Before you begin, make certain that your web host can handle the Joomla system. The minimum system requirements are as follows:

• Apache Server 1.3 or above
• PHP 4.3.10 or above
• MYSQL 3.23 or above

Almost all web hosts that support these technologies will have more advanced versions than the minimums just listed. Nonetheless, if your host provides at least the bare minimum requirements, most likely you will be able to install Joomla.

Don’t spend too much time trying to track down the version numbers of the hosting servers, as web hosting providers are notorious for not documenting these sorts of things. If you run into problems with the installation, checking version numbers may put you on the right track toward resolving your problem.

Modern web browsers will have no trouble viewing either the user front-end or the Administrator interface of Joomla. Any version of Internet Explorer after 5.5 will work fine, and Opera version 7 and above displays Joomla properly. All versions of Mozilla Firefox and Apple Safari will display a Joomla site properly. For viewing the default front page of Joomla, a web visitor will not need JavaScript enabled, although many of the Joomla extensions use JavaScript to improve user interaction. The Administrator interface requires JavaScript, however, so be sure to have it enabled before you begin the installation.

The examples in this chapter are demonstrated using a web server running on Linux and a Windows Vista desktop machine for browser and FTP access. If your configuration is different from this one, you should still be able to follow the instructions, even if the graphical user interfaces don’t match exactly. Once Joomla is installed and running, nearly all interaction will take place through the Joomla web interface, which should look identical on most platforms.