Article Options (Joomla 1.5)

Have you ever noticed the icons for PDF, Print in the upper right hand corner of articles? Have you ever noticed the author s name, created & updated time? Does this bug you? It bugs us. We call this "ugly stuff". This article explains how to turn off all the "ugly stuff" that can sometimes appear at the top of articles.

First of all, it's important to note that these elements are actually set on three different levels in the Administration area (the back end) of your site: the global article settings, the menu item settings and the settings for each individual article. When turning these elements off and on, the user will select from Show, Hide, Yes, No, or Use Global. We recommend that you set every parameter in the menu items and articles to Use Global. Either way, the rest of this article explains how to access to settings.

To start, log in to the Administration area (the back end) of your site and open the Article Manager by going to the "Content" tab and then to "Article Manager". Locate the "Parameters" icon in the upper right hand corner of the screen. In Joomla 1.7, this is the "Options" icon.

Once you select the "Parameters" icon, you will see a list of settings. Please note that there is no Use Global setting here - that's because any change you make in this area is a global change. Whatever you set here will be inherited by articles and menu items throughout your entire site.

To change the settings of a menu item, go to Menus > menu_name > menu_item_name in the back end of your site and click the Parameters tab on the right side of the screen. A list of similar options will appear. If you check Use Global, it will inherit the settings from the global article configuration. If you check something else, it will force this change, overwriting this option for the use of this particular menu item.

Finally, the article settings. To change them, go to Content > Article Manager and choose the article you wish to edit. The options for this article can be changed in the same manner as for the menu items - in the Parameters (Advanced) tab on the right corner of the screen. Just like before, if you set an option to Use Global, it will take the setting from the global article configuration. If you choose any other option, it will overwrite BOTH the global article configuration and the menu item configuration of this option for this particular article.

Be sure to save your work. Return to the front end, hit refresh, and you'll see that all of the "ugly stuff" has disappeared.