Most Joomla books on the market were written for Joomla 3, which reached end of life in August 2023. Menus, templates and the administrator changed completely in Joomla 4, so those books now teach screens you will not find. The fastest way to learn Joomla 5 and 6 is the free official material plus a test site.
Free, current resources
| Resource | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Joomla Launch | Free hosted Joomla site to practise on, no hosting needed |
| Joomla Documentation | User help for every admin screen, linked from the Help button |
| Joomla Manual | Developer manual for Joomla 4, 5 and 6: extensions, events, Web Services |
| Joomla Forum | Questions and troubleshooting |
| Joomla Community Magazine | Monthly tutorials and release explainers |
| Joomla Extensions Directory | Find extensions filtered by Joomla version |
A 7-day plan to learn Joomla
| Day | Do this |
|---|---|
| 1 | Create a free site on Joomla Launch. Tour the administrator: Content, Menus, Users, System. |
| 2 | Create categories and articles; learn the difference between a category blog and a single article menu item. |
| 3 | Build the menu structure and understand menu items as page types. |
| 4 | Modules: place a Custom module, a menu module and a latest-articles module; learn positions and menu assignment. |
| 5 | Templates: change Cassiopeia colours, add user.css, create a child template and one layout override. |
| 6 | Users and ACL: create a group, an access level and a registered-only page. |
| 7 | SEO and safety: enable SEF URLs, add a sitemap, take a backup, run updates (see Joomla SEO checklist and Joomla backup). |
Next steps by goal
- Site builders: custom fields (guide) and template overrides.
- Developers: the Joomla Manual, then build a module or plugin with the free module generator and plugin generator.
- Upgrading an old site: Joomla 3 to 6 upgrade guide.
Related Joomla guides
Need hands-on help? See our Joomla development services.
Frequently asked questions
Are Joomla 3 books still useful?
Only for concepts. Joomla 3 reached end of life in August 2023 and the administrator, templates and menus changed in Joomla 4, 5 and 6.
Can I learn Joomla for free?
Yes. Joomla Launch gives you a free practice site, and the official Documentation and Manual cover users and developers.
How long does it take to learn Joomla?
A week of hands-on practice covers the basics: content, menus, modules, templates, users and SEO settings.