Joomla User Manual

Introduction¶

This article covers the methods for adding a new article after logging in to the Administrator Dashboard and is based on a standard Joomla installation using the default content editor, TinyMCE.

A new article edit form may be opened from the Home Dashboard or from the Articles list page. Either of these options will open an article edit form entitled Articles: New ready for input.

From the Home Dashboard¶

1. In the Administrator Menu select the Content link, then from the dropdown menu select the plus (+) symbol to the right of the Articles link.
2. If it is displayed, in the Home Dashboard Site panel select the plus (+) symbol to the right of the Articles icon.

From the Articles list¶

1. Select the New button in the Toolbar.

Data Entry¶

The article edit form has tabbed panels. A new article has the Content tab selected by default. Otherwise, the last opened tab is selected.

It is possible to save a new article with only one piece of required information, a Title.

1. Enter a title in the Title field. This is Required and is used wherever the article title is displayed. The Alias field next to the title field is not a required field as if it is left blank Joomla will create the alias when the article is saved. The alias is used to refer to the article in internal and external links.

All other fields have default values. Even the Article Text field defaults to an empty string. However, you will almost certainly wish to fill out some of the field.

The Content Tab¶

The Content tab is mostly occupied by the TinyMCE editor where you create your textual content.

Alongside the content, there are fields to manage publishing, how and where the article will be displayed and who can see it when published. In many cases some of these settings may be left at their default values.

1. Status: Published, Unpublished, Archived, or Trashed - the default is Published.
2. Category This is a Required field but will default to the uncategorised category. You can add a new category in this field by typing it in and pressing enter.
3. Featured Toggle between No and Yes to display the article on the home page if that uses a Featured Articles layout.
4. Access The access level can be changed to restrict the article to specific User Groups: Public, Registered, Super Users, etc.
5. Tags Start typing to find and select pre-defined tags or you can add a new one by typing it in and pressing enter.
6. Note Any comment on this article which will be visible under the Title in the Articles list page.
7. Version Note Add comments to indicate what changed in this version. This is displayed in the Versions modal dialog and the field reverts to empty after saving.

Other Tabs¶

You may not see all of the following tabs as a Site Administrator may hide some to help maintain the consistency of article layout across the website. You may also see additional tabs for Custom Fields if they have been set up.

1. Images and Links allows you to set an intro and featured image and/or links to appear in predefined positions. This may be used if your article will be displayed within a category blog.
2. Options allows you to specify the layout of the article and associated information such as title, category, tags, publishing details etc. This is normally set globally but can be article specific through these options.
3. Schema is a method to add metadata to an article. It is used by robots but not seen by humans.
4. Publishing allows you to set publishing dates and times to schedule publishing of an article. By default, when an article is saved it will be published straight away. You can also set the Metadata for the article.
5. Configure Edit Screen allows you to show or hide parameters for the article.
6. Permissions shows the permissions for each user group that control what can or cannot be done.

Saving the Article¶

Once you have added the required information and content you can save the article. There are a number of ways to do this depending on what you wish to do next in Joomla.

To save the article you can choose to Save or Save & Close. The latter has dropdown options to Save & New, Save to Menu and Save as Copy.

1. Select the Save toolbar button to save your changes. This will keep the article open. It is good practice to regularly save your work on longer articles.
2. Select the Save & Close toolbar button to save the article and take you to the Articles list. The Save & Close button has further drop-down options:
   • Select Save & New to save the article and then open an Articles: New page. This option saves time when adding multiple articles.
   • Select Save to Menu to add the article to a menu by opening a Menus: New Item page.
   • Select Save as Copy to save the article then open up an Articles: Edit page with a number in brackets appended to the title and the same number following a dash, -2 for example, in the alias field. You can change the title and change or delete the alias of the new article which has already been created.

A system message will indicate that the article has been successfully saved.

Errors on attempting to save:¶

• If you have not completed the required fields, a red error message will appear indicating the missing information you must add.
• You will see an error message if the article has an alias that already exists. You can overcome this by amending the alias field.

Quick Tips¶

• If you are not the Super User or Administrator, take time to understand how the website is set up. Just because you have saved an article doesn't mean it is visible on the website. If Category Blog pages are being used, assigning the correct category will display the article. Otherwise an article needs to be assigned to a menu item. You can do this in the article or via Administrator Menus menu.
• Try to keep article titles short and specific.
• Whilst it can be done, if there are several users adding articles to the website avoid creating new categories and tags in articles. Spelling errors and differences can easily prevent articles from displaying where they were intended. Creating categories and tags in their respective list page ensures consistency across the website.
• If there is a need, make use of article notes. They can be very helpful, especially where several people add articles.
• Wherever you are in Joomla you can add an article without going to the Home Dashboard - use the Joomla Administrator Menu.