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SiteGround Tutorials


MiaCMS Tutorial

This tutorial is dedicated to showing you the basics of the MiaCMS Application. After reading it, you will be able to install and manage a fully-functional website with MiaCMS in minutes. If you don't have a MiaCMS website yet, you can sign up here for a MiaCMS hosting account and get a Free MiaCMS installation.

MiaCMS has intuitive administration, which anyone can handle. In MiaCMS you will be able to compose an article and publish it on your website with just few clicks!

The MiaCMS Tutorial covers the following topics:


MiaCMS Installation

Get a Professional Free installation with SiteGround MiaCMS hosting Package!

The installation of MiaCMS includes uploading the installation package via cPanel's File Manager or using an FTP client. The latest release can be found at the MiaCMS's official website.

Bear in mind that the uploaded package should reside under the public_html directory, which is the web root folder for your account, or alternatively under a subdirectory of it.

Additionally, prior to performing the installation, a new database should be created. You can easily do this following the MySQL Tutorial.

How to install MiaCMS?

The next step is to access the directory where you have uploaded the MiaCMS installation package.

  • In case you have uploaded it directly under the public_html folder it will be accessible directly via your domain name - http://yourdomainname.com.
  • In case you have used a subdirectory, for example "miacms", it will be accessible via http://yourdomainname.com/miacms.

If everything is done right you should go to http://yourdomainname.com/ where you should see the following page:

Press "Next" button and you will be forwarded to a page where you should enter the details of your database. For new users of MiaCMS, we recommend you to check the "Install Sample Data" option. When the sample data is installed, it is much easier to get used to the application and the way it works.

Next, you have to select the name of your website. It will appear at the top of your page, so you can select your domain name for example.

The next page will ask you to enter the administrative e-mail for your application and the password for the "admin" username. Please make sure you enter a valid e-mail address, since important messages could be sent to it. The "URL" and "Path" options should have their values inserted automatically.

Once you press the "Next" button again, you should use the FileManager tool in your cPanel or your favourite FTP client in order to delete the "installation" directory from the MiaCMS folder.

All you have to do now is to press the "View Site" button and you will browse to your newly installed MiaCMS application!


MiaCMS Templates

You can use any Joomla 1.0 template with your MiaCMS website or a specially prepared one for it. SiteGround web hosting has released great-looking Joomla templates for personal and business sites, which you can download and use FREE of charge!

How to change your MiaCMS template?

For the purpouses of this tutorial we will use one of the free Joomla 1.0 templates that we provide our customers with. Once you have downloaded the archive file of the template locally, login do the administrative area of MiaCMS and go to Site -> Template Manager -> Site Templates.

MiaCMS Template Manager

Now, press the "New" button in order to add a template to your website.

MiaCMS New Template

Next, you have to browse to the template archive you have previously downloaded to your local computer and to click on the "Upload File & Install" button.

MiaCMS Upload File & Install

If the template is a valid one, you will receive a confirmation message. Just follow the "Continue" link and you will be redirected to the template manager again.

MiaCMS Successful MiaCMS Template Upload

In the template manager, select the newly installed template and click on the "Default" button in order to make it primary for your website.

MiaCMS Set Template as Default

Your template is now fully installed! You can browse to your website and view its new look.

MiaCMS Installed Template


Manage Content in MiaCMS

How to manage your website content in MiaCMS?

MiaCMS allows you to neatly organize your data in a tree structure. The information is devided in Sections -> Categories -> Articles. You can also have subsections and subcategories.

In MiaCMS you can also add static content to your website. Basically, this static content is an article, that doesn't belong to any section or a category.

To create a new section, open the Content -> Section Manager menu and press the New button.

MiaCMS New Section

Once you have entered the appropriate information for your Section, please click on the Save button in the upper right part of the page.

MiaCMS Section Information

Now, you have to add a category to this section. To do this, select from the left menu Content -> Content By Section -> Sample Section (the one we have previously created) -> Add/Edit Categories.

MiaCMS Add/Edit Categories

Next, press the New button in the top right part of the page and you will be redirected to the category creation editor. Once you are ready, click on the "Save" button. Now, you have to add articles to your category of pages. In order to do this, go to Content -> Content By Section -> Sample Section items.

MiaCMS Sample Section Item

Once you click on the "New" button, you will be redirected to the familiar page editor. Here, you can use the friendly WYSIWYG(What You See Is What You Get) editor to create the actual content of your website. If you want it to be visible to the front page, select the "Show on Frontpage" check from the right list of options. Once you are ready, just press the "Save" button and your article will be published.

MiaCMS Show on Front Page

You can now browse to your website and check on the newly created article on your front page!

MiaCMS Website


Add extensions to MiaCMS

With MiaCMS you have the option to add extended functionallity to your website using extensions. Although MiaCMS is a new project, since it originates from the Mambo CMS project (its first version was based on Mambo 4.6.3), all the Mambo and Joomla extensions should function flawlessly with MiaCMS.

You can find useful extensions compatible with MiaCMS at the Mambo Code and Joomla Extensions websites.

How to add extensions to MiaCMS?

To install an extension, first login to the administrative end of your website. Then click on the Installers menu and select the Universal option.

MiaCMS Installers

If you have previously worked with Joomla!, you will find the installer looks quite familiar.

First, you have to press the "Browse" button and to select the archive of your extension on your local computer.

Next, click on the "Upload File & Install" button and the installation process will begin. Depending on the extension, there might be different settings/options that you should select at this point.

Install MiaCMS extensions

If the extension is installed correctly, you should receive an "Upload universal - Success" message.

MiaCMS Successful Upload


How to convert an existing Mambo website to MiaCMS?

In this section we are going to show you how to migrate your existing Mambo website to MiaCMS.

Important Please remember that it is highly recommended to backup your existing Mambo web site before you proceed with the migration process.

First, you should download the official Mambo to Mia conversion patch.

Once you have done that, you'll have to take your website offline. This can be done through your Administrative area -> Site -> Global Configuration -> Site Offline (YES).

The next step is to remove the following files and folders from the installation directory of your Mambo website:

  • mambots/editors/mostlyce (the entire folder)
  • mambots/editors/mostlyce.php
  • mambots/editors/mostlyce.xml

Next, use FTP to upload the extracted conversion patch files into your existing Mambo 4.6.2+ installation directory. You should let the files with the same names in order to overwrite the existing ones.

To complete the conversion process, you have to execute few MySQL queries in your Mambo database. To do that, you can use the PhpMyAdmin tool in your cPanel. Once you have opened the PhpMyAdmin tool, select your Mambo database and click on the SQL button. In the query field execute the following queries as displayed below:

  • UPDATE mos_templates_menu
    SET template='miacms_admin'
    WHERE template='mambo_admin_blue';
  • CREATE TABLE `mos_poll_charts` (
      `id` int(11),
      `bar_type` varchar(25) NOT NULL default 'bar_outline',
      `bar_color` varchar(6) NOT NULL default '45E56F',
      `width` int(11) NOT NULL default '300',
      `height` int(11) NOT NULL default '300',
      `title_font_size` int(11) NOT NULL default '12',
      PRIMARY KEY (`id`)
    );
  • ALTER TABLE `mos_polls`
    ADD COLUMN `use_chart_api` int(11) NOT NULL default '0' AFTER `lag`;
  • ALTER TABLE `mos_comment` ADD COLUMN `website` varchar( 250 ) NOT NULL default '' AFTER `name` ,
    ADD COLUMN `email` varchar( 100 ) NOT NULL default '' AFTER `name` ,
    ADD COLUMN `user_id` varchar( 250 ) NOT NULL default '' AFTER `name` ,
    ADD COLUMN `spam` tinyint( 1 ) NOT NULL default '0';

Important Please note that if you have changed the default prefix of your tables (mos_), you should edit the queries above to match the real name of your tables. For example, if you have changed the tables prefix to "smth_", you have to change the first line of each query to match your particular table names - UPDATE smth_templates_menu,  UPDATE smth_templates_menu, etc.

Once you have executed the last query, you will have to add the following lines to the configuration.php file of your Mambo application: 

  • $mosConfig_enable_stats_charting = '0';
  • $mosConfig_yui_version = '2.5.2';
  • $mosConfig_yui_loader='local_min';

The migration is now complete. You can put your website back online from your Administrative area -> Site -> Global Configuration -> Site Offline (NO) and enjoy your new MiaCMS website!