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Making an Article in Joomla

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   1. Understanding sections, categories and articles

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What are sections, categories, and articles, and what are they used for in Joomla! sites?

Contents [hide] 1 Articles 2 Sections and Categories 3 Why Use Sections and Categories? 3.1 List and Blog Layouts 3.2 Organizing Articles in Article Manager 4 Sections and Categories vs. Menu Organization 5 Other Types of Categories

Articles

Let’s start with some definitions. In Joomla!, an Article is some written information that you want to display on your site. It normally contains some text and can contain pictures and other types of content. For many Joomla! sites, articles form the majority of the information presented in the website.

It is important to understand that, with Joomla!, the content of the site (for example, Articles) is totally separate from the formatting of the site — the way it looks on the page. So it is best to think of articles as pure content, independent of the way it might be presented. For example, the same Article might be shown with different fonts, colors, headings, and background, and might be shown in different locations on the page.

Sections and Categories

Sections and categories in Joomla! provide an optional method for organizing your articles. Here’s how it works. A Section contains one or more categories, and each Category can have articles assigned to it. One Article can only be in one Category and Section.

For example, you might have a Section called “Pets”, and categories called “Dogs” and “Cats”. Articles about dogs would be assigned to the “Dogs” Category, ones about cats the “Cats” Category. So an Article about dogs would be in the “Pets” Section and the “Dogs” Category. You could not have one Article that is in both the “Cats” and “Dogs” categories. To work around this, you could either (1) create a new Category called “Cats and Dogs” or (2) create a second Article to put in the second Category.

Why Use Sections and Categories?

There are two main reasons you might want to organize your Articles in sections and categories.

List and Blog Layouts

First, there are built-in Menu Item Types in Joomla! that take advantage of this organization. These are the Section Blog, Section List, Category Blog, and Category List. These Menu Item Types (also called “layouts”) make it very easy to show articles that belong to sections or categories. As new articles are created and assigned to sections and categories, they will automatically be placed on these pages according to the parameters you set for each page.

For example, say you have a Section Blog layout for the “Pets” section, and say you have it set to order articles starting with the most recent one first. When you add a new Article to the “Pets” Section, it will automatically show on the “Pets” blog page as the first Article. You don’t have to do anything other than add the Article and assign it to the “Pets” Section.

Organizing Articles in Article Manager

If you will have a large number of articles on your site, a second reason to use sections and categories is to simply group the articles so you can find them. For example, in the Article Manager, you can filter articles based on Section or Category. So if you have 200 articles in your site, you can more easily find an Article if you know it’s Section or Category.

Sections and Categories vs. Menu Organization

It is important to understand that, just because Joomla! uses a 3-tier organization level for articles (Section → Category → Article), this has nothing to do with the structure of the menus on your site. For example, your site could have one menu level or six menu levels.

Other Types of Categories

There is also a potential for confusion about categories. Sections are only used for articles. However, categories are also used for other components, including Banners, Contacts, News Feeds, and Weblinks. These categories are completely different from Article categories and are set up in different screens in the back end of Joomla!. So when you see something about categories, it might refer to Article categories or it might refer to categories for these other components.

1. Scheduling an Article to be available only between certain dates

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To publish an Article within a specific time frame you do as follows:

1. Login Administrator Panel
2. Create New or Select an Article in Content -> Article Manager
3. While editing article contents you will see the options as shown in the figure below:

1. Set Start Publishing and Finish Publishing Dates. The article will be published only for the specified time period.

Scheduling an Article should produce a file icon as seen below:

• • Scheduling articles is NOT limited to the back-end administrator panel, it can also be completed in the front-end administration**
  • If you set the Start Date and leave the Finish Date with Never value in it, only the article’s start date will be scheduled.

3.Restricting access to an Article

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1. Log in to the Administrator back-end.
2. Go to Content > Article Manager. There you see a list of articles previously created.
3. You can see the permissions for each article in the Access Level column. By default articles are saved with Public access permissions.
4. If you want to change the access permissions (e.g. deny access to an article for unregistered users) you can either:
   • Click the link from the Access Level column to change it from Public to Registered or Special (you don’t need to save changes) or,
   • Click the chosen article’s Title to view the content and change the Access Level in Parameters (Article) > Access level and Save changes.

4. Restricting access to “read more”

If you create a new menu item with the Blog Layout linked to you category or section or if you publish few articles on your Homepage and set intro text parameter to more than zero, a set of Intro texts will be displayed with Read More links on that page. By clicking on the Read More link you will get to the full article view.

It can be useful to restrict access to the full article view for not registered visitors and leave just the intro texts readable to public. To restrict access to full article view, do the following:

1. Log in to the Administrator back-end.
2. Go to Content > Article Manager.
3. Set the Access Level for the article with Read More link to Registered ( simply click the Public link in the Access Level column).
4. In the same window click the Parameters icon from the top toolbar.
5. Set the Show Unauthorized Links to Yes and Save the settings. This is a global setting and will apply to all published articles.

5.Deleting an Article

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To delete an article

1. Login to the Joomla! Administrator Back-end.
2. Go to Content > Article Manger on the toolbar menu.
3. Check the box next to the article you want to delete.

Then click Trash button.

If you want to make sure the Article is completely gone from the system (so no further roll back is available), go to Content > Article Trash and delete it from there (this action is not accessible to users with Manager’s privileges).

Note: Articles in the Trash Manager are not the same as Archived Articles.

6. Adding a new article

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New articles are added using either the Add Article button or the Article Manager Screen in the Administrator back-end.

1. Log in to the Administrator back-end. To learn how to do this read: Logging in or out of the Administrator back-end.
2. Either:
   • Click on the Add New Article button in the main Control Panel to open the New Article screen or,
   • Click the Content > New Article menu item to go to the Article Manager. Then click the New toolbar button.
3. The New Article screen contains options for categorising and naming the article, editing content and selecting parameters.
   • Enter a title in the Title field. This is used when the article title is displayed.
   • Enter an alias in the Alias field. The alias is used to refer to the title and is important for the Search Engine Friendly Address features in Joomla! For more information about the SEF features in Joomla! read: Beginners#Address_Search_Engine_Optimization. If you do not enter anything Joomla! will generate it for you.
   • Select a Section and Category using the drop down menus.
   • Choose whether the article is published or not using the Published radio buttons.
   • Choose whether the article will be displayed by the Frontpage component using the Front Page radio buttons .
4. Now enter your content using the editor in the New Article screen. For more information on the different editors available in Joomla! read: Content_creators#Content_Editors.
5. You may also choose Parameters for the article. Click on each section to view the parameters and change the settings to suit your requirements.
6. Click the Save or Apply toolbar button to save your article.
   • The Save toolbar button will save your changes and return you to the Article Manager screen.
   • The Apply button will save your changes but leave you in the Article Edit screen.
7. You should see a blue message: Successfully saved changes to Article: article_title.
   • If you have not completed the Article Title, Section or Category fields you will see an error message indicating this.

7. Adding an image to an article

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Images are added to articles using the Editor Buttons below the content editor window in the Edit Article screen. Note: It is possible to insert images using the editor in Joomla! however this feature provides a simple way of inserting images stored in the images/stories directory of Joomla!

1. Open the Article for editing either by:
   • Click the Content > Article Manager menu item to go to the Article Manager, select the Article and click the Edit toolbar button.
   • Clicking the Add New Article button in the Control Panel.
   • If logged in to the Front-end, you have appropriate permissions and are viewing the Article you wish to edit: Click the Edit toolbar button.
2. Choose where you would like your image placed in the flow of the text by moving the cursor and click the Image editor button at the bottom of the screen.
3. The Insert Image screen will open over the top of the Edit Article screen. Choose an image by clicking on it.
   • You may also move directory by clicking on the folder icons.
   • Use the drop down Directory field to quickly select a directory and click the Up button to go up a directory level.
4. Set the image properties as required:
   • Image Description: This becomes the alt attribute for the image, an important feature for accessibility and compliance with web standards.
   • Image Title: Used for the optional caption and also becomes the title attribute in HTML.
   • Align: Sets the image alignment. If left blank the align attribute is not set.
   • Caption: Enables the caption which displays the Image Title below the image.
5. Click the Insert button to insert the image. The Insert Image screen will close and the image will be displayed in the editor.
   • Click the Cancel button to leave the Insert Image screen.

Uploading images using the Insert Image screen

You may also upload new images using the Upload section of the Insert Image screen.

1. Click the Browse button to open a file browser.
2. Select the image files you wish to upload. Click Open in the file browser to confirm the selection. Note: The file browser style and layout depends on the browser and operating system you are using.
   • To remove selected files before uploading click the red icon next to the listed files.
   • If you are uploading multiple files in batches you can clear the list of completed files by clicking the Clear Completed button.
3. The selected file(s) appear as a list at the bottom of the Insert Image screen. Click Start Upload to begin uploading files.
   • When the upload is complete a green tick will appear next to the file.
4. You may now select and insert the uploaded image as before.

8.Inserting a table into an Article

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A table may be inserted into an Article as follows:

1. Open the Article for editing either by:
   • Click the Content > Article Manager menu item to go to the Article Manager, select the Article and click the Edit toolbar button.
   • Clicking the Add New Article button in the Control Panel.
   • If logged in to the Front-end, you have appropriate permissions and are viewing the Article you wish to edit: Click the Edit toolbar button.
2. Locate the position in the Article editor where you want to insert a table with the cursor.
3. Click the Inserts a new table editor toolbar button. The Insert/Modify table screen opens.
4. Select the number of rows and columns and other parameters according to your requirements.
5. Click the Insert button.
   • Clicking the Cancel button closes the Insert/Modify table screen.
6. A blank table will be inserted. Type content into individual cells by clicking in a cell and typing.

For further information about modifying tables pslease read: Modifying a table in an Article.

9.Modifying a table in an Article

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Tables are a very important way of presenting information and data within Articles. The following describes how to modify the basic elements of tables within an Article. For more information about inserting a table in an article please read: Inserting a table into an Article.

1. Open the Article for editing either by:
   • Click the Content > Article Manager menu item to go to the Article Manager, select the Article and click the Edit toolbar button.
   • Clicking the Add New Article button in the Control Panel.
   • If logged in to the Front-end, you have appropriate permissions and are viewing the Article you wish to edit: Click the Edit toolbar button.
2. Locate the table you wish to modify and follow the instructions below as required.

Insert a new row

• Select a cell in a row above or below where you wish to insert a new row.
• Click the Insert row before or Insert row after editor toolbar button.

Delete a row

• Select a cell in the row you wish to delete.
• Click the Delete row editor toolbar button.

Insert a new column

• Select a cell in a column adjacent to where you wish to create a new column.
• Click the Insert column before or Insert column after editor toolbar button.

Delete a column

• Select a cell in the column you wish to delete.
• Click the Remove column editor toolbar button.

Merge a range of cells

• Click and highlight a range of cells you wish to merge. This can be done vertically or horizontally.
• Click the Merge table cells editor toolbar button.

Split merged cells

• You may only split previously merged cells. This is different from most word processing applications and is because of the structure of HTML tables.
• Click the cell you wish to split.
• Click the Split merged table cells editor toolbar button.

Note: When a cell is split it will return to the format it was in before being merged. For example: a 3 row, 3 column table contains a merged cell spanning 3 columns, when this merged cell is split it will return to 3 cells.

10.Inserting a link to another website into an Article

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A link to another website (hyperlink) may be inserted in an Article as follows:

1. Open the Article for editing either by:
   • Click the Content > Article Manager menu item to go to the Article Manager, select the Article and click the Edit toolbar button.
   • Click the Add New Article button in the Control Panel.
   • If logged in to the Front-end, you have appropriate permissions and are viewing the Article you wish to edit: Click the Edit toolbar button.
2. Locate and highlight the text or image you want to use as the link.
3. Click the Insert/edit link editor toolbar button. The Insert/edit link screen opens.
4. There are 4 tabs in the Insert/edit link screen. The main parameters that should be are set are in the General tab.
   • Link URL: The full URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of the target website, for example http://www.joomla.org.
   • Target: Defines how the link will open. This is used as the target attribute in HTML.
   • Title: A name for the link. This is used as the title attribute in HTML and is necessary to ensure accessibility.
   • Class: Choose a style class for the link if required. This is used as the class attribute in HTML.
5. Click the Insert button to create the link. The Insert/edit link screen will close and the link will be displayed in the article text.
   • Unless there are specific CSS styles in place the default style is underlined blue text.
   • Clicking the Cancel button closes the screen without inserting a link.

11. Removing a link from an Article

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A link (or hyperlink) may be removed from an Article as follows:

1. Open the Article for editing either by:
   • Click the Content > Article Manager menu item to go to the Article Manager, select the Article and click the Edit toolbar button.
   • Clicking the Add New Article button in the Control Panel.
   • If logged in to the Front-end, you have appropriate permissions and are viewing the Article you wish to edit: Click the Edit toolbar button.
2. Locate and click on the link you wish to remove using the article editor.
3. Click the Unlink editor toolbar button. The link will be removed.

12. Splitting an Article into an introduction with a link to read more

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It is common to display introductory text with a link to the rest of the article. To split an article into an introduction with a link to read more:

1. Open the Article for editing either by:
   • Click the Content > Article Manager menu item to go to the Article Manager, select the Article and click the Edit toolbar button.
   • Clicking the Add New Article button in the Control Panel.
   • If logged in to the Front-end, you have appropriate permissions and are viewing the Article you wish to edit: Click the Edit toolbar button.
2. If you have not already done so, write the complete Article text in the editor.
3. Decide where you would like the introduction to finish and the read more link to appear. Place the cursor in this position.
4. Click the Read more… editor button at the bottom of the editor. A horizontal rule will appear where the split in the article is placed.
   • The horizontal rule will not be displayed in the Article. It is only used as a marker for the system when displaying the page.
   • The read more link may be removed by deleting in the same way as text. Select by clicking on the line, note the line break will NOT be highlighted when selected, however the horizontal bar icon on the WYSIWYG toolbar will show it is selected, then click delete.
5. Click the Save or Apply toolbar buttons to save the Article.

Note:

• The “read more” function works only in articles published in blog layout.
• When the read more link is clicked the entire Article will be displayed unless the Article parameter Show Intro text has been set to Hide. In this case only the content after the read more link will be displayed.

13.Previewing an Article

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When you have written an Article it can be useful to preview it before publishing. To preview an Article:

1. Open the Article for editing either by:
   • Click the Content > Article Manager menu item to go to the Article Manager, select the Article and click the Edit toolbar button.
   • Clicking the Add New Article button in the Control Panel.
   • If logged in to the Front-end, you have appropriate permissions and are viewing the Article you wish to edit: Click the Edit toolbar button.
2. After you have made changes to your content (if required) click the Preview toolbar button. A preview screen will open displaying the Article.
   • To close the screen click the X close button in the top right hand corner.

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