A good template provides a solid base for your site. The closer the template is to your final vision, the smoother the rest of your web construction will go. Picking a Joomla template can be difficult, as there are thousands of these things out there. I’ve picked three this week, and that’s enough for a little while! Still, it gets easier each time. Here are a few pointers that helped me streamline the process.
First, make sure you’re choosing the right kind of template. I spent a couple hours looking for a template for my dad’s church website before I realized I’d been browsing Joomla 1.5 Legacy templates… but we want a Joomla 1.5 template, and there is a difference. Legacy templates were built for Joomla 1.0 but can be made to work in 1.5 using a plug-in. It’s better to find a template native to 1.5; things will work better in the long run.
It also made choosing easier when I had an idea of what I wanted before I started looking. For one site, I knew I wanted a dark template, one column, and no banner. These three attributes significantly narrowed an otherwise overwhelming list of 3,000 possible templates. (To see the template I chose, visit www.lowthiandesign.com,)
Alternatively, you can first find a template that you like and then develop your layout around it. I find this more burdensome than the above method, but I am sure it works well for some. This may be a good tactic if you are unable to come up with a good layout beforehand. The template demo sites spark ideas and let you know what is possible with each template.
Sometimes you will find a template you like, but you have to pay to remove the developer’s watermark. If the template is exactly what you are looking for, and you have the cash, then by all means buy it. They usually cost between $25 and $65. Otherwise, free and open source templates are great alternatives. To find these, you need to make sure your template of choice is licensed as free or open source. One such license to look for is GNU GPL.
Finally, here are my favorite places to look for templates: tinyurl.com/lowthian2 and bestofjoomla.com. Good luck and happy picking!
We love using great templates! We especially appreciate those who offer up their great templates to the world, just as we offer to do web work without expectation for compensation. Some do ask for donations, and I would encourage you to support their work, just as we ask for donations to support our work.