I am building in Joomla! version 3.3.6 for my first time. I have built a ton of custom Wordpress in the past. The first challenge I have encoutnered, is the requirement of building a page which does not look anything like the template pages. The client desires a landing splash page, with large images and a gradient background. However, they are using a template already. Now, I know that I shouldn't start my research on Stack Overflow, so I've watched hours of tutorials for beginners on Lynda.com. No one seems to be covering this topic. Any help would be really appreciated.
To explain this idea, I will compare to what I would do in Wordpress. I would create a file named "page-splash.php" and give it a template name: Splash. Then I would fill this page with my choice code. Finally I would create a "Page" object in wp backend and give it the "template" of "splash".
This is very possible and often accomplished in Joomla.
You would simply need a second template installed and assigned to the page. In Joomla, you could technically have a different template installed for every single page if you wanted to. But in this case, you just need a 2nd template.
Start by building a bare bones template, as found here: https://docs.joomla.org/Creating_a_basic_Joomla!_template (or copy the current template from /templates/ directory and update the templateDetails.xml file so it will install as a second template)
Install 2nd template via Extension Manager
Next, make sure your new page is linked within the Menu Manager (as you will need a menu assignment to call the new template in next step)
Go to Template Manager and you can assign your new template to the menu item defined in the previous step.
You now have 2 independent templates running on the same installation and they can be styled and configured independent of one another.
Assigning more than one template is such a common task in Joomla that you can find more details about this in the official documentation: https://docs.joomla.org/J3.x:Switching_templates
Joomla is by Default not a Blog/Template layout cms, but rather a web application builder.
You can get extensions to create custom templates that make Joomla function like a blog application such as ZOO or K2. I would not go the route of creating individual templates for each page as it would be similar to installing a different theme for each page on a WordPress site.
Related
I am to develop a Joomla 3.1 Template. The template should consist of a static header and footer, as well as multiple pages, all of which need their own styling. Further, the client would like to be able to add 'events' to a specific listings page. Customers should be able to book said events via a simple form.
Thanks to some really basic guides, I have the header and footer down, as well as some simple template options. However, I am now running into some problems;
How would I approach the content section? Ideally, a page would consist of multiple, editable sections. The client would be able to edit said sections in the backend without having to deal with or accidentally changing the layout or styling of the page itself. Since there are multiple pages, I obviously need different views/containers for each of them. Is this possible and if so, how?
Another problem is the documentation, which I found to be very lacking. Even google only got me so far (basic structure, index.php, templateDetails.xml and so forth). Are there any other resources I may have missed or do I really need to refer to other templates (most of which, obviously, aren't free) and use var_dump all the time?
Writing this, I just realized that I could theoretically build a template for every single page but ... that surely can't be right, right?
If someone could provide a basic outline or at least tell me how you personally would tackle a project like this, it'd be very much appreciated.
All the best
Edit;
I just found some video tutorials but since my bandwidth is limited, I cannot watch them. Please take this into account when writing an answer. Thanks.
I have only one word for you :
GANTRY :D
gantry-framework.org
Joomla revolves around menu items that point to components. For each menu item, you can assign modules to different positions within the template to create a unique page. You only need one template if you really understand how Joomla templating works.
Joomla has very good documentation here - http://docs.joomla.org/
Few things to remember -
Component - this is a type of content or app of sorts. A component will define what content is and how it is displayed. This can be anything from blog articles and categories to an event registration system to a message board or social network. Menu items generally will point to a view in a component.
Modules - these are used to display additional content around the component output. This can be a menu, or a login box, or a weather widget or anything else you can come up with. Modules can be assigned to or excluded from the various menu items on your site.
Plugin - plugins are used to change the final output on a site. They can be used to insert Youtube videos, or forms within content, or even to alter the meta tags on a page.
Understanding how extensions work is an important first step. Once you get how those work, learning how templates and template overrides work will give you most of what you need to know to build a basic Joomla site.
I want to develop a joomla 2.5 porfolio extension.
So I need something in the backend to enter a couple of details.
On my frontpage I want to have listed the six latest projects and there will be a page in the frontend where all projects are listed.
I'm new to this whole joomla thing. At the moment I'm reading through the joomla docs and tutorials.
I'm a little bit confused because I'm not really sure which type of extension do I need.
Can all this be done with a single component or a module or do I have to mix both?
Because what I've understood so far a component can just be displayed as a independent page.
And a module has to be included in a page. Like {lastSixProjects}?
Can some please enlighten me a little bit?
If you want to create a page with portofolio only, you may create a component without a module...
If you want to put your portofolio in eg.: articles pages, search page, in a sidebar etc (like a image slideshow plugin) you must create a module (with a component assigned to it)
Please read this: http://docs.joomla.org/Extension_types_%28general_definitions%29 .
I undestrand that you want to put your portofolio in your front page... in this chase you MUST create a module.
Little explanation:
A module is an extension (similary to boxes, or widgets) that are arranged arround a component (in this chase com_content - on your FrontPage). Eg: Ads Module, Search Box Module etc.
A component is a super complex extension (similary to mini applications). It has an administration part and front-end part. All Joomla! pages loads a component. Eg: Content component, Search component etc.
I hope this will help you.
You want a component. Please read this: http://docs.joomla.org/Extension_types_%28general_definitions%29
Agree on 2 previous answers, you need a component with at least one table to store your projects. Then you need to link to a menu a view of the elements on a table. You should be able to make it work in 15 minutes with this component creator for Joomla http://www.component-creator.com/
Just started developing with Joomla! (2.5), completely newb, read through the docs talking about Plugins, Components and Modules. Having a hard time figuring out which to choose and how to implement. I'd like to have a table similar to the one used in the Plugin Manager in the Joomla! administrator backend where the the results can be searched, filtered and even individual entries can be toggled (Enable/Disable by clicking on Status circle). Can someone point me to a tutorial or even some example code I can in developing this?
I’ve already read a few sites including this (http://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/website/joomla-25/plugin-vs-module-vs-component).
If you want to create page in administrator panel with tables, that display some items, you should develop joomla component.
Look for this: http://docs.joomla.org/Developing_a_Model-View-Controller_(MVC)_Component_for_Joomla!2.5
Note, that only components can provide extended administrator interface for managing some entries, create pages on font-end. Plugins intended only for processing output of components and modules. And modules intended only for display some html on specific positions in front-end template.
Greetings all,
I just wanted to know what is the proper way to do template's in Joomla?
If i have four boxes in footer (4 columns) how can i automate them in the template so their content inside can be managed from the back-end?
So far, i have seen custom html block modules and using those. But wouldn't it be funny if there are loads of such blocks and than managing them from modules individually?
Now suppose if i have a slogan/tag line for my website; and i want it to be managed from backend.. Do i need to create that custom block even for such single line?
May be i am going to wrong direction. Can someone guide me please?
Regards,
Jhon.
A Joomla template is simply a map the outlines the various positions that available to put modules in. These positions are built around the component display area. You can load basically anything you want in to a module position. You will probably need to download some modules from the Joomla Extension Directory, there are tons of options.
The Custom HTML module is appropriate for simple content that is not going to change very often. This would be good for a company tag line that doesn't ever change. There are various modules that would allow you to load content from the latest Joomla articles based on section or category. There are modules for login forms, stock prices, RSS feeds, weather, all kinds of stuff.
I am using symfony 1.4.8 with sfDoctrineGuardPlugin for my backend.
My question is how can i customise sfDoctrineGuardPlugin's default content? For example, how can i do something on the page between filter and table (on the left hand site)? Or, how can i customize table (http://goo.gl/ZmRey)?
I cannot find any solution for using partials on backend. Is there any way to use partials/components/slots on backend?
I hope you understand my question and tell me a way.
Thanks for your answer(s),
Erman
Partials, components and slots are no different on the back-end to the front-end - your "backend" is just another Symfony application. From the screenshot you gave, it looks like you're looking to customise the admin generator theme.
The quickest way to get started with this is to look in your cache/appname/ folder and see the automatically-generated modules here, with all the template files, partial files and so on. You can then create an empty module in your application, and override select parts of the theme with whatever you want to change. See this part of the Symfony docs for a full list of partials etc, and how to go about overriding them in more detail.
In the specific case of sfDoctrineGuardPlugin-module pages, these can be overrided in the same way as normal modules - simply create eg an sfGuardAuth module and override the selected parts of the module you want to.
If you want to go further and create your own admin generator theme, this is a bit more advanced. Here I will shamelessly promote a blog post I wrote last year ;-) John Cleveley's presentation also provides some great tips.