Guide to Joomla: How to Link to Embedded Media

Guide to Joomla: How to Link to Embedded Media
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Introduction

In Joomla, figuring out how to link to embedded media should not be a cause for worry as you will soon see the process is as easy as entering text into the text editor. The first thing you need to make sure of is that you have the latest version of Joomla installed and configured on your server. If you have not yet done this, then you need to go on over to the Joomla download page and get the latest release, install and configure it according to the instructions given. Once you are done, then you can proceed to the next paragraph.

Accessing the Content Editor

Most embedded media will be inserted into Joomla using the Article Manager. This can be done by going to the navigation menu at the top and accessing the following tree; Content > Article Manager. This will give you a list of existing articles where you have the option of either editing it by clicking on the article title or creating a new one by clicking on the New icon above on the right.

(Click any image for a larger view.)

Either way you have access to the article editor. When you look at the options made available for editing your article you will realize that the only permitted media is images. There is no option for linking video, audio or flash objects. So what to do?

Setting Up Media Manager in Joomla

joomla media settings

To do this you will need to go the main menu in the Joomla Administrator then go to Site > Global Configuration and click on the System tab. Within the System page you will find the Media Settings section. This section allows you to configure the location for storing media locally. With the Media Settings in Joomla you can add more legal file extensions for the media you intend to use, you can edit the maximum file size and change the path to the media folder. This defaults to the image folder. Do not enable the flash uploader.

Uploading and Linking the Embedded Media in Joomla

There are two basic ways of uploading and linking to media in Joomla. The first one, which is the easiest, is to simply link to embedded media from an external source such as Vimeo and Youtube using the code they supply to the specified content. This content can simply be copy pasted in the Article Editor in the location you want the embedded media to appear.

The other method involves using the Joomla Media Manager to upload the media into your Joomla application folder once you have prepared it yourself. This is more suitable for flash media. Once you have finished uploading your media, you will need to get the code created by your flash content editing suite and edit it to use the path to the media folder you just uploaded to. Take the edited code and copy paste it into the location you would like your flash media to appear in the Article Editor and Save your changes.

In Joomla, how to link to embedded media is simple but systematic. You can follow this link to see an example of how to embed Google Maps into the contact page in Joomla.