Parameters Of An Article

Article - Parameters

This section allows you to enter specific parameters for an Article, as shown in Diagram 1:

Diagram 1

The entries in the Parameters-Article are optional. Joomla automatically creates default entries for these values.

Author: You can select the Author from the drop-down list box. By default author is the current user.

Author Alias: This optional field allows you to enter in an alias for this Author for this Article. This allows you to display a different Author name for this Article.

Access Level: This field indicates that who can access to this item. The options are:

Public: Everyone has access

Registered: Only registered users have access

Special: Only users with author status or higher have access

You can change an item's Access Level by clicking on the icon in the column.

Created Date: This field defaults to the current time when the Article was created. You can enter in a different date and time or click on the calendar icon to find the desired date.

Start Publishing: This field signifies date and time to start publishing. You can use this field if you want to enter content ahead of time and then have it published automatically at a future time.

Finish Publishing: This field signifies date and time to finish publishing. You can use this field if you want to have content automatically changed to Unpublished state at a future time.

Advanced - Parameters

This section allows you to enter additional parameters for an Article, as shown in Diagram 2:

Diagram 2

Note:-These parameters allow you to override the parameters set in the Parameter/Global Configuration setup in the Article Manager and the Parameters - Component settings in the Menu Item Manager.

A value of 'Use Global' means that either the setting from the Menu Item or the setting from the Global Configuration will control the action. A setting other than 'Use Global' will always control the action and override settings from these other areas. The setting here takes top priority. The setting in the Menu Item is second priority. The setting in the Global Configuration controls if both of the other setting are set to 'Use Global'.

The advanced parameters for the article are:

Show Title: Whether or not to show the Article's Title. The options are (Use Global/No/Yes).

Title Linkable: Whether or not the Title of the Article will be a hyperlink to the Article. The options are (Use Global/No/Yes).

Intro Text: Hide or Show the Article's Intro Text when the 'Read more...' link is selected. Intro Text is the first part of the Article before a 'Read more...' break. The options are (Use Global/Hide/Show). If this parameter is 'Show', when the User selects the 'Read more...' link, the entire article will display. If this parameter is 'Hide', when the User selects the 'Read more...' link, only the part of the Article after the 'Read more...' link will display.

Section Name: Whether or not the Section Name will display. The options are (Hide/Show/Use Global).

Section Title Linkable: Whether or not the Title of the Section will be a hyperlink to the Section page. The options are (No/Yes/Use Global).

Category Title: Whether or not the Category Title will display. The options are (Hide/Show/Use Global).

Category Title Linkable: Whether or not the Title of the Category will be a hyperlink to the Category page. The options are (No/Yes/Use Global).

Article Rating: Hide or show the Article Rating. The options are (Use Global/Hide/Show).

Author Name: Whether or not to display the Author Name. The options are (Hide/Show/Use Global)

Created Date and Time: Whether or not to display the date and time the Article was created. The options are (Hide/Show/Use Global).

Modified Date and Time: Whether or not to display the date and time the Article was last modified. The options are (Hide/Show/Use Global).

PDF Icon: Whether or not to display a button to allow the Article to be rendered in a new window in PDF format. This allows the User to view, print, or save the Article as a PDF file. The options are (Hide/Show/Use Global).

Print Icon: Whether or not to display a button to allow the Article to be printed. This allows the User to print the current Article in a printer-friendly format. The options are (Hide/Show/Use Global).

E-mail Icon: Whether or not to display a button to allow a link to the Article to be e-mailed. This displays a form that allows the user to send an e-mail with a link to the current Article. The options are (Hide/Show/Use Global).

Content Language: Language in which this Article is written. This is optional. If no language is selected, the default language for the site is assumed.

Key Reference: Optional text key that an Article may be referenced by. Using the Key Reference to link to Articles is more flexible than using Article ID, since you can edit the Key Reference field of existing Articles. Note that, if more than one Article has the same Key Reference, this URL will only find the first Article with this Key Reference.

Alternative Read more: text: Optional text to display next to the 'Read more...' link. If no entry is made, the Article Title is used.

Metadata Information

This section allows you to enter Metadata Information for this Article. Metadata is information about the Article that is not displayed but is available to Search Engines and other systems to classify the Article. This gives you more control over how the content will be analyzed by these programs. All of these entries are optional. The entry screen is as shown in Diagram 3:

Diagram 3

Metadata Description: Optional Metadata Description for this Article.

Metadata Keywords: Optional entry for keywords. Must be entered separated by commas (for example, "cats, dogs, pets") and may be entered in upper or lower case. (For example, "CATS" will match "cats" or "Cats"). Keywords can be used in several ways:

To help Search Engines and other systems classify the content of the Article.
In combination with Banner tags, to display specific Banners based on the Article content. For example, say you have one Banner with an ad for dog products and another Banner for cat products. You can have your dog Banner display when a User is viewing a dog-related Article and your cat Banner display for a cat-related Article. To do this, you would:

Add the keywords 'dog' and 'cat' to the appropriate Articles.
Add the Tags 'dog' and 'cat' to the appropriate Banners in the Banner Manager New/Edit screen.
Set the Banner module Parameter 'Search By Tags' to 'Yes in the Banner Module Edit screen.

In combination with the Related Articles module, to display Articles that shares at least one keyword in common. For example, if the current Article displayed has the keywords "cats, dogs, monkeys", any other Articles with at least one of these keywords will show in the Related Articles module.

Robots: Optional keywords for Robots. Robots are automated software programs that surf the web and catalog web content. If special keywords are desired for Robots to use, enter them here.

Author: Optional entry for an Author name within the metadata.

Changing The Default Parameter Of An Article

In order to change the default parameters of an article, created (or being created), you have to simply edit the parameters in the box on the right hand side.

There are options to edit the parameter in the section:

Parameters (Article)
Parameters (Advanced)
Metadata Publishing

In an article, enter the required details such as the Title, Alias, Published, Front Page, Section and Category with the respective article in the text area. Include Readmore link and Pagebreak in the article if desired as shown in Diagram 4.

In the section, Parameter (Article), you can change the creation and publishing date parameter.

Diagram 4

In advanced parameters, edit the following fields from the drop down box of an article as shown in Diagram 5.

Diagram 5

To save the following changes of an article by clicking on the Save icon at the top-right hand corner as shown in Diagram 6.

Diagram 6

The article will be saved successfully as shown in Diagram 7.

Diagram 7

Click on the Preview icon at the top-right hand corner to view the front page articles on the website. You can note the various fields of an article as shown in Diagram 8 and Diagram 9.

Diagram 8

Diagram 9

Parameter/Global Configuration setup in the Article Manager

The parameters set in the Global Configuration setup in the Article Manager are overridden by the advanced parameters set for a specific article.

The setting in the Global Configuration panel controls the article if the setting in the article page are Use Global.

Click on the Parameters at the top-right hand corner of the Article manager as shown in Diagram 10.

Diagram 10

The box of global configuration setting for the articles opens as shown in Diagram 11 and Diagram 12.

Diagram 11

Diagram 12

Parameters - Component settings in the Menu Item Manager

A value of 'Use Global' means that either the setting from the Menu Item or the setting from the Global Configuration will control the article. The setting in the Menu Item has second priority.

Click on the Edit, after selecting the menu from the lists, at the top-right hand corner of the Menu Item manager as shown in Diagram 13.

Diagram 13