Joomla tutorials by Joomlaboratory

1. What you need before you start

To run a Joomla website on the internet you need three things:

• A domain name (e.g. mybusiness.com), bought from a domain registrar.
• Web hosting that supports PHP and a database (MySQL, MariaDB or PostgreSQL). Most hosting companies offer this.
• The Joomla software, which you download for free.

You also need a little planning. Before you install anything, grab a piece of paper and answer these questions:

• What is the purpose of the site? (inform, sell, collect leads, publish news…)
• Which pages will it have? (Home, About, Services, Blog, Contact…)
• Will it be in one language or several?
• Will visitors need to log in (members area, client portal)?

A simple site map drawn now will save you hours later, because in Joomla your structure (categories and menus) is the backbone of the whole site.

2. Try Joomla for free first

You do not need to buy anything to start learning. There are two good ways to experiment safely.

Option A: Joomla Launch (online, no installation)

Joomla Launch is the official free hosted service. You pick a name and get a working Joomla site on a yourname.joomla.com subdomain within minutes. The free site includes 500 MB of disk space, FTP and phpMyAdmin access, and you can install extensions. It stays online as long as you log in and click Renew once every 30 days. It is perfect for learning the Administrator before you commit to hosting.

Option B: A local installation on your own computer

You can also install Joomla on your own computer using a "local server" package that bundles a web server, PHP and a database. This is the professional way to build and test sites before they go live. Popular options:

• Laragon (Windows): lightweight and fast; the official Joomla documentation has a step-by-step Laragon guide.
• MAMP (macOS and Windows).
• DDEV or other Docker-based setups (Windows, macOS, Linux): ideal if you are comfortable with the command line.

3. Where to get Joomla (safely)

Always download Joomla from the official website: downloads.joomla.org. On that page you will find:

• Full Package: this is what you need for a new website. It is available as .zip, .tar.gz and other archive formats. Choose .zip if you are unsure.
• Upgrade Package: only for updating an existing Joomla site. Do not use it for a new installation.
• Language packs: more than 70 accredited translations of the Joomla interface. You can also install them directly during or after installation.

4. Choose hosting that meets the requirements

Joomla runs on almost any decent Linux hosting. Before you buy, check that the host meets the technical requirements of Joomla 6:

Recommended PHP settings: memory_limit 256M, upload_max_filesize and post_max_size 64M or more, max_execution_time 60 seconds or more. Most hosts let you change these from the control panel.

A good Joomla host should also offer:

• A free SSL certificate (e.g. Let's Encrypt), so your site runs on https://.
• Daily automatic backups that you can restore yourself.
• A control panel (cPanel, Plesk, DirectAdmin…) with a File Manager and phpMyAdmin.
• A choice of PHP versions, so you can upgrade PHP when Joomla requires it.
• Support staff who know Joomla.

Many hosts also provide a one-click installer (Softaculous, Installatron or their own tool). It is a convenient shortcut, but the manual installation described below teaches you how Joomla works and gives you full control. If you use a one-click installer, check afterwards that you are on the latest version.

5. Install Joomla step by step

A manual installation takes about 10–15 minutes.

Step 5.1: Create an empty database

In your hosting control panel, open the database section (e.g. "MySQL Databases" in cPanel) and:

1. Create a new database.
2. Create a database user with a strong password.
3. Add the user to the database with All Privileges.

Write down four things: the database name, the username, the password and the host name (usually localhost; your host will tell you if it is different).

Step 5.2: Upload Joomla to your server

1. Download the Joomla 6 Full Package (.zip) to your computer.
2. Open your host's File Manager and go to your website's root folder (often public_html or httpdocs).
3. Upload the .zip file and use Extract to unpack it there. This is much faster than uploading thousands of individual files via FTP.
4. Delete the .zip file after extraction.

If you want Joomla in a subfolder (e.g. example.com/new), extract it in that subfolder instead.

Step 5.3: Run the web installer

Open your domain in a browser. The Joomla installer starts automatically.

1. Language and site name: choose the installation language and type your site name. Click Setup Login Data.
2. Login data (Super User account): this is the master administrator account.
   • Real name: your name.
   • Username: avoid obvious names like admin or administrator.
   • Password: at least 12 characters; use a password manager to generate a strong one.
   • Email: a real address you check; Joomla sends important notifications here.
   Click Setup Database Connection.
3. Database configuration:
   • Database Type: MySQLi is the usual choice for MySQL/MariaDB.
   • Host Name: usually localhost.
   • Username, Password, Database Name: the details you noted in step 5.1.
   • Table Prefix: leave the random prefix Joomla suggests.
   • Connection Encryption: leave it on Default.
   Click Install Joomla.

Step 5.4: Finish the installation

After a few seconds you will see the Congratulations! Your Joomla site is ready screen. From here you can:

• Install additional languages: useful if your site or your administrators need another language (for example Greek).
• Open Site to see your (still empty) website.
• Open Administrator to start building it.

For security, Joomla removes the installation folder when you finish. If your server's file permissions prevent that, you will be asked to delete it yourself; do it straight away.

New Joomla 6 installations are also registered for automated core updates by default, so security and maintenance releases can be installed automatically (your site must be publicly reachable for this to work). We recommend keeping this on.

6. Your first login: a tour of the Administrator

Joomla has two "sides":

• The Site (frontend): what your visitors see, at https://yourdomain.com.
• The Administrator (backend): where you manage everything, at https://yourdomain.com/administrator.

Log in to the Administrator with your Super User account. You land on the Home Dashboard. The main menu on the left gives you access to:

• Content: articles, categories, media, site modules, fields.
• Menus: your site's navigation.
• Components: larger features such as Contacts, Banners, News Feeds, Smart Search, Tags.
• Users: accounts, groups and access levels.
• System: Global Configuration, installing extensions, updates, templates, maintenance.
• Help: links to documentation and support.

Two beginner-friendly tools to use right away:

• Guided Tours: built-in, interactive walkthroughs. Look for the Guided Tours button in the top bar and take the "Welcome to Joomla" tour and the tours for articles, categories and menus.
• Sample Data: on the Home Dashboard you will find a Sample Data panel. Installing the Blog Sample Data fills your site with example articles, categories, menus and modules, so you can see how everything connects. Do this on a practice site, not on a site you are about to publish.

7. Essential settings in Global Configuration

Go to System → Global Configuration. Joomla works fine with the defaults, but check these settings first:

• Site tab → Site Offline: set to Yes while you are building, so visitors see a "coming soon" page while you, logged in, can still view the site.
• Site tab → Site Meta Description: a short default description of your site for search engines.
• Site tab → SEO settings: keep Search Engine Friendly URLs on. If your server runs Apache, rename the file htaccess.txt in your root folder to .htaccess and then set Use URL Rewriting to Yes. This removes index.php from your URLs.
• Server tab → Website Time Zone: choose your local time zone, so publishing dates are correct.
• Server tab → Force HTTPS: once your SSL certificate works, set this to Entire Site.
• Server tab → Mail: check the sender email and name, then click Send Test Mail. Contact forms and password resets depend on working email.

Click Save & Close when done.

8. Understand Joomla's building blocks

This is the single most important section of this guide. Once you understand these concepts, Joomla becomes logical and easy.

9. Create your first content

Create categories

Go to Content → Categories → New. Create categories based on your site map, for example Pages (for static pages like About and Services) and Blog. Click Save & Close.

Write your first article

1. Go to Content → Articles → New.
2. Enter a Title. Joomla creates the Alias (the URL part) automatically.
3. Write your text in the editor (TinyMCE). Use headings, lists and links just like in a word processor. Insert images with the image button or via CMS Content → Image.
4. In the right column choose the Category and make sure the Status is Published. Set Featured to Yes if you want the article to appear on the default home page.
5. In the Images and Links tab you can set an Intro Image (used in blog lists) and a Full Article Image.
6. In the Publishing tab, write a Meta Description for search engines.
7. Click Save & Close.

Tip: To show only an introduction in blog lists, place the cursor where the intro should end and choose CMS Content → Read More in the editor.

Manage images and files

Use Content → Media to upload and organise images and documents. Resize and compress large photos before uploading; it makes your site faster. Always add descriptive alt text to images.

10. Build your menus

An article is not visible on its own until something links to it. Menu items create your pages:

1. Go to Menus → Main Menu (or Menus → Manage to create a new menu) and click New.
2. Enter a Title for the menu item (e.g. "About us").
3. Click Select next to Menu Item Type and choose what the page shows. The most common types are:
   • Articles → Single Article: one article (About, Services).
   • Articles → Category Blog: a blog-style list of a category's articles with intro text and images.
   • Articles → Category List: a simple table-style list of articles.
   • Articles → Featured Articles: all featured articles (the default home page).
   • Contacts → Single Contact: a contact page with a form (create the contact first under Components → Contacts).
4. Click Save & Close.

The menu item marked with the home icon (Default Page) is your home page. You can make any menu item the home page.

Important: a menu is only shown on the site when a Menu module displays it. The Main Menu that comes with Joomla already has one; for any new menu you create, you also need to create a Menu module (see the next section).

11. Add modules around your content

Go to Content → Site Modules → New and choose a module type, for example:

• Menu: displays a menu.
• Custom: any text, image or HTML you like (e.g. a call-to-action box).
• Articles / Articles - Latest: lists of articles, e.g. your newest blog posts.
• Breadcrumbs: shows visitors where they are.
• Login Form: lets users log in on the frontend.

For each module you set two things:

• Position: where on the page it appears. The available positions are defined by your template (e.g. menu, sidebar-right, footer).
• Menu Assignment tab: on which pages it appears (On all pages, Only on the pages selected, and so on).

Tip: see the template positions. Go to System → Site Templates → Options, set Preview Module Positions to Enabled, then add ?tp=1 to your site's URL (e.g. https://yourdomain.com/?tp=1). You will see every available position outlined on the page.

12. Change the look: templates

Joomla ships with Cassiopeia, a modern, accessible and responsive frontend template built on Bootstrap. It is a great starting point.

• Go to System → Site Template Styles and open Cassiopeia - Default.
• In the Advanced tab you can upload your logo, set the site title and tagline, choose a colour scheme and fonts, and switch between fluid and static layouts.
• Joomla 6 adds a Cassiopeia child template with extra options to define colours and font sizes without writing CSS.

Custom CSS the safe way: never edit the template's core files, because updates will overwrite your changes. Instead, go to System → Site Templates → Cassiopeia Details and Files, create a file called user.css in the css folder and put your own CSS there. Cassiopeia loads it automatically. For bigger customisations, create a child template (there is a button for this in the same screen).

Third-party templates: thousands are available, free and commercial. Choose one that explicitly supports Joomla 6, is updated regularly and comes with good documentation and support. Avoid templates that require dozens of extra extensions just to work.

13. Add features with extensions

Joomla's core is already very complete: articles, categories, tags, custom fields, contacts, smart search, multilingual support, workflows, banners, user management and a built-in privacy-friendly captcha (Joomla 6.1). Before installing an extension, check whether the core already does what you need.

When you need more (forms, an online shop, galleries, booking, backups, advanced SEO), visit the official Joomla Extensions Directory (JED), which lists thousands of extensions.

How to install an extension

1. Download the extension package (.zip) from the developer's site, or find it through JED.
2. Go to System → Install → Extensions.
3. Use the Upload Package File tab and drag the .zip into the box, or use Install from Web to browse and install directly from JED.

How to choose a good extension

• It explicitly supports Joomla 6.
• It has been updated recently and has good reviews.
• The developer offers documentation and support.
• It is not listed on the Vulnerable Extensions List.

One extension every site should have from day one: a backup tool. Akeeba Backup has a free Core edition that creates a complete backup of your files and database and can restore or move your site to another server.

Keep it lean: every extension adds code to maintain and update. Uninstall (do not just disable) extensions you do not use.

14. Users, permissions and multi-factor authentication

Joomla has a powerful permission system (ACL). The built-in user groups go from Registered, Author, Editor and Publisher up to Manager, Administrator and Super Users.

• Create accounts in Users → Manage → New.
• Give each person only the permissions they need. A colleague who only writes articles should be an Author or Editor, not a Super User.
• Never share your Super User account.
• Check Users → Manage → Options → Allow User Registration. Turn it off if you do not want visitors to create accounts.
• Enable Multi-factor Authentication (MFA) for every administrator: open your user menu (top right) → Edit Account → Multi-factor Authentication tab, and add an authenticator app or a passkey.

15. Building a multilingual site

Unlike many other CMSs, Joomla supports multilingual websites in the core, without extra extensions. The basic steps are:

1. Install the language packs you need (System → Install → Languages).
2. Create and publish a Content Language for each language (System → Manage → Content Languages).
3. Enable the System - Language Filter plugin.
4. Create a separate home menu item for each language and add a Language Switcher module.
5. Set the language of each article, category and menu item, and link translations together with Multilingual Associations.

The Multilingual Sample Data on the Home Dashboard can set up a basic multilingual structure for you on a practice site, which is an excellent way to learn.

16. Keep your site secure and up to date

A Joomla site is not "build once and forget". A few habits will keep it safe:

• Update regularly. Check System → Update → Joomla and System → Update → Extensions. Automated core updates handle Joomla's own security and maintenance releases, but extensions and templates must be updated by you. Major version upgrades (e.g. 6 to 7) are always done manually.
• Back up before every update, and keep copies off the server (cloud storage or your computer).
• Use HTTPS everywhere (Force HTTPS: Entire Site).
• Use strong, unique passwords and MFA for all administrators.
• Keep PHP up to date through your hosting control panel.
• Remove what you do not use: extensions, old templates, test accounts.
• Read the Post-installation Messages (System → Post-installation Messages) and check System → System Information for warnings.
• Follow the official Joomla Security Centre for security announcements.

17. SEO basics

Joomla is very search-engine friendly out of the box. Make the most of it:

• Enable SEF URLs and URL rewriting (see section 7).
• Write a unique, descriptive title and meta description for every important article and menu item.
• Use clear aliases (short URLs with your keywords).
• Structure articles with proper headings (H2, H3) and add alt text to images.
• Link related articles together.
• Generate an XML sitemap (with an extension from JED) and submit it to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.
• Keep the site fast: optimise images and enable caching in Global Configuration once the site is finished.

18. Your go-live checklist

Before you announce your new website, run through this list:

• All pages are published, linked from a menu and proofread.
• Sample data and test content are removed.
• Contact forms work and you receive the emails.
• Your logo, favicon and contact details are correct.
• The site looks good on mobile phones, tablets and desktops.
• HTTPS works on every page and Force HTTPS is set to Entire Site.
• Your privacy policy and cookie notice are in place (important for visitors from the EU).
• Error Reporting is set to Default or None, and Debug System is off (Global Configuration).
• Search engines are allowed to index the site (check robots.txt and the Robots setting in Global Configuration).
• A full backup exists and you have tested that it can be restored.
• Site Offline is set to No.

19. Where to learn more and get help

• Joomla User Guide: the official user documentation, with tutorials, how-to guides and references.
• Joomla Documentation (docs.joomla.org): the long-standing documentation wiki.
• Joomla Manual: documentation for developers, including the technical requirements.
• Joomla Forum: ask questions and get help from the community.
• Joomla Community Magazine: monthly articles, tutorials and news.
• Joomla Extensions Directory: find extensions for every need.
• Joomla User Groups and JoomlaDays: local meet-ups and events around the world where you can learn from other Joomla users.

20. Frequently asked questions

Is Joomla really free?

Yes. Joomla is open-source software released under the GNU GPL licence. You can use it for personal and commercial websites without paying anything. Your only costs are the domain, hosting and any commercial extensions or templates you choose to buy.

Do I need to know how to code?

No. You can build a complete website using only the Administrator. Basic HTML and CSS knowledge helps when you want to fine-tune the design, and PHP knowledge is only needed if you want to develop your own extensions.

Should I start with Joomla 5 or Joomla 6?

Start with Joomla 6. It is the current major version, supported for years to come, while Joomla 5 is in its final, security-only phase.

What is the difference between joomla.org and joomla.com?

joomla.org is the home of the open-source Joomla project, where you download the software, documentation and extensions. joomla.com is used by Joomla Launch, the free hosted service where you can create a site without installing anything.

Joomla or WordPress?

Both are excellent, free CMSs. WordPress is often the quicker choice for a simple blog, and it has a larger marketplace of themes and plugins. Joomla shines when you need structured content, built-in multilingual support, fine-grained user permissions, custom fields and content workflows without relying on many third-party plugins. The best choice depends on your project and on which system you enjoy working with.

How long does it take to build a Joomla website?

Installation takes about 15 minutes. A simple 5–10 page business site can be built in a weekend once you understand the building blocks described in this guide. Plan more time for your content: writing good text and preparing images usually takes longer than the technical work.

Your beginner roadmap at a glance

1. Plan your site: goal, pages, languages.
2. Practise on Joomla Launch or a local installation, with sample data.
3. Get a domain and hosting that supports PHP 8.3+.
4. Download Joomla 6 from downloads.joomla.org and install it.
5. Set up Global Configuration, put the site offline and install a backup tool.
6. Create categories, articles, menus and modules.
7. Customise the template.
8. Add only the extensions you really need.
9. Secure your site: MFA, updates, backups.
10. Run the go-live checklist and launch!

Every Joomla expert started exactly where you are now. Take it one step at a time, experiment on a practice site, and don't be afraid to break things there. That is how you learn. Happy building!