Installing of Joomla! 1.5 is pretty easy. We assume you have set-up your Web site, and it is accessible with your browser.

Download Joomla! 1.5, unzip it and upload/copy the files into the directory you Web site points to, fire up your browser and enter your Web site address and the installation will start.

For full details on the installation processes check out the Installation Manual on the Joomla! Help Site where you will also find download instructions for a PDF version too.

We hope that we can highlight your contribution to the planet's joy. What will it take to make it so?

First, we can only deal with websites. Nothing against that cool transport mechanism that you are trying to promote (or just get working consistently.) But our links are to this virtual world, and only tangentially to the real world. Sorry.

So, send us the site for your music, your health benefitting ideas, or whatever art you want to promote to the world.

That's probably it. Though we might take more time...or decide that we can't swing that way. In which case, it is our judgement and that's all there is too it. Our apologies in advance and good luck to us all. 

You indeed can change the Menu Item's Type to whatever you want, even after they have been created.

If, for instance, you want to change the Blog Section of a Menu link, go to the Control Panel->Menus Menu->[menuname]->Menu Item Manager and edit the Menu Item. Select the Change Type button and choose the new style of Menu Item Type from the available list. Thereafter, alter the Details and Parameters to reconfigure the display for the new selection as you require it.

No you don't. Versions of MySQL lower than 4.1 do not have built in UTF-8 support. However, Joomla! 1.5 has made provisions for backward compatibility and is able to use UTF-8 on older databases. Let the installer take care of all the settings and there is no need to make any changes to the database (charset, collation, or any other).