March 9th, 2010
JoomlArt is famous for bringing great templates to the Joomla community. For the month of February, JoomlArt decided to showcase a new magazine template for its extensive database.
JA Lime incorporates three main colors which is the shade of blacks, red and white. In a first glance, users would see that the theme looks extremely simple but yet it has that hint of professionalism as well. However, due to the usage of white, it does make the website seems empty in a way.
The overall layout of the website isn’t centered by default like most websites on the Internet. Instead, it is aligned to the left. This difference would be very noticeable to people that are using high resolution screens as it makes the eye look at the left side instead of the center.
The usage of slideshow gives the template the magazine aura that it deserves to get. Currently there are three different slideshows at its demo page. However, users can add more slideshows should they wish to once they have purchased this theme.
All in all, the JA Lime looks very fashionable and with a little tweaking, it would make a good template for any website. Its simplicity may be its best trait as well.
Tags: ja lime, Joomla template, joomlart
Posted in Joomla templates | No Comments »
March 8th, 2010
March 2010 is a host to a lot of new and gorgeous themes and Intro by YooTheme is an example of such a beauty. Intro comes with a variety of color schemes available for the users to choose from. Such example is Khaki Green, Grey Blue, Khaki Blue and many more. Although the color schemes do not change the look of the site drastically, it can help differentiate the site with any other site on the Internet.
The Intro template is built on the Warp 5 framework that is famous amongst Joomla theme creators. It is a very powerful framework that allows the production of a highly sophisticated theme with ease. With the Warp 5 comes a lot of functionalities that helps YooTheme with the creation of its templates as well.
The overall look of Intro is very simple yet eye-catching. It isn’t as sophisticated as it looks and is perfect for those wanting a simple looking template for their website. However, the way the whole template was created makes it more suitable for a magazine or a news website.
Tags: joomla intro, joomla themes, yootheme intro, yootheme template
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March 6th, 2010
RocketTheme is a popular designer for Joomla themes. Every month, a new theme will be released by the company which is part of its template membership program. Most of their themes look very elegant and by far unique.
The third month of the year 2010 saw another new theme by RocketTheme and it is called Crystaline. In a sentence, the theme looks very professional and is immersing.
Why the template is immersing is that it features a color chooser. It allows an infinite possibility on the overall layout of the website. Comes with the color chooser is 12 different templates preset by RocketTheme and all of them looks more than decent.
In addition to that, there is also an update with a famous module made by RocketTheme which is the RokTabs. The new update allows RokTabs to have inline icons in each tab. There is also a dynamic control that simplifies icon arrangements.
Crystalline is also built on the Gantry Framework version 2.5. This is a new admin structure made especially for users of RocketTheme templates.
Those wanting to check out the template can head on to rockettheme.com. Membership starts at $50 for 2 months so head on to RocketTheme and check them out.
Tags: crystaline template, Joomla, Joomla template, rockettheme
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March 5th, 2010
Every month, there will be a website nominated as Joomla Website of the Month and for March 2010, this award was given to Cross Creek Ranch. It is a community website based in Texas. In fact, Cross Creek Ranch is also one of the fastest growing areas in the state.
The design of the website looks absolutely fascinating. It is designed creatively by the Trendmaker Development Company. The usage of brown as well as green gives it a very Texan-like atmosphere to the website itself.
A lot of information about Cross Creek Ranch is available on the website. Such example is the property map which is powered by both AJAX and Flash. The website covers sections such as amenities, education, inventory and even about us.
It is a perfect example of how a community website should be. Not only should it look great but it should also give a lot of information for both the prospective customer and the current customer.
All in all, the Cross Creek Ranch can not only be an inspiration to designers but as a guide to any Joomla community area website builders as well. Head on to crosscreekranch.com to find out more about the website and about the place itself.
Tags: cross creek ranch, joomla site of the month, march 2010, site of the month
Posted in Joomla Resources, Joomla templates, Social Web | No Comments »
March 3rd, 2010
The ZOO extension by YooThemes has been quite a success. However, the company behind it didn’t think it was quite as successful as it should be so it decided to create ZOO 2.0. Instead of having a CCK module, they decided to create an extension which would be a Content Application Builder.
ZOO 2.0 is a collection of templates on which can be used to create an app. Inside an app lies various features such as categories, feeds, tags and many more that are related to the particular application. In addition to that, each template has its subtemplates. This means that templates meant for a particular app for example, blog, can have its own designs or templates.
ZOO 2.0 is done from scratch and is a lot better than version 1. There are a lot of new features available for the ZOO 2.0 which includes a whole new architecture.
Those that have already bought the ZOO Pro will be able to get a free 2 months access. This also includes those that have their membership expired.
This extension by YooThemes is set to be launched on the 23rd of March. Previously, the ZOO Pro costs 99€ and there is no telling on the new cost of the ZOO 2.0. Those that are interested in knowing more about it can check out zoo.yootheme.com
Tags: joomla extension, yoothemes, zoo 2.0
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March 3rd, 2010
This month of February is celebrated by the nomination of the International House of Pancakes as the Joomla Site of the Month. International House of Pancakes or IHOP for short is a restaurant chain famous in the United States of America.
The IHOP site is build through the use of Joomla, a very popular and versatile content management system. The overall template of the site looks very friendly and mirrors the friendliness of the restaurant as well.
The company uses a lot of flash in its website which may be bad for SEO. But in the case of this website, it may not be much of a problem as the website serves only as an information hub for the restaurant itself. People visiting the website would most probably come from the visitors at their brick and mortar store.
In addition to that, the site has made good use of media content such as photograph, videos and many others. It doesn’t look dull because of a lot of writing and instead of having those, the site uses as little writing as possible but delivers its main point from photographs as well as videos.
Overall, the site proves how good Joomla can be. It also shows what is possible with the use of creativity.
Tags: good looking joomla sites, ihop, joomla site of the month
Posted in CMS, Joomla templates | No Comments »
March 1st, 2010
Templates are something that is worth investing on when it comes to running a website. This is because most of the time, it may be a onetime investment rather than a monthly or a yearly thing. It will take years before a site would change its template. Like the logo, templates are something that very much defines the site as well.
There are a lot of templates available for the Joomla content management system. Some of these are free while some requires purchase. There is a big difference between paid and free and one of these differences is that paid templates are used by only a small number of people as compared with the free templates. This allows the site to look more unique and less of a cliché.
When getting a template, it is absolutely necessary to know how much the site owner is willing to spend on it. The lesser he or she is willing to spend the lesser the choices are. A good budget would be around $150-200.
Do not look at it as something that is excessively expensive and worthless. Think of it as an investment to attract potential visitors or customers. Change the mindset to think that even though it costs that much amount of money, it will take years before the site owner will want to change the templates again. In the long run, the overall cost of the template would only be $10-20 per month (considering a change of template in 2 years for a template that costs $240)
After that, find a design that suits the overall theme of the website. If it is a gaming website, allow it to look cool and stylish but if it is a site meant for the professional audiences, get something that looks professional and simple.
Here are just some of the tips on getting a good template. There are loads of sites that sell premium templates which gives the site owner a lot of designs to choose from and if that doesn’t work, consider hiring a designer.
Tags: Joomla templates, tips on joomla templates
Posted in Joomla Resources, Joomla templates | No Comments »
February 22nd, 2010
E-mail marketing may be one of the best ways of connecting with the customers. They allow information to be given periodically as well as to remind the customers about the site. Therefore, it is vital to get a good e-mail marketing extension so that everything will work flawlessly.
Here are some good e-mail marketing extensions to choose from:
SM2 Email Marketing – This may be one of the most powerful email marketing extensions that are available for Joomla. However, this also means that the user will have to fork out $79 for a license. A demo version as well as a trial version is available should the user wishes to check them out.
Ultimate Mailing List – Ultimate Mailing List comes with two different version: free and paid. The paid version costs 39 Euro and has a lot more features that are unavailable in the free version. However, for most people, the free version should suffice.
Newsletter Subscriber – Those wanting to look for a simple extension needs to look no further. Newsletter Subscriber is easy to use and is ready to go within minutes.
Tags: email, email marketing, newsletter, newsletter extensions
Posted in Joomla Extensions | No Comments »
