How to find the module positions in Joomla 1.7

Knowing where your module positions are located is one of the most fundamental things you need to know when creating a site with Joomla 1.7, however, for some reason it’s not as easy to find as you would think. It was evident in the Joomla 1.7 usability testing I performed a few weeks ago. The tester simply couldn’t find it. Nor could I. I figured I would be able to do it on Joomla 1.7 relatively easily, but I had to hear about it from John Coonen from CMS Expo.

It was not easy to figure out in Joomla 1.5 but at least it was available as a default value. On Joomla 1.7 you’d have to purposely activate this feature to even see it.

Watch this video that explains how to find the module positions on Joomla 1.7:

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/28371850[/vimeo]

Or read this explanation:

• Go to extensions-> templates
• Switch to templates tab
• Click on Options button on top right
• Choose “Enable” on the “Preview Module Position” field
• Save

Now you will see a preview link next to the template thumbnail.

A simple solution:

A simple solution to make things easier for everybody would be to add a preview link next to the “choose position” button, this way it is much easier to find.

Place a link to the site preview with module positions right where the user selects a module position

Did you bump into this issue? How did you find the solution?