[electric kool aid!]

I have some questions about the website Joomla...

1) I have already bought a domain, can I use it on Joomla?
2) Is it easy to use for beginners?
3) Can I have people that visit my website register and login?

If yes to number 3...
4) Can the members earn points on the website?
5) Can members create profiles?
6) Can members have photo and video galleries?

Thanks.

[Mike G]

1) Yes.

First though you need to have some hosted webspace setup**. Then point your domain to your webspace if they are not already associated.

Once you can get to the holding page of webspace by entering your domain in your preferred browser then you are ready to install Joomla.

REMEMBER: the webspace you are using to host it MUST be running on an Apache server with PHP and MySQL installed. See the Minimum installation requirements at Joomla.org and ask your hosting provider if it is so...

2) Yes oh Yes! But start with version 1.0.x (x being the latest update) as it is better documented.

There are visual tutorials here on the Joomla.org site:
http://help.joomla.org/component/option,com_wrapper/Itemid,253/
There are also great tutorials here at Compass Designs:
http://www.compassdesigns.net/tutorials/
They also supply a great blank template...

Basically download the file from Joomla.org frontpage, unzip it, upload it to your webspace via FTP, then follow the instructions included in the zip.

3) Yes - thats the point really. Joomla is a magazine styled site which allows users to login and add content - a sort of community site/blog. But of course it is this AND much much more...

4) Yes. Joomla can be adapted through extensions:
http://extensions.joomla.org/
And there are extensions allow add-ons like points. As it depends what exactly you want to do with said points browse around to find something to suit you. There is a system of forum points called karma which might be what you are looking for.


5) Yes. The basic profile is very basic but there is an extremely popular extension called Community Builder which allows you to extend and personalize all this:
http://www.joomlapolis.com/

6) Yes yes and more yes... extensions are available at:
http://extensions.joomla.org/component/option,com_mtree/task,listcats/cat_id,1779/Itemid,35/

Just go ahead and have fun trying out all these extensions.
Looking forward to your new site

All the best,
Mike

[Nearly-Dr Ferox]

I too bought a domain recently, hosted it at hostgator and have installed joomla on it.

I'm new to it too, and I have to say it is confusing at first but with the help of some visual guides I am slowly getting the hang of it.

There is a login box for people other than administrators, so I assume other people can log in, but I haven't figured out how that works yet.

Good luck.