How to Customize Default Settings in Joomla
This article describes some common changes webmasters make to a fresh installation of Joomla.
Customizing the Offline Page
When your site is offline visitors will see a message that the site is down for maintenance. You can modify that message.
- Login to the back end of your site. If you need help logging into your back end view How to Access the Back End of a Joomla Site
- Click Site > Global Configuration.
- Change the Custom Message to your preference.
- Click Save.
Adding Logo to the Offline Page
You can also add your own logo so it appears next to the site down message.
- Click on Select next to Offline Image and choose either an existing image or upload a new image.
Setting Site in Offline Mode
To view the changes to the offline page you will need to:
- Select Yes next to Site Offline and then view your site.
- Bring your site back online and click Save & Close.
Removing "Powered by Joomla" From Appearing on a Joomla Site
The Powered by Joomla message is part of the footer module.
- Go to Extensions > Module Manager.
- Find the Footer module and either un-publish it or trash it.
Changing the Favicon for a Joomla site

In most browsers in the far left of the URL in the address bar there is a small icon that appears that is known as the favicon. A favicon is a 16 x 16 px image that is saved in the .ico file format. To change this to your own favicon follow these steps below.
- Create your 16 x 16 px .ico file. You can use a favicon generato such as: Favicon Generator
- Open your FTP program and navigate to the root of your Joomla site. This is usually the httpdocs folder. If your Joomla site is installed in a subdirectory you will need to go into that subdirectory.
- Locate the templates folder and open the folder for your template. For example if you are using one of the default templates installed with Joomla, navigate to the /httpdocs/templates/atomic or /httpdocs/templates/beez_20 folder.
- Upload your favicon.ico which will overwrite the default one for that template.
- Go to the front end of your site and refresh it. You should now see your new favicon. If you don't you may need to clear out your browser's cache.
Article ID: 13, Created: March 23, 2012 at 8:36 AM, Modified: August 26, 2014 at 8:22 AM