Where to find Joomla CSS templates?

[BinkyMelnik]

Folks:

I finally (*finally*!) got myself a CMS. I went with Joomla, after struggling with and failing to make Typo3 work. I've been managing all my pages by hand, and it's *grody*. It's put ten years on me, at least. (See my photo over there? <-- I'm really only 24! ;-)

Thing is I wanna get started in a hurry (I have a bizillion other things to do), so I located a Joomla template which more or less resembles what I already have at Snarkish, thinking I'd just do some tweaks to it, but it's all *tables*! Barf! Do you happen to know off the top of your head where I can find a template which uses CSS and is a three-column layout that's fairly simple that I can modify it to make it look like Snarkish?

The process of finding the one I found was long, protracted, and ugly (it's awfully hot here, and the air conditioners keep tripping the circuit breaker), and I can't bear the thought of looking at a couple hundred more templates. (Never crossed my mind that any of them'd use TABLES. Just didn't occur to me.)

I'd sure be grateful for a pointer. I have a lotta content I wanna get up and then be able to stop worrying about it!

[digiweb]

Try rocketthemes and joomlart. If that doesn't do it for ya ping me, I have a list somewhere.

[cloudtrance]

http://www.compassdesigns.net/tutori...a-website.html

The above tutorial will do fine if you have the inclination to go thro a small learning curve - that is in case you dont know css and like. If u know css its a breeze.

Most free joomla templates are tables based. unless you want to buy from rocketthemes and other template sites.

The best way is to learn it yourself.

[BinkyMelnik]

Cloud:

Most free joomla templates are tables based

That's a drag! was sure that by now, all the "professional" stuff must surely be CSS-based. Phooey!

Well, I've already got a three-column layout in CSS I built, so I guess I'll read the tutorial you pointed me to and make the necessary tweaks to turn it into a Joomla template. No sense in reinventing the wheel.

Thanks for the URL; it looks tasty! I appreciate it.

[digiweb]

binky and cloud, you guys feel comfortable doing that tutorial? I'm impressed. I can put joomla calls in an existing template but I'm not very good with photoshop.

Here are some xhtml free joomla templates
joomla-templates.com
http://www.joomla-templates.com/inde...d=13&Itemid=27

joomladesigns.co.uk
http://www.joomladesigns.co.uk/optio...ect/id,11.html

joomla-templates.com
http://www.joomla-templates.com/inde...d=13&Itemid=27

[Kitchen Designer]

Hi Binky,

My Joomla sites (see sig) use this CSS template.

[BinkyMelnik]

Kitchen:

My Joomla sites (see sig) use this CSS template

You don't worry about this part in the template description?:

This layout fails in IE4.5/Mac. That browser has poor support for CSS absolute positioning, yet it recognizes and executes the CSS @import statement used to hide CSS from broken browsers. Currently, there is no known solution.

That'd scare me! I still have a lotta users of OS 9. I'm gonna hafta try to remember to ask one of 'em what that page looks like to them.

[Kitchen Designer]

No, I didn't know that. Doh!

However, less than 2% of my traffic are Mac users so I am not that concerned yet.

Thanks for pointing that out Binky. Did you find anything suitable for yourself yet?

[BinkyMelnik]

Kitchen:

Did you find anything suitable for yourself yet?

I haven't looked. It took me sooooooooo many hours to locate the one that uses tables that I've been poring ove the tutorial mentioned above thinking I'll just adapt the layout I have now, since it's what I want. It's slow going, but at least I know it'll do what I need.

[compass]

That link up there is an old tutorial, I have since writeen a newer one.

Also, CSS templates can be found at www.joomlashack.com

[BinkyMelnik]

compass:

That link up there is an old tutorial, I have since writeen a newer one

Is the URL the same, or have you another one? (If the latter, gimme the URL, please?)

CSS templates can be found at www.joomlashack.com

I don't trust 'em, though; their own site looks bad on my Mac. (The logo overwrites the horizontal black nav bar.) Makes me worry that their templates'll look bad in other browsers and platforms.

[jackmotine]

My host advised yesterday that both Joomla and Mambo have come under attack in the past few weeks. Apparently this is a serious issue that can result in site defacements and more serious account and server security breaches.

He's banning anyone who doesn't upgrade to the latest version of Joomla 1.0.10.

The problem isn’t so much with the Joomla application as it is with the many modules and components developed for the program. Most hacks are coming through outdated or compromised plugins - and there are dozens of them.

Jack

[BinkyMelnik]

Jack:

both Joomla and Mambo have come under attack in the past few weeks

Woohoo! I haven't built my Joomla site yet. (heavy sigh)

Why'd people move away from Perl in the first place? (Yeah, I know you said the problem lies more with the extensions than the app itself, but I've been wanting to replace my forum software, and it looks as if PHP's the only choice anymore, and I worry about the security problems inherent in PHP.) (This isn't directed at you, BTW; I'm just gassing here 'cause you brought up security issues, and you just happened to be standing right here when I went off. :-)

[buyandsell]

I'm also looking for a css/xhtml Joomla template but it looks like they are all for Paid Only.

All of the links on this thread lead to confusing pages that do nothing to help the original posters question. Why don't you all post a direct link to the correct template?

Kitchen Designer, you are just pointing to a general css tableless page. I can also show many links like that and even websites I own that have tableless layouts but please point us to the Joomla template that is tableless css xhtml.

[digiweb]

Originally Posted by buyandsell

I'm also looking for a css/xhtml Joomla template but it looks like they are all for Paid Only.

All of the links on this thread lead to confusing pages that do nothing to help the original posters question. Why don't you all post a direct link to the correct template?

Kitchen Designer, you are just pointing to a general css tableless page. I can also show many links like that and even websites I own that have tableless layouts but please point us to the Joomla template that is tableless css xhtml.

post #5 is specific xhtml free templates

[BinkyMelnik]

Caroline:

post #5 is specific xhtml free templates

One of them has templates with tables; the other, I dunno, 'cause it doesn't show you what they are.

(Yeah, I know there're three links, but two of 'em are the same one.)

[digiweb]

i must have been sleepy.

I would say that I've searched for Joomla templates as much as anyone so if you have high standards (which you do) you will not find free xhtml css templates that neet your needs.

I paid $35 or so to joomlart and I love 2 or 3 of the 20 or so templates I got for that. Good buy but it's very hard to find great joomla templates.

If I had the kind of time it took this is what I'd do: Get a kick ass xhtml css lightweight design. Take an existing joomla index.php and use it to model the Joomla php and css.

When templates are packaged there's a bunch of xml manifest stuff that has to happen but if you're starting from scratch the pieces you need are pretty small. Just off the top of my head using the live template index.php from my site, I'd say you need to add the following to an existing xhtml design that you can name index.php:

Be part of the CMS or die.
Add content-type tag

PHP Code:

<?php defined( '_VALID_MOS' ) or die( 'Restricted access' );
$iso = explode( '=', _ISO );
echo '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="'. $iso[1] .'"?' .'>';
?>

Standard header stuff

PHP Code:

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<head>
<?php mosShowHead(); ?>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; <?php echo _ISO; ?>" />
<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" />

For the css file your mileage will vary, but if you follow standard form just the ja_altair will change:

PHP Code:

<link href="<?php echo $mosConfig_live_site;?>/templates/ja_altair/css/template_css.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="screen" />

<?php }
if ( $my->id ) { initEditor(); }
?>
</head>

Start the page content. Your body id will vary.

PHP Code:

<body id="bd">
<div id="container"> 


This is the top-of-page header, the banner area. Your "ja_altair" and spacer.gif will vary.

PHP Code:

    <!-- BEGIN: HEADER -->
    <div id="header">
    <h1><a href="index.php"><img src="<?php echo $mosConfig_live_site;?>/templates/ja_altair/images/spacer.gif" width="509" height="75" border="0" alt="<?php echo $mosConfig_fromname?>" /></a></h1>

Our first Joomla content call: our search box is stored in module "user4":

PHP Code:

    <?php if ( mosCountModules( 'user4') ) { ?>
    <div id="search">
    <?php mosLoadModules ( 'user4', -1 ); ?>
    </div>
    <?php } ?>
    </div>
    <!-- END: HEADER -->

Navigation. Your mileage will vary here as well but the principle is to load the code with the menu

PHP Code:

    <!-- BEGIN: TOP NAVIGATION -->
    <div id="topnav">
    <?php
    if (!$menutype) {
    include("ja_transmenu.php");
    } else {
    mosLoadModules('header',-1);
    }
    ?>
    </div>
    <!-- END: TOP NAVIGATION -->

Notice we've had practically no HTML so far and all of the divs have id's. Very lightweight.

PHP Code:

<!-- BEGIN: MAIN -->
<div id="main">
    <!-- BEGIN: CONTENT -->
    <div id="your content id here"> 


If there's a top module load the newsflash div

PHP Code:

    <?php if ( mosCountModules('top') ) { ?>
    <div id="newflash">
    <?php mosLoadModules('top',-1); ?>
    </div>
    <div class="newflash-close"></div>
    <?php } ?>

Spit out the body

PHP Code:

    <?php mosMainBody(); ?>

</div>
<!-- END: CONTENT -->

The right column is just a div with a bunch of modules spitting out their content

PHP Code:

    <!-- BEGIN: RIGHT COLUMN -->
    <div id="rightcol">
    <?php mosLoadModules('user1',-2); ?>
    <?php mosLoadModules('user2',-2); ?>
    <?php mosLoadModules('left',-2); ?>
    <?php mosLoadModules('right',-2); ?>
    </div>
    <!-- END: RIGHT COLUMN -->


    </div>
    <!-- END: MAIN -->

The footer is also just a div with an RSS tag, the bottom module and a copyright string

PHP Code:

    <!-- BEGIN: FOOTER -->
    <div id="footer">
    <span id="siteinfo">

    <a href="<?php echo $mosConfig_live_site;?>/index2.php?option=com_rss&amp;feed=RSS2.0&amp;no_html=1" target="_blank" title="We use RSS 2.0"><img src="<?php echo $mosConfig_live_site;?>/templates/ja_altair/images/buttonRSS.gif" border="0" alt="We use RSS 2.0" /></a>
    </span>

    <?php mosLoadModules('bottom', -1); ?>

    <div id="copyright"><?php include_once( $GLOBALS['mosConfig_absolute_path'] . '/templates/ja_altair/footer.php' ); ?></div>
    </div>
    <!-- END: FOOTER -->
    </div>

Standard debug and optional component, tracking stuff

PHP Code:

    <?php mosLoadModules( 'debug', -1 );?>
    <?php 
    if (file_exists($mosConfig_absolute_path."/components/com_ebackup/ebackup.php")){
    echo "<img src=\"".$mosConfig_live_site."/index2.php?option=com_ebackup\" width=\"0\" height=\"0\" alt=\"\" />\n";
    }
    ?>              
    <script src="http://www.google-analytics.com/urchin.js" type="text/javascript">
    </script>
    <script type="text/javascript">
    _uacct = "UA-999999-1";
    urchinTracker();
    </script>
    </body>

    </html>

If you find xhtml, css and good design easy I'll trade ya joomlaization for high end template designs. I'd love to eventually be operating on a css zen garden basis.

[thanhbinh777]

try www.djoomla.com

[mediatech]

That's it! I'm going to start porting over some wireframe templates into Joomla when I have more time. I've only had time to master TYPO3. Drupal and Joomla are next on my to do list.

In the meantime it shouldn't be to difficult for someone to port these over these XHTML templates to Joomla. They are simple wireframes and CC SA licensed so essentially open source. layout.css contains CSS for the 4 HTML templates.

http://zwire.mediatech.net/fileadmin...css/layout.css
http://zwire.mediatech.net/fileadmin...e/1column.html
http://zwire.mediatech.net/fileadmin...e/2column.html
http://zwire.mediatech.net/fileadmin...e/3column.html
http://zwire.mediatech.net/fileadmin...me2column.html

Greg

[joomlatemplates]

http://joomlatp.com has many free joomla templates with demo! maybe thy has css joomla templates