Menus

=__Menus__=

Now that we have all this lovely content, we need a way to navigate it. A website will not do you much good unless there is a menu to help users navigate to different pages. Joomla! has a built-in system for managing menus. This system is built around the three types of information in Joomla!—components, modules, and plugins. If Components are the main information in Joomla! and are driven by menus. If you look at the front page of your site, you can see only the front page articles. The contact information, web links, news feeds, and articles not published on the front page are not visible. This is because each page displays one component at a time. Let us add the components we have already configured to the site:

1. First, go to http://localhost/joomla15/administrator and log in with the username “admin” and the password you specified during the installation. If you are already logged in, you do not need to do this again.

2. From the “Menus” menu, select “Main Menu.”

Home
Already on the menu is the default “Home” link, which provides access to articles to which you have enabled the “Front Page” option. You can click on “Home” to edit many of its settings including the name of the home page as well as the number of articles that aredisplayed.

3. Click on “Home” to configure the home page.

4. In the “Parameters - Basic” area, there are a number of different options you can configure:  “# Leading” is the number of article intros to display on the front page with a “read more” link to see the entire article. These articles will stretch the entireidth of the news box.  “# Intro” is the number of article intros to display on the front page with a “read more” link to see the entire article. These articles will fill only the width of one column, not the entire page.  “Columns” is the number of columns in which articles are display.  “# Links” is the number of articles to display only as links at the bottom of the page.

5. In “Parameters – Advanced” make sure that “Show a Feed Link” is enabled. This will make the front page accessible by an RSS news feed.

6. In “Parameters – System,” enter a title for the page inside of the “Page Title” field. This will display in the browser's header as well as in the header for that page in the document. For this website, enter “Landscape Smart” to replace the “Welcome to the Frontpage!” text

7. Click “Save” to finish setting up the home page. Go to http://localhost/joomla15 to see the results of your changes

Categories
Next, we need to create four links to the “Trees,” “Bushes,” “Grasses,” and “President” categories that we created:

1. From the “Menus” menu, select “Main Menu.”

2. Click on “New,” select “Articles” and then “Category Blog Layout.”

3. Under “Parameters – Basic” select one of the four categories we created. Name the menu item accordingly. Adjust the settings similarly to the “Home” item and make sure to include a feed link in “Parameters – Advanced.” Title the page in “Parameters – System.” You also may want to change the “Primary Order” to “Title – Alphabetical” in “Parameters - Advanced:”4. Click “Save” and check out the site for the results.

5. Repeat these steps for “Bushes,” “Grasses,” and “President.”

Contact
Next up, we need to add a link to the “Contact Us” page:

1. From the “Menus” menu, select “Main Menu.”

2. Select “New,” then click “Contacts” followed by “Contact Category Layout:”

3. Name the page “Contact Us” and select “Corporate” for the category. There is no need for a news feed from this page, so disable that option. Under “Parameters – System,” make sure to name the page “Contact Us:”

4. Click “Save” and check out the site for the results:

Web Links
Our next component is “Web Links:”

1. From the “Menus” menu, select “Main Menu.”

2. Click on “New,” select “Web Links” and then “Category List Layout:”

3. Name the page “Web Links” and select “Landscape Information” for the category. There is no need for a news feed from this page, so disable that option. Under “Parameters – System,” make sure to name the page “Web Links:”

4. Click “Save” and check out the site for the results:

News Feeds
The next menu item we need to add is “News Feeds:”

1. From the “Menus” menu, select “Main Menu.”

2. Click on “New,” select “News Feeds” followed by “Category Layout:” 3. Name the page “Landscaping Feeds” and select “Landscaping” for the category. Under “Parameters – System,” make sure to name the page “Landscaping Feeds:”

4. Click “Save” and check out the site for the results:

Search
The last menu item we need to create is the “Search” page:

1. From the “Menus” menu, select “Main Menu.”

2. Click on “New,” select “Search” and then “Search:”

3. Name the page “Search.” Under “Parameters – System,” make sure to name the page “Search:” 4. Click “Save” and check out the site for the results: