Chapter 16: Using the Web Links Component 345 After you have set the parameters you desire, click the Save button at the top right to save your changes or click Cancel to close the parameters window without saving the changes. Managing Links and Categories Categories are created by the administrator for the purpose of grouping Web Links. In Joomla!, every Web Link must be assigned to a category. The Web Link categories are managed by way of the Web Links Category Manager, shown in Figure 16.2. Note Before you can add your first Web Link you must have at least one category in the system. To view the categories available in your system, click on the Categories link at the top of the Web Links Manager. The toolbar at the top of the Web Links Category Manager provides quick access to the following functions: l Publish: Select one or more categories from the list and then click this icon to publish them. l Unpublish: Select one or more categories from the list and then click this icon to unpub- lish them. l Delete: Select one or more categories from the list and then click this icon to delete the category(s). l Edit: Select a category from the list then click this icon to edit the category’s details. l New: Click to create a new category. l Help: Click to access the online Help files related to the active screen. Two text links are below the toolbar. The Links link shows you the Web Links Manager, discussed earlier in the chapter. The Categories link displays the Web Link Category Manager. Below the two text links and above the list of categories are two sorting and searching tools to help you manage long lists of categories: l The Filter field on the left works like a search box. Type a word or phrase into the field and then click Go. The page reloads and displays the results of the search. To clear the screen and return to a full listing, click the Reset button. l The Select State filter on the far right allows you to filter and display the categories according to whether they are published or unpublished. This provides an easy way to identify all categories that are currently active on the site. To reset this filter, change the combo box back to the default setting. Part III: Working with Components, Modules, and Plugins 346 FIGURE 16.2 The Web Links Category Manager. The main content area of the screen contains a list of all the Web Link Categories. The columns provided are: l #: This field is an indexing number set automatically by Joomla! You cannot alter this field. l Checkbox (no label): Click in a checkbox to select a category; this is needed if you want to use several of the toolbar options, referenced earlier. l Title: This field displays the full name of the category. Click on the name to edit the cate- gory’s details. l Published: A green checkmark in this column indicates that the category is published. The field shows a red X if the category is not published. Administrators can toggle between the two settings by clicking on the icon shown. l Order: The numbers in this field affect the ordering of the categories on this list. Change the numbers and click the Save icon at the top of the column to reorder the categories. Chapter 16: Using the Web Links Component 347 l Access Level: Indicates the Access Levels assigned to the category. You can toggle between the options Public, Registered, and Special by clicking on the words. l ID: The system-generated user ID number. Finally, at the bottom of the screen, below the content area, is the Display # option. Change the value in the combo box control to alter the number of categories that are displayed on the page. The default value can be altered by changing the List Length option on the Global Configuration Manager. Creating a new category Before you can add Web Links to your system, you must create at least one category. Categories are created from within the Web Link Category Manager, by clicking on the New icon on the tool- bar. Category data is entered into the New Web Link Category dialogue, shown in Figure 16.3 FIGURE 16.3 The New Web Link Category dialogue. Part III: Working with Components, Modules, and Plugins 348 The toolbar at the top of the New Web Link Category dialogue provides quick access to the follow- ing functions: l Save: Click this icon to save your work, create a new category, and exit the New Web Link Category dialogue. l Apply: Click to save your work and create a new category without exiting from the New Web Link Category dialogue. This option lets you save without exiting the screen and it useful in case you are interrupted or you otherwise want to save yet keep working on this screen. l Cancel: Cancels the task and exits the New Web Link Category dialogue. l Help: Displays the Help files related to the active screen. The workspace in this dialogue is broken down into two sections, Details and Description. The Details section contains the following fields: l Title: Type into this field a title for the Web Link category. This field is the only required field. l Alias: The alias is an internal label for the category. The alias is also used in the creation of a search engine friendly path for the category. This field only accepts lowercase letters, with no spaces. Note that if you leave this blank, the system will automatically use the value you entered into the Title field. l Published: Click Yes to publish the item. No icons on this screen, only yes/no radio buttons. l Section: This field is not applicable to the Web Link category, and as a result the system displays only n/a. l Category Order: This field cannot be controlled when a new category is created. New cat- egories always default to last on the list. The order can be changed from the Web Link Category Manager or by editing the category. l Access Level: Sets the access level restrictions for the category and its contents. The options Registered, Public, or Special appear in this column. You can click on the name to toggle the level. If no value is chosen, the system defaults to Public. l Image: Provides the option to display a small image next to the category name on pages listing the categories. This is optional. The Image Position control is related to this option. Note that the image you want to select must be located in the folder images/stories. l Image Position: Controls placement of the image relative to the category name. The choices are limited to left or right. Left is selected by default. Note that this control is only applicable if an image is selected from the Image control. Chapter 16: Using the Web Links Component 349 The Description field at the bottom of the screen provides you a place to add a description of the category. The description will appear on pages where the Web Links from a specific category are listed. The text box allows you to use images and formatting for the description. The Image button at the bottom of the Description field gives you easy access to controls for inserting an image into the description. To create a new category, follow these steps: 1. Log in to the admin system on your site. 2. Access the Web Links Category Manager. Go to the Components menu and select the Categories option from the submenu under the heading Web Links. The Web Links Category Manager loads in your browser. 3. Click the New icon on the toolbar at the top of the Web Links Category Manager. The New Web Links Category Dialogue opens. Refer to Figure 16.3. 4. In the Title field, type a name for this category. This field is the only required field. 5. Add additional information or optional settings as you see fit. 6. Click the Save icon on the toolbar at the top right to save your new Web Link cate- gory. The dialogue closes and returns you to the Web Link Category Manager. Editing and deleting categories Existing Web Link categories can be edited from the Web Link Category Manager. To edit a cate- gory, do either of the following: l Click on the category name in the Web Link Category Manager. l Select the category on the list and then click the Edit icon on the Web Link Category Manager toolbar. Regardless of which method you use, the system opens the Edit Category dialogue. The Edit Category dialogue is identical to the New Category dialogue, with the same fields and requirements as discussed in the preceding section. To make changes to a category, simply alter the desired fields in the Edit Category dialogue and then click the Save or Apply icon on the toolbar. Any changes you have made are applied immediately. Part III: Working with Components, Modules, and Plugins 350 To delete one or more categories, follow these steps: 1. Open the Web Link Category Manager. 2. Select one or more categories. 3. Click the Delete icon. Caution Deleting a Web Link Category is permanent and cannot be undone. Moreover, there is no confirmation dia- logue — clicking the Delete icon immediately deletes the category! Note, however, that a Category cannot be deleted if Web Links are assigned to that category. If you want to delete the category, you need to first delete or reassign any Web Links assigned to that category. Adding a new link To add a new Web Link to your site, visit the Web Link Manager and click on the New icon on the toolbar. The New Web Link dialogue opens in your browser, as shown in Figure 16.4. The toolbar at the top of the New Web Link dialogue provides quick access to the following functions: l Save: Click this icon to save your work, add a new Web Link, and exit the New Web Link dialogue. l Cancel: Cancels the task and exits the New Web Link dialogue. l Help: Displays the Help files related to the active screen. The workspace is divided into three areas: Details, Parameters, and Description. The Details section of the workspace contains the following fields: l Name: Use this field to give a name to your Web Link. This field is required. l Alias: The alias field is an internal identifier for your Web Link. This is used in some cases to create search engine friendly URLs for the item. You can specify the contents of this field if you want, but note that it only takes lowercase letters with no spaces. If you do not specify the contents of this field the system will automatically create the alias based on the item’s name. l Published: Select Yes to publish the Web Link. The default state is Yes. l Category: Assign the Web Link to a category using the combo box. This field is required. l URL: Enter into this field the URL for the source of the Web Link. This field is required field. Note that this should normally begin with http://. l Order: This control is not available for a new Web Link. New items are placed by default in the last position on the list. After you add your Web Link, you can adjust the list posi- tion from either the Web Link Manager or by editing the Web Link item. Chapter 16: Using the Web Links Component 351 The Parameters section offers only one choice, the Target option. The option provides you with the ability to override the Global Target parameter set from the Web Links Manager’s Parameter con- trols. The default option is Use Global settings. Optional settings include Parent window with Browser Navigation, New window with Browser Navigation, New window without Browser Navigation. Setting this option controls the browser behavior when the user clicks on a Web Link. The Description field allows you to enter a brief text description that appears underneath the Web Link for your site visitors. To add a new Web Link, follow these steps: 1. Log in to the admin system on your site. 2. Access the Web Link Manager. To do so, go to the Components menu and select the Web Links option. The Web Link Manager loads in your browser. 3. Click the New icon on the toolbar at the top of the Web Links Manager. The New Web Link Dialogue opens. See to Figure 16.4. FIGURE 16.4 The New Web Link dialogue. Part III: Working with Components, Modules, and Plugins 352 4. In the Name field, type a name for the link. This is a required field. 5. Select a category for the link from the Category combo box. This field is required. 6. Type the address for the link source in URL field. Normally this begins with http://. This field is required. 7. Select any additional options you want; all other fields are optional. 8. Click the Save icon on the toolbar at the top right to save your new Web Link. The dialogue closes and returns you to the Web Links Manager. Editing and deleting Web Links Existing Web Links can be edited from the Web Link Manager. To edit a Web Link, either click the Web Link name in the Web Link Manager or select the Web Link and then click the Edit icon on the Web Link Manager toolbar. Regardless of which method you use, the system opens the Edit Web Link dialogue. The Edit Web Link dialogue is identical to the New Web Link dialogue, with the same fields and requirements as discussed in the preceding section. To make changes to a Web Link, simply alter the desired fields in the Edit Web Link dialogue and then click the Save or Apply icon on the toolbar. Any changes you make are applied immediately. To delete one or more Web Links, follow these steps: 1. Open the Web Link Manager. 2. Select one or more Web Links. 3. Click the Delete icon. Caution Deleting a Web link is permanent and cannot be undone. Moreover, there is no confirmation dialogue — clicking the Delete icon immediately deletes the Web Link as well as any cached content of the feed. After you bring Web Links into your system with the Web Link Manager, the question becomes how to display the Web Links on your site. Adding links to the Manager does not automatically translate into displaying links on your site. By linking a menu item to the Web Link Component, you can display links or categories of links as content items on your site. For a discussion of various layout options that are available to display Web Links content on the pages on your site, see Chapter 8. Displaying Web Links on your site Chapter 16: Using the Web Links Component 353 Summary In this chapter, we cover the use of the Web Links component. You found out about the following: l How to configure the Web Links component l How to create, edit, and delete Web Links l How to create, edit, and delete Web Links categories The Web Links component is not ideal for the creation of links pages intended for the purpose of build- ing reciprocal link exchanges. The tracking function that enables the hit count “hides” the actual URL from the search engine spiders. Unfortunately, this function cannot be disabled and as a result, links added to the Web Links component are not indexed by search engines. To you as an Administrator this is typically only an issue in cases where you are trying to build a recip- rocal link exchange. Link exchange partners are unlikely to grant a link exchange in this situation because it means that they cannot gain a search engine benefit from your link to their site. To address this situation you need to either bypass the Web Links component entirely and build your links page as a content item —a page— or look at a third-party extension to use for links management. The Web Links component and SEO . your new Web Link. The dialogue closes and returns you to the Web Links Manager. Editing and deleting Web Links Existing Web Links can be edited from the Web Link Manager. To edit a Web Link,. of grouping Web Links. In Joomla! , every Web Link must be assigned to a category. The Web Link categories are managed by way of the Web Links Category Manager, shown in Figure 16 .2. Note Before. tool- bar. Category data is entered into the New Web Link Category dialogue, shown in Figure 16 .3 FIGURE 16 .3 The New Web Link Category dialogue. Part III: Working with Components, Modules, and