Example of Section Blog layout (FAQ section)

What are the requirements to run Joomla! 1.5?

Monday, 11 August 2008 00:42 Last Updated on Monday, 11 August 2008 00:42 Written by Administrator

Joomla! runs on the PHP pre-processor. PHP comes in many flavours, for a lot of operating systems. Beside PHP you will need a Web server. Joomla! is optimized for the Apache Web server, but it can run on different Web servers like Microsoft IIS it just requires additional configuration of PHP and MySQL. Joomla! also depends on a database, for this currently you can only use MySQL.

Many people know from their own experience that it's not easy to install an Apache Web server and it gets harder if you want to add MySQL, PHP and Perl. XAMPP, WAMP, and MAMP are easy to install distributions containing Apache, MySQL, PHP and Perl for the Windows, Mac OSX and Linux operating systems. These packages are for localhost installations on non-public servers only.
The minimum version requirements are:

Apache 1.x or 2.x
PHP 4.3 or up
MySQL 3.23 or up

For the latest minimum requirements details, see Joomla! Technical Requirements.

Where did the Installers go?

Sunday, 10 August 2008 23:16 Last Updated on Sunday, 10 August 2008 23:16 Written by Administrator

The improved Installer can be found under the Extensions Menu. With versions prior to Joomla! 1.5 you needed to select a specific Extension type when you wanted to install it and use the Installer associated with it, with Joomla! 1.5 you just select the Extension you want to upload, and click on install. The Installer will do all the hard work for you.

Where is the Static Content Item?

Sunday, 10 August 2008 23:13 Last Updated on Sunday, 10 August 2008 23:13 Written by Administrator

In Joomla! versions prior to 1.5 there were separate processes for creating a Static Content Item and normal Content Items. The processes have been combined now and whilst both content types are still around they are renamed as Articles for Content Items and Uncategorized Articles for Static Content Items.

If you want to create a static item, create a new Article in the same way as for standard content and rather than relating this to a particular Section and Category just select Uncategorized as the option in the Section and Category drop down lists.

Is it possible to change A Menu Item's Type?

Sunday, 10 August 2008 23:15 Last Updated on Sunday, 10 August 2008 23:15 Written by Administrator

You indeed can change the Menu Item's Type to whatever you want, even after they have been created.

If, for instance, you want to change the Blog Section of a Menu link, go to the Control Panel->Menus Menu->[menuname]->Menu Item Manager and edit the Menu Item. Select the Change Type button and choose the new style of Menu Item Type from the available list. Thereafter, alter the Details and Parameters to reconfigure the display for the new selection as you require it.

My MySQL database does not support UTF-8. Do I have a problem?

Thursday, 07 August 2008 09:30 Last Updated on Thursday, 07 August 2008 09:30 Written by Administrator

No you don't. Versions of MySQL lower than 4.1 do not have built in UTF-8 support. However, Joomla! 1.5 has made provisions for backward compatibility and is able to use UTF-8 on older databases. Let the installer take care of all the settings and there is no need to make any changes to the database (charset, collation, or any other).