Using Joomla

Editing Templates

There are two primary ways to edit your template files—manually with a code editor or in the Administrator Backend. If you’re just starting out with Joomla, you will probably prefer to edit your template on the backend using the Template Manager.

Editing with the Template Manager

The Template Manager is a great tool for making quick changes to your site template, especially when you don’t have FTP access. But people often find it cumbersome if you’re doing a lot of template work on your site.

1. Go to Extensions→Template Manager.

2. Either select the radio button next to the template you want to edit and click the Edit button in the top toolbar, or you can just click the template name.

3. Choose Edit HTML or Edit CSS in the top toolbar, depending on what you want to edit.

If you chose Edit HTML, you will see the Template HTML Editor (see Figure 11-13).

Figure 11-13. Template HTML Editor

If you chose Edit CSS, you will see the Template CSS Editor, shown in Figure 11-14. You’ll see a list of all the CSS files associated with that template. To edit a specific file, click the radio button next to the name and click the Edit button in the top toolbar to open that CSS file in the Template CSS Code Editor.

Figure 11-14. Template CSS Code Editor

Whether you’re editing the ...