29
Trang 9FIGURE 17.29
The Random Image module parameters
The Module parameters section contains the following options:
l Image Type: Enter file extensions in this blank to filter the images that will be displayed
by the module You can enter multiple file types, separated by commas Note that you do not need the leading “.” as in “.jpg.” The default setting for this Parameter is jpg
l Image Folder: Specify the address of the directory that contains the images you want to
display The path you enter here should relative to the site’s URL
l Link: If you want to hyperlink the images to a specific URL, enter the full URL here.
l Width (px): Enter an integer value to force the image to a specific width, as measured in
pixels (px) If you do not specify a value here the system will use the original file’s dimensions
l Height (px): Enter an integer value to force the image to a specific width, as measured in
pixels (px) If you do not specify a value here the system will use the original file’s dimensions
Trang 10l Module Class Suffix: This field allows you to specify a suffix that will be automatically
appended to all CSS styles that affect this module The use of a specified suffix makes it possible for you to style this module individually
The Advanced parameters section contains caching options:
l Caching: This control allows you to exempt a specific module from the site’s caching, as
set in the Global Configuration Select the option No Caching to prevent the contents of this module from being cached The default setting is Use Global
l Cache Time: The time, in minutes, you want the contents to be cached Enter an integer
value here The default value is 900 minutes, meaning that after 900 minutes the system will re-create, or refresh this Module Note this control is only meaningful if the caching for the Module is enabled
To add a Random Image module to your site, follow these steps:
1 Log in to the admin system of your site.
2 Access the Module Manager To do so, go to the Extensions menu and select the
Module Manager option The Module Manager will load in your browser
3 Click the New icon on the toolbar at the top of the Module Manager The New
Module dialogue opens Refer to Figure 17.2
4 Select the option Random Image and then click the Next button The Random Image
Module dialog box opens in your browser
5 In the Title field, type a name for the module This field is required.
6 Set the Enabled option to Yes.
7 Set the position control to assign the module to a position on the page.
8 Set the Menu Assignment to specify the pages upon which the module appears.
9 Enter the path to the directory containing the images in the module parameter
named Image Folder This field is required.
10 Select any additional options or parameters you want; all other fields are optional.
11 Click the Save icon on the toolbar at the top right to save your new module The
sys-tem creates the Module, closes the dialogue, and returns you to the Module Manager
Tip
The Random Image module is useful but is rather lacking in features Given the inability to control the display time, order, or re-sizing of the images, many administrators who desire this feature resort to a third-party extension A quick review of the Joomla! Extensions site shows that a number of alternatives to using the core Random Image module exist.
Trang 11Related Articles
The Related Articles module displays a list of links to articles that are considered to be related to the article the user is viewing The front-end output of the Related Articles module is shown in Figure 17.30 The criteria for selection of Related Articles is keyword matching, and is based upon the key-word tags associated with the articles To employ this feature, articles must be tagged with keykey-words
Cross-Reference
Tagging articles is discussed in Chapter 5.
The default system with the sample data installed includes a Related Articles module The module, however, is neither published nor assigned to any pages The module is named Related Items
Note
The system name for this module type is mod_related_items.
The Parameters section is divided into two sections: Module parameters and Advanced parameters, as shown
in Figure 17.31.
FIGURE 17.30
The front-end output of the Related Articles module