Lesson 16 installing new templates

You have now a website with content, navigation, photos and video's , now we are going to look at templates. The good thing about joomla is that you can easily changes the look and feel without losing any content. There are hundreds of free templates and there are many templates you can buy. I do sometimes buy templates from > yoo templates  if you want to buy one let me know and I will explain how to do this. You can of course design your own, it does take good planning, css knowledge and time. For this lesson we are going to use free templates from siteground, there is no problem looking else where.


1. Go to >   siteground
2. Select a 1.5 template you like and click on download
3. Fill in the form, no need to put in your website URL > tick agree to term and conditions > proceed
4. Go to your mailbox where you find an e-mail from siteground with a URL you can download your template from. Click on this URL and save to your computer.

As always open up your  Public URL and Admin URL in new windows or tabs in your browser

1. In your admin URL go to Extensions > install/ uninstall to open up the extension manager window
2. In upload package file > browse to the template file you just downloaded >  upload file and install
3. Go to Extensions > template manager. To open up your template manager window.
4. Find the template you have just installed and click on the button on the left of its name. Click default top right
5. Go to the public URL. Refresh your page F5 to see the new template.

Repeat this process to add new templates and fee free to search for other templates sites. If you come across some good templates please let me know *smile*

Each template will have its own positions where you can put your modules in.  To find what positions you have go to your main URL and type in ?tp=1 refresh, (F5) at the end to see the positions.

If you have followed the lessons your top menu may not appear.

1. Go to extensions > module manager
2. Find the module called top menu (or any other own you want to change position) and click on its name to open the Module [edit] window.
3. In positions find the position of where the top menu should go.
4. Save (top right)

In your public URL press refresh (F5) and see if the new position is suitable for your site. If not repeat to find the ideal position.

Note - Some templates will come with its own graphics. The graphics will be in a folder on your site under administrator > templates  >(your template name) > images which can be changed, make sure you keep the same name and size. This is best done via ftp. If you have a site with me let me know and I will explain how to change yourself or happy to change graphics over for you *smile*

Happy joomaling

Chris *smile*