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I am planning to begin my Joomla development adventures, so I have been digging up some resources on Joomla beginner such as: Joomla 2.5 Beginner Guide

I think I have grasped the fundamental concept, though I have a doubt that if anyone doesn't mind clearing up for me.

If I have my own template ( I am planning to use my own Twitter Bootstrap template ), and I am planning to convert it to Joomla, and inside that template there are already samples for some modules such as front page slider, testimonials, partner links, etc, from what I understood these have to go as modules, since Joomla allows one component, and many modules in a page (hence a index page might have Welcome message as component, and sliding banner, testimonials as modules).

So my question is do I have to write these testimonials, page slider modules on my own? Since I already have the samples (css and html) and I know how they will be positioned. Wouldn't it be a bit of overkill to write modules for each? What if at later stage I am making another website, and I have another template?

Also, from examples I have seen, Joomla template have only one html template (index.php) which defines all the positions. If I want to define two possible layout for one template, is that possible? Or it has to go in different templates, and I assign them separately in my Template Manager.

Adrian Heine
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JofryHS
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2 Answers2

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Ok firstly, as for the Joomla version, you have 2 choices.

  1. Joomla 2.5 as it's the recommended long term version.

  2. Joomla 3.0, the new short term release which is completely based on Bootstrap, therefore it might be easier to adapt it to make it look like your template.

usually I would recommend Joomla 2.5 but in your case I think Joomla 3.0 might be the best way to go.

As for the modules, you don't necessarily have to write them yourself. You can download all these sort of things from the Joomla Extensions Directory. If you are worried about positioning of modules, then simply ensure that the template has the module positions in the correct place. Using the Joomla 3.0 template and adapting it to look like your template will be much easier when it comes to modules, as it already has a lot or pre-defined positions. If you feel the need to add more, you can do so. See links below:

Adding you own module positions in Joomla 1.5/2.5

Adding you own module positions in Joomla 3.0

I hope this helps you a little bit on your Joomla adventure and good luck.

Almost forgot, please also make sure you keep your Joomla version up to date unlike a lot of the people that post questions on here :) I posted an answer as to why it's important here

Community
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Lodder
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  • I have just bought my own twitter bootstrap template, guess I should look more into templating first, and work my way from there. Thanks for the answer and suggestions! – JofryHS Nov 15 '12 at 11:44
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You absolutely right about Joomla allowing 1 component and many modules! Your also fine to convert your template into a Joomla template. Although note as Joomla 3.0 uses bootstrap (but is still very new and having many new features added to it - even though its technically stable) and thus it might be easier for you to use that. You can easily include bootstrap etc through that framework as well. Link here for how to do that

See the link here about module and module positions in templates. Whilst the numbers at the top say this is for 1.0,1.5 and 2.5. The bit under the 2.5 header also applies to Joomla 3.0!

In terms of different layouts for the template generally its good practice to have two separate templates if the layout changes are significant. However if the layouts differences are small, there is nothing wrong with adding in a Form Field and creating two template styles in the backend and just choosing the layout with a form field for each style!

If you want to use your customized modules I'm afraid yes you do have to do this. However there are module and component writers out there which can make the basics up for you so you can almost copy and paste your code straight into one file (with a few changes here and there). You can also use the Joomla Extension directory though - you may even find something you like more!

In terms of using the modules/components on another site this is actually much easier. Once created you can just go into the Joomla backend and install your extension again and tweak it how you want after that with either FormFields or in template overrides!

Any more questions feel free to ask!

George Wilson
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  • I guess searching for modules well suited for my website might be a better idea. After I found the modules that I want, I will just apply my css styles to the output. Is this the logic intended by Joomla in my case? – JofryHS Nov 15 '12 at 11:45
  • Yes entirely. However I would still use template overrides if you're going to style the output as otherwise if there is a module update your css changes could always be overwritten! The disadvantage of this of course is that your override wouldn't be affected by a major update. But something you always have to think about when you start to make any changes to extensions css/html wise – George Wilson Nov 15 '12 at 13:16