One of the greatest benefits of Joomla is the ability to change your website's content without actually knowing HTML. This is done through the Article Manager in the administrator, or backend, of Joomla. While not exactly equal, you can relate an article to a webpage. Using a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor, you can create, edit and format your website's content. However, things aren't always what they seem and there are some tricks to using the article editor.

Copying from a Word Processor

A very common method of creating content is to use a word processor such Microsoft Word or OpenOffice Writer to create the content and then copy & paste it to the Joomla article. Frankly, that's how I do it. However, you have to be careful with it. Both of those programs recognize that you are copying to an HTML editor and include a bunch of proprietary, useless code.

Using the "Paste from Word" or "Paste as Text" buttons on your WYSIWYG editor, you can strip that code, keeping your end product clean.

(If you don't have both of those buttons, consider installing the JCE Editor - http://www.joomlacontenteditor.net/

Inserting Images

One of the reasons I recommend upgrading to JCE is the image function. Unlike the default editor, JCE allows you to upload and delete images and folders, see previews, resize and more, all from within the article.

Wrap - Trying to figure out how to have your text go to the right or left or your image, instead of on top or below? In the image editor, simply set the image to align right or left and the text will go to the opposite. So, if you select the alignment to be "right", the image will be on the right and thea great text will flow to the left of it.

Sizing - A note about sizing images. First, you should always try to size the image as you want it BEFORE you upload the image. However, there are times when you want to alter it using the editor. In order to maintain the proportions (so you don't get a funky, weird looking picture) simply change on size (width or height) and leave the other blank. The browser will automatically size the blank one proportionally.

Article Parameters

Did you know that you can control a great deal about the article right there when you're editing the article? On the right side, there are some tabs. In the "Parameters (Article)" you can change the author name, instead of it showing yours, the access level and also when to start or finish publishing the article.

Under "Parameters (Advanced)" are even more options. If you hover your mouse over the parameter title, there will be a little popup box that will tell you about that parameter.

Using Article Titles

One of the most commonly misunderstood resources of Joomla is the article title. I've seen many, many times where people don't use this field and instead insert a title into the text area.

Here are some reasons why you should use the article title:

• Using the article title provides a consistent look to your sitee
• Using the article title makes it easier to find the article in the backend (so does sections & categories, but that's a different story!))

Like any program, the editors in Joomla have their pros and cons, but if you learn how they work and how to work with them, you will be able to achieve outstanding results!