Managing Splash Pages

Splash pages provide you the ability to attach custom template code to a menu item.

Splash Pages List

Selecting Splash Pages from the Linkbar will present you with a list of the splash pages defined in Catalog.

Toolbar

In conjuction with selecting one or more checkboxes in the list, the Toolbar provides the following functions:

• Publish the selected splash page(s).
• Unpublish the selected splash page(s).
• Edit a selected splash page.
• Add a new splash page
• Delete the selected splash page(s).

Filters

You can filter the list by the following:

• Part of a string in the title of a splash page.
• The published state of the splash pages.

List Interaction

You can interact with the list of splash pages in the following ways:

• Click the linked column headers to change the sort order of the list and to reverse the sort direction.
• In the Title column, click the first link to edit the splash page.
• In the Published column, click the icons to toggle between published and unpublished states.
• Use the list pagination features as you would for any other component.

Adding or Editing a Splash Page

Toolbar

The Toolbar provides the following functions:

• Save the current item and then returns you to add another (Save & New).
• Save the current item and return to the list.
• Apply the changes made to the current item and return to the same page to continue edits.
• Cancel the edits without saving and return to the list.

Main Page

The add/edit page is divided into two main areas: a Title Block and a tabbed section.

The Title Block allows you to manage the following fields:

• Title - the title for the splash page.
• Alias - The alias for the splash page used in URLs when Search Engine Friendly URLs are activated.

General Tab

This tab allows you to manage the following fields:

• Body - the html or template markup for the splash page.
• Published - allows you to set the item to a published or unpublished state.
  
• Access - The access level that controls who can view the item.

The Snippets select list gives you a number of common code snippets that you may like to add to your splash page.

Media Tab

This tab you to manage the following Media settings for the splash page:

• Thumb - An option image path that could relate to a thumb sized image.
• Small - An option image path that could relate to a small sized image.
• Medium - An option image path that could relate to a medium sized image.
• Large - An option image path that could relate to a large sized image.
• Full Size - An option image path that could relate to a full size sized image.
• Caption - An optional caption that will be used for the any of the other preset sizes listed above.
• Gallery Folder - An optional path that will be examined for images to use in a popup gallery.
• Custom Code - Optional custom code to be used for media such as Flash or other web objects.

For the five preset sizes, you can use the Media Manager to select the image by clicking the Select button beside each field.

Parameters Tab

There are no parameters supported for Splash Pages.

Metadata Tab

This tab you to manage the following settings for the splash page:

• Keywords - An optional set of keywords (separated by commas) that will be inserted into the actual web page (good for Search Engine Optimization).
• Description - An optional description that will be inserted into the actual web page (good for Search Engine Optimization).  This description will usually be display as a part of the search results in search engines.

Additional Comments

Splash pages can be used to display just regular HTML.  For example, you may like to include a large static image and attach a Splash Page to the home page of your site.

Splash pages can also interpret Joomla template code (jdoc tags) and the most common usage would be to include modules in the Splash Page.