I am brand new to Joomla. I have installed Joomla on my Windows PC (XAMPP, Apache, MySQL, PHP). I have created just a sample site just to see if it works.
Now, I want to create professional visually stunning sites, and I’m stuck. I appreciate Joomla.org for providing this nice CMS platform, but I need more than what they offer. With the parameter-based CMS, it’s so cumbersome to get nice looking web elements that you want ready to use like tabs. Do I just need to install custom templates? Where can I get free Joomla templates that looks nice. Please, give me a link to high quality templates. I’m not looking for blog-style templates with simple headers like WordPress.org or Blogger.com. I’m looking for high quality Joomla templates that have the visual presence as well as complex programming elements such as shopping carts using PayPal, opt-ins, user login form and database. Please help. Are there any free ones? I’m willing to pay if the prices are reasonable. Thanks.
Thanks, cazpa. I didn’t see yours until after I posted this one.
Thanks, B Smith. I appreciate your info as well.
Thanks fish out of water and technojunkie.
I appreciate everyone’s help.
If you can design a site in html you can make a template for joomla.
Design your site with what want, custom for your needs. Then plug in modules where you need them to be driven by the CMS system.
I work for a web design company that uses Joomla as our main CMS. We design custom templates for every site… so I really don’t know of a good place to download them.
It is really not hard to make a custom template for you needs. I say look in the default template for the "calls" for the different sections. Like User1, User2, Left, etc. Then you stick those in your layout and assign modules to those areas in the admin.
As far as logins and a database, those are standard, any other features you need (paypal linking modules, etc) you can just search for them online and install them in the admin.
Once they are installed, you can just assign them where you want just like the standard features.
Good Luck.
2 comments on this topic
20. August - 10:13 pm
Hi bret
I just answered your other question but if you need any…
References :
http://cazpa.com
20. August - 10:19 pm
If you can design a site in html you can make a template for joomla.
Design your site with what want, custom for your needs. Then plug in modules where you need them to be driven by the CMS system.
I work for a web design company that uses Joomla as our main CMS. We design custom templates for every site… so I really don’t know of a good place to download them.
It is really not hard to make a custom template for you needs. I say look in the default template for the "calls" for the different sections. Like User1, User2, Left, etc. Then you stick those in your layout and assign modules to those areas in the admin.
As far as logins and a database, those are standard, any other features you need (paypal linking modules, etc) you can just search for them online and install them in the admin.
Once they are installed, you can just assign them where you want just like the standard features.
Good Luck.
References :
http://www.google.com/search?q=free+joomla+templates
http://extensions.joomla.org/
20. August - 10:33 pm
OK, the templates and plugins are separate.
I usually design my own templates for Joomla, from scratch using HTML, CSS and Photoshop. But you indicated that you wanted to download templates, so here you go:
1. To find templates, my favorite sites are:
- Joomlart: http://www.joomlart.com
- RocketTheme: http://www.rockettheme.com/
- JoomlaShack: http://www.joomlashack.com/
Those 3 are all paid though, but they make good templates. Some free listings:
http://www.joomla24.com/
http://www.siteground.com/joomla-hosting/joomla-templates.htm
Plus you can do a simple Google search for "free joomla templates" and find many more, I’m sure.
2. To find cool plugins like shopping carts, etc, view the listings on the Joomla site:
- http://extensions.joomla.org/
FYI: Joomla already has a built-in user login form. You may need to poke around the Documentation: http://docs.joomla.org/ to learn your way around the interface (if you haven’t already).
References :
Many years of experience with Joomla!
20. August - 10:59 pm
Your best bet would be to get custom templates or use some ready made templates for free. Also, you need to install extensions for paypal support.
References :
http://www.joomla24.com
http://extensions.joomla.org