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Joomla 1.7 Tutorial – How to Show Modules on Frontpage instead of Featured Articles

Joomla 1.7 Tutorial – How to Show Only Modules On the frontpage of Joomla 1.7.

The default installation of Joomla 1.7 displays featured articles in the “mainbody” section of the frontpage.  These articles are managed by the ‘featured articles’ Manager in the Article/Content Manager.   But what if you only want to show modules in the “mainbody” Frontpage and not show any articles.   There must be an easy way to do this.  So I went searching for an answer.

  • How to only show modules on the Frontpage and not featured articles?

Problem:

Joomla 1.7 Free Extension - M2C Module To Component
Joomla 1.7 Free Extension - M2C Module To Component

Joomla 1.7 allows you to create Menu Items in the Menu Manager from Components that are installed on your website.  You can then select any of these menu items to display as the default “HOME” menu item when users visit your site.  The only problem is that Joomla 1.7 allows you to select only Components and not Modules as menu items.

  • Joomla 1.7 allows you to add Components as Menu Items and not Modules

Solution:

I found a component that will convert Modules to Components so you can display them in the “mainbody” of your Joomla 1.7 website.   This extension is FREE and can be found in the Joomla Extensions Directory (JED) called “M2C – Module to Component” Extension.

  • Download free extension from JED – http://Extensions.joomla.org
  • Component name = M2C – Module to Component

Steps to Install and Use:

Overview:
  • Download and Install M2C
  • Publish and Assign Modules to a Module Position in the Module Manager
  • Create a new M2C Menu Item in the Menu Manager to only show the Module Position Selected Above
  • Assign new Menu item as “Home”
For my steps below, I will use the following scenario:
  • I want to display the – Latest News Module, Who’s Online Module, and Random Image Module in the ‘Mainbody”
  • I will create a new module position called ‘cmsmind-1’
  • My new component menu item name will be ‘Cmsmind Show Modules on Frontpage’

Detail Steps to Show Modules on the Frontpage 

1.  Download and Install M2C

  • Joomla 1.7 Successfully Installed M2C in Extensions Manager
    Joomla 1.7 Successfully Installed M2C in Extensions Manager

    Go to the Joomla Extensions directory and search for M2C – Module to Component

  • It says that the component is only compatible up to Joomla 1.6, but it works perfectly for Joomla 1.7.
  • Download the component and do NOT unzip it
  • Login to your Joomla 1.7 administrator backend
  • Click on ‘Extensions’, ‘Extension Manager’
  • Under ‘Install’, ‘Upload Package File’, select the file you downloaded
  • Click on ‘Upload and Install’
  • Afterwards you will get a successful installation message

2.   Publish and Assign Modules to a Module Position in the Module Manager

Joomla 1.7 Create New Latest News Module Assign to cmsmind-1
Joomla 1.7 Create New Latest News Module Assign to cmsmind-1

Here I want to create new modules – Latest News, Who’s Online, Random Image and assign it to a new module position = cmsmind-1.

  • Click on ‘Extensions’, ‘Module Manager’, New, Select ‘Latest News
  • Under Module Manager: Module Latest News, Details, enter in the following info:
      • Title = Cmsmind Latest News Module
      • Show Title = Yes
      • Position = cmsmind-1
      • Status = Published
      • Access = Public
  • Click on ‘Save & Close’
  • Joomla 1.7 Create New Who's Online Module Assign to cmsmind-1
    Joomla 1.7 Create New Who's Online Module Assign to cmsmind-1

    Click on ‘Extensions’, ‘Module Manager’, New, Select ‘Who’s Online

  • Under Module Manager: Module Who’s Online, Details, enter in the following info:
      • Title = Cmsmind Who’s Online Module
      • Show Title = Yes
      • Position = cmsmind-1
      • Status = Published
      • Access = Public
  • Click on ‘Save & Close’
  • Click on ‘Extensions’, ‘Module Manager’, New, Select ‘Random Image
  • Joomla 1.7 New Random Image Module Assign to cmsmind-1
    Joomla 1.7 New Random Image Module Assign to cmsmind-1

    Under Module Manager: Module Random Image, Details, enter in the following info:

      • Title = Cmsmind Random Image Module
      • Show Title = Yes
      • Position = cmsmind-1
      • Status = Published
      • Access = Public
  • Click on ‘Save & Close’

 3.  Create New M2C Menu Item in Menu Manager and show new Module Position

My new component menu item name will be ‘Cmsmind Show Modules on Frontpage’

Joomla 1.7 Select Menu Item Type - Display Module Position
Joomla 1.7 Select Menu Item Type - Display Module Position
  • Click on ‘Menus’, ‘Main Menu’, Add New Menu Item
  • Under Menu Manager New Menu Item, Details, enter in the following values:
      • Menu Item Type, click on Select = ‘Display Module Position
      • Menu Title = Cmsmind Show Modules on Frontpage
      • Status = Published
      • Access = Public
      • Menu Location = Main Menu
      • Module Position to Load = cmsmind-1
  • Click  on ‘Save & Close’
So basically, all the modules that you assign to position = cmsmind-1 in the Module Manager will display in this mainbody section of the frontpage.  You can assign as many or few as you want.
Joomla 1.7 New Menu Item to Display Modules on Frontpage
Joomla 1.7 New Menu Item to Display Modules on Frontpage

4.  Assign new Menu item as “Home”

Assign the new menu item as the default Home page when people visit your site.
  • Click on ‘Menus’, ‘Main Menu’, filter for CmsMind
  • Use checkbox to select the Menu item = Cmsmind Show Modules on Frontpage
  • Click on the ‘Home‘ button on the top left
  • Then you will see a orange star beside the Menu Item, which means it’s the new default Home page now.
Joomla 1.7 Select Menu Item as Default Home Page- See orange star Beside it
Joomla 1.7 Select Menu Item as Default Home Page- See orange star Beside it

Now you can refresh your Joomla 1.7 website and see all the modules that you assigned to the frontpage.  If you want to manage these modules, you can either choose to remove or add modules by removing the assignment or assigning them from the module position = cmsmind-1 in your Module Manager.

Thanks,

Elaine

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