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September 2008

2008-09 Joomla! Community Magazine

Joomla! Community Magazine - Learning

Joomla! 1.5 and the Million Dollar Wedding

Joomla!, quick, rapid, fast, speedy and custom

Written by Arno Zijlstra
Joomla! 1.5 and the Million Dollar Wedding
Template Folder
Menu Items
Design
Download Source and Conclusion
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Jessica

Ring, ring,

Arno: Hello, this is Arno speaking.

Jessica: Hi Arno this is Jessica and you need to help me out!

Arno: Hi Jess what’s up, what can I help you with?

Jessica: Sander and me are selected to be one of the last 100 candidates for the Million Dollar Wedding TV show and we need a cool website fast to be able to promote ourselves …. and you are my man J

Arno: Ha, well thanks for the honor /Arno shakes head

Jessica: Can you get me a great website in the next couple of days? I know you are very busy but it’s me here, your lovely niece…

Arno: Yeah, yeah, ok, I can do that but you need to add and manage the content yourself trough the Joomla! Content Management System.

Jessica: Great, I can do that … I hope, I need a domain too so let me know when I can start, need to go now creating a flyer, catch you later, you’re the best I love you.

Sunday night, there I sat and my plate was full of work but what can you do in a situation like this. There is only one thing you can do … download Joomla! 1.5, fire up your localhost and get rocking.

The installer is running smoothly and within a few minutes I have the site without Joomla! default data up and running and ready for a new clean custom site and template. You could of course opt for a free template or a template from one of the many template clubs in a situation like this, but since building custom templates is my specialty and passion I always start my templates from scratch. I like things to be unique.

There are solid reasons for building a template from scratch to match the needs and goals a site or client has regarding branding or the markup. A site should be light weight, SEO effective and accessible. Free and template club templates are great but they are built to be used by many people and therefore in many cases include lots of functions, features and render lots of (x)HTML and CSS you may not even need for your website.

So, starting from scratch it is, and I will try to walk you through the process I take from start to finish in a fast and not too complicated way.


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11 Comments

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  1. avatar Creemer makes this comment

    2008-09-30 16:53:25

    Hi, Thanks. Very informing and stimulating, and a personal push in the right direction since it reassured me i am on the right track. I thaught myself basic XHTML/CSS and got drawn to Joomla! only to find things like 'm kind of learning all this in the grass routs way, bottom up, evrything side by side. The way you described the process of creating a template is very helpful for me, since it explains the basics, tells you how to fill it in, but doesnt muddy the waters by giving examples. Just step for step. Now I can finally put my website, which i finished weeks ago, into Joomla!! Check it out in a week or so: www.psychopompos.nl it's in dutch, but look great anyway. Cheers again. Chiel

  2. avatar Peter Martin makes this comment

    2008-10-08 00:05:43

    Great blog post... Very informative! Thanks for supplying this information and the source code for your solution!

  3. avatar Nidhi Mangal makes this comment

    2008-10-15 04:23:40

    Free template and template club templates are great but they are built to be used by many people and therefore in many cases include lots of functions, features and render lots of (x)HTML and CSS you may not even need for your website. Isn't it Jhoomla have extra code that one may not even need for their websites?

  4. avatar Amit makes this comment

    2008-11-07 10:52:57

    nice and preety cool article for beginners scratching their head for some basic things Amit

  5. avatar Amit makes this comment

    2008-11-07 10:53:52

    nice and preety cool article for beginners scratching their head for some basic things Amit

  6. avatar Amit makes this comment

    2008-11-07 10:54:32

    nice and preety cool article for beginners scratching their head for some basic things Amit

  7. avatar Krishna makes this comment

    2008-11-08 05:22:48

    Great Work! good guide to develop the website and thanks for the source code. Cheers1 Krishna

  8. avatar Jon makes this comment

    2008-11-17 01:17:11

    "Go to Extensions -> Module Manager and edit the Sub menu module." I can't find a Sub Menu module. Can anyone help?

  9. avatar Komang makes this comment

    2008-11-17 06:52:38

    Very informative! Excellent. Your design look like simple but interesting.

  10. avatar Rachel makes this comment

    2008-11-19 10:57:48

    Many thanks for this tutorial, and the source code! I've been trying to build a template from scratch, and had figured a lot out from various sources, but this article has really clarified things for me. I wish I'd found it sooner! Also, love all the comments in the code - they really help! Many thanks, Rachel

  11. avatar Charles makes this comment

    2008-11-20 13:25:11

    I finally got around to reading your article. You have done a great service by providing clear and detailed instructions on creating a template. You have taken the mystery out of working with them. I worked on my very first template, according to your instructions, this morning and I'm still smiling. I will be doing custom templates from now on. Thanks again. The Joomla! community is fantastic.
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