JoomlArt's Blog

Overview

We were probably the first of the Joomla template clubs to introduce Mega Menu feature with our first generation T3 framework way back in 2009. It was an instant hit and we have refined the mega menu workflow since then and in our latest T3 framework V3, we moved to jquery instead of mootools. In the template userguides, we provide screenshots of how we configure the Mega Menu as in the demo site. But what if you are trying to configure Mega Menu without any userguides? That is when this tutorial comes in to play its role.

Last night Joomla announced that the T3 Framework for Joomla responsive templates will be officially integrated into the upcoming Joomla 3.5 distribution with an early alpha release with Joomla 3.1. This is fantastic news, as 6 years ago JA Purity won the Joomla Template Contest and now its our template framework, the day is not far when all Joomla templates will be based on our T3 framework.

At JoomlArt we are very excited about this and have already started working on early integration of T3 framework with the Joomla 3.1 release scheduled April 15th 2013. We have been thrilled ever since this idea was introduced after the release of Joomla 3.1 during last years World Joomla Conference held in San Jose, California. T3 Framework is the best of the best Joomla template framework especially for the responsive templates for Joomla 2.5 and Joomla 3.0 and is the best solution for ease of use and its ability to personally customize each template to a previously unthinkable level of detail.

Have you ever been on a website and just can’t figure out how to navigate to a certain page? Or perhaps suddenly been frustrated by trying to find the navigation bar after reading through countless comments or posts down the page. Not only is this annoying but often happens even more when using a mobile device or tablet, and is more complicated to remedy.

I have, and these problems while small, really bother me and countless other users too. Navigation is among the most important features in web design and focusing on it’s development will be a huge trend in 2013. To help improve the users experience and improve customer satisfaction we have recently incorporated Sticky Navigation for Desktop and Off Canvas Navigation for Mobile in JA Argo - responsive Joomla 2.5 / 3.0 template based on our all new T3 Framework , as well as in T3 Framework.

Overview of web navigation

A. Traditional navigation

In the past we would see all kinds of links listed on the top navigation bar. First we would scroll down to read the article, information, or blog post then have to scroll up to find the navigation bar located at the top of the page. Let’s be honest, that is one annoying and inconvenient thing to have to do everyday of your life.

After 4 months of hard work, T3v3 has finally released the stable version for Joomla 2.5 and Joomla 3.0 a few days back accompanied with JAEM (JA Extensions Manager) urgent bug fix in upgrading T3 plugin.

1. T3v3 Stable Version 1.1.0

During the last couple of months, we have released a few beta and RC versions of T3 Framework and received numerous feedback from the Joomla community to improve the current Framework to the current level.

This February, along with the release of our monthly Joomla template JA Mitius, we are glad to release the latest version 1.1.0 RC2 of our T3 Framework compatible with Joomla 2.5 and Joomla 3.0.

As a follow up of my previous blog post "The Future of T3" I want to share with you my thoughts about the following question:

Why there are so many frameworks?

About 2 months ago, Anthony from JoomlaBamboo buzzed me on Skype and said “I've just looked at the new version of T3 and I think it is absolutely amazing. I'm considering moving to that as our framework and I just wanted to discuss that with you.”

In the past I have had several similar chats with well known template providers about T3. I had the same discussions with Gavick as well as other ThemeForest developers who wanted to turning to T3 v1 and T3 v2. But this time, it is a bit different. We have reached now a momentum to do something big as a community, something that we, Anthony, me and a few awesome Joomla folks, talked about 8 months ago.

Gangnam, Obama, Syria, Greece, Israel, London, Hurricane, NASA, Whitney Houston, Gunmen, space jump, God particle and a lot more keywords to summarize 2012. For us in 2012 the keyword was responsive design as most of our work has been impacted by RWD. Besides, keywords like JA Elastica, JA Wall, T3v3, J! 3.0 are also popular keywords popping across our social channels.

With this latest version of T3v3 framework, we have introduced the responsive layout configurations. Simply put, now its possible to plan your responsive layouts (different layouts for mobile, handheld, tablets and so on) very easily. Normal users will find it very handy as it does away with the need of coding at the same time developers can dive deep and customize the layouts, we have made it very simple to understand and update.

We're here with another post on one of the greatest features in T3v3: ThemeMagic. If you guys have installed the latest T3v3 version, you probably already have had the chance to test it.

What is ThemeMagic?

In short, ThemeMagic lets you customize your JoomlArt T3v3 based Joomla! template without having to search for the right file or without diving into the code, one can manipulate most of the template's CSS properties right from the ThemeMagic backend. Video says it all :

A few days ago, we introduced the Layout Configuration feature. We're here with the update, to show you how this awesome feature can be easily used in JA Brisk - our latest Joomla! 3.0 responsive template.

JA Brisk - JoomlArt November responsive template for Joomla! 2.5 & Joomla! 3.0

We have been receiving the same questions over and over again from you guys:

• Joomla! 3.0 was out already, what is your plan for Joomla! 3.0?
• Do you guys have a rough idea when exactly your template will be available for Joomla! 3.0?
• OMG, when are you guys are going to release Joomla! 3.0 templates?
• Are you sure you are going to have Joomla! 3.0 template anytime soon, 'cuz I'm not informed at all on you guys' intention toward Joomla! 3.0?

T3v3 Framework Beta 2 was released on last Saturday (Oh yes, we got too excited and worked the extra hours on the weekend). This version is more than just bug fix release, it's an improvement release. We have gone bold and taken this chance to redo the layout configurations, so as to make it easier for you guys in styling your template’s layout.

Since more than one year, I discussed with Joomlart's CEO (Hung) about the necessity to do a native RTL template. Actually, I was unhappy to see all these automaticlly mirrored templates with a global code: "direction: rtl" that send the vertical scroll to the left side of the screen and cause more issues than solutions. Yes, I read from right to left but I use my right hand to scroll pages and I have the same visual logic as readers of Left-to-Right scripts.

If you are good at creating templates for Wordpress, Joomla or Drupal, then your skills are in hot demand. Take alone the various freelance places, where many web owners are offering front-end developers tons of projects at attractive rates.

But beyond freelancing you could also start creating templates and sell them online as digital products. Big advantage vs. hard products: Relatively inexpensive production cost.

JoomlArt’s all time greatest template JA Teline III is now upgraded to run on the latest JAT3 Framework, although the design stays the same, the code structure has been totally shifted to the new engine, we decided to give it a new name JA Teline III V2.

This is one of the tasks the team is working on behind the scene right now. Besides the regular monthly template releases, we have started upgrading all templates that are released after August 2009 to the latest version for JAT3 Framework.

2 more videos from JAT3 Framework tutorial video series on how to update JAT3 plugin & template and use megamenu has been published.

The Video #02 in a series of 6 videosfor JAT3 Framework has been published. This is a short introduction to the main features (themes and layouts) of JA T3 Framework 2.0 for Joomla! 1.5 and above. Please comment and have fun!