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Posts Tagged ‘Joomla Portal Templates’

7 Custom Joomla Template Conversion Tips

Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 by dhaval

Many webmasters are now considering migrating their websites to the Joomla CMS. There are many advantages to migration, however, that is another topic altogether. Depending on the current situation of a website, one needs to decide which is the best alternative - creating a new joomla template or converting an existing template to joomla. There are several factors that need to be taken into account to enable the new website to achieve maximum potential and also allow for future growth.

So you are thinking of converting a joomla template?

A new joomla template is usually intended to improve the look of the website. This is one of the main reasons why many webmasters want a new template. One of the easiest options is to get a ready made plain HTML template from an online templates seller and get it converted to a Joomla Template. Some of the advantages to getting a HTML template converted to Joomla are…

  1. Save Money! Cost is reduced as HTML templates purchased are cheaper than to get a customized design. After the template purchase, all one needs to do is convert it to Joomla or get a proficient programmer to do the conversion.
  2. Save time! Since the design work - which takes a lot of time - has already been done, this approach is generally favoured by those who want a quick redesign. Conversion to joomla is also quicker since the template design is usually in HTML format.
  3. There are thousands of plain HTML templates available nowadays from several sources, free ones like OSWD, Open Source Templates, Open Web Design as well as commercial template sellers such as Template Monster, Templates Box and Boxed Art. All these account for a much higher number of templates than the number of ready made joomla templates one can buy from a template seller. More HTML templates = More choice. Thus getting a joomla template converted gives you a wider choice. Choice is a good thing.
  4. When specifying a template for conversion, one has full control of how the end result is in terms of look and feel. This is sort of control can rarely be achieved when one buys a ready made joomla template. You are in a position to dictate the look and feel as well as the functionality at every stage of the development to ensure that the end result meets the required expectations. This is very important.
  5. Stand out from the rest of the crowd. Buying an attractive template may save you time and money initally but in the end hundreds of thousands of websites out there are using the same template. With the same look and feel. So what separates your site from the rest of the pack?
  6. Some webmasters convert an existing template or website design to a Joomla template to allow the website to be ported over to the Joomla CMS. If the website has a large audience that is already familiar with the site’s structure, layout and content navigation, it is recommended to keep intact the look and feel as well as navigation menu items. This is primarily done so that, returning visitors to the website do not have a difficult time locating the content and resources required. Also a website that has maintained a particular look tends to have enforced its own unique brand that that may have taken years to build and reinforce. Thus one should pay close attention to these factors when designing a template for an existing website with a significant user base… but remember any upgrade always opens up many options and room for improvement!
  7. Why consider anything else? Joomla is an award winning cms with a flexible template presentation architecture. By having a template converted for Joomla you ensure you stay with the most cost effective, feature rich and up-to-date CMS available.

Source: http://www.mozami.net/blog/2006/08/7-reasons-for-joomla-template-conversionhtml

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Ultimate review on Wordpress VS Joomla

Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 by dhaval

So you’re deciding between Wordpress VS Joomla and are not sure which CMS is right for you? Are you new to the world of Blogs and Content Management systems? Does it all sound a bit daunting and confusing? Then checkout this review by Rudolf Boogerman to help you decide which CMS suits your needs best. Rudolf has done a fantastic job of explaining in very simple and easy to use language (for the non technical users) what the strengths and merits of each system are. There is also a counter argument, or disadvantage of both Joomla and Wordpress, so its a pretty balanced review. If there’s only one article you are going to read before you pick your cms, then this is it!

Personally, since both systems are easy to get up and running very quickly, i would recommend trying both out for yourself to see which one you are most comfortable using. Look out for a comment from Joomla’s core team member Wilco Jansen!

Link to the review on miracletutorials.com

Official Sites:

  • Joomla.org (for downloads, documentation, and everything else)
  • Wordpress.org (for downloads, documentation, and everything else)

Forums:

Both of these systems have an excellent community of helpful volunteers and competent developers that have made these two of the most exceptional and most widely used pieces of community driven software web software.

Demos:

  • Joomla has a demo of latest v1.5 available on their demo website.
  • Register on wordpress.com and try out wordpress for yourself, or see the opensourcecms section below for a demo of wordpress.

Another handy site for the undecided webmaster-to-be would be Open Source CMS - which provides a short roundup of commonly available Open Source content management systems avaialble as well as a functional working demo of each - so you can experience each system before you invest your time and energy into choosing the right one for your website or blog.

Source: http://www.mozami.net/blog/2008/09/ultimate-review-on-wordpress-vs-joomla

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Dreamweaver Joomla Template Kit

Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 by dhaval

Joomla 1.5.x Template Dreamweaver Extension

Made by Designers for Designers frustrated with Joomla Template design?
And not being able to use your visual layout program.
Well that’s why we made the Joomla Template Kit Extension.
You will be well on your way to designing Joomla templates like a pro.

Joomla template kit for Adobe Dreamweaver
Buy Now

These are the same tools that Media 65 uses to make custom templates and template conversions.
Start your own template design business. A small investment a large return!

Fast simple and easy!

After watching our Joomla Template Kit Training Videos.
This system will have you turning out Joomla templates like a factory.
With our extension your productivity will go up 110%.
We have made templates with this extension in 10 minutes flat.

Click here to see a Template Conversion Video in Ten minutes to prove it!

How?

There are a ton of reasons but I’ll start with a few.
J Xml Wizard Joomla uses an Xml file to install its templates.
Which is called templatedetails.xml this file holds a ton of information like the designers name, date,
version of the template and every file used in your design.
If you have twenty images well that’s twenty items that need to be written to the file.

Joomla Template XML Wizard

Joomla template details file also uses what are called module positions which also need to
be written to this file. Our J XML Wizard takes care of all this in one shot and more.

Joomla J CSS designer

CSS is not easy for even seasoned pros so we have made a special tool that maps out Joomla’s
CSS in Dreamweaver so you can not only ID the Joomla CSS class but see which parts are affected.

Joomla Css designer page

This tool is super powerful because it lets you see most of Joomla’s core components and Modules are
sectioned off and categorized in and out of Dreamweaver.
Our CSS styles are commented and broken down to parts for easy debugging.
So now you can style your layout and your inside content right in Dreamweaver.

Template conversions to Joomla

That’s right we have a tool for that to.
Now just to have full disclosure some templates just don’t convert well to Joomla.
It’s not anyone’s fault. Some templates just do not hold dynamic data well.
We have a special J tool that takes an HTML page or PHP page and
copies all the code inside the body tag’s which is where your layout is located.

Then it erases all the code inside the file that you’re converting.
It adds special Joomla header code then adds back your layout to the file.
So now you have your template almost converted to Joomla format.
You make a template with our Joomla template wizard which makes
the basic template files for a Joomla template for you.

Copy your converted template layout file and media files.
That you just converted to a Joomla format to the template folder made with our Joomla template wizard.

Delete the index.php file made by our template wizard and rename your HTML template file to index.php.
Copy your images to our image folder add your CSS styles to our styles.
Run our images wizards to convert your template images to work with Joomla.

Add your Joomla module positions to your index.php page with our
J module positions include tool. Then run J XML wizard and upload the
template to your Joomla testing server. Guest what you’re basically done.

Lastly there are a ton of features with our Dreamweaver extension.
But I don’t want you to see all your gifts in one shot.
For advance template designers we have J conditions which let you add
conditions to show and hide part of your template based on conditions.
Plus you can add your own custom Joomla Module positions names
and styles with our extension and use them on other template projects.

Other wizards let you add Adobe Flash to your Joomla Templates and our
image wizards convert images to Joomla and back to Dreamweaver viewable format in one click.
Joomla Template Kit 3.X Manual and “How to videos” available online.

Product software License and upgrade policy!

Product license:
One time cost for Life time License of $99.99 USD
Joomla Template Kit license allows you to run the software on your computer indefinitely.
Along with this license, you will receive one year of free updates.
Beyond the first year, you will have to pay a nominal fee, Currently $35.00* USD, to obtain updates for an additional year.
This is not “Recurring Billing” you choose to upgrade or not.
You will “not” be billed automatically.

**Note: License all rights reserved we reserved to change the terms of the EULA*
Please note: This Product is download only! at this time.
The files are very large 100MB* to 480MB plus.
You will need a fast connection a DSL or Cable Modem a true connection 256 KB Plus or Do Not Order!
All Companies Mention Names, Trademarks, Copyright are owned by the mention parties.

Source: http://www.howtomambo.com/articles-products-the-joomla-template-kit-dreamweaver-joomla-template-kit-1.html

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Creating a Pure CSS Template in Joomla!

Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009 by dhaval
Do you want web code that is easier to validate to W3C standards, loads faster, is easier to maintain, and performs better in search engines? Barrie North shows you how to create a template in Joomla that uses CSS to produce a layout without use of tables.

In this chapter, we’ll go through the steps of creating a Joomla template. Specifically, we will create a template that uses Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to produce a layout without use of tables. This is a desirable goal because it means that the template code is easier to validate to World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standards. It also tends to load faster, be easier to maintain, and perform better in search engines. These issues are discussed in detail later in the chapter.

In This Chapter

  • What is a Joomla template? What functions are performed by a Joomla template, and what is the difference when a template has no content versus when content is added into the Content Management System (CMS).
  • How does the localhost design process differ to that of a static (X)HTML web page?
  • What are the implications of tableless designs in Joomla and the relationship between W3C standards, usability, and accessibility?
  • What files make up a Joomla template, and what functions do they perform?
  • How do you create a source-ordered 3-column layout using CSS rather than tables?
  • What are the basic CSS styles that should be used with Joomla, and what are the default styles that are used by the Joomla core?
  • How do you place and style modules, and what are some new techniques for rounded corners?
  • What would be a simple strategy to produce lean CSS menus that mimic the effect of those developed with JavaScript?
  • How do you control when columns are shown and hide them when no content is present?
  • What are the proper steps to create a real Joomla 1.5 template?

What Is a Joomla Template?

A Joomla template is a series of files within the Joomla CMS that control the presentation of the content. The Joomla template is not a website; it’s also not considered a complete website design. The template is the basic foundation design for viewing your Joomla website. To produce the effect of a “complete” website, the template works hand in hand with the content stored in the Joomla databases. An example of this can be seen in Figure 9.1.

Figure 9.1 Figure 9.1 Template with and without content

Figure 9.1, part A, shows the template in use with sample content. Part B shows the template as it might look with a raw Joomla installation with little or no content. The template is styled so that when your content is inserted, it will inherit the stylesheet defined in the template such as link styles, menus, navigation, text size, and colors to name a few.

Notice that the images associated with the content (the photos of the people) are not part of the template but the header is.

Using a template for a CMS, as Joomla does, has a number of advantages and disadvantages:

  • There is a complete separation of content and presentation, especially when CSS is used for layout (as opposed to having tables in the index.php file). This is one of the main criteria for a site that meets modern web standards.
  • A new template, and hence a completely new look to a website, can be applied instantly. This can even have different locations/positioning of content as well as colors and graphics.
  • If different layouts are called for within one website, it can be difficult to achieve.

Although different templates can be applied to different pages, this built-in functionality is not reliable. Much better is to use conditional PHP and create a layout that dynamically adjusts the number of columns based on what content is published.

The Least You Need to Know

Modern websites separate content from presentation using a technology known as Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). In Joomla, the template controls the presentation of the content.

Source: http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1152145

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