Learn How to Design and Manage Joomla Websites

All Joomla templates are not created equal. But some are free to use nevertheless. In this article, I will show you a simple 3-step process for getting and installing free Joomla templates on any of your websites.

But first, let’s take a look at the pros and cons of using free Joomla templates.

Let’s be positive and start with the pros (advantages) first, shall we?

• Free: As the name implies, they are free. You don’t have to spend a dime, nickel or even a penny to get one. If you can find it, you can download and install it. “C’est gratuit!”, as the French would say.

• Simple: This one is like a double-edged sword; it can cut you or cut for you. Simple speaking, the free templates usually don’t have as many features as the commercial Joomla templates. This means that you will find it easier to customize (as there are usually very few options for customizing it anyway), but it also means that your website may not get the right look and feel that you may have envisioned for it “back in the days.”

Now, let’s take a look at some of the red flags for using free Joomla templates:

• Limited Customization Options: As mentioned above, you don’t have as many options to modify and customize the template as you would have if you were working with a commercial or custom-made template. Thus, there may be limited color themes, layouts, SEO options, etc that you can work with. This is a problem especially when you are planning to make your website appear more unique than the Joneses’ own.

• Ad-Supported: Most free Joomla templates are, in one way or another, supported by one or more ads from the template designer. This may be a bit of an issue if you want to be ad-free or look professional. But that’s the cost of using it. Nothing is entirely free online, so if you can’t pay for it yourself, the template maker has to find a way of making money off your website visitors by displaying ads (relevant or irrelevant to your site’s theme and content) to your visitors in the hopes that they will click over and buy something or give away some personal information that he can resell or market to, etc.

• Forced Links Placement: Almost all template designers will require you to leave a live link back to their website on every page of your Joomla website. Some will even have the links appear right next to your site’s menu links. Depending on what you are trying to achieve and the message you are planning to convey with your website, this may not sit well with you. But it is usually required as part of the “Terms of Use” of the template, so removing the links may be illegal as no sort of “compensation” has been made to the designer for the use of his template.

You can read the second part of this article to learn how to install and activate your  Joomla Templates here or grab the 4 hours of Joomla Video Tutorial package that show you how to do it live by visiting http://www.JoomlaWebsitesUnleashed.com

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