Introduction to Joomla
Monday, 18 January 2010 14:29
Manchester Unite Against Fascism has launched its new web-site. It uses Joomla!--a popular web content management system (CMS). At first sight, it can be a little overwhelming, but to get an idea of how to use it, have a look at the excellent instructional videos here.
They are an easy and enjoyable way to familiarise yourself with the Joomla! web-site admin back-end.
Joomla! is a Swahili word which means "all together". It is very user friendly and is designed to enable non-technical people to access and use the latest interactive Web 2.0 technology. It enables a whole team of administrators, content managers, editors and publishers to collaborate in the running of the site. This enables many hands to make light work. It means that the web-site can be constantly updated with news content: articles, photos, videos etc.
Trades union activists are needed to fulfil various roles: site administrators to manage the technical and overall design aspects of the site. Authors to contribute the writing of the articles, reports, news of upcoming events, uploading photographs and other audio-visual media. We also need content managers to solicit, organise and classify articles, editors to proof-read content and ensure a high standard of written output, and publishers who will make final decisions about what, when and where content is published. The Joomla! CMS thus facilitates both a diversity of content input and an elected management framework to ensure that it is presented effectively--accountable to the trades council.
A content author's tutorial is available here. (pdf)
And a guide for site publishers and webmasters is available here. (pdf)