This article gives step-by-step instructions on how to get started various sigplus package components.

The sigplus package installs the following extensions:

• The sigplus content plug-in (plg_content_sigplus) is the heart of sigplus and contains all necessary files for sigplus to be fully operational. Once plg_content_sigplus has been installed and enabled, you can use the content plug-in by typing gallery activation tags in content items. All other sigplus extensions require plg_content_sigplus to be installed and enabled, or they will trigger an error message otherwise.
• The sigplus module (mod_sigplus) is a supplement to the sigplus content plug-in that allows you to have a sigplus gallery in a module position without using the activation tag.
• The sigplus search plug-in integrates a new search criterion Images into standard Joomla site search.
• The sigplus editor button plug-in adds a new button to your Joomla editor that lets you embed a sigplus activation tag using a dialog interface.

Content plug-in

The sigplus content plug-in generates image galleries in place of activation tags (e.g. {gallery}myfolder{/gallery}) embedded in the text of articles.

Quick start

Below you find a step-by-step guide for using the sigplus content plug-in once the sigplus extension package has been installed in Joomla 3.0 or later.

• Log in to the Joomla administration back-end.
• Open the menu Extensions and choose Plugins.
• Click the button Search tools and select the type content from the drop-down list in the top right corner of the page.
• Find Content - Image gallery - sigplus in the list. Click the red marker in the column Enabled, which will turn into a green marker with a tick.
• Open the menu Content and choose Media.
• Click the button Create folder in the header row, and type myfolder next to the newly appeared button Create Folder and press the button. A new folder called myfolder will appear in the Files panel.
• Click the folder icon myfolder. The folder should be empty.
• Click the button Upload in the header row, click Choose files and select an image file (with extension .jpg, .png, .gif or .webp) on your local computer. Be careful not to choose a huge file of several megabytes. Click Start upload. After a short while, the image file should appear in the folder. Repeat as necessary with some other files.
• Open the menu Content and choose Articles. Click the title of an existing article to open it.
• Type the following (do not copy-and-paste from here) into the editor: {gallery}myfolder{/gallery}.
• Click Save. When the article is shown in the front-end, an image gallery will be displayed in place of {gallery}myfolder{/gallery}.

Module

sigplus can also be assigned to a template module position:

• Log in to the Joomla administration back-end.
• Open the menu Extensions and choose Modules.
• Click the green button New in the top left corner of the page.
• Find sigplus in the list, and click the label sigplus to create a new module instance.
• On the right-hand side, choose a Position from the drop-down list for the new instance. Consult your template documentation as to what content positions are available.
• Fill in other fields as desired. At minimum, you should specify a Title for the module instance, and an Image source where your gallery images are located.
• Click the button Save & Close. The new module instance will show up in the designated position.

Search plug-in

The sigplus search plug-in integrates a new search criterion Images into standard Joomla site search.

In the administration back-end, click Extensions, then Plugins, click the button Search tools, and select type search from the drop-down list, and finally enable Search - Image gallery - sigplus.

In order to test the search plug-in, add a search module to the site front-end if you do not already have one, and type a phrase into the search box, and see how image results are included in the search results. Image search looks in image filename, title and description, and a generic phrase like jpg should produce several results.

Editor button plug-in

In the administration back-end, click Extensions, then Plugins, and select type editor-xtd (editor extender) from the drop-down list, and finally enable Button - sigplus.

Open any article in Article Manager and the sigplus editor button (with label sigplus and an icon showing a picture) should appear above or below the editor text area.

The sigplus editor button requires the sigplus content plug-in to be enabled.

Further reading

Basic usage gives several working examples of how to use sigplus in a Joomla article, whereas Advanced usage covers more sophisticated use cases. For a complete list of sigplus parameters, check out Back-end configuration settings.