Installation Appendix B: A Guide to the Location of Key Files Appendix C: Installing XAMPP Appendix D: Installing MAMP Appendix E: Additional Online Help Resources... Note that the lo
Trang 1Part VI Appendixes
IN THIS PART
Appendix A:
The Directory Structure
of Joomla! Installation
Appendix B:
A Guide to the Location
of Key Files
Appendix C:
Installing XAMPP
Appendix D:
Installing MAMP
Appendix E:
Additional Online Help
Resources
Trang 3A P P E N D I X
The Directory
Structure of a Joomla!
Installation
APPENDIX A Understanding Joomla! installation
A complete Joomla! installation includes a large number of directories
and files The directories and files reside on your server, typically,
though not necessarily, in the public directory of your hosting
account
Figure A.1 shows is a view of the default installation of Joomla! 1.5.10, with
all the key directories expanded to give you the big picture of what is
installed on your server See Appendix B for a map of the locations of the key
files and directories that you might need to locate during the customization
of your site
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732
FIGURE A.1
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A Guide to the
Location of Key Files
APPENDIX B Locating files
One of the first steps in customizing your Joomla! site is figuring
out where to go to find the files you need to change Table B.1
shows the locations of the items that are most commonly
modi-fied by site owners
The table’s contents provide the locations of the key files used by the
front-end components and modules, as well as the locations of the language packs,
the default images, and perhaps most importantly, the front-end and admin
Templates and CSS files
Note that the location given is the path to the files on your server, relative to
directory where you have placed your Joomla! installation
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TABLE B.1
Key Files
Components (front-end output)
Site Modules (front-end output)
Language Files
English (default en-GB language pack) language/en-GB
Trang 7Appendix B: A Guide to the Location of Key Files
Site Templates
CSS (front-end)
Admin Template
CSS (admin system)
Image Files
images/M_images
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Installing XAMPP
APPENDIX C Installing XAMPP
XAMPP is a unified software package that bundles all the necessary
elements for creating a fully functional server environment The
sys-tem includes not only the basics, like the Apache web server, the
MySQL database, and the PHP language support, but also useful tools such
as phpMyAdmin
XAMPP is cross-platform compatible and can be installed on Windows,
Linux, or Mac This Appendix provides a step-by-step guide to installing
XAMPP on a Windows machine
At the conclusion of this process you will have a functional server on your
Windows machine that allows you to run Joomla! locally
Follow these steps to acquire the XAMPP installation package and get it set
up on your local machine
1 Connect to the Internet and open your browser.
2 Direct your browser to www.apachefriends.org The web
page loads in your browser
3 Click on the main menu choice XAMPP The XAMPP page loads.
4 Click the links XAMPP for Windows The XAMPP for Windows
page loads
5 Click the download link The page jumps to the Download
packages list
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8 Select the option xampp-win32-1.7.1-installer.exe The download should begin
automatically
9 A pop-up menu prompts you to save the file Click OK The software installer
downloads to your computer After it is complete, you can move to the next step
10 Locate the downloaded archive (.zip) package on your local machine.
11 Double-click on the archive package The software unpacks and leaves a new file on
your desktop
12 Double-click on the new file Select the language you prefer Click OK The installer
takes you to the next screen
13 Click Next The installer will advance to the next screen Select the installation location
Click the Next button The installer takes you to the next screen
Tip
Installing this application outside your programs directory is the best choice.
14 Change any setting you require on the Options page All choices are optional Click
Install The installer takes you to the next screen and completes the installation
15 Click Finish The installer closes.
The installation is complete and the software is ready to run
To begin, simply start XAMPP from under Start ➪ Programs ➪ XAMPP Use the start/stop buttons
to control the servers
To create a new web site, simply copy the files into a directory placed inside the /htdocs direc-tory You can then access your new site by opening the URL in your browser, as follows:
http://localhost/sitedirectoryname
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Installing MAMP
APPENDIX D Installing MAMP
MAMP is a unified software package that bundles all the necessary
elements for creating a fully functional server environment The system includes not only the basics, like the Apache web server, the MySQL database, and the PHP language support, but also useful tools
like phpMyAdmin
MAMP is cross-platform compatible and can be installed on Windows,
Linux, or Mac This Appendix provides a step-by-step guide to installing
MAMP on a Windows machine
At the conclusion of this process you will have a functional server on your
Mac that allows you to run Joomla! locally
Follow these steps to acquire the MAMP installation package and get it set
up on your local machine
1 Connect to the Internet and open your browser.
2 Direct your browser to http://www.mamp.info The web
page loads in your browser
3 Click on the main menu choice Downloads The Downloads
page loads
4 Click to download the software package named MAMP.
5 A new window opens and goes to Sourceforge.net’s downloads
page The download should begin automatically.
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740
7 Locate the downloaded archive (.zip) package on your local machine.
8 Double-click on the archive package The software unpacks and leaves a new dmg file
on your desktop
9 Double-click on the dmg file The file opens a new window showing the installer icon.
10 Drag the MAMP icon into the applications directory shown in the installer window
The system immediately begins to copy all the necessary files to your computer’s applica-tions directory Confirmation that it is complete is signified by a beep
11 Close the installer window.
12 Eject the installation disk by dragging it to the trash.
The installation is complete and the software is ready to run
To run the servers, simply double-click on the MAMP icon inside the new MAMP directory The MAMP controller opens If the servers fail to start when you open the application, click the Start Servers button You should see two green lights, one for the Apache server, another for the MySQL server You need two green lights to use the application! When both green lights light, the system automatically opens the MAMP welcome page in a browser window Note this page contains links
to all the information and utilities you need, including the phpMyAdmin tool Typically this page URL is http://localhost:8888/MAMP/?language=English
To shut down the servers, click the Stop Servers button
To create a new web site, simply copy the files into a directory placed inside the /applications/ MAMP/htdocs directory You can then access your new site by opening the URL in your browser,
as follows: http://localhost:8888/sitedirectoryname
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Additional Online
Help Resources
APPENDIX E Finding help resources
The popularity of Joomla! has created a significant demand for help
resources and supplemental information The system itself includes
Help files, but for those seeking more assistance, the official
Joomla! project maintains a number of rich informational sites with
docu-mentation, tutorials, and more Whether you are a developer, a designer,
or a site administrator, there are Joomla! help resources designed
specifi-cally to help you
The Help Files inside Joomla!
For site administrators, one of the most useful features of Joomla! is the
abil-ity to display context-sensitive help information inside the admin system
Virtually every screen in the admin system has a Help icon on the top-right
toolbar Clicking the icon opens a window containing the Help files that are
relevant to that specific page
By default, the help file information you see within the administration
sys-tem of your site is drawn from the online Joomla! help site, www.help
joomla.org Joomla’s approach to providing help information inside the
admin interface via Help files that are hosted online is a sensible solution
When the online files are updated, users can access the most recent data
immediately, without having to download any additional files The use of the
online Help files is, however, dependent upon you having a connection to
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You can change the default Help files setting by accessing the Global Configuration Manager and changing the URL associated with the Help files The setting is located on the System tab, under the label Help Server Note that the system does provide default options for Help files in alternative languages At the time this was written the choices included English, Spanish, Italian, Hungarian, German, Dutch, and Catalan — a list that is certain to grow If you want to set up your own Help files locally, rather than rely on the default online files, you can set up a local Help server The pro-cess is rather complicated If you want to create a local Help server, please refer to the instructions online at the Joomla! Docs site, http://docs.joomla.org/Setting_up_a_local_help_ server
Online Help and Support Resources
Joomla! is one of the best documented open source systems In addition to a complete set of docu-ments for site administrators, there are tutorials, examples, and docudocu-ments for designers and developers Table E.1 covers some of the highlights of the official online resources
TABLE E.1
The Absolute Beginners Guide to Joomla http://docs.joomla.org/Beginners
The Official Joomla! Documentation Site http://docs.joomla.org
The Official Joomla! Forum http://forum.joomla.org/
The Joomla! Developers Documentation http://docs.joomla.org/Developers
The Joomla! Administrators Documentation http://docs.joomla.org/Administrators
The Joomla! Web Designers Documentation http://docs.joomla.org/Web_designers
Joomla! Developers Tutorials http://developer.joomla.org/tutorials.html
Joomla! 1.5 Template Tutorials http://docs.joomla.org/Joomla!_1.5_
Template_Tutorials_Project
There is also a wide variety of unofficial help resources, some more authoritative than others One good source of information is the Scribd.com site Scribd is a document-sharing site that includes a collection of Joomla! related documents and presentations The Open Source CMS group on Scribd
is a good place to start: www.scribd.com/groups/groups/746618
Trang 15Appendix E: Additional Online Help Resources
Using Community Support Options
Joomla! is a community-driven open source project, meaning that all the project administrators, designers, and developers are unpaid volunteers A surprising number of persons participate in the forums, both to provide assistance for solving common problems and to enjoy the company of oth-ers with similar interests The forums are the primary resource for community support
You can access the official Joomla! Community Forums at http://forum.joomla.org The forums are incredibly active, with well over 200,000 members and more than 1.5 million posts Anyone is free to browse the forums and read the information and conversations posted there If you want to post on the forums, you need to register Registration is free and requires you to dis-close only very basic information I highly recommended that you register on the forums: Because there is very valuable information and because the community is so large, your chances of getting your question answered quickly is very high
The first time you visit the forum, take a few moments to read the FAQs and the Rules; you can find links to both resources at the top of every page on the forum If you want to post a question
on the forum, first run a search to determine whether the question has been asked previously Odds are that if you are having a problem, someone else has experienced it before and the issue has been discussed on the forums As a matter of courtesy, check and see if it has been asked and answered before you raise the issue yet again
Discussions on the forums are organized topically, with separate discussion areas set aside for lan-guages other than English Make sure that you take a look around and get a feel for what goes where prior to posting; you can greatly increase your odds of getting a responsive answer if you post your question in the right area!
Finding Commercial Support
Despite the popularity of the Joomla! system, commercial support is not widely available at this time Although dedicated professional support providers may be lacking, you may be able to arrange for some level of support from your developer Posting a request for commercial support
on the Joomla! forums is another option that frequently turns up someone who is willing to pro-vide assistance for a fee