Easy Article Navigation adds previous and next article links that can show the intro image.

Core page navigation is text only. This content plugin and site module show the neighboring article with its intro image, title, date, and optional category. Two existing custom fields can turn those neighbors into a series and print Article N of M. Colors stay on the navigation block, so the template does not restyle the cards.

Use the plugin to print the block on every article, or publish the module on the menus that need it. Both share the same layouts: Cards and Compact.

See it on the live demo: demo.joomlax.com/demo/utilities/easy-article-navigation.

Easy Article Navigation runs on Joomla 4, 5, and 6 with PHP 8.1 or newer.

• Joomla 4, Joomla 5, or Joomla 6
• PHP 8.1 or newer
• Articles with intro images if you want pictures on the cards
• Two article custom fields if you want a series (name and position)

There is no component and no extra database table. Font Awesome comes from Joomla. The extension does not load jQuery.

Turn off Content - Page Navigation if you do not want two previous and next bars on the same article.

Install the package zip from inside EasyArticleNavigation_UNZIP.zip.

1. Download EasyArticleNavigation_UNZIP.zip from your JoomlaX account.
2. Unzip it on your computer. Inside is the install package pkg_easyarticlenavigation.
3. In Joomla Administrator, open System > Install > Extensions.
4. Upload the pkg_easyarticlenavigation zip. The package installs the content plugin and the site module together.
5. Open System > Plugins and confirm Content - Easy Article Navigation is enabled.

The plugin adds a Show navigation field on the article edit screen even when it does not print the links itself. Leave the plugin enabled if you use the module.

Choose the plugin for every article, or the module for selected menus.

Plugin, every article

1. Open System > Plugins and edit Content - Easy Article Navigation.
2. Set Insert on articles to Yes.
3. Set Position to After the text or Before the text.
4. Choose Layout: Cards or Compact.
5. Save, clear the cache, and open an article that has a neighbor in the same category.

Module, selected pages

1. Leave Insert on articles set to No so the plugin does not also print a block.
2. Open Content > Site Modules > New and choose Easy Article Navigation.
3. Assign a module position and the article menus that should show the links.
4. Save and open one of those articles.

On an article you can set Show navigation to No. That hides both the plugin block and the module on that article only.

Each card can show the intro image, title, date, category, and your own labels.

• Intro image: the article intro image. An article with no intro image still shows a text card. The full article image is not used.
• Title: the neighbor article title.
• Publish date: uses the site timezone. Leave Date format blank for the site date format, or enter a PHP format such as d F Y.
• Category name: off by default.
• Previous and Next labels: leave the label fields blank for Previous and Next, or type your own words. Font Awesome draws the chevrons.

Scope decides which articles can be neighbors:

• Current category (default)
• Current category and children
• Same author

Order is the sequence the links walk: article ordering, publish date newest or oldest, or title A to Z or Z to A. Two articles with the same date keep a stable neighbor because ties break on the article id.

At the ends: Hide the missing side leaves the first article without a previous link and the last without a next link. Loop connects the first and the last.

Stack cards: Auto stacks the pair when the block is narrower than 560px, including a sidebar and a phone. Always stacks them at every width.

Hide in categories skips articles in the categories you pick. Neighbors in other categories are unchanged.

A series uses two article custom fields and replaces category scope and order.

1. Open Content > Fields and create two fields for articles. One holds the series name (text). One holds the position (a number).
2. On each article in the series, enter the same series name and a position such as 1, 2, 3.
3. In the plugin or the module, open the Series tab.
4. Set Series name field and Series position field.
5. Leave Series line on to show the series name, Article N of M, and a progress bar.

N is the position value on the current article. M is how many eligible articles share that series name. Leave either field as None to keep the scope and order from the Navigation tab.

An article needs both values before the series replaces the category neighbors. Unpublished articles, articles outside the publish window, and articles the visitor cannot access are not counted.

Cards show the intro image beside the title. Compact is a short row of label and title.

The Style tab sets colors and sizes on this block only. Leave a field blank to inherit the template.

• Label color, Title color, and Date and category color
• Card background and Border color
• Corner radius, Image width, and Gap: a whole number in pixels, from 0 to 400
• CSS class: extra classes on the nav element

The block already has the class ean. Template rules for links, images, or paragraphs do not apply inside that class. To restyle it from a template stylesheet, set the custom properties on .ean: label, title, meta, background, border, radius, image width, and gap.

The module shows the same links in a module position, with its own scope and order.

Create it from Content > Site Modules > New > Easy Article Navigation. It only renders on a single article page. On a category blog or a home page it stays empty.

The module does not follow the plugin's insert setting. Give the module its own layout, labels, scope, order, series fields, and colors. Use that when one menu should use cards and another should use a stacked sidebar.

If both the plugin insert and the module are on, the visitor sees two blocks. Turn insert off when the module is the one you want.

Module cache is off in the module form. After you change an article, clear the Joomla cache if the site cache is enabled. The plugin also clears its own cache group when an article is saved.

An empty block usually means there is no eligible neighbor, or the page is not a single article.

• Confirm Content - Easy Article Navigation is enabled.
• On the article, confirm Show navigation is not set to No.
• For the plugin, confirm Insert on articles is Yes. For the module, confirm it is published, in a position the template prints, and assigned to that menu item.
• The neighbor must be published, inside its publish window, and visible to the visitor. The category must be published too.
• Check Hide in categories on the plugin and on the module.
• A missing picture means the neighbor has no intro image. The full article image is not used.
• Series links ignore category order. If the neighbors look wrong, check the series name and position values, or set both series fields back to None.
• Clear the Joomla cache and hard-refresh the page.
• If core page navigation is also visible, disable the plugin Content - Page Navigation.

Open a ticket when these tabs do not solve the problem.

Use support.joomlax.com.

Include your Joomla version, PHP version, whether the block is the plugin or a module, the layout, the scope, and the page URL.