Presentation on how to use Joomla! menus, including advanced tricks like using the Itemid for troubleshooting, hidden menus, splitmenu and some useful Yireo extensions.

1. Joomla! Menu-Items
Presentation “Joomla! Menu-Items” - http://slideshare.net/yireo
Jisse Reitsma (jisse@yireo.com) - Twitter @yireo

2. My name is Jisse Reitsma
Joomla! enthousiast
PHP programmer
Lead developer of Yireo
Joomla! templates-book (NL)
Presentation “Joomla! Menu-Items” - http://slideshare.net/yireo
Jisse Reitsma (jisse@yireo.com) - Twitter @yireo

3. My presentation
Part I - Menu basics
Part II - Some practical tips
Part III - Your friend “Itemid”
Presentation “Joomla! Menu-Items” - http://slideshare.net/yireo
Jisse Reitsma (jisse@yireo.com) - Twitter @yireo

4. Part I
Menu basics
Presentation “Joomla! Menu-Items” - http://slideshare.net/yireo
Jisse Reitsma (jisse@yireo.com) - Twitter @yireo

5. Definition of “Menu-Item”
A link to another page (either internal Joomla! page, or external
webpage), where the configurable settings tell something
about both the link itself as the destination page
Presentation “Joomla! Menu-Items” - http://slideshare.net/yireo
Jisse Reitsma (jisse@yireo.com) - Twitter @yireo

6. Logic of menus
A page is a component
A Menu-Item refers to a page, therefor a component
A Menu-Item is part of a menu
A menu can be shown throw a menu-module (mod_menu)
Presentation “Joomla! Menu-Items” - http://slideshare.net/yireo
Jisse Reitsma (jisse@yireo.com) - Twitter @yireo

7. Components & modules
Component
Core feature of a page
Examples: Forum, article, blog, category listing, contact-form
Module
Additional features of a page
Examples: Menu, breadcrumbs, search-box, latest blog, banner
Presentation “Joomla! Menu-Items” - http://slideshare.net/yireo
Jisse Reitsma (jisse@yireo.com) - Twitter @yireo

8. Example
Presentation “Joomla! Menu-Items” - http://slideshare.net/yireo
Jisse Reitsma (jisse@yireo.com) - Twitter @yireo

9. Example
Component
Presentation “Joomla! Menu-Items” - http://slideshare.net/yireo
Jisse Reitsma (jisse@yireo.com) - Twitter @yireo

10. Example
Modules
Presentation “Joomla! Menu-Items” - http://slideshare.net/yireo
Jisse Reitsma (jisse@yireo.com) - Twitter @yireo

11. Part II
Some practical tips
Presentation “Joomla! Menu-Items” - http://slideshare.net/yireo
Jisse Reitsma (jisse@yireo.com) - Twitter @yireo

12. Splitmenu
Splitmenu
1 Menu (for example “Site Menu”)
2 or more Menu-modules
Configuration Menu-module “Top Menu”
Menu “Site Menu”
Start Level = 1; End Level = 1
Configuration Menu-module “Sub Menu”
Menu “Site Menu”
Start Level = 2; End Level = 99
Presentation “Joomla! Menu-Items” - http://slideshare.net/yireo
Jisse Reitsma (jisse@yireo.com) - Twitter @yireo

13. System Links
Presentation “Joomla! Menu-Items” - http://slideshare.net/yireo
Jisse Reitsma (jisse@yireo.com) - Twitter @yireo

14. One Menu strategy
1 menu-structure for the entire site
No sitemap needed
Helper-menus with Menu Item Aliases
Tip:
Draw a tree-like picture of your site
If you don't understand it, neither will your visitor
Presentation “Joomla! Menu-Items” - http://slideshare.net/yireo
Jisse Reitsma (jisse@yireo.com) - Twitter @yireo

15. Invisible menus
A menu without a module
Links are still usable, but never displayed on a webpage
Useful for search-pages, contact-page, homepage
Presentation “Joomla! Menu-Items” - http://slideshare.net/yireo
Jisse Reitsma (jisse@yireo.com) - Twitter @yireo

16. Rebuild Menus
Rebuild hierarchy of menus
Possibility of menu-corruption when lft & rgt fields are messed up
Major warning: Possibility that IDs are renumbered
Presentation “Joomla! Menu-Items” - http://slideshare.net/yireo
Jisse Reitsma (jisse@yireo.com) - Twitter @yireo

17. Part III
Your friend “Itemid”
Presentation “Joomla! Menu-Items” - http://slideshare.net/yireo
Jisse Reitsma (jisse@yireo.com) - Twitter @yireo

18. System URLs versus SEF URLs
System URL
index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5&Itemid=34
SEF URL
blog/5-my-example-article
ID 5 is the article ID
ID 34 is the Menu-Item ID of the Menu-Item “Blog”
Presentation “Joomla! Menu-Items” - http://slideshare.net/yireo
Jisse Reitsma (jisse@yireo.com) - Twitter @yireo

19. Yireo extension: seftest
Turn on or off SEF by adding a flag to the URL
blog/5-my-example-article?sef=0
index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5&Itemid=34&sef=1
Only visible for your own browser-session, and NOT for Google Search robots
Tip: Set access-level of plugin to “Special” (Super Users only)
Presentation “Joomla! Menu-Items” - http://slideshare.net/yireo
Jisse Reitsma (jisse@yireo.com) - Twitter @yireo

20. Itemid = Menu-Item ID
Presentation “Joomla! Menu-Items” - http://slideshare.net/yireo
Jisse Reitsma (jisse@yireo.com) - Twitter @yireo

21. Why is the Itemid important?
Settings are assigned to a Menu-Item
Assignment of modules to Menu-Items
Assignment of template styles to Menu-Items
Breadcrumbs
Settings for a specific component-page
Keeping track of the current page
Troubleshooting this, involves knowing about the Itemid
Presentation “Joomla! Menu-Items” - http://slideshare.net/yireo
Jisse Reitsma (jisse@yireo.com) - Twitter @yireo

22. Itemid or not
Identical content but different page
index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5&Itemid=34
index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5
Presentation “Joomla! Menu-Items” - http://slideshare.net/yireo
Jisse Reitsma (jisse@yireo.com) - Twitter @yireo

23. Common problems with Itemids
Menu is not expanded correctly
Missing Itemid causes incorrect relation between Menu-Items
Different template-style is applied
Template assignment is based on the Itemid
Modules are disappearing or reappearing
Module assignment is based on the Itemid
Presentation “Joomla! Menu-Items” - http://slideshare.net/yireo
Jisse Reitsma (jisse@yireo.com) - Twitter @yireo

24. Menu Item Aliases
Original URL
index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5&Itemid=34
Menu Item Alias
index.php?Itemid=34
Presentation “Joomla! Menu-Items” - http://slideshare.net/yireo
Jisse Reitsma (jisse@yireo.com) - Twitter @yireo

25. Yireo extension: Dynamic404
Handle “404 Not Found” errors in a dynamic way
http://yireo.com/dynamic404 = Gives you a 404-error, handled by Joomla!
Redirects to http://www.yireo.com/software/joomla-extensions/dynamic404
Easier for your visitors; A delight for Search Engine Optimization
Presentation “Joomla! Menu-Items” - http://slideshare.net/yireo
Jisse Reitsma (jisse@yireo.com) - Twitter @yireo

26. tweets to @yireo
Presentation “Joomla! Menu-Items” - http://slideshare.net/yireo
Jisse Reitsma (jisse@yireo.com) - Twitter @yireo