Learning Joomla to develop and design websites can be a fairly easy process when you know where to find the proper tools and people. To get you started, here are my 5 tips to learning Joomla!.
Getting the Joomla Basics
We have a few options here: get a book, manual, take a Joomla training class, attend conferences and Joomla workshops or even install Joomla on a web host and start playing. Regardless, the first step is to get the initial foundation of Joomla! knowledge that you can build on. Find a trainer that you are comfortable with and talk to them. Don't be afraid to email them and ask questions. Sometimes there may be a training fee involved, but by having an expert on hand to help you thought tough areas of the content management system can save you literally hours of work in research.
Use it or lose it
It is important to use what you learn. For awhile I turned a lot of my time to WordPress and soon found out that a lot of things had changed in the Joomla world. A lot of components that used to be free were now commercial. While it cost a little more, the increase in functionality and support were amazing. So I dug back in. Learned more. It is important to have a Joomla test site. This can be an XAMP installation on your computer, but you need to get one setup as a playground to test new products and releases.
Joomla Online Resources
The best way to utilize online resources is to get involved. While you can post on the Joomla.com user forum any questions you may have, it is a good idea to also read problems other people have had and see if you can help them. The more of a dialog you create with other Joomla users the more likely they will be to help you. There are also a variety of paid Joomla resource sites that will help you with issues for a monthly fee. YouTube is another great resource. There are a lot of videos to wade though but typically if you find a Joomla tutorial producer that you like, they will have a variety of videos to help you learn. If there is something you need to know but they don't have a tutorial for, ask them to make one. They may not realize there is a need for that topic.
Joomla User Groups (JUGs)
Find a JUG (Joomla User Group) in your area. Joomla users tend to get together in almost every big city around the world. A JUG typically meets monthly, and has a wide range of attendees from designers, to developers and marketers. They make for an invaluable resource.
Joomla is an amazing and powerful Content Management System that allows you to create very powerful websites on a tight budget. You can checkout some free tutorials and resources over at TrainMeJoomla.com to get you started!
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