User's Manual

Version 0.01 5/15/2006
Chapter 1 - Welcome to Joomla!
Introduction
Thank you for choosing Joomla!! Content Management System (CMS) software! You have made
a great choice by selecting one of the most powerful and versatile Open Source Content
Management Systems available.
Joomla!! is an award-winning Content Management System that will help you build websites
and other powerful online applications. Best of all, Joomla! is an open source solution that is
freely available to everybody.
What is a Content Management System?
A content management system is a computer software system for organizing and facilitating
collaborative creation of documents and other content.
A content management system is frequently a web application used for managing websites and
web content.
Joomla!! for End Users
The basic Joomla! package is designed to be easy to install, even for non-programmers. Most
people have no trouble getting our software up and running, and there is plenty of support
available via the Joomla! forum at http://forum.joomla.org/.
Once Joomla! is installed and running, it is simple for even non-technical users to add or edit
content, upload and add images and to manage the critical data that makes your company or
organization go. Anybody with basic word processing skills can easily learn to manage a
Joomla! site.
Via a simple, browser-based interface you will be able to easily add new press releases or news
items, manage staff pages, job listings, product images, and create an unlimited amount of
sections or content pages on your site.
Taking Joomla! to the Next Level
Out of the box, Joomla! does a great job of managing the content needed to make your
website sing. However, for many people, the true power of Joomla! lies in the application
framework that makes it possible for thousands of developers around the world to create
powerful add-ons and extensions. Here are just some examples of the hundreds of available
extensions:
• Dynamic form builders
• Business or organizational directories
• Document management
• Image and multimedia galleries
• E-commerce and shopping cart engines