Joomla! is one of the premiere web-based Content Management Systems (CMS) for website publishing (see joomla.org for more info). It is used by thousands of websites including MTV Networks, IHOP, and Harvard. It’s extremely powerful in it’s capabilities and fairly easy-to-use. However, like most online softwares there is a learning curve.

At That’s Us.com, we utilize Joomla! and WordPress to create CMS websites, depending on client preference and site needs. With both platforms, we provide a user manual describing the main functions of the client’s site and how to modify them. Although both Joomla! and WordPress are user-friendly, we often get questions about how to do simple tasks. Recently, I was asked how to create a poll using Joomla! as the online tutorials weren’t very clear and the many options inside the Joomla! administration panel can be a bit intimidating. There are many extensions you can install into your Joomla! site, but here is the easiest way to create a poll using the pre-installed Joomla! feature.

1. Log into your administration panel and navigate to Main menu > Components > Polls > then click on the green “New” button with the plus on the right side
2. Give your new poll a title, alias, and ensure that “yes” is selected next to published
3. Enter in up to 12 options in the text fields on the right and then click save
4. Navigate to Main menu > Extensions > Module Manager >  then click on the green “New” button with the plus on the right side
5. Select poll (in right column)
6. Give your module a title (good idea to keep it the same as the title of the actual poll) and alias
7. Make sure you click “yes” next to enable
8. Select a position to display it in on the site
9. Tell your module where to display under the menu assignment. As a default all the pages will be selected. To select only  one or a few pages click the  “Select Menu Item(s) from the list” button and from the list below hold down Ctrl + click on the names of the pages you want the poll to appear on. Note: there are usually several navigation menus on any given Joomla! website. The main menu is of course – the primary menu at the top of the website, while the footer menu is the list of links that appears at the bottom of every page. If you want your poll to appear in the right column on the services page (no matter if the user clicks on the services link in the footer or from the main menu) you should hold down ctrl and click on services under the footer menu and again under the main menu.
10. On the right under “Module Parameters” you must now select the poll you wish to display from the drop down menu.
11. Click save and on the live site you will now see your poll appear. The polls will register ip addresses so you can only vote once per day. The poll will automatically generate a separate page displaying the results.

That’s it! A poll in 11 easy steps. If you have any questions feel free to email us at info@thatsus.com.

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