Joomla is a free and open source
content management system (CMS) for publishing
content on the World Wide Web and intranets
and a model–view–controller (MVC) Web application framework that can also be used
independently.
Joomla is written in
PHP, uses object-oriented programming (OOP) techniques
(since version 1.5) and software design patterns, stores data in a MySQL or (since version
2.5) MS SQL
database, and includes features such as
page caching, RSS feeds, printable versions of pages, news
flashes, blogs, polls,
search, and support for language internationalization.
As of March 2012,
Joomla has been downloaded over 30 million times. Over 10,000 free and
commercial extensions are available from the official
Joomla! Extension Directory, and more are available from other sources. It is
estimated to be the second most used CMS on the Internet after WordPress.
Content
management system (CMS)
A content management system is software that keeps track of
every piece of content on your Web site, much like your local public library
keeps track of books and stores them. Content can be simple text, photos,
music, video, documents, or just about anything you can think of. A major
advantage of using a CMS is that it requires almost no technical skill or
knowledge to manage. Since the CMS manages all your content, you don't have to.
Real world examples
- Corporate Web sites or portals
- Corporate intranets and extranets
- Online magazines, newspapers, and publications
- E-commerce and online reservations
- Government applications
- Small business Web sites
- Non-profit and organizational Web sites
- Community-based portals
- School and church Web sites
- Personal or family homepages
Joomla templates
A Joomla template is
a multifaceted Joomla extension which is responsible for the layout, design and structure of a
Joomla powered website.
While the CMS itself manages the content,
a template
manages the look and feel of the content elements and the overall design of a
Joomla driven website.
The content and design of
a Joomla template is separate and can be edited, changed and deleted
separately. The template is where the design of the main layout for a Joomla site is set. This includes
where users place different elements (components, modules, and plug-ins), which
are responsible for the different types of content. If the template is designed
to allow user customization, the user can change the content placement on the
site i.e.: putting the main menu on the right or left side of the screen.
Template Components
Layout
The template
is the place where the design of the main layout is set for a Joomla site. This includes
where users place different elements (components, modules, and plug-ins), which
are responsible for different types of content.
Color Scheme
Using CSS within the template
design, users can change the colors of the backgrounds, text, links or just
about anything that they could using (X)HTML code.
Images and Effects
Users can also
control the way images are displayed on the page and even create flash-like
effects such as drop-down menus.
Fonts
The same applies to
fonts. The designs for these are all set within the template's CSS file(s) to create a
uniform look across the entire site, which makes it easy to change the whole
look just by altering one or two files rather than every single page.
