Installing the latest version of Joomla! is probably something that you have done a few times before you got your hands on this book. Basically, you just follow the steps presented by the installer and then delete the installation directory on the server. You can now log in to your web site's administration and configuration panel.
Tip
Create a new "Super Administrator" user or at least rename the standard installation user to something other than "Admin". Use your imagination to make sure it is not simple to hack your site.
Log in with the new username and delete the standard one, which is there by default. Change the name of that user (not the login name) to something different to the username. Check if you can set all the SEO options in the Global Configuration and rename your htaccess.txt to .htaccess, so it works in the standard mode.
The JoomlAtWork.com's SEF patch is very easy to install. The free version (make sure you get the right version) is installed by uploading the files using FTP and overwriting the standard Joomla! files. If you buy the full version, it installs like a component, but you will need to change some permissions on a few files.
The component will show you which files need higher permissions to install the full component. The sh404SEF component is installed like a standard Joomla! component. You will need to tweak the .htaccess file a little, to enable support for a third-party component.
Set the configuration to reflect the choices that you made in Chapter 6. Also make sure you have the advanced options active.
During the process of setting up and creating a base for the landscape gardening site I had gone through three different templates. I started with the default Beez template, as shown in the following screenshot:
Then I switched to JA Purity, and I also tried Bolt from Alledia.
None of them offered the appearance I wanted for this web site. Fortunately, I discovered a new template called Inspirion, that was recently released by Joomlashack. This template was optimized for SEO, had the color schemes I wanted, and was affordable. So I bought it, installed, and started setting up all the modules to reflect the layout I was looking for. I ran into some issues, but the forum helped out there. The main problem I found was that the active menu tabs in the main menu did not follow once you clicked on one. After I set the module's Caching option under Advanced Parameters to No Caching, it worked correctly, setting all the layout options on the fly.
