Joomla: Manage Your Content and Keep Your Website Updated

The advent and advancement of open source Content Management Systems (CMS) have made the updating and maintenance of websites a lot easier and fun by interactive tools and a hoard of admin features. Amongst the available CMSs, Joomla is the most sought-after because of its ideal learning curve, ease of use and immense capability. You can design anything, from a simple blog to a complex social networking or eCommerce portal using Joomla. You can build websites and maintain them with very little technical knowledge and without the help of any professional. If you are planning to build your professional website and manage the content on it yourself, here are a few how-to tips to help you with it:

HOW TO:
Create New Content and Edit Old Content

Joomla offers an 'Article Manager', which can be found under the 'Content' menu. With the help of the Article Manager, you can not only create new content but also edit old content on your website. The content, or articles, on Joomla are divided into three parts - the article are arranged into 'categories' and the categories are further arranged into 'sections'. So every time you add an article, you must specify its category and section.

Add and Edit Articles
Editing articles in Joomla is a walk in the park. Simply visit the page you want to edit, add your Joomla username at the end of the URL and the admin login will appear. After entering the password, you gain access to the back-end admin panel. You can access the Article Manager from here. If you want to add a new article, click on the "+" sign. If you want to edit an existing article, just click on the "edit" tab after opening the article you want to edit.

Add Pages to the Main Menu
Simply go to the 'Menu' tab in the back-end panel of the website and click on the menu where you want to add the article. Then click on the 'Add Menu Item' and select 'Article Layout' from the drop-down list.

Other Content Editors and Their Installation Process
By default, the content editor in Joomla is the MCE Editor. However, Joomla gives you the freedom to choose from other editors, too. You can install those content editors also and manage your website's content easily. For instance, the JCE editor is an immensely capable editor for Joomla that offers more functionality than the MCE Editor. The JCE Image Management System allows you to upload multiple images at once. With its help you can also resize, align and link your images and give your website a more appealing look. JCE also has an in-built CSS feature, with the help of which you can manage the alignment of your content and also give a "drop shadow" effect in your headlines.

The installation of any other editor, including JCE, is a hassle-free process. Simply download the installation file of the Editor on to the hard drive of your computer. After that, go to the 'Extensions' section in the admin panel of the website and click on the 'Install/Uninstall' link. Browse the installation file of the Editor and click on 'Install'.

With the help of these simple tips, you can easily manage the content on your website yourself without any technical assistance. However, it is also advisable to go through some Joomla tutorial content before you start developing your website to gain some prior knowledge about the immensely capable content management system, which will help you make the most out of it.