Learn How to Design and Manage Joomla Websites

One of the things that makes it worthwhile to design and develop websites using the Joomla CMS is the endless supply of high quality Joomla templates (free, commercial and even custom made) that are available to you to both use and tweak to your heart’s content. You can then use these to make your site look and feel as unique, fresh and interactive as you want it without costing you an arm and a leg in the process.

Here, I will show you a simple 3-step process to getting and installing Joomla templates on your website. I call it the “PDI Formula.” Don’t worry, it has nothing to do with complicated mathematical or philosophical algorithms or “geek talk.”

If you are ready, here are the steps:

1.       Procure: This is where you go out there and get the best Joomla templates that you can get for your website. There are technically 3 types of Joomla templates that are available out there, going by the cost of getting them. In a nutshell, these are:

a.       Free Joomla Templates: These are the ones that are out there that every man and his dog can download and use on their sites. They come with “strings attached.” They are either ad-supported, recquire live links to the template designer’s website or a combination of both.

b.      Commercial Joomla Templates: These are for sale and have none of the strings associated with free Joomla templates attached. You can buy commercial Joomla templates one at a time, in packages or through monthly subscriptions to Joomla Template Clubs. The commercial ones also have more template customization options than the free ones and usually are look and feel far more professional than the free ones for obvious reasons: you paid money for these ones.

c.       Custom-Designed Joomla Templates: This is when you approach a template designer, give them information about the specification, graphics, color themes and other details and have them create a Joomla template just for you. These premium Joomla templates usually costs a little higher than the commercial templates as they are tailored to your particular needs and custom-made for your delight and ego, so to say.

2.       Download: The second step in setting up your Joomla template is to download it to your computer. Whether you are working with free, commercial or custom-made templates, you will have to do this to start the actual process of uploading and installing the template on your Joomla website.

3.       Upload and Install: Once you have the template on your computer, the next step is to upload it to your website. You can do this manually by logging onto your website hosting account’s “Control Panel” (from where you usually manage files, emails, check websites stats, etc. You get the point. J ) You will then go the “File Manager” section, navigate to the directory where you installed Joomla, click on the folder where the Joomla templates are stored and upload the new template to the same directory.

The easier, simpler and more preferable way to install your new template is to login to the admin area (“backend”) of your Joomla website (the /administrator directory, from where you manage all aspects of your site) and upload it from there. You can do this by opening the “Extensions” tab and clicking on the “Upload and Install” link after selecting the template from your computer. It should be uploaded and installed in a minute (usually in a few seconds after you click on that link).

And, voila! You have just uploaded and installed a new Joomla template on your website. The next thing you may want to do now would be to edit the template to suit yourself and your needs! J

You can learn how to edit Joomla templates and other aspects of Joomla website design and development by watching the over 4 hours of comprehensive Joomla Video Tutorials available from http://www.JoomlaWebsitesUnleashed.com . J

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