Channel Digital’s Web Site Tutorial and User Guide for Version 5 of the Joomla Content Management System is designed to help beginners understand how to use one of the world’s most popular open-source CMS software.
The purpose of this guide is to give new users a basic set of operating instructions to help maintain a Joomla website on a day-to-day basis, showing the most important and useful functionality tools within the system. This guide will also show users how to explore the more advanced features available.
Should you want to become more advanced in your use of Joomla, please either talk to us at Channel Digital about further training.
Logging In and User Activities
To manage your website, you need to access the "back-end" or Administrator Dashboard. Joomla 5 features a clean, modern interface (including a built-in Dark Mode!) that makes this easy to navigate
- To log in: Type in your website address followed by the URL provided by your develeper. The default on is /administrator (e.g., www.yoursite.co.uk/administrator) but this may be changed for extra security.
- Enter the Username and Password provided to you by your developer.
- Once logged in, you will see the Home Dashboard, which gives you quick-access icons to manage articles, menus, modules, and media.
Adding and Editing Content (Articles)
In Joomla, your website's main text pages are called "Articles."
- To create a new article: Navigate to the left sidebar and click Content > Articles, then click the + New button at the top.
- To edit an existing article: Go to Content > Articles and click on the title of the article you wish to change.
- The Editor: Joomla 5 uses a modern version of the TinyMCE editor by default, which looks much like a standard word processor (like Microsoft Word). Type your text, use the toolbar to format it, and always remember to click Save & Close at the top when finished.
Adding and Editing Images
Visuals are crucial for engaging visitors. You can easily insert images directly while writing an article.
- Place your cursor where you want the image to appear.
- Click the CMS Content drop-down button on your editor toolbar and select Media, or click the Insert/Edit Image icon.
- This opens the Media Manager overlay. You can select an existing image or upload a new one from your computer.
- Select the image, add a brief description in the Alt Text field (important for accessibility and SEO), and click Insert.
- Note on image size: Make sure you optimise your images before loading them onto your website. Large image files can slow your website down which is bad for users and for your website rankings.
Adding a Link
Linking to other pages on your site or external websites is simple.
- Highlight the text you want to turn into a link.
- Click the Insert/Edit Link icon (it looks like a chain link) in the editor toolbar.
- For external links: Paste the full web address (e.g., https://www.google.co.uk) into the URL field.
- For internal links: It's best to use the CMS Content > Menu or Article button to browse your site's structure and link directly to a page. This ensures the link won't break if you rename the page later.
Metadata Information
Metadata is the "behind-the-scenes" text that search engines read to understand what your page is about. Joomla 5 makes this easy to manage.
- When editing an article, look at the tabs at the top of the editing screen and click SEO.
- Meta Title: Using your main keyword at the start can be useful for SEO. Your title should be less than 60 characters.
- Meta Description: Write a short, compelling summary ( no more than 160 characters) of the article. This is often the text that appears beneath your page title on Google search results.
Adding a PDF Document
If you want users to download a file, such as a PDF, you upload it much like an image.
- First, upload the PDF using the Media Manager (see below).
- Go to your article, highlight the text you want to act as the download link (e.g., "Click here to download our brochure").
- Click the Insert/Edit Link icon, browse to the folder where you uploaded your PDF, select it, and click Insert.
Adding a Menu Item
Creating an article doesn't automatically make it appear on your website's navigation menu. You must create a menu item for it.
- Go to Menus > Main Menu (or whichever menu you want to add to).
- Click + New.
- Menu Title: Give the link a name (e.g., "About Us").
- Menu Item Type: Click Select > Articles > Single Article.
- Select Article: Choose the article you want this menu link to point to.
- Click Save & Close.
Media Manager
The Media Manager is your website's file library.
- Access it via Content > Media in the left sidebar.
- Joomla 5's Media Manager allows you to easily drag and drop files from your computer to upload them.
- You can create folders to keep your images and documents organised.
- It also includes basic image editing tools, allowing you to crop or resize images directly within Joomla!
Other Article Editing Options
On the right-hand side of the article editing screen, you will find several useful options:
- Status: Change an article from Published to Unpublished if you want to hide it from the public.
- Access: Change who can see the article. Set it to "Registered" if you only want logged-in users to view it.
- Featured: Toggle this to "Yes" if you want the article to appear on your site's home page (depending on how your home page is configured).
- Publishing Dates: Under the Publishing tab, you can set an article to automatically publish or unpublish on specific dates and times.
Article Editing Tips
- Use Headings: Instead of just making text bold, use the formatting drop-down to assign Heading 2 (H2) or Heading 3 (H3) to your section titles. This is great for SEO and readability.
- Pasting from Word: If you copy text from Microsoft Word, use the Paste as Text icon to strip out messy, hidden formatting code before pasting into Joomla.
- Save Frequently: Get into the habit of clicking the Save button (not Save & Close) periodically whilst writing long articles to prevent losing your work.
Web Links
Note: In older versions of Joomla, Web Links was a built-in feature. For Joomla 5, it is an official extension. If your site uses the Web Links component, you can access it via Components > Web Links. This allows you to create categorised directories of external links to partner sites, resources, or sister companies, rather than just placing links randomly within articles.
Page Builders in Joomla
Whilst Joomla’s standard article editor is fantastic for straightforward text and images, modern websites often require more complex layouts—think multi-column designs, animated sliders, and interactive galleries. This is where Page Builders come in.
A page builder is a powerful extension that allows you to design and edit pages using a visual, drag-and-drop interface. If your web developer has built your site using one, your day-to-day editing experience might look a bit different to the standard Joomla article editor described above.
- Visual Editing: Instead of working entirely in the "back-end" administrator dashboard, page builders often let you edit directly on the "front-end" of your website. This means you see your changes in real-time exactly as your visitors will see them.
- Drag-and-Drop Elements: You can drag pre-designed blocks (like text boxes, images, buttons, testimonials, or videos) onto the page and drop them exactly where you want them.
- No Coding Required: They allow you to easily customise colours, margins, fonts, and layouts without needing to know a single line of code.
Administrating Users
If multiple people need to update your website, you can give them their own login accounts.
- Go to Users > Manage > + New.
- Fill in their Name, Login Username, Password, and Email.
- Go to the Assigned User Groups tab.
- Choose their access level. An Author can write content but not publish it. An Editor can edit any content. A Publisher can make content live. Avoid giving out Super User access unless absolutely necessary!
Technical Specification
Joomla 5 is a modern, high-performance system designed for speed and security. For those interested in the technical requirements:
- It requires modern server environments to run smoothly, specifically PHP 8.1 (or higher) and a modern database system like MySQL 8.0.13+ or MariaDB 10.4+.
- Its core code has been heavily optimised to remove outdated legacy dependencies, making your website significantly faster and more secure against modern threats.
Contact
To manage the contact forms or directories on your website, go to Components > Contacts. Here you can update your business address, phone numbers, and the email addresses that your website's contact forms send messages to.
All Pages
Maintaining a Joomla 5 website is a straightforward process once you familiarise yourself with the basic dashboard layout. By regularly utilising the Articles, Media, and Menu managers, you can keep your site's content fresh and engaging. Remember, practice makes perfect, and the tools provided in this guide cover 90% of the day-to-day tasks you will encounter as a website administrator.
The Joomla 5 Jargon Cheat Sheet
If you ever find yourself confused by Joomla's terminology, keep this quick reference guide handy:
- Extensions: This is the umbrella term for anything you add to Joomla to expand its capabilities. Components, Modules, and Plugins are all types of extensions.
- Components: The main functional units of your website. Think of them as mini-applications. When you view a page on your site, the main content area is usually being driven by a component (e.g., the Articles component for text pages, or a Shop component for an e-commerce store).
- Modules: Lightweight extensions used to display bits of information around your main content. Think of them as the "blocks" on your page. A search bar, a newsletter sign-up box, or a "Latest News" list in your sidebar are all modules.
- Plugins: Background tools that intercept events or provide specific functions. They usually don't have their own page. For example, the tool that lets you edit text (TinyMCE) is a plugin.
- Templates: These control the entire look, feel, layout, and colours of your website. They dictate where the modules sit and how the components are styled.
