The frontend: The website as the user sees it
Let's first explore the elements of the default Joomla! example site home page. This will give you a good overview of the different modules that Joomla! features out of the box.
The example site that's part of the default installation is just one of the many types of sites you can build with Joomla!. As you can see, the example is focused on presenting quite a lot of (some might say, too much) information, the home page pulling the reader towards the content through intro texts, banners, link lists, a poll, several menus, and so on. It's very much focused on text; the only image you'll see is a banner ad at the bottom.
The previous picture of the home page shows the following elements:
- News Flash: Shows a random news flash each time the page is loaded
- Top Menu: A menu at the top of the page
- Breadcrumbs: The pathway to the current page
- Search: The search box—the search results are shown in the main content area
- In the left-hand side column: Three different menus, and a login form
- Latest News: Links to the most recent news items
- Popular: Links to the most read articles
- In the right-hand side column: Three separate blocks—Poll, Who's Online, and Advertisements
- Mainbody of the Front Page: Introductory text of selected articles
This site perfectly demonstrates what Joomla! is capable of. The fact that it's already packed with articles, menus, and extras gives you a great opportunity to try out Joomla!'s capabilities and decide for yourself which features fit your site's needs.
Tip
You're certainly not limited to building the kind of information-rich sites the example site demonstrates. In Chapter 1, you've seen a few other examples of Joomla! sites ranging from small personal blogs to huge corporate and e-commerce sites. Later on, you'll learn how to customize the sample site to create a much cleaner look that might better fit your needs.