Like most applications, Contao includes a variety of settings that affect the entire installation.  These settings are found within the Global Configuration section of the System>Settings back end module.  Each setting is identified and defined in the following tutorial.

Setting the Global Configuration Options in Contao

1. Login to the Contao Back End as an Administrator
2. Along the left side of the screen you will see the Back End Modules.  Scroll down the list of these modules until you find SYSTEM section.  In this group, click on SETTINGS and you will find the following:
   
   
   
   The following table summarizes these settings:
   

   Configuration option	Description	Setting
   Relative Path to the Contao Directory	Relative path to the Contao Directory; normally set during installation	path based on install location
   Minify the markup	Minimizes HTML markup before being sent to browser; optimizes code; requires PHP Tidy extension	check box to enable
   Disable the command scheduler	Disables periodic command scheduler; allows for manuals cron jobs to run	check box to enable
   Character set	Allows user to specify character set to be used; default is utf-8	Type in the character encoding to be used
   Compress Scripts	Creates a compressed version of the combined CSS and Javascript files. Requires that mod_rewrite be activated via .htaccess.	Check box to enable
   Run in Safe Mode	Turns off all extensions/add-ons execpt the core modules	Check box to enable

NOTE:  Be aware that the Run in Safe Mode option will cause any extension to be inoperable when enabled. 


3. Click on the fields of the options you wish to modify, or check/uncheck the checkboxes for each option you wish enable or disable.
4. When you have finished entering the values and options to enable in the Global Configuration, click on SAVE or SAVE AND CLOSE in the bottom left-hand corner of the screen in order to save your entries.

There are a variety of effects that the Global Configuration will have on the front end website. The Relative path and Character sets determine where files will be referenced and the character set used for displaying characters.  Minify the markup and Compress scripts are made to help with optimizing the HTML, CSS and Javascript files running on the website respectively.  While the Disable command scheduler allows you to manually set cron jobs while disabling some automatic internal options that are run directly by Contao.  The Run in safe mode allows you to load only the core modules to help with troubleshooting issues on the website.  All of these global settings are of great importance to the website and should be used with caution in order to meet the various needs for the operation and development of your Contao site.