How to Choose a Joomla Template

1. Lay it out
Draw out the layout of your page before looking for Joomla templates. The layout will tell you if you need a one, two or three column template, and you will know all the module positions required to display all your content. Make sure you have defined your information architecture before creating your layout. That way you'll know what information you want to appear on the site.

2. Rounded or square
Decide if you want rounded or square modules and design elements. The template galleries are often sorted by these two criteria. Rounded corner templates tend to be softer and more techno in their designs. Square corners are often more minimalistic and often better for corporate sites such as financial planning or insurance.

3. Color range
Select a specific color scheme or color range for your Joomla template. This could be the color of your logos or other marketing materials. It's important to tie in your offline and online marketing materials.

4. Menu design
Do you want a horizontal or vertical menu? Drop-downs or no drop-downs? Think about how many menu items you have when determining what shape your menu will be.

5. Dark or light
Do you want a really white or light design, or are you going for dark and mysterious? If you have a lot of informational content a dark background is not appropriate because when people print the white type it comes out blank on the paper.

6. Design feel
Do you want something corporate and austere, or are you looking for playful and whimsical? Perhaps you work with children, animals or a specific group of individuals, so looking for a web design that follows this theme will shortcut your search time.

7. Go look for your template
Now that you know what to look for, you are ready to go searching for your template.

There are many attractive free templates that you can use for your Joomla website. The disadvantage of a free template is that they rarely come with developer support so if you get stuck, there is no help source to fall back on. In addition, it's not uncommon for free templates to not be cleanly coded, and they may not function exactly as you might hope. For free templates, go to Google and search for "free Joomla templates". There are dozens of sites to download free templates, and more are added all the time.

Commercial templates tend to be better designs and usually come with commercial support. They often come with quick start files that allow you to quickly install and configure the template to look exactly like the demo on the developer's website. The disadvantage of course is that you have to pay money. Some you pay by the template, and others charge a membership fee to gain access to their library. But if you're looking for something attractive and want to get some support, it's usually worth the fee.

Company

Some Free?

Cost

Quickstart File

Tech Support

yes

$30-$58

yes

yes

yes

$50-$90

online

yes

no

$41-$161

yes

yes

yes

$47

no

yes

yes

$59-$499

yes

yes

yes

$40-$195

yes

yes

yes

$35-$45

no

yes

no

$59-$199

no

yes

yes

$39-$189

yes

yes

yes

$38

yes

yes

There are many websites that provide free or paid tutorials for learning Joomla. We have found the following be some of the best:

               
       

When some people think of templates, they remember templates from other places and think that a Joomla template will be boring and not represent them well. Templates for Joomla have come a long way and there are many very attractive options to choose from.

Choosing a pre-designed template saves you time and possibly money. When designing without a pre-built template you first have to design your site, and then you have to get the Joomla PHP template built. Designing is not an easy task, but as website developers we have found Joomla template development takes a lot of experience and precise knowledge. Building a template on your own could be a very frustrating experience.

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