Module Position

Modules

Submitted by Hagen Graf on 19. January 2012 - 15:03

A module is a content element that can be positiond next to an article. A menu, for example, is a module. The small registration block on the left side is also a module. You can create as many modules with smart functions as you need and position them on the predefined area in the template.
Modules are design elements in every template. Most of the time the search and the breadcrumb module have predefined positions in a template. This is also true for the navigation module in the header area, often called "top" position.

Similarities of all modules

Every module has

• a title which can be displayed as a headline or hidden,
• a position in a template,
• a switch to publish the module,
• an ordering index for sorting modules at the same position, usually used in sidebars,
• a scheduling feature with a start and end date,
• the option to assign a language to it. Will only appear when the user selects the language the module is offered (see chapter Multi-language websites)
• the option to add a note to the module
• the same menu assigment system as in templates. You can limit the appearance of the module.

Advanced Options

In Advanced Options, you can

• choose from different template layouts if the template offers this feature.
• add a module class suffix, which adds a text to the CSS class of the module. This is useful for individual styling.
• use the cache system by switching it on or off and set a time before the module is re-cached

Core modules

The Joomla! 2.5 package contains 24 different module types. I will list and shortly describe them in alphabethical order. (The descriptions are partly taken from the Joomla! help).

• We already used the Archived Articles module in the chapter Statuses, Trash and Check-Ins, which offers a list of months and is linked to the archived articles.
• Articles Categories displays a list of categories from one parent category.
• Articles Category displays a list of articles from one or more categories.
• Articles - Newsflash will display a fixed number of articles from a specific category or a set of categories. You can configure ordering, number of articles, read more link and many more
• The Articles - Related Articles module displays other articles that are related to the one currently being viewed. These relations are established by the Meta Keywords.
  All the keywords of the current article are compared with all the keywords of all other published articles. For example, you may have an article on "Breeding Parrots" and another on "Hand Raising Black Cockatoos". If you include the keyword "parrot" in both articles, then the Related Items Module will list the "Breeding Parrots" article when viewing "Hand Raising Black Cockatoos" and vice versa.
• The Banners module displays the active banner, which we already used in chapter Banners.
• The Breadcrumbs module display the navigation breadcrumbs, which were used in chapter Navigation.
• The Custom HTML module allows you to write your own HTML code and displays it in an appropriate module position. In Basic Options this module, has the useful Prepare Content feature.  Joomla! offers the possibility to apply additional functions to article content, like email cloaking, via the plug-in mechanism. If you turn on the Prepare Content, the HTML content you added to the module will be treated as any article content.
• The Feed display module enables the display of a syndicated feed. We used it in chapter Newsfeeds.
• The Footer module shows the Joomla! copyright information. You are allowed to deactivate it but your are also invited to keep at on your website!
• The Language Switcher module is new in Joomla! 1.6 - It displays a list of available content languages for switching between them. Read more about this feature in the chapter Multi-language websites.
• The Latest News module shows a list of the most recently published articles. Filtering options are: by category, author and featured articles.
• The Latest Users module displays the latest registered users. You can link to the user profile, limit the amount of users and you may choose between different types of user information to be shown.
• The Login module displays a username and password login form. It also displays a link to retrieve a forgotten password. If user registration is enabled (User Manager → Options), another link will be shown to enable self-registration for users. It is possible, for example, to add additional text to the form, to redirect your user after login and logout, and to encrypt the login form using SSL, which has to be provided by the web server.
• The Menu module is a container, which displays menu items of an existing menu. A menu can consist of nested menu items. You can filter these items by the start and end level, e.g., all the links from the second and third level. It is also possible to decide whether the sub menu item should be shown or not.
• The Most Read Content module shows a list of the currently published articles, which have the highest number of page views. You can filter by category and limit the number of articles.
• The Random Image module displays a random image from your chosen directory. Usually, you will use the media manager to stores these images. You can configure the file type of the image, a URL to redirect to if the image is clicked upon and you can adjust the width and the height of the images. However, be careful with the last option. Joomla! does not resize the original image; it only sets attributes in the img tag.
• The Search module displays a search box. You may configure the design of the box, the position and the text of the button. We already covered the search module in chapter Search.
• The Smart Search is an alternative to the Search module and displays a search box. It offers, in addition to the settings of the module Search, the ability to define filters. We already covered the Smart Search in chapter Smart Search.
• The Statistics module shows information about your server installation together with statistics on the website users, number of articles in your database and the number of web links you provide.
• The Syndication Feeds module creates a syndicated feed for the page where the module is displayed. It displays an icon. You can enter a text to be displayed near the icon and choose the feed format (RSS 2.0, Atom 1.0).
• The Weblinks module displays weblinks from a category defined in the Weblinks component.
• The Who's Online module displays the number of anonymous users (e.g. guests) and registered users (ones logged in) that are currently accessing the website.
• The Wrapper module shows an iFrame window at a specified location. You configure the URL where the external website is located, switch scroll bars on and off, define the width and the height and give the iFrame a target name.

Joomla Core Features

Features Overview
Joomla is so much more than just a powerful content management system. Here is a list of features "out of the box," but the true power of Joomla is in its extensibility.

User Management
Joomla has a registration system that allows users to configure personal options. There are nine user groups with various types of permissions on what users are allowed to access, edit, publish and administrate.
Authentication is an important part of user management and Joomla support multiple protocols, including LDAP and even Gmail. This allows users to use their existing account information to streamline the registration process.
Granular access control allows you to have complete control over who can see and do what.
Media Manager
The Media Manager is the tool for easily managing media files or folders and you can configure the MIME type settings to handle any type of file. The Media Manager is integrated into the Article Editor tool so you can grab images and other files at any time. Language Manager
There is international support for many world languages and UTF-8 encoding. If you need your Web site in one language and the administrator panel in another, multiple languages are possible.

Banner Management
It's easy to set up banners on your Web site using the Banner Manager, starting with creating a client profile. Once you add campaigns and as many banners as you need, you can set impression numbers, special URLs, and more.

Contact Management
The Contact Manager helps your users to find the right person and their contact information. It also supports multiple contact forms going to specific individuals as well as groups.

Search
Help navigate users to most popular search items and provide the admin with search statistics.

Web Link Management
Providing link resources for site users is simple and you can sort them into categories, even count every click.

Content Management
Joomla's flexible category system of articles makes organizing your content a snap. You can organize your content any way you want and not necessarily how it will be on your Web site. Your users can rate articles or e-mail them to a friend. Administrators can archive content for safekeeping, hiding it from site visitors.
On public Web sites, built-in e-mail cloaking protects email addresses from spambots.
Creating content is simple with the WYSIWYG editor, giving even novice users the ability to combine text, images in an attractive way. Once you've created your articles, there are a number of pre-installed modules to show the most popular articles, latest new items, newsflashes, related articles, and more.

Syndication and Newsfeed Management
With Joomla, it's easy to syndicate your site content, allowing your users to subscribe to new content in their favorite RSS reader. It's equally easy to integrate RSS feeds from other sources and aggregate them all on your site. Menu Manager
The Menu Manager allows you to create as many menus and menu items as you need. You can structure your menu hierarchy (and nested menu items) completely independent of your content structure. Put one menu in multiple places and in any style you want; use rollovers, dropdown, flyouts and just about any other navigation system you can think of. Also automatic breadcrumbs are generated to help navigate your site users.

Template Management
Templates in Joomla are a powerful way to make your site look exactly the way you want and either use a single template for the entire site or a separate template for each site section. The level of visual control goes a step further with powerful template overrides, allowing you to customize each part of your pages.

Integrated Help System
Joomla has a built-in help section to assist users with finding what they need. A glossary explains the terms in plain English, a version checker makes sure you're using the latest version, a system information tool helps you troubleshoot, and, if all else fails, links to a wealth of online resources for additional help and support.

System Features
Speedy page loads are possible with page caching, granular-level module caching, and GZIP page compression. If your system administrator needs to troubleshoot an issue, debugging mode and error reporting are invaluable. The FTP Layer allows file operations (like installing Extensions) without having to make all the folders and files writable, making your site administrator's life easier and increasing the security of your site. Administators quickly and efficiently communicate with users one-on-one through private messaging or all site users via the mass mailing system.

Web Services
With Web services, you can use Remote Procedure Calls (via HTTP and XML). You can also integrate XML-RPC services with the Blogger and Joomla APIs.

Powerful Extensibility
These are just some of the basic Joomla features and the real power is in the way you customize Joomla. Visit the Joomla Extensions Directory to see thousands of ways to enhance Joomla to suit your needs.