Are you new to Joomla?
Are you not quite sure where to start?
I know the feeling.
Man, do I know the feeling!
Joomla takes a different approach to web site development than the usual Front Page / Web Expression / Dreamweaver / whatever approach. And it takes a while to learn how to do various things.
So, where do you start?
You've come to the right place.
Everything you need to know to learn and then master Joomla is available on the internet.
And, some of it is right here.
Like any area of interest, Joomla has it's own "lingo." And, knowing how to understand the terms used in Jooma can be a big help. So, get fluent in "Joomla!" Here is a basic list of frequently used Joomla terms to help you get some basic understanding.
I recently saw this question on the Joomla forum? The question was:
I'm novice in Joomla and I need clarification about the terminology. For example some extensions have different types, such as component, plugin, module, language. I don’t actually understand, what type of extension I have to download and install.
I need to install FacileForms, but I’m not sure, what type of extension I have to download, FacileForms Component, FacileForms Mambot or FacileForms Module.
Any stuff (explanations, links, references) will be greatly appreciated.
Understanding how to organize your content in Joomla is a key skill. Sure, you could lump it all together (and that's fine if you have a small site), but generally you will want to use Joomla's Sections and Categories structure to break your content in to a more managable structure.
Here is a good list of "tips" to help you get over the initial learning curve. This list is located on the official Joomla forum, and it's a great article to read
This tutorial changes occasionally, but here is a list of the chapters so far:
Learn Joomla 
