1.What is Joomla?
2.How do I install Joomla! 1.5?
3.What are the requirements to run Joomla! 1.5?
4.Why does Joomla! 1.5 use utf-8 encoding?
5.Can Joomla! 1.5 operate with PHP Safe Mode On?
6.My MySQL database does not support UTF-8. Do I have a problem?
7.What languages are supported by Joomla! 1.5?
8.I installed with my own language, but the Back-end is still in English?
9.How do I localise Joomla! to my language?
10.How do I install language packs?
11.How do I select languages?

What is Joomla?
Joomla! is an open source content management system (CMS) application that allows designers and developers to build powerful online applications. There are many other types of CMS platforms but we chose Joomla! because of it's ease of use for our clients. We like building applications that are easy for our clients to use.


How do I install Joomla! 1.5?
Installing of Joomla! 1.5 is pretty easy. We assume you have set-up your Web site, and it is accessible with your browser.

Download Joomla! 1.5, unzip it and upload/copy the files into the directory you Web site points to, fire up your browser and enter your Web site address and the installation will start.
For full details on the installation processes check out the Installation Manual on the Joomla! Help Site where you will also find download instructions for a PDF version too.


What are the requirements to run Joomla! 1.5?
Joomla! runs on the PHP pre-processor. PHP comes in many flavours, for a lot of operating systems. Beside PHP you will need a Web server. Joomla! is optimized for the Apache Web server, but it can run on different Web servers like Microsoft IIS it just requires additional configuration of PHP and MySQL. Joomla! also depends on a database, for this currently you can only use MySQL.

Many people know from their own experience that it's not easy to install an Apache Web server and it gets harder if you want to add MySQL, PHP and Perl. XAMPP, WAMP, and MAMP are easy to install distributions containing Apache, MySQL, PHP and Perl for the Windows, Mac OSX and Linux operating systems. These packages are for localhost installations on non-public servers only.
The minimum version requirements are:

• Apache 1.x or 2.x
• PHP 4.3 or up
• MySQL 3.23 or up

Why does Joomla! 1.5 use utf-8 encoding?
Well... how about never needing to mess with encoding settings again?

Ever needed to display several languages on one page or site and something always came up in Giberish?

With utf-8 (a variant of Unicode) glyphs (character forms) of basically all languages can be displayed with one single encoding setting.


Can Joomla! 1.5 operate with PHP Safe Mode On?
Yes it can! This is a significant security improvement.
The safe mode limits PHP to be able to perform actions only on files/folders who's owner is the same as PHP is currently using (this is usually 'apache'). As files normally are created either by the Joomla! application or by FTP access, the combination of PHP file actions and the FTP Layer allows Joomla! to operate in PHP Safe Mode.


My MySQL database does not support UTF-8. Do I have a problem?
No you don't. Versions of MySQL lower than 4.1 do not have built in UTF-8 support. However, Joomla! 1.5 has made provisions for backward compatibility and is able to use UTF-8 on older databases. Let the installer take care of all the settings and there is no need to make any changes to the database (charset, collation, or any other).


What languages are supported by Joomla! 1.5?
Within the Installer you will find a wide collection of languages. The installer currently supports the following languages: Arabic, Bulgarian, Bengali, Czech, Danish, German, Greek, English, Spanish, Finnish, French, Hebrew, Devanagari(India), Croatian(Croatia), Magyar (Hungary), Italian, Malay, Norwegian bokmal, Dutch, Portuguese(Brasil), Portugues(Portugal), Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Svenska, Thai and more are being added all the time.
By default the English language is installed for the Back and Front-ends. You can download additional language files from the Joomla!Extensions Directory.


I installed with my own language, but the Back-end is still in English?
A lot of different languages are available for the Back-end, but by default this language may not be installed. If you want a translated Back-end, get your language pack and install it using the Extension Installer. After this, go to the Extensions Menu, select Language Manager and make your language the default one. Your Back-end will be translated immediately.
Users who have access rights to the Back-end may choose the language they prefer in their Personal Details parameters. This is of also true for the Front-end language.
A good place to find where to download your languages and localised versions of Joomla! is Translations for Joomla! on JED.


How do I localise Joomla! to my language?
In Joomla! 1.5 all User interfaces can be localised. This includes the installation, the Back-end Control Panel and the Front-end Site.
The core release of Joomla! 1.5 is shipped with multiple language choices in the installation but, other than English (the default), languages for the Site and Administration interfaces need to be added after installation. Links to such language packs exist below.
Translation Teams for Joomla! 1.5 may have also released fully localised installation packages where site, administrator and sample data are in the local language. These localised releases can be found in the specific team projects on the Joomla! Extensions Directory.


How do I install language packs?

• First download both the admin and the site language packs that you require.
• Install each pack separately using the Extensions->Install/Uninstall Menu selection and then the package file upload facility.
• Go to the Language Manager and be sure to select Site or Admin in the sub-menu. Then select the appropriate language and make it the default one using the Toolbar button.

How do I select languages?

• Default languages can be independently set for Site and for Administrator
• In addition, users can define their preferred language for each Site and Administrator. This takes affect after logging in.
• While logging in to the Administrator Back-end, a language can also be selected for the particular session.