I haven't blogged about it but there's a really good official resource available over @ http://help.joomla.org - an official User Manual for Joomla 

After leafing through Compass Designs' recently released 'Joomla Admin Manual ' I got thinking - why is there a need for a third party general useage manual for Joomla?  Well, after comparing the two just now, I doubt there is any reason and would rather see more in-depth guides to building particular types of sites etc.

The official manual which was released for Joomla 1.0.11 will hold its own until J!1.5 is released and offers a wealth of information for both Joomla! newbies as well as developers wishing to give their clients something to fall back on for site support as well as further information.  Its about 60 pages longer than Compass' $27 book and is free under the Creative Commons Share Alike 2.5 license .

Content-wise, the two manuals are similar - though the official one has some useful details - including an explanation of icons found throughout the front and back end of a Joomla site, and features a glossary plus sitemap of the Joomla back-end.  Compass' eBook on the other hand has some tidbits on SEO and introduces a few 3rd party extensions that could really assist newbies. 

It was announced today that the official documentation teams are switching up a bit - with Chris Davenport taking over assisted by Ian MacLennan and Andy Wallace; expect some killer doc support for 1.5 when its released....

In short - read the 1.0.11 manual and if you've got an extra few bucks and hankering to learn more - download Compass' 'Joomla Admin Manual' as well. 

Comments (1) >>

User Manual
written by Steve White, October 12, 2007

You can also get the official manual at www.joomlausermanual.com I have had well over 15,000 downloads. I am starting to write a Joomla! Web Sites Made Easy book too.

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