Easy Glossary is a dictionary for your Joomla website. You write a word once. Then visitors can:

• Hover the word in an article and see a short tip
• Click through to a full definition page
• Browse an A to Z list of all terms

Live demo: demo.joomlax.com/demo/utilities/easy-glossary

The main pieces

• Component (Components > Easy Glossary): where you add glossaries, terms, Import and Export, and Configuration
• Content plugin (Content - Easy Glossary): finds terms inside articles and draws tips or links
• System plugin: helps with page extras on glossary pages
• Editor button: inserts a manual term shortcode when you need it
• Module (optional): shows letters, featured terms, or search in a sidebar

What you can do

• One or more glossaries (for example Product terms, Legal terms)
• Terms with a short tip and an optional full page
• Auto highlight in articles (or tip only / link only / off)
• A-Z pages: list, grid, columns, blog, accordion
• CSV import and export, sample data, and database reset
• Optional Suggest a term form for logged-in visitors

Student tip: Start with one glossary, five terms, one menu item, and one test article. When that works, add more.

You need

• Joomla: 4.x, 5.x, or 6.x
• PHP: 8.1 or newer
• Database: MySQL or MariaDB
• Access: an administrator account so you can install extensions

You do not need

• jQuery
• A separate tooltip library
• Extra paid plugins for basic tips and A-Z pages

The package installs the component, plugins, and module together.

Step 1: Download

After you buy, download EasyGlossary_UNZIP.zip from your email or the Downloads section.

Step 2: Unzip on your computer

1. Right-click the UNZIP file and choose Extract.
2. Inside you should see:
   • pkg_easyglossary_1.0.2.zip (this is the file you install)
   • ReadMe.txt

Step 3: Install in Joomla

1. Log in to the Joomla administrator.
2. Go to System > Install > Extensions.
3. Upload pkg_easyglossary_1.0.2.zip.
4. Open Components > Easy Glossary to confirm the Dashboard loads.
5. Clear cache: System > Maintenance > Clear Cache.

What the package installs

• Component: Dashboard, Terms, Glossaries, Import and Export, Configuration
• Content - Easy Glossary
• System - Easy Glossary
• Button - Easy Glossary
• Smart Search - Easy Glossary
• Site module Easy Glossary

Updates use the same steps. Your terms and settings stay safe.

Tips in articles only work when the content plugin is on. Do this right after install.

1. Go to System > Plugins.
2. Search for Easy Glossary.
3. Make sure these show Enabled (green):
   • Content - Easy Glossary (needed for tips in articles)
   • System - Easy Glossary
   • Button - Easy Glossary (editor button)
   • Smart Search - Easy Glossary (optional, for site search)
4. If one is Off, tick it and click Enable.
5. Clear cache.

Student tip: If terms exist but articles never show tips, check this screen first. The content plugin is often Off by mistake.

Follow these steps in order. Most people finish in about 15 minutes.

1. Open Easy Glossary

1. Click Components > Easy Glossary.
2. You should see the Dashboard with counts and quick links.

2. Create a glossary (or install sample data)

• Manual: Glossaries > New > Title > Save & Close
• Fast: Import and Export > Install sample data (creates a Demo Glossary and 34 terms)

3. Add a few terms

1. Open Terms > New.
2. Fill Term (the word to highlight).
3. Choose the Glossary.
4. Write a short definition for the tip.
5. Set Status to Published, then Save & Close.

4. Create an A-Z menu item

1. Menus > [Your menu] > New
2. Menu Item Type: Easy Glossary > Glossary A-Z
3. Pick your glossary, Save

5. Test in an article

1. Write an article that contains one term as normal text (not inside a heading or link).
2. Save, clear cache, open the article on the front end.
3. Hover the word (or Tab to it). You should see the tip.

Student tip: Use a short unique word first (for example WidgetX) so the highlight is easy to spot.

Keep this simple picture in your head.

1. Glossary: a named dictionary (Joomla, Legal, Shop).
2. Term: one entry (title, short tip, optional full page).
3. Content plugin: scans article HTML and wraps matching words.
4. Configuration: global defaults for tip style, layouts, SEO, and submit.
5. Import and Export: CSV tools, sample data, and reset.
6. Menu item: the public A-Z page.
7. Module (optional): letters or terms in a template position.

Simple rule

• Create words: use the component
• Show tips in articles: keep Content - Easy Glossary enabled
• Give visitors an A-Z page: add a Glossary A-Z menu item

Open Components > Easy Glossary. The Dashboard is your home screen.

Stat cards

• Terms: total terms in the database
• Published terms: terms that can appear on the site
• Featured: terms marked as Featured
• Empty definition: published terms with no short or full text (fix these)
• Glossaries: how many dictionaries you have

Recent terms

A short list of terms you changed lately. Click a title to edit.

Quick actions

• Add term, Add glossary, Manage terms, Glossaries
• Import and Export, Configuration

Sample data box

• Install sample data: wipes Easy Glossary data, then creates a Demo Glossary and 34 A-Z terms
• Reset database: deletes all glossaries and terms

Student tip: If Published terms is 0, tips will not appear. Publish at least one term before testing.

Open Components > Easy Glossary > Glossaries.

A glossary is a folder for related terms. Most sites need only one at the start.

List tools

• New: create a glossary
• Publish / Unpublish / Delete: change selected rows
• Search: find by title
• Columns: show or hide table columns (same idea as Articles)

When to use more than one glossary

• Product help vs legal definitions
• Different brands or languages on one site
• The same spelling with different meanings in different article categories

Click a glossary title (or New) to open the form.

Details

• Title (required): for example Joomla
• Alias: leave blank unless you need a fixed URL name
• Description: optional intro on the A-Z page
• Alphabet: letters in the A-Z strip (default A to Z). You can add letters such as Ñ when needed
• Article categories: optional. When set, this glossary only auto-highlights inside those categories

Publishing

• Status: Published or Unpublished
• Access and Language: usual Joomla fields

Click Save or Save & Close.

Student tip: Leave Article categories empty until you need scoping. Empty means the glossary can highlight site-wide (unless the content plugin skips a page).

Open Components > Easy Glossary > Terms.

List tools

• New: create a term
• Publish / Unpublish / Delete
• Search and filters: find terms by title
• Columns: show or hide columns

CSV import and export now live under Import and Export (not on this list).

Columns

• Title: the word that can be highlighted
• Abbreviation: short form if you set one
• Glossary: which dictionary it belongs to
• Letter: A-Z bucket for the public list
• Status: green means it can run on the site

Student tip: Unpublish a term while you edit the wording. Publish it again when the short definition looks right.

Click a term title (or New). This is where each dictionary entry lives.

Content fields

• Term (required): the exact word or phrase to match
• Alias: used in the term page URL
• Abbreviation: optional short form (also matched)
• Glossary (required): pick the parent dictionary
• Short definition: text shown in the tip (keep it short and clear)
• Full definition: longer text for the term detail page
• Synonyms: other spellings that should use the same tip
• Related terms: See also links
• Tags and Image: optional

Highlight settings

• Highlight mode: Inherit (use Configuration), Tooltip and link, Tooltip only, Link only, or Off
• Case sensitive: usually No
• Max highlights: 0 means use the global page limit

Publishing

• Featured: Yes to show in featured lists
• Status, Access, Language
• Meta title / Meta description: for the term page in search results

Helpful side panels

• Usage map: articles that already contain this term
• Wikipedia: optional helper to fetch a short extract
• Live preview: sample of how the highlight can look

Click Save when finished.

Open Components > Easy Glossary > Import and Export.

Sample data

• Install sample data: deletes current Easy Glossary data, then creates one Demo Glossary and 34 A-Z terms. Confirm in the popup before you continue.
• Reset database: permanently deletes every glossary and term. Confirm in the popup. This cannot be undone.

Export CSV

• Export all terms: download a UTF-8 CSV backup of every term
• Download sample CSV: get a template with the same columns and example rows

Import CSV

1. Choose a .csv file.
2. Click Start import.
3. Rows match existing terms by glossary alias plus term alias when possible.

Safe workflow: export first, edit offline, import, then check a few terms and clear cache.

Student tip: Use Install sample data on a test site when you want to learn the A-Z page quickly. Do not use Reset on a live site with real content unless you have a backup.

The content plugin finds published term titles (and synonyms) in article text.

Modes (global or per term)

• Tooltip and link: tip on hover, click opens the term page
• Tooltip only: tip only
• Link only: link to the term page, no tip
• Off: no auto highlight for that term (or globally)

What is never wrapped

• Headings, links, buttons, form fields
• Code and preformatted blocks
• Any HTML with class egloss-skip

Turn auto highlight off for one article

Put this near the top of the article:

{glossary off}

Manual insert

When auto highlight is off, use the editor button Easy Glossary to insert:

{glossary term="YourTerm"}

Replace YourTerm with the exact term title.

Student tip: Write the term as normal words in the article body. Do not put it inside a heading if you want a tip there. Headings are skipped on purpose.

Open System > Plugins > Content - Easy Glossary.

Main switches

• Enable highlighting: keep Yes
• Status: Enabled

Where it runs

• Contexts: usually Articles and Easy Glossary A-Z. Add Category blog or Featured only if you need tips there too.

Skip lists

• Skip these menu items: pages that should never highlight
• Skip categories and Skip articles
• Skip components: other components that should stay clean
• Limit to glossaries: empty means all published glossaries

Click Save & Close, then clear cache.

Student tip: Use Skip menu items for landing pages, checkout, or login where tips would distract people.

Open Components > Easy Glossary > Configuration.

Highlight

• Highlight mode, first occurrence only, max per page, minimum match length
• Term link target (same tab or new tab)
• Tooltip theme, Read more link, HTML in tips, synonyms in tips
• Super User debug strip (turn Off on a live site)

Glossary page

• Default layout (list, grid, columns, blog, accordion)
• Visitor layout switcher, search, terms per page
• Columns for desktop / tablet / mobile
• Pagination: Load more, Pages, or Both
• AJAX listing, related terms, previous/next, card and term images

SEO

• DefinedTerm JSON-LD
• Basic Open Graph (turn Off if Easy Meta already owns OG tags)

Frontend submit

• Enable Suggest a term, optional create ACL, auto publish, notify email

Social

• Share buttons on term pages, optional Disqus shortname

Click Save after changes.

In Configuration, open the Design tab.

• Accent colour: main highlight and link colour
• Surface colours: backgrounds for cards and tips
• Radii and card style: how rounded and dense the public UI looks
• Font scale: slightly larger or smaller glossary text

Save, clear cache, and hard-refresh the front end (Ctrl+F5) so browsers load the new CSS.

Student tip: Match the accent colour to your site brand so tips feel part of the template, not a random add-on.

Visitors need a menu item to open the public glossary.

1. Go to Menus > [Your menu] > New.
2. Click Select next to Menu Item Type.
3. Choose Easy Glossary > Glossary A-Z.
4. Set Menu Title (for example Glossary).
5. In the options, pick the Glossary to show.
6. Optional: override layout, pagination, or columns for this page only.
7. Save and open the menu link on the front end.

What visitors get

• Letter navigation (A to Z)
• Search (contains, begins, exact, and more depending on setup)
• Term cards or rows with short definitions
• Pagination or Load more
• Optional layout switcher (list / grid) when enabled

Student tip: After saving the menu item, clear cache once so SEF URLs look neat.

Each published term can have its own detail page (opened from A-Z or from a tip link).

Typical content

• Title, image, full definition
• See also related terms
• Previous and next term in the same glossary
• Optional share icons (X, Facebook, LinkedIn, email)

SEO notes

• Fill Meta title and Meta description on the term Publishing tab when you care about search snippets
• DefinedTerm JSON-LD can be enabled in Configuration > SEO

Optional: let logged-in visitors suggest new terms.

1. Open Components > Easy Glossary > Configuration > Frontend submit.
2. Set Enable frontend submit to Yes.
3. Choose whether create permission is required, whether submissions publish at once, and whether to email an editor.
4. Create a menu item: Easy Glossary > Suggest a term.
5. Save, clear cache, open the form while logged in.

Guests usually see a Log in button with a return URL.

Student tip: Keep auto publish Off until you trust submissions. Review new terms in the Terms list first.

Optional sidebar or footer strip.

1. Go to Content > Site Modules (or System > Site Modules on some installs).
2. Click New and choose Easy Glossary.
3. Pick a position your template supports.
4. Choose a layout mode:
   • A-Z letters
   • List
   • Featured
   • Random
   • Slider
   • Search
5. Optional: limit to one glossary and set how many items to show.
6. Assign the module to All pages or selected menu items.
7. Publish and save.

• No tips in articles

  • Enable Content - Easy Glossary. Publish the term. Confirm the word is plain text (not inside a heading or link). Clear cache and hard-refresh (Ctrl+F5).

• Tips on the wrong pages

  • Use plugin Skip menu items / categories / articles, or add {glossary off} to that article.

• Too many highlights

  • Turn on First occurrence only, or lower Max highlights per page in Configuration.

• Reset database or Install sample does nothing

  • Hard-refresh admin. Those buttons open a confirm popup. Confirm, then wait for the success message.

• A-Z page looks empty

  • Confirm the menu item points at a published glossary that has published terms.

• Old CSS after update

  • Clear Joomla cache and hard-refresh the browser.

• Plugin name shows as PLG_CONTENT_EASYGLOSSARY

  • Reinstall the zip so language files are in place, then clear cache.

• Which Joomla versions are supported?

  • Joomla 4, 5, and 6 with PHP 8.1 or later.

• What file do I install?

  • Unzip EasyGlossary_UNZIP.zip, then install pkg_easyglossary_1.0.2.zip from System > Install > Extensions.

• Do I need the content plugin?

  • Yes, for in-article tips. The package installs it. Keep it Enabled.

• Can I run more than one glossary?

  • Yes. Scope by article categories on the glossary, or limit glossaries in the content plugin.

• Does it need jQuery?

  • No. Easy Glossary uses native JavaScript.

Need help? Open a ticket at support.joomlax.com. Include your Joomla version, PHP version, page URL, and what you expected versus what you saw.

Live demo: demo.joomlax.com/demo/utilities/easy-glossary