Installing Joomla Version 1.5 on GoDaddy instead of Versions 1.6, 1.7 or 1.8

Godaddy is now installing Joomla Version 1.7 by default. Sometime in 2012, the auto install will be switched to Joomla Version 1.8. The problem is that many extensions still do not work on Joomla versions 1.6, 1.7 and/or 1.8. Also the newer versions are very likely to have minor technical problems which may take up to a year to work out.

 

Thankfully, it is still possible to get an auto install of Joomla 1.5.24 with only a couple extra clicks of your mouse. The following steps describe the entire process of installing Joomla 1.5.24 to your website. 

 

Go to the Hosting Control Center for your Shared Deluxe Linux Hosting Account

To add Joomla 1.5.24, go to Hosting Control Center Home page. If you have just completed the log in page, from the “My Account” page, scroll down to My Products and find your Deluxe Hosting Account Primary Domain name and click on the green “Launch” button.

 

 

This will take you to the Hosting Control Center Home page:

 

 

From the Hosting Control Center Home page, do NOT click on the Applications/Joomla link as it leads to the wrong version of Joomla. Instead, click on the “Content” Green Tab at the top of the page and select the Go Daddy Hosting Connections” option.

 

This takes you to the Go daddy Hosting Connections page:

 

 

 

This is the DEFAULT ONE CLICK APPLICATIONS SCREEN:

 

 

 

Do NOT click on Joomla. Instead, to get Joomla 1.5, enter the term Joomla 1.5 in the search engine. This will take you to a screen where you can select Joomla Version 1.5 to install.

 

Enter Joomla 1.5 into the search box and click SEARCH

 

 

The search results page will look like:

 

 

This will bring up two choices. The top choice indicates that you can not convert from Joomla 1.5 to 1.7 which is true. What it fails to mention is that only 10% of all Joomla extensions are currently available for Joomla 1.7. So click on the TOP BLUE JOOMLA LINK. This will take you to the latest version of Joomla 1.5 (Note that the current latest version is Joomla 1.5.25):

 

 

Click on Install Now to begin the Joomla Auto Installation Process.

At last, we have reached the Joomla Version 1.5.24 Auto Installation page!

 

Begin the Joomla Installation Process

The subsequent screens will walk you through the essential steps for making a new Joomla installation.

 

Select Hosting (to select Domain to Install Joomla To)

The first step is choosing the domain you want to modify. This is done on the Select Hosting page:

 

 

If you only have a few websites, just select the one you want to add Joomla to. If you have a lot of website domains, then click on the NEXT button to find the page your new website is on. Then select the website you want to add Joomla to. Then click CONTINUE. This will take you to the Configuration Installation/ Set Up Data Base page:

 

The remaining screens are for Joomla 1.5.22, but the installation process for the latest version of Joomla is the same.

 

Configure Installation

There are two things that happen on this screen. First, you assign the description of the database. The second is to create and verify your database password. It is okay to call your Joomla Database folder Joomla. For your Database Password, you must select a password with at least 7 letters with at least one capital letter and with a combination of numbers and letters.

 

Database Description

 

 

Leave the Database description set for Joomla and enter your Data Base password twice. Then click NEXT. This will take you to Choose Install Directory.

 

Choose Install Directory

 

 

The default appearing on the screen is to have Joomla installed into a sub-folder called Joomla. This means the link to your home pages will be yourwebsite.com/Joomla and all other pages you build in Joomla will also begin with

 

yourwebsite.com/Joomla/otherpagelinks.

 

This is not a very good idea and does not look very good. 

 

I recommend placing your database as the root folder (yourwebsite.com). Thus, the link to the HOME page on your website will be simply yourwebsite.com. Installing the Joomla database into your root folder is done by deleting the word Joomla and leaving the box blank.

 

The screen will warn you that this may cause the eraser of existing content. But since this is a new website and there is no existing content, this is not a problem. If you do have existing content and pages on your website you want to keep, an alternative is to use the word home instead of the word Joomla. Thus, the link to the HOME page of your website will be yourwebsite.com/home. All other pages you create in Joomla will be inside of this folder and thus have links beginning wit yourwebsite/home/otherpagelinks. You will also need to transfer the other page folders over and put them in the root folder. GoDaddy has tutorials on this process – which is rather complicated.

 

It is better to simply copy these existing pages and then re-enter them as Joomla articles. So again, please leave the Database Description Box blank!.  De-select the word joomla so that the folder it is installed into is simply yourwebsite.com. Then click NEXT.

 

Enter Joomla Administrator Name and Password

On the Configuration page, type in an Administrator Name and Password. Remember your administrator name and password because they are what you will use to log into the Joomla Administrator Control Panel to add articles to your Joomla website. Also put in your email address and click YES for Install the Joomla sample content. Then click FINISH.

 

 

Fill in your admin Name and Password (You will need to remember these to access your Joomla website.

 

Also fill in your email address and select YES for installing sample content.

 

Then click FINISH. This will take you to the following “What’s Next” page:

 

 

 

Check Joomla Installation Status

Click on the “My Applications” option to see the Status of your Joomla installation. You will need to wait for your Joomla database to be created (if look under My Applications, you will see that it currently says Status: Creating Database. Once your new website is active, and ready for you to work on, the screen will say Status: Installed.

 

In the Go Daddy Hosting Connections page, you can click on the “My applications” tab and it shows which applications are installed: Joomla is often installed in less than one hour.  You will also receive an email from Go Daddy notifying you that Joomla has been installed on your website.

 

Congratulations! You are now ready for the next step which is to take a tour of the Joomla Administrator Control Panel.

 

When it shows your Joomla application has been installed, then just click on your domain name to reach your new website. On the home page, click on Administrator in the Main Menu to log into the Administrator Control Panel and begin building your website.

 

 

The above space is where you enter the Administrator User Name and Password that you listed on GoDaddy at the end of the Auto Install process.

 

 

Once you are familiar with the functions of the Control Panel, you can delete most of the default content and begin building your new website by installing the Cloudbase 2 template. These are the subjects of the next two articles.