JoomlArt's Blog

Here at JoomlArt we are so excited that Joomla 3.1 stable version has been released this morning. We have been following the release dates closely ever since Joomla 3.1 first announcement was out and played with all of the Beta versions including the recent Beta 5. This is an important release due to the many new features including the much anticipated Tags feature. Apart from it, the Joomla 3.1 release also includes few more exciting new features :

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.

It does so happen that we choose templates and extensions for our Joomla project and start building the site, adding more extensions as we go and since most of the development happens on the localhost, site loading / performance does not seem to be an issue. Shock sets in, when the site is moved to live server and tested and having invested 100’s of hours, its way difficult to remove extensions or cut down features to improve site performance. This is the story of most of the people asking for professional help to optimize their sites.

Remember, if it’s heavy... it’s going to load slower.

What should one do?

From day one, keep the site optimization as one of the top priorities. Have tools to measure the effect of each and every addition you make on the site’s overall performance before adding them and try to fix an upper limit for site size and HTTP requests. Here are some of the easy-to-use tools to test your website.

The Chaos

We have been developing extensions from the days of Mambo / Joomla 1.0, throughout these years, we do confront numerous issues arising from the way we code and structure them. The race is to have a working extension for the active joomla versions, but these upgrades for Joomla version fixes has also led to many issues :

1. Most of the extensions have been upgraded from Joomla 1.5 version till today. With all the upgrades they have been through, the extension structure is bit of a mess.
2. The extensions have been developed independently without any standardization; such as the UI, the common library sharing, leading to the inconsistent of:
• Setting forms: No standardization and unprofessional look
• No common library sharing: which request your website to keep loading pretty much the same library over and over again. This contributes "big time" in slowing down website performance. For instance, the jQuery library has been loaded multiple times with different versions for different type of extensions running on the same template.

How Can We Fix That?

We simply standardize and restructure them which do requires lot of work, but all worth it in the end.

The Joomla 3.1 release date is quickly approaching and we are excited to see so many new developments. One feature we are especially excited for is the introduction of tags into the core of Joomla, enabling users to implement tagging across all content. When the update is released we are looking forward to many interesting developments with the tagging. According to Joomla we can look forward to innovative features such as:

Remember the JA Design Contest held 3 years back? Result was JA Community Plus - A beautiful community themed bonus Joomla Template. We are out searching again for fresh designs to add to our portfolio.

Its no secret that, we at JoomlArt always strive for distinction in the designs, to deliver the best to its members and we have no problem in trying fresh ideas and concepts from other designers too so as to provide more varied designs for our members at the same time let it be an open challenge for the inhouse design team to come up with more innovations in their routine deliveries. That's the logic behind our JDesigner Contest - everyone is a winner.

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.

We have been going a long way toward achieving the $1M dream for Joomla Community. So far we have raised $28,965 USD for the community and this number will continue to go up. Now let’s push it up and make it to $30,000 with our 2 new deals, featuring Chill Creations and ThemePartner.

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.

We have recently upgraded 16 more templates and 8 extensions to be compatible with Joomla 3.0.3, adding to our current collection of 11+ Joomla 3.0 templates. Below we have the new upgrades available, please enjoy.