This is Part 2 of my series on learning Joomla. In this post I'm going to get you started in the wonderful world of Joomla. But instead of just jumping in headfirst, we're going to take more of a leisurely stroll into the waters.

Approaching Joomla

As I brought out before, Joomla is simple, fast and easy, but it also has a moderate learning curve. Having intermediate knowledge in HTML and CSS are key, since you'll be tweaking aspects of your site in HTML editors and messing with classes and overriding tables in CSS files. You also need a server to put Joomla on along with the website you'll be building. The typical web designer's tools like Dreamweaver and Photoshop are also a very good idea to have. Pretty much what I'm saying is, if you're already a web designer (even if you're not a very advanced one) you've got everything you need. But if you're unfamiliar with web design, you may want to study up a bit before trying out Joomla. Remember, Joomla enhances web design, it's not a replacement and it's not a site builder.

I'm also going to highly recommend that you get a book on Joomla to help you through the more complicated aspects of the system. The book I learned with is Joomla! A User's Guide. It taught me a great deal in a short amount of time. If you're a visual learner, I encourage you to get the accompanying Fundamentals of Joomla! Video Training as well.

Exploring the Joomla website is another great idea. You can get familiar with the community, extensions, and other aspects of Joomla that will come in handy in the future.

Last but not least you will need the Joomla download, which you will download as a zip file to your computer, and then upload to your server. There are certain requirements your server will need to meet for Joomla to work properly and you can find them on Joomla.org.

Installing Joomla

Find the Full Package of Joomla here and download it to your computer. Next, set up a MySQL database on your web host, taking note of the username, password, and database name you assign it. If you do not have a web host, you can set up Joomla on your local computer. Because this is more complicated, I'm not going to explain it here. There's a great tutorial for this though on Compass Designs. Now upload the zip file to your server using your admin control panel and unzip the contents. Now you can actually install Joomla!

Go to your database in your web browser to find a Joomla set up wizard that will help you install Joomla. The most important part of this to pay attention to is the Main Configuration page. Take note of the Admin password you create, as you will be using this everytime you want to access Joomla. Here you may also choose to install default sample data, which simply populates your site with Joomla tips and suggestions on organizing content. Just click the Install Sample Data button or leave it alone if you prefer to start with a blank site. Because of the hassle of removing sample data, I suggest starting from scratch. Once you're finished, you'll be instructed to delete the installation directory. This is important, your site won't show up until you do it.

Congratulations! You are now ready to make your own site using Joomla. Unsure where to start? No worries. Part 3 is coming soon and will cover some important basics so you can start getting friendly with Joomla.