What is CMS?

CMS stands for Content Management System and while there are a few CMS platforms on the net right now, Joomla is by far the most sophisticated and widely supported CMS.

Extensions:

Extensions are Plugins, modules, and components for Joomla. The most reliable extensions can be found in the JED (Joomla Extension Directory). Most extensions are provided by its developers to the JED for free and are free for you to download and use; however, some are commercial which means you need to pay for them. I have always seen a pretty good and accurate price value on the paid extensions. Some of the paid extensions are encoded with a php encoder to protect the copyright of the extensions code; however, I have seen this method used less and less over the last year or so. It is more common now to use domain specific licensing with some sort of domain authenticity checker. This is better because if an extension is using this method it will usually mean the extension is open source which means could can edit and customize the code to suite your branding and uses you might have for it. Overall, in my opinion, the JED is the best part of Joomla. To my knowledge the JED has over 3,000 extensions... that is a very large directory of choices and if you can think it and have found a use for it, then it has probably already been developed. All extensions rely on the open source framework of Joomla.

What are Modules?

Typically modules are the small containers you see off to the left or right of the template that you are using. Joomla by default comes with 20 modules installed. Some of these modules include a login form, who's online, poll, newsflash, search, syndicate, and more. You can add to these modules by simply installing a module you download from the JED. To watch a video on Installing Modules using Joomla, click here! Modules however are not just used in left and right side containers in your template, they can be positioned anywhere you want.by simply adding to anywhere in your articles... Watch a video on how this is done!

What are Components?

Components are the most dynamic part of your website. Components typically offer high interactivity with the website visitor. By default Joomla comes with 6 website components. Some include Banner Manger, Contact Manager, News Manager and there are more. Just like modules, components can be found in the JED and again, if you can think up a useful component it has most likely already been created.

What are Plugins?

Plugins improve the functionality of your wesbite by either making different components compatible with each other or adding additional functionality to a component. There are eight types of Plugins, some of those include system, user, editor, and search. Again, additional Plugins can be found by browsing the JED. Plugins are not something you really need to focus a lot of your energy on, it is better that you get familiar with components and modules and have a basic understanding of Plugins. I say this because usually when you install a component, Plugins will either be included with the .zip folder that holds your component or one will be released by the developers of that componet at a later date. Let the developers of the modules and components worry about the Plugins and just be aware of when and where you need them, and usually the developers of either Joomla or the modules and components will make you aware of this by sending you patch updates(assuming when you download your Component or Module you give your email address).

What are Articles?

Articles are the most simple part of Joomla, they are basically pages for your website. Every time you want to create a new page, you need to create an article and then create a link to that article so that users can get to the page you just created and so search engines have a URL to visit when they crawl your site. By default, Joomla comes with the TinyMice editor which in my opinion is a must to replace. To watch a video on how to replace this editor with a more sophisticated one, click here! What you will see is me replacing the Joomla Default editor with the JCE editor wich will be used in most of my Joomla Training Videos. Every article will have a right column panel that allows you to set configurations of that page. You can add meta tags, control the search engine robots, and choose what you want displayed on the page such as Page Title, Author, Creation Date, Print Icon, and many more options. Be thorough with this because it will make a huge difference in your search engine optimization. To watch a video on Page/Article Management, click here!