Categories: CMS & E-CommerceWeb DevelopmentTutorials

Adding a Random Background Image to your Joomla! Template

2 min read

(Read more interesting articles on Joomla! 1.5 here.)

Adding a random background image to your Joomla! template

In distinguishing your Joomla! template from others, there are a number of extensions for Joomla! to help you, including one that allows you to display a random image as your template’s background image for the <body> element.

Getting ready

You need to install the extension called Random Background. You can find the file’s download link on the Joomla! website at http://extensions.Joomla.org/extensions/style-a-design/templating/6054. Once you have saved the extension files somewhere on your computer, log in to your website’s Joomla! administration panel (if Joomla! is installed at example.com, the administration panel is typically accessible at example.com/administrator), and select the Install/Uninstall option from the Extensions option in the primary navigation:

You will then be presented with a form, from where you can upload the extension’s .zip file. Select the file from your computer, and then click on the Upload file & install button:

Once complete, you should receive a confirmation message:

Setting relevant permissions for installing the module

If you have problems installing the module, you may receive an error message like the following one:

The error is most likely because two directories on your server do not have sufficient permissions:

/tmp
/modules

Use Joomla!’s FTP layer to manage the necessary file permissions for you. You can edit Joomla!’s configuration file, which is called configuration.php, in the root of your Joomla! website. Simply add these variables into the file if they don’t exist already:

var $ftp_host = ''; // your FTP host, e.g. ftp.example.com or
                         just example.com, depending on your host
var $ftp_port = ''; // usually 21
var $ftp_user = ''; // your FTP username
var $ftp_pass = ''; // your FTP password
var $ftp_root = ''; // usually / or the directory of your 
                          Joomla! install
var $ftp_enable = '1'; // 1 = enabled

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