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Joomla Modules and Template Positions Explained

Getting Started · Joomla 4, 5, 6 · Updated June 1, 2026

✅ Verified on Joomla 5.4.6: the Site Modules workflow matches the live admin.

If articles are your main content, modules are the smaller blocks around it — menus, search boxes, banners, “latest articles”, custom HTML, and so on. Modules are placed into template positions.

Step 1 — See your template’s positions

Each template defines named positions (e.g. sidebar-right, top-a, menu). To see them, go to System → Templates → Site Templates, open the Options and enable Preview Module Positions, then add ?tp=1 to a front-end URL to view the position names overlaid on your site.

Step 2 — Create or edit a module

  1. Go to Content → Site Modules.
  2. Click New and choose a module type (e.g. Custom, Menu, Articles – Latest).
  3. Configure it, then set:
    • Position — which template position it appears in.
    • Status — Published.

Step 3 — Control where it shows

Open the module’s Menu Assignment tab to choose the pages it appears on:

  • On all pages, or
  • Only on the pages selected, or On all pages except those selected.

This is how you make, say, a promo block appear only on the home page.

Common module types

  • Menu — your navigation.
  • Custom — free HTML/text (great for promos or notices).
  • Articles – Latest / Popular — automatic article lists.
  • Search / Smart Search — a search box.