I'm in the process of trying to organize some Joomla resources for you.  Things are very much in flux, but feel free to look around.  I think you'll find some helpful resources!

This all developed from my own Joomla journey, and then my efforts to collect some good Joomla resources for others who were struggling to "think like Joomla thinks."

Please contribute your comments and your own resources to the site.  Let's learn from each other! 

Joomla! is an award-winning Content Management System (CMS) that helps build powerful websites and other online applications.

As an Open Source solution that is freely available to everybody. Joomla benefits from a huge development and user community (over 140,000 registered users at forum.joomla.org!) - making it a wonderful platform for building scalable collaborative websites.

You can use Joomla to build a website for your business, church, non-profit organization, blog, or your favorite hobby. Or about anything else you can think of!

Like any powerful system, it can take a little while to really learn, but easy things are easy to do! 

Before you can use Joomla, or even take it for a "test drive," you've got to install it.

Joomla is not a program you install on your own computer (like a word processor).  It runs on a web server. So, to install Joomla you need access to a web server provided by a web hosting service, or your own server if you have one.

So, how do you install Joomla?  Well, there are quite a number of options.

• Many web hosting services offer a "one-click" install using Fantastico or some other script installer.
• You may want to install Joomla yourself by uploading the files to a webserver via FTP and setting up the database yourself.
• You may want to get a Joomla friend or a firm to install Joomla for you. 
• You may want to install Joomla on your own computer, develop your site there and then upload to a web server.

Now what?  What do you do next?  You are full of questions!

• How do you create pages? 
• How do you set up your menus? 
• How do you get a picture on this crazy thing?
• How do you arrange things on the pages?

And, for many people, the template IS the website.  It is what people see.  All that wonderful Joomla magic behind the scenes is plumbing.

Some templates are free.  Some are purchased.  And finding just the "right one" can be a challenge! 

So, where do you find these templates? And once you get them, how to you customize them?

Hmm.  Sounds like life, doesn't it?

At any rate, here is a collection of some of my favorite Joomla tips.  You may find some of them useful.    And, you may choose to contribute to the list!