Joomla is known as one of the most favored CMS that is trusted by millions of developers and website owners worldwide. Since web technologies are rapidly progressing these days, Joomla is right there alongside of them evolving, making major developments and significant updates. Newer versions of Joomla are being released continually which is why many website owners are seriously taking the different features into consideration to see if they want to upgrade.
Benefits of Installing Joomla 3
- Regular security improvements which is vital for avoiding having your site hacked
- Large collection of new joomla templates and features
- Large library of extensions with loads of functionality
- Increased SEO (URLs are search engine friendly and built right in Joomla 3.0)
- Version made for mobile phones where the admin area can be access right from your phone
How to install Joomla 3
1. Downloading Joomla 3
The first thing you should obviously do is download Joomla 3.x. You can visit their homepage to get access to any one of their compressed Joomla 3 versions and download them via .tar.gz, .tar.bz2 or .zip.
2. Uploading Joomla 3
Once you have Joomla 3 downloaded, you will then upload it onto your own server. You will be able to save time uncompressing your downloaded file from your server, if your server allows for this. If not, you will have to take the file and uncompress it on to your desktop and use FTP or a similar service to upload each individual file.
3. Create a Joomla 3 Database
You will need a database successful for installation for Joomla. You can use the database wizard, MySQL if you are on cPanel or if the provider you do hosting with doesn’t use cPanel you will have to contact them on what approach to take on making a new database. Keep a record of the database username, name and password. These will be needed during the installation process later on.
4. Start the Installation Wizard for Joomla 3
You can use a subfolder to install Joomla 3 in and name it j3. Visit: http://domain.com/j3 to access the installation wizard.
5. Configuration
Once you are on the configuration page you can add a description and name for your website, select your language and get your admin details set up like your password, username as well as email address. In most instances, you are able to use ‘MySQLi’ for the database type and ‘localhost’ for the host name. Finish entering any other database credentials.
There is an option for installing a sample data if you are using Joomla 3 for the first time. This will enable you to learn all the functions of Joomla 3 and how it works. You can also have a set of installation details sent to you by email by selecting ‘yes’ in the Email Configuration box. Joomla 3 offers many various features for website owners. It is recommended that you upgrade to this version if you are already using Joomla to get a whole better experience.