From Joomla Website Joomla! is a free and open-source content management system (CMS) for publishing web content. Before we go on, let us clarify what a Content Management System (CMS). Again Joomla Website does the definition pretty clearly. A CMS is a web-based application, that provides capabilities for multiple users with different permission levels to manage (all or a section of) content, data or information of a website project, or intranet application. Managing content is basically creating, editing, archiving, publishing, collaborating on, reporting, distributing website content, data and information.
We hope all of us are in the same page now and we can continue without confusion about what Joomla is all about. You can use Joomla for the following use-cases:
- Corporate websites or portals, intranets and extranets
- Small business websites
- Online magazines, newspapers, and publications
- E-commerce and online reservations
- Government, non-profit and organisational websites
- Community-based, school and church websites or portals
- Personal or family homepages
Features of Joomla
There are plenty of features that Joomla is packaged with. We will give just the rudimentary ones and for more of them, we recommend that you visit Joomla’s Core Features Page to have an elaborate picture.
- Free forever: Joomla! is free to use under GPL.
- Extendable: Over 8,000 extensions are available to extend your website and broaden its functionality.
- User Management (ACL): ACL stands for Access Control List, it allows you to manage the users of your site, and different groups.
- Menu management: Create as many menus and menu items as you need.
- Cache management: Speed up your website with caching.
- Awesome design features
- Content editing & publishing made easy
- Great Core functionalities
- CMS Management made easy
- Global and professional support
- Extended developer documentation: All you need to know to start extending Joomla!
- Microdata library implementation : Incorporate microdata more easily into your extensions and sites
Let us now grow our wings and get ready to fly into the skies where we will find the best resources we can use to learn and use Joomla in our next project. The books are listed in no particular order and if you stumble upon other resources we can add in this list, kindly let us know.
1. Joomla! 4 Masterclass
This book will help you unleash the full potential of the Joomla 4.x series as well as build powerful, responsive, and state-of-the-art websites with real-world use case scenarios. This guide starts by introducing content management systems and their features, showing you how to structure your website content to get the most out of it. You will also learn how to extend your CMS using Go multilingual, custom fields and workflows. As you proceed, you will also learn how to customize your website, making your site unique with templates and child templates.
In general, the book will walk you through.
- How to build sites with Joomla 4 and explore its features.
- Discover and use advanced content-handling features such as scheduled publishing options, custom fields, and the workflow feature
- Building a site that handles multiple languages and structuring the navigation system
- Know all the search engine optimization features on Joomla 4.
- Understand how to customize a site and all customization features provided by Joomla 4.
- Know how to access and use the CLI to access the CMS backend
- Customize Joomla templates to create tailor-made graphics
To get this book, click here:
2. Joomla! 3 Explained
Author Stephen Burge runs OSTraining.com, which specializes in teaching website development. OSTraining.com’s clients include Apple, Pfizer, and the U.S. Departments of Energy, Education, and Commerce.
In Joomla!(R) 3 Explained, top Joomla! trainer Stephen Burge teaches you everything you need to know. Burge has taught thousands of Joomla! newcomers and thousands more who have experimented with Joomla! but haven’t mastered it yet. Nobody knows more about guiding you up the Joomla! learning curve.
You will master Joomla! 3 hands-on, through a complete case study, crystal-clear visuals, simple explanations, and on-target analogies, all extensively tested with real Joomla! beginners. Burge walks you through installing Joomla! 3, planning sites that are easy to use and manage, adding content, and incorporating powerful site features without programming. Finally, Burge shows you how to run your site securely and efficiently, no matter how big or popular it becomes!
“Overall this is a really good introduction to Joomla for the absolute novice. If you’re a site admin suddenly told that you are looking after a Joomla site, then this tutorial is a great place to turn to.”
-Pan Pantziarka, Publisher of TechBookReport
Do not wait any longer, get your Joomla! questions explained and laid out in a clear concise fashion by Stephen Burge who has trained a lot of people about the platform. It is your turn to leverage on this CMS tool and shine your way to developing websites. Click on the link below to head over to Amazon
3. The Official Joomla! Book
This text is the authoritative and comprehensive Joomla! reference for every administrator, developer, designer, and content manager. Distilling the unsurpassed experience of two long-time Joomla! contributors (Jennifer Marriott, Elin Waring), it teaches exactly what you need to know, through practical example sites and crystal-clear explanations.
If you are new to Joomla!, you will learn how to quickly create usable, effective sites. If you are an experienced Joomla! user, you will learn how to make your sites more flexible, feature-rich, visually attractive, and useful, taking full advantage of the features in Joomla! 3 and Joomla! 2.5. And whether new or experienced, you will learn how Joomla! really works, so you can fully leverage its power whenever you are ready.
You will learn how to
- Plan sites effectively before you start building them
- Create production sites quickly while avoiding common mistakes
- Install and configure Joomla! for maximum efficiency
- Create and edit content for your Joomla! site
- Customize and work with Joomla! templates and create a basic template
- Work with extensions: components, modules, plugins, and languages
- Efficiently administer Joomla! sites
- Maintain Joomla! sites, including making backups and managing upgrades and migrations between versions
- Participate in the Joomla! community as a user and contributor
Jennifer Marriott and, Elin Waring, cover everything from installation to usability, templates to extensions. The authors explain each key concept conversationally, helping you learn to help yourself and confidently gain control over Joomla! and the sites you build with it. It is the ultimate companion to have in the process. For a copy in your personal library, you can order a copy from Amazon by following the link shared below.
4. Joomla! Programming
This detailed text presents proven best practices for getting the job done right. Written by Mark Dexter and Joomla! design architect Louis Landry (who wrote much of the new Joomla! framework), the text is packed with detailed examples and sample code, in-depth reference-style explanations available nowhere else, and fascinating sidebars revealing why Joomla! works the way it does.
Both a tutorial and reference, this title brings together step-by-step instructions for everything from simple tasks (such as template overrides) to cutting-edge techniques involving components, MVC, and the Joomla! framework
You will learn how to
- View Joomla! from a programmer’s perspective
- Extend Joomla! with layout overrides, plugins, and modules
- Take full advantage of Joomla!’s improved new MVC implementation
- Build front-end and back-end components, from start to finish
- Secure your websites with Joomla!’s powerful, flexible new Access Control Lists
- Work with databases and use the new JDatabaseQuery to write complex queries
- Program Joomla! with JavaScript via the lightweight MooTools framework
- Develop custom category structures for your own websites and extensions
- Enable one-click updates for your own custom extensions
- Use the Joomla! platform as an application framework
Top review:
One of the readers of this resource agrees that this is the
“Best book on Joomla development!”
Feeling inspired? Click below to head over to Amazon and order yourself a copy.
5. Joomla 4 Templates
Internationally renowned Joomla! expert Cédric KEIFLIN brings together essential knowledge about usability, CSS, information architecture, PHP, JavaScript, accessibility, HTML5, and more. Using concrete examples, Radtke guides you through applying these technologies and best practices to construct and deploy world-class site templates. You are going to walk through every key technical option, fully understanding the internal interactions that control Joomla! template behaviour. Radtke concludes by walking you step-by-step through a complete workshop project: transforming a template created in Photoshop into a working Joomla! template.
This concise, easy-to-use coverage includes
- Using Joomla! templates to customize any website to your exact requirements
- Learning how Joomla! templates are structured and how they behave
- Quickly changing a Joomla! site’s look and feel
- Make sure your templates fully support accessibility and standards
- Getting your basic template structure into shape with CSS and HTML
- Designing responsive Joomla! templates and sites
- Supercharging your templates with JavaScript
- Analyzing HTML, CSS, and accessibility
- Integrating template components, including index.php, the XML file, template parameters, and language files
- Adapting and modifying output via the system template
- Mastering advanced template customization
This is a complete, authorized guide to template design, development, and customization with Joomla. Packed with examples, this clear, concise, practical text covers everything from beginning-level skills to power techniques–even creating new HTML5-native mobile views, today’s most exciting new Joomla! capability.
This wonderful work by Cédric KEIFLIN will be invaluable for every professional web designer and developer who uses Joomla!, for advanced nonprofessional users, and for less experienced users who want to customize their own sites instead of paying others to do it. It is the ultimate key to unlock the opportunities you have been staring at powerlessly. Empower your skills today by ordering a copy from Amazon on the link provided;
6. Using Joomla!: Efficiently Build and Manage
If you are new to content management systems—or even new to building websites—this practical guide by Ron Severdia and, Jennifer Gress will get you up and running in no time. One beautiful feature about this resource is that you don’t have to know much code, if any, to get started.
Ron Severdia is Chief Technology Officer of the award-winning eBook company Metrodigi in the San Francisco Bay Area and has been a Creative Director on interactive branding projects — from web sites and brand identities to interactive campaigns — for clients such as HP, Verizon, Electronic Arts, Yahoo!, Visa, Walmart.com, and Apple.
On the other hand, author Jennifer Gress (snapdragonservices.com) has been working with Joomla! since 2006 with its beginnings in corporate America for employers. Clients began approaching her to build websites for them in January of 2010.
Ideal for web designers and developers alike, this updated edition takes you step-by-step through site creation with Joomla, with plenty of hands-on exercises along the way.
What you will cover here
- Build a sample site throughout the book to see how Joomla! works
- Plan and structure your site’s categories, articles, menus, and modules
- Learn the ins and outs of creating, organizing, and displaying content
- Add images, audio, and video—and create complete image galleries
- Build a blog, set up an events calendar, and create custom user forms
- Sell merchandise by putting together your own online store
- Engage visitors by creating user profiles and hangouts
- Secure your site and keep it optimized
- Migrate to Joomla! 3 and update your third-party extensions
Need to build a website quickly? Have a client that requires a powerful website with lots of compelling features? Ron and Gress have the perfect recipe for you.
Roland Hall review of the book: “This book was easy to read, clear examples, and taught me many tips and tricks that I had no idea existed.“
Begin your Joomla! journey with this easy to read resource. Buy it from Amazon from the link below:
7. Learning Joomla! 3 Extension Development
In Joomla 3 Explained, top author Tim Plummer teaches you everything you need to know to build a Joomla site. Burge has taught thousands of Joomla newcomers and thousands more who’ve experimented with Joomla but haven’t mastered it yet. Nobody knows more about guiding you up the Joomla learning curve.
The author makes Joomla learning fun. Here, you learn by following enjoyable, step-by-step instructions and practicals.
What You Will Learn
You will master Joomla 3 hands-on, through a complete case study, crystal-clear visuals, simple explanations, and on-target analogies, all extensively tested with real Joomla beginners. You will also learn how to build and extend Joomla plugins, modules and components.
Top review:
One of the readers’ review
“Clearly explained without getting lost in details.
Who to start from scratch and make your own component work.
A good understanding of Object Oriented programming is a must for as far as I see things”
There is nothing more to add than you ask you to grab a copy from Amazon by clicking on this link provided.
8. Joomla! For Dummies
As is customary to Dummies series of books, nothing is assumed or taken for granted. Dummies is designed to take anyone from the absolute basics to some level of knowledge and understanding once the reader is done.
True to that, no matter your skill level, this easy-to-understand resource demonstrates how to drop preconfigured modules that already contain PHP and MySQL code directly into your Joomla! site. Thanks to the Dummies fun and friendly approach, you will quickly see how easy to create a rich, interactive Web site with Joomla!
What you will find precious herein
- It demonstrates how to create a business site—complete with shopping cart—quickly and easily
- The book walks you through developing Web sites with discussions, RSS feeds, picture submissions, and more
- It includes coverage of the newest version of Joomla!, explains its completely new administrative features, and reviews its ability to provide different levels of access to different users via much-requested access control lists
- All about getting and installing Joomla!
- Tips on mastering the Front Page
- How to build navigation into your site with menus
- Ways to lay out Web pages with Joomla! templates
- Search engine optimization techniques to drive Web traffic
- How to work with Joomla! modules
- Steps for managing visitors on your site
- And much more.
Authors Seamus Bellamy, and Steve Holzner present this piece to the absolute beginners and walks with them hand in hand as they explain the how of Joomla! in general. It is easy to approach, chew and digest and makes it an amazing resource to get anyone into understanding Joomla! quickly. Hit the link below and get yourself this text from Amazon.
9. Joomla! 3 Beginner’s Guide Second Edition
Eric Tiggeler has authored several books on Joomla!, such as the highly successful Joomla! 2.5 Beginner’s Guideand Joomla! 3. Over the last ten years, he has developed numerous websites, big and small, using Joomla!
Taking full advantage of all the new features and enhancements added to the 2014 release of Joomla 3, this practical guide starts by teaching you how to install Joomla. After a quick tour of the basic concepts and the new features, you will build your very first site in no time by customizing Joomla’s default sample site to fit your needs, replacing the logo, colors, menus, and content.
You will learn how to organize the growing amount of content using Joomla’s flexible system of categories and content tags. In the last couple of chapters, you go beyond the basics and will discover how to expand Joomla’s capabilities. Finally, you will gain knowledge about search engine optimization (SEO), site security, and multilingual sites
What You Will Learn
- Discover how to create a feature-rich site that’s easy to expand, customize, and maintain, without learning HTML and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)
- Engage your web visitors and turn them into active users; enable users to register and add content
- Use templates to get your site to look just right by tweaking the CSS and customizing templates using your own logo, fonts, and colors
- Extend Joomla’s capabilities by finding and installing must-have extensions that perfectly meet your purposes
- Get to know how to increase your site’s visibility for search engines, applying search engine optimization (SEO) techniques
The Joomla! 3 Beginner’s Guide Second Edition is the ultimate guide for web developers who wish to build upon their skills and knowledge on creating websites. Even if you’re new to this subject, you won’t have any difficulty understanding the clear and friendly instructions and explanations. You do not even need any knowledge of HTML and CSS to get started. Find out more about the guide and consider ordering your from Amazon below.
10. Joomla! 3 SEO and Performance
Author Simon is a Joomla specialist, with a focus on fast websites that score high in Google. Simon regularly speaks about Joomla and/or SEO as a guest teacher at Hogeschool Utrecht and Joomla user groups in the Netherlands.
Joomla 3 SEO and Performance is a concise, 150-page book that helps you to build websites that dominate search engine rankings and have super-fast load times, giving your sites an increased audience. The book takes a very practical approach full of real-world examples. It does not just provide instructions, but also teaches you the logic behind what you are doing. It will make you breathe SEO while building your websites, which is the only way to success.
Joomla 3 SEO and Performance starts with the Joomla core SEO possibilities. It shows how even if you are a relative newcomer to Joomla you will be able to build sites that rank high in Google without having to install complicated plugins. The remaining chapters dig much deeper, both into Joomla, and into the use of SEO plugins and extensions with a full chapter dedicated to SH404SEF, probably the best SEO extension for Joomla. In order to keep the visitors that you acquire, Joomla 3 SEO and Performance also shows you how to make your website load faster. This is achieved using Joomla core features as well as plugins. You will be stunned how easy it is to achieve massive improvements!
“The author discussed several extensions that were invaluable for improving the speed of my Joomla website. There were also a lot of insights that I feel you would only get from using Joomla for many years.” Reader Anthony’s review.
Visit Amazon to find out more details about Simon’s work and reward yourself with a copy on the link below:
Concluding Remarks
Content Management Systems have made the work of creating websites, blogs and even e-commerce sites way easier and better. There is no need to do the heavy lifting anymore if Joomla is here to take the burden off your shoulder. Incorporate Joomla! in your work plans and you will see the quick results.
