Editing Joomla 1.5 - Fast start

Editing Content

Wait for the editor to fully load before beginning to edit. Look at the status bar in your browser to see the download progress of the web page.  Once it has loaded fully once, it should be much faster in subsequent edits.

In recent years Microsoft browsers have not had the status bar turned on by default, so if you cant see it go to View > Status Bar (in IE7) to turn it on/off.

Before actually editing, its sometimes good to have a backup handy - in case things go wrong.

Backup

It's nice to know that if you make a mistake, the article can be restored. The easiest way to do this is to copy the source code (html) to a text file, before you begin making changes. Make this a habit.

Click the "Code" button - it should look something like this: <>

A pop-up window will appear with html code in it.

Select all (CTRL + A)

Copy (CTRL + C)

The html code of that article is now in your clipboard.

Paste (CTRL + V) this code somewhere temporary - a notepad document is best. To open a notepad document - right click on an empty spot anywhere on your desktop. From the menu that appears, select: New > Text Document. Open the untitled document and paste the html code into it. Maybe save it somewhere if you think you might like to keep it for more than a few minutes.

How to restore a backup

Copy all the html code (CTRL + A, then CTRL + C) that was in the text file you created. Paste the code into the Code editor window (after clearing out anything that was already in there). Click "Update" in the code window, and "Apply".

Main Editing Window

Here are the main buttons that you use when entering content.

To find out what each one does, hover your mouse curser over a button, and note the pop-up tool tip.

You must refresh (or save) the page within 15 minutes, or you will time-out and will be logged out (thus you will be unable to save your work & may lose it). This can be inconvenient. If you lose track of time on an edit, and you suspect it may be 15 minutes or more since your last save, then do a quick CTRL + A then CTRL + C to copy the entire contents of your editing window (don't use the Code window).

This way, if you are logged out, then at least you have your work saved in your clipboard. Just log back in, open the article, and paste into the editing window - CTRL + A, then CTRL + V.

To Save or Apply?

When you "Apply" your edits are saved, but the screen does not exit the editing window - so you can continue editing.

"Save" will save your edits, but the editing screen will close & will be redirected back to the Article Manager. Use this when you really have completed editing an article.

Never use your Browser's Back and Forward buttons while editing.

Always use the Save, Apply and Close buttons - top right.

If you close your browser - or navigate away from the editing page - while editing an article, then the system will still think that you are editing it, and to all other users the article will appear locked. In the article manager you will see a little padlock icon next to the article. The article is "Checket Out". To check in all articles, go to: Tools > Global Check-in