We held the Joomlashack Conference over 3 days in mid-November.
This was a free conference featuring over 20 of the best speakers from around the Joomla world.
I was amazed at how good the presentations were. We're currently editing all the videos and posting them to the Joomlashack YouTube channel.
This presentation on custom fields was by Carlos Cámara, a Joomla expert from Spain. Custom fields are a powerful feature which allows you to create amazing things with Joomla.
Video of Carlos' Session
Why use Custom Fields in Joomla?
Carlos starts the main presentation after 4 minutes. He gives reasons why you should use custom fields:
- Fields have been available in the core since Joomla 3.7.
- Easy to add more functionality. There are tons of extensions that provide extra custom fields.
- Custom fields mean that you don't need to install large CCK extensions any more.
This tutorial is a getting started guide for fields.
Getting Started with Custom Fields in Joomla
There are 4 core components with custom fields support:
- Users
- Contact
- Content Articles
- Weblinks (no longer installed by default)
So it is possible to use custom fields instead of CCK extensions. However, you can also use fields to replace user extensions such as Community Builder.
From the 6.30 to 13.00 mark, Carlos shows how to build user profiles with custom fields. Then, starting at 13.00, Carlos also shows how to expand Joomla's contact forms with custom fields. This tutorial shows more on using custom fields with Joomla's contact forms.
Build a Podcast Site with Joomla
The meat of the presentation starts at 18.30 when Carlos shows you how to build a podcasting site with Joomla. There are four things you will need:
- A Joomla site.
- An iFrame or URL field.
- A Podcast hosting URL.
- Good podcast content.
Carlos also recommends several very useful extensions:
- EasyLayouts allows you to create content layouts using a simple drag-and-drop interface. EasyLayouts is a page-builder that allows you to get the very best out of custom fields.
- Advanced Custom Fields, which adds advanced custom fields such as file uploads, WhatsApp, iframes, Google Maps, Vimeo videos, YouTube videos, progress bars, and more
- hotoMeta uses custom fields to store Open Graph metadata.
- JL Content Fields Filter enables you to filter Joomla articles on custom fields.
Carlos finishes at the 40.00 mark of the video and takes audience questions.
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