General Guidance:
If you have a question while learning about, using, or developing Joomla, then it's likely to be on-topic. In the spirit of optimising the knowledge sharing experience, Joomla Stack Exchange has a generous/broad question scope. There are some exceptions; see What types of questions should I avoid asking?
To clear up any misconceptions, it can be perfectly valid to ask questions about using Joomla in a non-development capacity.
Rationale:
It is an impediment to contribution for Joomla users to be uncertain about whether they should post their Joomla-related questions here or on one of the many technological Stack Exchange sites. To overcome this, Joomla users are welcome to ask questions which were encountered while using Joomla (even if their problem is regarding, say, basic PHP, Javascript, SQL, etc.).
Furthermore, by asking for support on Joomla Stack Exchange, there is a much higher probability of receiving Joomla-specific advice for basic programming problems versus asking on a non-Joomla support platform. Potential scenarios include page re-directing, secure database querying, AJAX processing, and more.
Categorical Guidance:
On-topic questions are likely to belong to one of the categories in the non-exhaustive list below.
- Installation, Administration & Configuration
- Templates & Extensions Development
- Using Joomla API
- Integrations between Joomla and other Platforms - pertaining to the Joomla side of things.
- Development and Administration Best Practices
- Server Configuration for Joomla
- 3rd party Extensions, Templates, Hosting
- Extension Recommendations -- please read this JSE Meta page.
Additional References:
- To better understand how to ask a good, on-topic question, please see the other help pages relating to Asking.
- Watch ♦mickmackusa's JDay USA 2021 presentation on Joomla Support Platforms and hear an impassioned explanation of why you should post your Joomla questions on Joomla Stack Exchange.
- See this Meta page if you wish to discuss the content on this help page.