Posted by: Qasim Virjee on Friday, 28 September 2007

A little while ago I posted mention of the contest joomla.org is running to find a great new template to ship J1.5 with when it hits the next RC/stable release.

I hadn't checked in on the status of the competition since that post until Peter Russell pointed me to the forum for it this morning and I tell you the stuff people are coming up with is bloody exciting!

There are a couple of new developments in 1.5 underlying my excitement;  namely; you can now assign parameters to templates and then override the formatting extensions are coded with per extension!  Yay! 

Right, so what does this mean? Well, parameters are settings for templates - such as column width and other things usually set in the CSS for the template.  The new system allows a template designer to give the site administrator options pre-coded in CSS that can be chosen from *without* editing the CSS!!!!  Finally, Joomla users with basic knowledge of their site's backend can have control over aesthetic/layout tweaks without jumping in the deep end and risking mucking up their site. Nice.

Okay, so I just explained the parameters (an example is shown in the image above), now for the 'overrides' :

A lot of extensions are coded with formatting/HTML, which lets their output have some visual structure and style - and in most cases you can use a site template to override the styles using CSS... Often cases though CSS isn't enough - sometimes an extension may have fixed-width tabled hard-coded into it or something... until now you'd have to delve into the code and suss out how to change that formatting... well, in J1.5! the template system actually lets you maintain seperate php files to control the output of extensions!  No worries re: messing up code needed for the extension to run; these overrides can be included in the template as additional files, independant of the extensions themselves!!

This isn't all - it gets cooler -  in addition to overriding extension formatting,
you can also override the output of modules!  That's right kids, this is an unprecedented level of control for templating with Joomla and guess what?  One of the submissions for the template contest perfectly uses this power to make managing a template a breeze, with the aim of putting power into the hands of the people who use and manage sites, rather than the people they hire to build/develop them.

You can already download a copy of FreakOut's Freedomblocks to install on your 1.5 dev server and poke around with the, wait for it, 350 parameters it has pre-programmed!  Wow. This is an amazing template and in the next couple of weeks I'll be playing with it to show you how it can really be an exceedingly good framework for creating flexible site aesthetics using all the goodies packed into Joomla 1.5.  Stay tuned.

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Joomla is a fu**ing nightmare posted by Uri on 2007-10-03 It's free, so that's great. I don't mean to complain. But, Joomla is a nightmare. After watching video tuturials and a walkthrough tutorial from compass designs, which of course the author fucked up more ways than I care to recount, as is always the case with "helpful" opensource tutorials (my guess is the people who got the answers don't want to make it TOO easy for anyone else), I finally realized that in order to make a decent site, you need to spend about 100 hours dicking around with premade templates, hacking your own and throwing all this work away and start over from scratch with your trial-and-error obtained knowledge. Every site you make will be custom-built from scratch in order to tailor it to your completely ignorant clients. Joomla has too many options for its own good, really. It's a fu**ing mess. Quote

Whoa, slow down there Uri! posted by designguru on 2007-10-04 Interesting to hear that people are so frustrated with getting started on their Joomla path (I mean hey, that last comment has so many f-words in it, he must be pissed off! :) ) ... Its true; the documentation isn't as user-friendly as possible, though a CMS isn't yet as simple as, say, signing up for a wordpress account and blogging in 5 minutes... building a site with *any* cms takes planning and knowledge of the tools you're using. The more time you spend familiarizing yourself with Joomla, I think, the more you'll be able to do with it and the more intuitive the process of making sites with it will become. But hey, that's why I blog and hopefully if you read whyjoomla often enough you'll find a wealth of info to help you get started... Quote

Joomla templates posted by Custom Web Development on 2007-10-04 I was recently given a coupon to unlimited downloads of Joomla Templates & Ajax Producs for only $10. I was told that the coupon is valid until 10/12/07 and the purchase is a membership good for a year. The coupon is "Unlimited". To redeem go to www.joomlacmssolutions.com and register for membership. When you get to the shopping cart submit the coupon and pay only $10. Their templates are really good and they launch one new template a month. Quote

Lots of great templates to come... posted by designguru on 2007-10-12 I just caught mention of a new Joomlashack template that's been released which really makes decent use of the new template parameter functionalities of J1.5: check out the demo - http://demotemplates.joomlashack.com/weblogic/ . I can't wait to see what new templates people come up with in the next few months... Quote

you must be stupid.. posted by Mani on 2008-02-18 Joomla is developed for easy use, If cant use Joomla then you can not use any CMS in the world. I guess you must be stupid, not Joomla. Someone will come with some stupid CMS, It will be suitable for you. then wait for that, till it comes. Quote

posted by whitenight639 on 2008-05-04 I've been using joomla for over a year and it was hard to get your head round at first but its second nature now and hacking a free template to meet your requirements isnt too difficult, (easier than making one from scratch). Anyway now ive just started with joomla 1.5 and its a pile of shit its got lots of new features but its not right for example when you set a menu item that is for registered users then when someone that isnt registered clicks on it they now get a 404 where as in previous joomla they would get a log-in or register page! it also does funny things with not displaying menu items for no apparent reason, I guess its not the software its me but now ive got another steep learning curve all over again! Quote

Stupid Joomla posted by bad joomla on 2008-05-09 damn stupid joomla, lack of support! bad instalation procedure!!!! fcuk! wasted 6 stupid hours on stupid installation! DONT waste ur time on this stupid joomla! Quote

css parameters posted by xxcemil on 2008-06-02 about css parameters http://css-lessons.ucoz.com/css-parameters.htm Quote

help me posted by html dersi on 2008-06-12 HI i need your help i really want to create my own website/web page but i dont know how to go about doing it so can you please help me out Quote

WOW, you people are nuts! posted by Dan Riefstahl on 2008-08-13 Hey everyone. I started using joomla with version 1.0 in 2006. Now, I am using Joomla 1.55 (the most current release)and it is great. Granted I have 9 years of web design experience and know my way around code. My recommendation for all of you struggling with figuring it out, is to hire a professional to set up your site and modify to your liking. THEN pay him/her to teach you how to administer it yourself. That way, you have a nice professional site and you can take your time learning and exploring. I would even go as far as to have your designer/Developer set us a 2nd install of Joomla on your server that you can tinker with. Take some time to just study the CSS files and the index.php file and try to make sense of it. Quote

"Joomla" shit posted by Joomla hater on 2008-08-30 So stupid product. Like almost all gpl/free products which are not sponsored. Be aware of getting projects based on joomla if you dont want to fuck you brain. Quote

Joomla an exercise in self flagellation! posted by Mekon on 2008-11-13 I can usually figure out most things if I give them enough time, but for the life of me I am unable to make my own template for Joomla. The tutorials are exceptionally poor and almost without exception incomplete. I am really disappointed because I had high hopes given the amount of enthusiastic write-ups I have seen but I am convinced that the people who are recommending it have done nothing more than add a bit of text to a pre-made template. It's a waste of space. Quote

Wow, great language.. you'd think people with such posted by revive on 2008-11-22 @Uri, Joomla hater and bad joomla, First of all, you've got to do better than that,.. just posting ignorant rants on joomla comments sections. Come one guys, if you don't like it.. bounce. Or better yet, become part of the solution rather than some foul-mouth, delinquent sounding mush head.. Let's get real. The first time I jumped into Joomla! I was totally overwhelmed and walked away, only to land on a really simple CMS called Website Baker.. after developing many sites with it, I realized that it was seriously lacking for more than anything but a basic site. So, I search for the most extendable, stable CMS solution, and hands down that is Joomla. Don't believe me? Go install Drupal and let me know how your cope with that! Joomla is simple. I didn't say easy. But, once you get the concept, it gets much easier. I'd recommend buying the books from Pakt Publishing about Joomla. They helped me a lot. If all else fails, at least have the decency and courtesy to use appropriate w... Quote

posted by Brendan on 2009-03-19 Hi guys, I am a bit in both camps here. I have found Joomla to be incredibly frustrating in try to develop ven a basic customised template. No matter what I seem to do - or what instructions I follow - I constantly end up with a blank screen. I know my css is accessable because I can see all the modules and position I have made. After that though, nuffin'! However, I have also played around with a site that has been set up in Joomla. It reminds me of designing applications with in C++ compared to Delphi. Delphi is just add a screen component, click and code. Microsoft method, add and element, associate with something, do soemthing else and THEN code... Once your head is around the fact that you have to perform multiple operations for a single function, all is sweet. I am still frustrated though that simple customisation appears to require some detailed knowledge of backend hacking - or phingers that are less phatter than mine when it comes to keyboard entry mistak... Quote

It can be easier to start using Joomla posted by admin on 2009-03-19 I agree Brendan - there is a learning curve with Joomla that seems steeper than it is when you first get cracking - a lot of that has to do with the UI on the back end; exactly as you say; the multiple actions for what seem to be just 1 change to a site can seem complicated. Have you taken a look @ our Seedling distribution of Joomla? I'd highly recommend it for anyone getting started because it comes pre-loaded with a suite of 3rd party extensions and a template we designed; should flatten out that learning curve :) http://www.plantseedling.com Quote

multpoisk.ru posted by Alesyaiv6 on 2010-07-19 Увлекательный пост, добавила в закладки. Quote

Joomla is a nightmare. posted by martin on 2010-07-24 No really,there is no way to describe how badly made this is,Its so bad that the only explanation is is that it is set up to be un usable for all but the few who spend thousands of hours playing with or the ones who set the rubish up -maybe the make money from it? It bites you on EVERY twist and turn. It defys logic completely. There's no humour to pull you through -even video help is beyond a joke and the guys voice!Man,he'll have you trashing a new computer! Days disapear in a flash and still nothing Adding a link to the menu(a menu) - beyond belief Like being back decades ago. I hate Joomla. Microsoft I love you...l really love you. Quote

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