User Documentation Documentation
General documentation category. With some custom fields.
7.2 Publishing Menu Items
Menu Items provide access to articles, not unlike picture frames display artworks that are otherwise stored in the backroom of a museum. This tutorial demonstrates the use of menus and explores the relationship between menus, articles and categories.
Prerequisites
Administrator access to a Joomla site (version 5 or above). See 1.0 Admin Login.
Your website has a main menu with a home menu item that is a featured item menu type. This is standard with a new Joomla installation.
Publishing Menu Items
Setup
Create a New Category
- Navigate to Content > Categories and click on the New button.
- Enter a title.
- Note that Published is the default status.
- Save and Close
Create Two Articles
- Navigate to Content > Articles and click on the New button.
- Enter a title and some body text.
- Featured is set to No.
- Note that Uncategorised is the default category.
- Create one Uncategorized article and one article in the new category.
- Save and close.
There are now two articles; one in the new category, and one in the Uncategorised category.
Viewing the Site
The exercise frequently directs you to "view the site" and later to "close the tab," make updates in the administrative area, then once again "view the site." This method ensures the site is refreshed after every change. To view the site, click on the icon (with the site name) in the header.
Steps
View the homepage by clicking on the icon in the header. The homepage appears but neither of the articles appear on the homepage or anywhere else in the site.
Close the tab and navigate to Content > Articles. Edit one of the articles by clicking on the title. Click the Preview button. The article pops up and appears to function properly. Close the preview frame, then close the article without saving.
Menu items are needed to provide links to articles.
Navigate to Menus > Main Menu. Edit the Home menu item by clicking on the title. Note that the menu item type is Featured Articles. Main Menu is a menu item that displays featured articles. Close without saving.
Navigate to Content > Articles and make our two articles featured articles by clicking on the Featured icon. The icon changes from a gray circle to a gold star.
View the site and observe the articles are now listed on the homepage.
Menu items are needed to view articles on the website. The Home menu item is a Featured Article type, displaying featured articles.
Close the tab and remove the Featured status of both articles by clicking on the gold star next to each. The articles will no longer appear on the homepage. We will now create a new menu item to view the articles.
Create a Category Blog Menu Item
Navigate to Menus > Main Menu then click on the New button to create a new menu item:
- Title: Enter an appropriate title
- Menu Item Type: Category Blog
- Choose a Category: The new category
- Save and Close
View the website and observe the new Category Blog menu item in the Main Menu. Click on the link and observe that one of the articles is listed (the one in our new category—the other article is in the Uncategorised category).
Close the tab and navigate to Content > Articles. Edit the other article and change the category to the new category. Save and close.
View the website, then click on the new Category Blog menu item. Both articles appear.
A Category Blog menu item a list of articles in a category.
Close the tab and navigate to Menus > Menu Items. Click on the status icon for the new menu item, changing its status to Unpublished.
View the website and observe that the new menu item no longer appears, and our articles are again inaccessible.
Menu items must be published to appear in the website.
Close the tab and restore the new menu item by clicking on the Status icon to publish it.
Create a Single Article Menu Item
Click on the New button to create a new menu item:
- Title: Enter an appropriate title for one of the articles
- Menu Item Type: Single Article
- Choose an Article: One of the new articles
- Save and Close
View the website and explore both menu items to view the articles.
The Category Blog menu item displays a list of all articles in its category; clicking on the article link they renders the full article. A Single Article menu item displays a single article directly.
Effect of Unpublishing Articles
Close the tab and navigate to Content > Articles then unpublish both articles by clicking on the Status icon.
View the website and observe that both menu items still appear in the main menu. Click on the menu items.
- The Category Blog menu item displays a message that no articles for the category exist.
- The Single Article menu displays an error message—article is unavailable because it is unpublished.
Effect of Unpublishing a Category
Close the tab and republish both articles by clicking on the status icon.
Navigate to Content > Categories then unpublish the new category by clicking on the Status icon.
View the website then click on the menu items.
- The Category Blog menu item displays an error—it requires a published category to function.
- The Single Article menu displays an error as well—its article requires a published category.
Note that the menu items still appear even though they display error messages when clicked.
Close the tab and republish the category by clicking on the status icon.
Effect of Unpublishing Menu Items
Navigate to Menus > Main Menu then unpublish the new menu items by clicking on the Status icon.
View the website and observe that the new menu items no longer appear. The articles are still published and available, but unreachable.
Recall that the Home menu item is a Featured Articles menu type.
Restore the Featured Articles
Close the tab and navigate to Content > Articles. Click on the Featured icon to make both new articles featured items.
View the website. The articles are once again reachablere on the homepage.
Concepts
Menu Items, Articles, and Categories are interdependent. Menu Items provide access to Articles; Articles and some Menu Items require Categories.
Menu Items can be thought of as the picture frames in which Articles, and lists of Articles (Featured Items, Blogs, etc.) appear.
Menu Item can appear even when the lists or articles they link to have issues.
1 Tutorial Introduction
The tutorials are guided tours of basic Joomla tasks intended to familiarize users with basic tasks and concepts with quick hands-on exercises.
Where to Work the Tutorials
The tutorials were created in test sites, fresh Joomla installation with no customization, and with the expectation that you are working them in a similar environment. Working in a production site is risky, and customizations can lead to different behaviors, appearances, and results.
Initial Tutorials
Basic examples of how to login to Joomla and become familiar with a few basics.
1.1 Admin Login — Logging into the backend administration section.
1.2 Site Login— Logging into the frontend of the site
1.3 Viewing the Site — Viewing the site while working in the backend
1.1 Administrator Login
Joomla has two login areas, the site or frontend and the administrator area, or backend which is the area that controls all aspects of a Joomla website. Site owners and administrators use the backend to configure and maintain the website and its users. Other advanced users may use the backend to create and manage content, such as creating, editing, or approving articles. This tutorial describes how users log in to the backend administrator area.
Prerequisites
You must have an administrator account with a username and password to a Joomla site configured for default login (sites configured for advanced login options such as Single Sign-On or Passkeys are beyond the scope of this tutorial).
Steps
Login
- Open a browser and navigate to the backend of your site by appending /administrator to your site’s URL. For example, if your site URL is https://www.mysite.com use https://www.mysite.com/administrator.
- Enter your username and password, then click Log In.
Explore the Layout
The main administrative menu appears on the left side of the screen.
Toggle Menu minimizes or expands the menu.
Most menu items are hierarchical, and clicking on them expands the submenu.
The main content area to the right of the administrative menu displays messages and commonly-used controls that change depending on which menu item is selected.
The header contains the Joomla version number, additional messages and information, a link to the site homepage, and the user menu.
Logout
- To log out, select Log Out from the User Menu in the header.
Concepts
- Joomla has two login areas, the frontend for site users, and the backend for administrators. This tutorial describes how administrators login to the backend.
- The frontend and backend are separate login areas.
- The backend administrative area is for site owners, administrators, and advanced users to configure and maintain the site, and to manage content, as will be presented in future tutorials.
1.2 Site Login
Joomla has two login areas: The administrative area, or backend used to control all aspects of a Joomla website; and the site, or frontend used by site users to interact with the site to create or update some site content, access controlled areas not available to the public, and other purposes. This tutorial describes how users log in to the site frontend.
Prerequisites
You must have a user account with a username and password to a Joomla site configured for default login (sites configured for advanced login options such as Single Sign-On or Passkeys are beyond the scope of this tutorial).
By default, a new Joomla installation has a login form on the site homepage.
Steps
Login
- Open a browser and navigate to the homepage of your site.
- Enter your username and password, then click Log In.
The login form changes, displaying your username and Log Out button.
Depending on your access you may notice other changes, such as content only available to logged-in (or registered) users. controls to edit site components, and other differences. Some of these will be explored in other tutorials.
Logout
- To log out, click the Log Out in the Log In form.
Concepts
- Joomla has two login areas, the frontend for site users, and the backend for administrators. This tutorial describes how registered users login to the frontend.
- The frontend and backend are separate login areas.
- The frontend is public facing area of the site. Registered users can login to the frontend to access controlled areas not available to the public, and to interact with site content.
1.3 Viewing the Site
The first two tutorials explain that Joomla has two login areas, a frontend and a backend, and that these are independent of each other. Future tutorials will direct you to make changes in the backend then view the results in the frontend. This tutorial will demonstrate that the frontend and backend logins are separate, and describe how to switch back and forth between the frontend and backend.
Prerequisites
Completion of tutorials 1.1 Administrator Login, and 1.2 Site Login.
Steps
Admin Login
Open a browser and login to the backend of the site.
View the Frontend
Locate the view-frontend button in the header. Hover over the button and read the tool tip that pops up. Click the button and observe that the frontend opens in a new tab.
Note that the backend is open in one tab, while the frontend is open in the new tab, and that it's easy to switch back and forth.
Updates and Refreshing
Many tutorials will direct you to login to the backend, view the frontend, make changes in the backend, then refresh the frontend. We will practice this now.
In the backend, click on System then Global Configuration and make a change to the name of the website, then save.
Switch to the frontend
Concepts
- Joomla has two login areas, the frontend for site users, and the backend for administrators. This tutorial describes how registered users login to the frontend.
- The frontend and backend are separate login areas.
- The frontend is public facing area of the site. Registered users can login to the frontend to access controlled areas not available to the public, and to interact with site content.
Subcategories
User Guides
User Documentation, also known as The User Manual.