We already have a tutorial on changing the password of a Joomla user to "admin". That tutorial allows you to reset any user password to "admin".
However, one of our students wanted to know how to create safer passwords. How could they create safer passwords that were also encrypted in the database. Here's how to do it ...

Step 1. Login to phpMyAdmin

On your local machine you can go to localhost/xampp or whatever is appropriate for your setup. Here's what it looks like on my computer.
Here's how the link will appear in the database section of your hosting control panel if you have CPanel:

Step 2. Open the jos_users table

Find your database and look for the jos_users table on the left and click on it.
Click the Edit link next to the entry for the user you want to change. In this case, admin.

Step 3. Delete the existing password

On the next screen find the password field and delete the existing password.
Type in a new password in plain language. It can be anything you want.

Step 4. From the Function Column choose the Function MD5

Choose MD5 from the Function field dropdown.

Step 5. Click Go

Click Go at the bottom of the section.
The word "spaghetti" has now been magically transformed into a long, safe, encrypted string of letters and numbers.

Step 6. Login to your Joomla admin with your new password

We have successfully changed the password to "spaghetti".
That's how can you avoid using a password as basic as "admin". You just have to find jos_user in phpMyAdmin and use MD5 to do the translation for you. Then you can use any word you want.
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This tutorial will show how to modify and/or translate Joomla's language strings.
One of our students was wondering how to make the Terms of Service text into an active link when people registered on his site. So we created this tutorial for him and will use this Terms of Service example to show you how language overrides work in Joomla 1.7.
This tutorial was created in Joomla 1.7 but the same will apply for Joomla 2.5 (which has not been released at the time of this writing).

Get a context

Get a context of what you're translating so that you know where to look. In this example, we will be modifying the text "Terms of Service" and making it linkable. We can make an educated guess that it's either in a Registration language file or a Profile language file. In order to enable the "Terms of Service" to appear in the Front-end, we had to use the "User - Profile" plugin in plugin Manager so that's another hint of where it's likely located.

Find the Translatable String

Once you have a good context, the next step is to find the translatable string. Use your host's file manager (e.g. cPanel's or Plesk's File Manager) and the go to either your administrator/language/en-GB folder or your language/en-GB folder and open up the .ini file that you assume might hold your language string. If you make a wrong guess, don't worry, keep making educated guesses and you'll find it eventually.
For the "Terms of Service" text, I'm guessing that I'll find it in the en-GB.plg_user_profile.ini

• Note 1: If you don't have a reliable file manager then you can use an FTP program to download the file to your computer and edit it with a text editor and then re-upload it.
• Note 2: Also, if you have any special characters (e.g. such as those used in Cyrillic languages) then it would be best to download the file and use a text editor such as notepad++ that can save the files as UTF-8 without BOM to ensure that the special characters are translated properly.
• Note 3: If your Joomla site is set to another language rather than Great Britain English (which is the default) then navigate to that language folder instead rather than the en-GB folder.

Select utf-8 and click edit. If utf-8 without BOM is given as an option select it.


Search for your string by holding ctrl (for Macs hold command) and then clicking f (f stands for find). Then enter your string and search for it within the file. If the string is especially long, then only search for a small part of it to make it easier to find an exact match.
In our example we will search for "Terms of Service".
Success! Next we need to create a language override.

Create an Override

We are going to create a language override so that when we upgrade Joomla in the future, we won't lose our translations. Copy the whole line.


Now navigate to the language/overrides folder within the language folder (rather than the en-GB folder as we did previously). Look for en-GB.override.ini and edit it.
Note: If you're editing a text that appear within the administrator then you'd use administrator/language/overrides instead.

Paste within the first empty line after the comments.

Modify the String Between the Double Quotes

Finally we can modify the string between the double quotes. In our case we're making it linkable.
Note if your translation needs to use Double Quotes: In the image above I've circled "_QQ_" (it has double quotes around it as well) which is used to represent double quotes. Since the language string is within double quotes if we were to add another set of double quotes it wouldn't be processed correctly, so instead we can use "_QQ_" or the HTML code " to represent double quotes to make sure Joomla knows we haven't reached the end of the language string. Don't use escaped double quotes (i.e. ") as that will break in PHP 5.2.x

Success!

Last step is to check your front-end to make sure everything worked as it should.
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OSDownloads is the Joomla downloads extensions designed to allow you to collect emails in exchange for the download.
This is useful if you want to notify users about updates or changes. This also means that you don't have to force someone to register simply to get the download. OSDownloads is designed to work with MailChimp.com.
Here's how to install and configure OSDownloads:

Step 1. Download

You can download the component by clicking here.

Step 2. Install

Go to Extensions > Extension Manager. Browse for the file you downloaded then click Upload & Install.

Step 3. Access the component

Go to Components > OSDownloads to access the controls for the component.

Step 4. Add categories for your downloads

You can arrive at this page by going to Components > OSDownloads > Categories Or if you are already in the control panel for OSDownloads click the Categories tab.
Click New to start adding Categories.

You will find the entry form to be exactly like the one used for content categories. Give your category a title and fill in the rest of the information required.
The categories you enter here will not be a part of the content categories, they only apply to your downloads.
Save each category you create.

Step 5. Add the files to your download archive

Click the Files tab, then the New button to start adding files.

Name - the name of your download
Alias - will be automatically created from the title unless you fill in a custom alias.
Upload the File - Browse your local computer to find the file and add it here.
Category - The categories you entered will be in this drop down box. Choose the correct one.
Description 1 - Appears in the short description in a list of downloads and above the email field on the page (sample below)
Description 2 - Appears below the email field on the page (sample below)
Require email - Check to require an email address before you allow the download
Require agreement - If you require a software agreement check this box and you will see required box on the page.
Download text - The text that appears on the download button
Download color - the color of the download button
Documentation link - Link to help documentation. You can use an internal link or if it's an external page use http:// when you create it.
Demo link - link to a working demo if applicable. Can be internal or external link.
Support link - link to help desk or forum
Published - Yes or No

Sample: The download list

If you make link to the list type menu, Description 1 shows up as the introduction. Description 2 and all the rest of your information will be available from the Read more link.

Sample: the download page

Here is what the page will look like on your site. If you leave Documentation, Demo and Support Links blank, you will not have the buttons at the top that you see here. This shows you what is included in a full display when you check all the boxes and fill in all the link fields.

Step 6. Create a link to the download page by creating a menu item.

Go to Menus > Main Menu > Add New Menu Item
You don't need to put it on the main menu. You could create a menu just for downloads or place it on any other menu you've created. The process will be the same.

Click Select to choose a Menu Item Type

You now have a new menu item type under OS Downloads. You can create a link to a list of all downloads or to a single download file.
Download list will be menu link to a page to every download available in a single category.
Download file will be a menu link to a single downloadable item.
For this tutorial we're going to choose a single file. The process is the same for a list view of the downloads. You might want to create a menu item for All Downloads and then have the individual files as sub menu items. The process is identical to creating categories and articles, except in this case, the articles are a unique type for downloads.

You'll be returned to the menu manager, at the right you will see the download options. Choose the correct file from the drop down menu. (Or correct category if you are creating a download list) Finish filling in any other fields you want and save your work.

At this point you will have added a menu item to your menu, that is linked to the page for downloading the file.

Step 7. Check to see who downloaded

Go to Components > OSDownload > Email from the main menu and you will see the list of emails from visitors that have downloaded your files under the Emails tab.

Step 8. Add these to your email list in MailChimp

Return to the Files tab and click on the Options button.
 Choose the MailChimp tag and select Yes for Connect to mailchimp.Enter the MailChimp information required
Click Save or Save and Close at the upper right hand corner of the screen.

Step 9. Adjust the labels and language

You can change the labels on the the buttons, the link to the terms, and other language specific to this component by going to the Languages tab when you are in the dashboard for OS Downloads.

Step 10. Create a Thank You page

Click the options button at the top of the File or Category tab.













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There is nothing more frustrating than working on a Joomla entry a little too long and then trying to save and get the login screen ( OK, I guess there are worse things, but this one ranks pretty high).
You can make the frustration go away by going to Site > Global Configuration and increasing the session time. You can also solve the problem with the installation of a simple plugin called Admin Forever. With this plugin, once you log in you'll stay logged in - until you log out, that is.

Step 1. Download the Admin Forever plugin and install it


Step 2. Activate the plugin



That's it!



Once you've downloaded it, go to Extensions > Extensions Manager, Browse for the file you downloaded, click Upload & InstallGo to Extensions > Plugin Manager.Find System - Admin Forever and make sure it's enabled.

You can click logout or just close your browser to actually logout.
No configuration, no more work and no more premature log outs.
Sometimes things are just simple.

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This tutorial will show you how to create a contact form in Joomla 1.6 / 1.7. We'll use the default Contacts components so no extra extensions are needed.

Step 1: Create the Contact Form





Step 2: Modify the Options



Step 3: Create the Menu Link








Go to Components > Contacts.
Click New.
Enter your name in the Name field.
Click the Contact Details tab on the right and enter the information for the contact form. The one absolutely required field is Email - this is where submissions from the form will be sent.
Click Save & Close when you've finished.


Click Options.
In order to improve the display of the contact form, choose Plain under the Display format field. Click Save & Close.
To allow people to see your contact form, go to Menus and add a link to the menu you'd like to use.
Click Select next to Menu Item Type.
Click on Single Contact.
Click Change Contact on the right-hand side.
Click the name of the contact form you just created.
Enter a Menu Title for people to click on.
Click Save & Close and you'll be able to visit the front of your site and your new contact form:

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