JA Magz - Joomla template documentation

JA Magz is October 2013 Resonsive Joomla template for both Joomla 3 and Joomla 2.5 for News & Magazine. Thanks to the latest verion of T3 Framework, JA Magz is RTL language layout compatible and extremely customization friendly. Intergrating the newly developed JA Multilingual extension, JA Magz is truly a multilingual Joomla template, available up to 41 languages (which Bing currently supports).

1. Main Features

Filter Tag Cloud (applied for Joomla 3 only)
Developed with T3 Framework & Bootstrap
Supports Joomla 2.5 and Joomla 3.0
Default Joomla pages supported
Infinity scroll (auto load items when scrolling down)
Supports Mega Menu
Supports multiple layouts
Supports multiple themes
Supports RTL language
Supports Easyblog
Supports 41 langauges

2. JA Extensions Supported

JA Slideshow module
JA Newsticker module
JA Tabs plugin
JA Disqus Debate Echo plugin
JA Google Map plugin
T3 Framework plugin
JA Extensions Manager Component

3. Third Party Extensions Supported

Easyblog Component

4. Layout and Module Positions

Please refer to the below image for all the structures, layouts as well as module positions in JA Magz for its homepage.

All position layouts

JA Magz is compatible with Joomla 3 and Joomla 2.5. Please make sure your system meets the following requirements:

Joomla 3 System requirement

Software

Software: PHP (Magic Quotes GPC off): 5.3.1 + (5.4+ recommended)

Databases

MySQL(InnoDB support required): 5.1+
MSSQL 10.50.1600.1+
PostgreSQL 8.3.18+

Web Severs

Apache 2.x+
Microsoft IIS 7
Nginx 1.0 (1.1 recommended)

Joomla 2.5+ system requirement

Software

Software: PHP 5.2.4+ (5.4+ recommended)
MySQL: 5.0.4+

Web Sever

Apache: 2.x+
Microsoft: IIS 7
Nginx: 1.0 (1.1 recommended)

Browser requirement

The requirements are the same with both Joomla 2.5 and Joomla 3

Firefox 4+
IE (Internet Explorer) 8+
Google Chrome 10+
Opera 10+
Safari 5+

Development Environment

The requirements are the same with both Joomla 2.5 and Joomla 3

During development process, Localhost is preferred. You can use the following servers on your PC to develop your site.

Windows

WAMPSEVER
XAMPP for Windows

Linux

LAMP Bubdle
XAMPP for Linux

Mac OS

MAMP & MAMP Pro
XAMPP for Mac OS

1. Plan your site Development

Making a New Site ? - If you are planning to make a new site, then use our Quickstart package to clone the demo site and replace the demo content with yours. Check How to install Quickstart Package.
Installing on your live site ? - If you are planning to use this template on your already live site. Then you should follow How to make your site look like demo site guide first to know about the steps involved.

2. Download Template and Extensions

Browse and Download: Go to the Download page of JA Magz and download the template zip file.

3. Install Template

Install the template: Now install the template on your Joomla 2.5 & Joomla 3.0 system. Follow This Guide if you are not familiar with the installation procedure.

4. Install Extensions

JA Magz template will install with settings used on the demo website, so you can postpone the configuration until you complete the setup (install other modules / plugins used in the demo website).

If you are new to Joomla installation procedure, please check the following documentation.

View Detail Documentation

Note:

Custom HTML Module: To match the design of the template, we also style (CSS) for Custom HTML modules using different div classes. You will need to check the HTML codes and make sure to use the recommended HTML markup to get correct display. We provide the HTML code in this user-guide.

1. JA Extension Configuration

1.1 JA Slideshow Module

Module position: home-30
Module Suffix: Not Used

Back-end Settings
Front-end Appearance

1.2 JA Newsticker module

Module position : top-1
Module Suffix : Not Used

Back-end Settings
Front-end Appearance

1.3 JA Tabs Plugin

Back-end Settings
Front-end Appearance

1.4 JA Disqus Debate Echo plugin

Back-end Settings

Note: The Disqus Comment Provider only, it does not support Intense Debate.

Front-end Appearance

1.5 JA Google Map plugin

Back-end Settings
Front-end Appearance

2. Default Joomla Extensions Configuration

This modules are Joomla default modules, that means the modules are available right after you're done with a fresh Joomla installation

2.1 Articles Category module

2.1.1 Top Video

Module position : home-11
Module Suffix :  Not Used

Back-end Settings
Front-end Appearance

2.1.2 Popular

Module position : ja_tabs
Module Suffix :  Not Used

Back-end Settings
Front-end Appearance

2.1.3 Latest

Module position : ja_tabs
Module Suffix :  Not Used

Back-end Settings
Front-end Appearance

2.2 Banner module

There are 4 Banner modules were used in this template

2.2.1 Adv1

Module Position : home-11
Module Suffix :  Adv1

To build this module as it is per demo, please follow this step-by-step instruction as below:

Step 1: Create a new Category

Go to Administrator >> Components >> Banners >> Categories >> New

Back-end Settings

Step 2: Create a new Banner

Go to Administrator >> Components >> Banners >> Banners >> New

Back-end Settings

Step 3: Create a new banner module

Back-end Settings

Front-end Appearance

2.2.2 Ads in Articles list

Module Position : inline
Module Suffix :  adv2

To display as Demo site, please follow step by step as below:

Step 1: Create a new category

Go to Administrator >> Components >> Banners >> Categories >> New

Back-end Settings

Step 2: Create a new banner

Go to Administrator >> Components >> Banners >> Banners >> New

Back-end Settings

Step 3: Create a new banner module

Back-end Settings

Front-end Appearance

Note: The banner images will be...... banner images, then repeat the above steps to get them displayed on the category page. Please note that these banner images will be displayed randomly without any order.

2.2.3 Adv2

Module Position : sidebar-2
Module Suffix :  Adv2

To build this module as it is per demo, please follow this step-by-step instruction as below:

Step 1: Create a new category

Go to Administrator >> Components >> Banners >> Categories >> New

Back-end Settings

Step 2: Create a new banner

Go to Administrator >> Components >> Banners >> Banners >> New

Back-end Settings

Step 3: Create a new banner module

Back-end Settings

Front-end Appearance

2.2.4 Adv3

Module Position : sidebar-2
Module Suffix :  Adv2

To build this module as it is per demo, please follow this step-by-step instruction as below:

Step 1: Create a new category

Go to Administrator >> Components >> Banners >> Categories >> New

Back-end Settings

Step 2: Create a new banner

Go to Administrator >> Components >> Banners >> Banners >> New

Back-end Settings

Step 3: Create a new banner module

Back-end Settings

Front-end Appearance

2.3 Footer module

This module is Joomla default module, that means when you install Joomla fresh, this module is ready to use.

Module position : footer
Module Suffix :  Not Used

Back-end Settings
Front-end Appearance

2.4 Language Switcher module

Module position : languageswitcherload
Module Suffix :  Not Used

Back-end Settings
Front-end Appearance

2.5 Latest News module

Module position : home-10
Module Suffix :  Not Used

Back-end Settings

Note:

To display related articles on latest news module as our demo, please following steps: Go to Content >> Article Manager >> Edit an article then add meta keywords for main article and articles which you want to display related news. See more detail here
This module is using layout overrided in the template so articles will be ordered by recently added first and most view on module.

Front-end Appearance

2.5 Login module

Module position : login
Module Suffix :  Not Used

Back-end Settings
Front-end Appearance

2.6 Menu module

2.6.1 News Menu module

To have it displayed as it is per Demo site, please follow the step by step instruction as below:

Step 1: Create "News" menu

Go to: Administrator >> Menus >> Menu Manager >> Add New Menu: News Menu. Then go to Administrator >> Menus >> News menu >> Add New Menu Items for the Menu.

Back-end setting for the menu items

Step 2: Create the new "News" menu module

This module is Joomla default module, that means when you install Joomla fresh, this module is ready to use.

Go to Administrator >> Module Manager >> Add new Menu Module

Name: News
Module position : footer-1
Module Suffix :  Not Used

Back-end Settings
Front-end Appearance

Do the same for the Sport, Life, Money, Tech, Travel menu modules

2.6.2 Main Menu module

Follow the steps as shown in section: 2.6.1 News Menu module

Step 1: Create "Main menu" menu and create all the menu items under this newly created main menu

Back-end setting for the menu items

Step 2: Create new "Main menu" module

Module position : mainnav
Module Suffix :  Not Used

Back-end Settings
Front-end Appearance

2.6.3 Section Menu module

Follow the steps as shown in section: 2.6.1 Section Menu module

Step 1: Create the "Section Menu" and create the menu items under it

Step 2: Create the new "Section Menu" module

Module position : sidenav
Module Suffix :  Not Used

Back-end Settings
Front-end Appearance

2.7 Popular module

This module is Joomla default module, that means when you install Joomla fresh, this module is ready to use.

Module position : home-20
Module Suffix :  popular

Back-end Settings
Front-end Appearance

2.8 Search module

This module is Joomla default module, that means when you install Joomla fresh, this module is ready to use.

Module position : head-search
Module Suffix :  Not Used

Back-end Settings

2.9 Popular Tags module

This module is Joomla default module 3.x, that means when you install Joomla fresh, this module is ready to use.

Module position : sidebar-2
Module Suffix : NOT USED

Back-end Settings
Front-end Appearance

2.10 Latest Users

To display as Demo site, please follow step by step as below:

Step 1: Create a new user

Go to Administrator >> Users >> User Manager >> Add New User

Back-end Settings

Step 2: Create a new contact

Go to Administrator >> Components >> Contacts >> Contacts >> New

Back-end Settings

Step 3: Create a latest user

Module position : home-12
Module Suffix : Not Used

Back-end Settings
Front-end Appearance

1. Social

Module position : followus
Module Suffix : Not Used

<!-- AddThis Button BEGIN -->
<div class="addthis_toolbox">
<a class="addthis_button_facebook"><i class="icon-facebook"></i></a>
<a class="addthis_button_google_plusone_share"><i class="icon-google-plus"></i></a>
<a class="addthis_button_twitter"><i class="icon-twitter"></i></a>
<a class="addthis_button_linkedin"><i class="icon-linkedin"></i></a> 
</div>
<!-- AddThis Button END -->

You can add even more social share buttons for your social media profiles on Facebook, Twitter, and other popular social networks by getting the code via www.addthis.com site.

Back-end Settings
Front-end Appearance

2. Footer Logo

Module position : footer-logo
Module Suffix : Not Used

HTML Code:

<a href="/index.php">JA Magz</a>

Back-end Settings
Front-end Appearance

3. Footer Social

Module position : footer-social
Module Suffix : Not Used

HTML Code:

<!-- AddThis Follow BEGIN -->
<div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_32x32_style addthis_default_style">
<a class="addthis_button_facebook_follow" addthis:userid="joomlart"></a>
<a class="addthis_button_twitter_follow" addthis:userid="JoomlArt"></a>
<a class="addthis_button_rss_follow" addthis:userid="joomla.org/rss.html"></a>
</div>
<script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=ra-523d4894767843b5"></script>
<!-- AddThis Follow END -->

You can add even more of the follow buttons for your social media profiles on Facebook, Twitter, and other popular social networks by getting the code via www.addthis.com site.

Back-end Settings
Front-end Appearance

4. JA Tabs

Module position : sidebar-2
Module Suffix : NOT USED

HTML Code:

<div>{jatabs type="modules" module="ja_tabs" position="top" mouseType="click" animType="animFade"}{/jatabs}</div>

Back-end Settings
Front-end Appearance

1. EasyBlog Component

A Magz supports Easyblog by default, we design specific styles for this component. So in order to have the EasyBlog design, you would need to download it, extract the files and add them to your site.

1.1 Installing Easyblog component

If you are new to Easyblog, and wondering on how to install and setup the component to your Joomla site, please check the following documentation.

EasyBlog Installation Add EasyBlog Style

Step 1: Buy Easyblog component | Link
Step 2: Install Easyblog component
Step 3: Download JA Magz theme for Easyblog
Step 4: Extract zip file and upload folder Components to your Joomla_site_path. It is right, if you see folder ja_magz in Joomla_site_path/components/com_easyblog/themes.
Step 5: Go to admin site : Components >> Easyblog >> Themes >> select ja_magz as the default theme and set parameter for your site

1.2 Configuring Easyblog component

1.2.1 Component Settings

After successfully installed the component, you need to configure the component accordingly to your preferencest. Go to Administrator >> Components >> Easyblog >> Settings, all of configurations options are located within this section.

1.2.2 Themes Settings

Go to Administrator >> Components >> Easyblog >> Themes

Select ja_magz theme for Easyblog as the default style to display as our demo site

1.2.3 How to create featured slide on Easyblog page

To create slide on easyblog page, you must set featured for blog entries which you want to display on the slide.

Go to Administrator >> Components >> Easyblog >> Blog Entries

Back-end Settings
Front-end Appearance

1.3 Configurations for Easyblog Modules as on our Demo

1.3.1 EasyBlog Archive module

Module position : sidebar-2
Module Suffix : NOT USED

Back-end Settings
Front-end Appearance

1.3.2 Most Popular Post module

Module position : sidebar-2
Module Suffix : NOT USED

Back-end Settings
Front-end Appearance

1.3.3 Tag Cloud module

Module position : sidebar-2
Module Suffix : NOT USED

Back-end Settings
Front-end Appearance

1.3.4 Recent Comments module

Module position : sidebar-2
Module Suffix : NOT USED

Back-end Settings
Front-end Appearance

1. Template Override

In short, to override the template, you should clone the template style then edit as you wish. After you're done with developing and stylingl, assign the cloned style to the specific menus. The assigned menus will then override them in the default style

Each style can be configured to use one theme and one layout so in one website, you can have menus with different themes and layouts.

2. Themes Settings

JA Magz supports up to 5 themes, the themes are available when you install the JA Magz template.

3. Layout Settings

JA Magz supports 2 layouts by default. You can customize the 2 layouts, create new layouts for your site.

The following video tutorials will show you how to work with Layouts: Configure and Customize.

Layout Configuration

T3 comes with ease of layout customization. The visual layout configuration is easier than ever before.

Layout Customization

The video tutorial guides you on how to customize the layouts, add new layout, and customize blocks in a layout.

4. ThemeMagic Settings

JA Magz is developed with T3 so you can also customize themes with ThemeMagic

To customize themes with ThemeMagic, you have to enable it first.

In the ThemeMagic working panel, you can customize all the themes easily without any code needed. The left panel is the setting area while the right panel is your site front-end. Each time you change any settings, click on "Preview" button to preview the changes in the front-end right on the right panel.

Follow this video tutorials to know how to customize themes and how to add new parameters to ThemeMagic.

ThemeMagic Customization

After watching the tutorial, you can be able to customize your theme quickly using ThemeMagic as well as know how to add new group and parameters to ThemeMagic.

5. Extended Settings

If you have ever used any JA Template developed with T3 Framework, you are probably already familiar with the Template setting panel. Each template can have different extended settings. In JA Magz template, the extended settings are located in the General (Administrator >> Extensions >> Template Manager >> JA Magz Template >> General)

5.1 Introtext Limit

This parameter allows user to set the limitation for the text characters that are displayed in the introtext of the featured articles.

Front-end Appearance

5.2 Userpage Menu item

It is a required field if you want to enable menu items in the user detail page. If the "User Page" menu item is not yet created, please create then back to the page and assign to the field.

Front-end Appearance

5.3 Addthis integration

The param allows user to either show or not show "addthis sharing" in the articles.

Front-end Appearance

5.4 Related articles

To configure the related articles in the detail page, you can set the number of columns as well as articles to be displayed in the related articles block.

Front-end Appearance

JA Magz template does supports sidebar menu and infinity pagination, it uses Show more button instead of the classic pagination.

To configure that, please proceed to the Navigation tab

5.5 Sidebar Menu

JA Magz supports Vertical Menu system, all you have to do is assigning menu to the Sidebar Menu field.

Front-end Appearance

5.6 Infinity Pagination

The new feature in JA Magz allows user to use infinity button instead of classic pagination.

6. Content Type Settings

JA Magz template supports multiple content types, such as Video, Photo and Text type, each content type has its own styles and configuration.

To configure for the content types, please go to Administrator >> Content >> Article Manager >> Add New Article then select content type in JA Magz tab option.

Front-end Appearance

6.1 Gallery type

Back-end Settings
Front-end Appearance

6.2 Video type

Back-end Settings
Front-end Appearance

6.3 Text type

Back-end Settings
Front-end Appearance

7. Category advanced options

7.1 Color for category

As per Demo site, each category has its different color style. To configure that, please go to Administrator >> Category Manager >> Select a category >> Open JA Magz Option then set the color choices you prefer.

Front-end Appearance

7.2 Category layouts

This template supports an extra of 2 category layouts: Event page layout and Media blog layout..

7.2.1 Event page

To have Event page displayed as per demo, please go to Administrator >> Menu mangage >> Create new a menu item >> Select Magz event as menu item type.

Back-end Settings
Front-end Appearance

7.2.2 Video & Photo page

To display Video and Photo page as our demo, please go to Administrator >> Menu mangage >> Create new a menu item >> Select Magz event as menu item type.

Back-end Settings
Front-end Appearance

In JA Playmag template, you can assign color for categories so that you will have different display in front-page for those categories.

How to:

Open the category you want to assign color, in the "JA Playmag" tab, add the color you want to apply for the category.

Supported colors by default:

gray
blue
green
red
orange
pink
purple
darkorange

Add more color

You can add more colors for categories. Open file templates/ja_magz/less/style.less, add color style as the format below:

.category-name.blue,
.category-name.blue a {
  background: @blue;
  &:hover, &:focus, &:active { background: darken(@blue, 5%);}
}

Open file templates/ja_magz/less/variables.less, select the color you want, you can also add new color style.

@blue:                  #1ea1fc;
@blueDark:              darken(@blue, 15%);
@green:                 #690;
@cyan:                  #09c; // T3 added
@red:                   #c00;
@yellow:                #fc0;
@orange:                #f80;
@pink:                  #d60a6c;
@purple:                #8b08ae;

Please compile LESS to CSS so that the style will be compiled to CSS.

1. Menu items Back-end Settings

1.1 Main menu

1.2 Section menu

2. Megamenu Configuration

To configure Mega Menu, go to: Extensions>> Template manager >> open JA Magz template, in the Navigation setting, you can configure Mega Menu.

Step 1: Enable Mega Menu

Step 2: Open Mega Menu page

Step 3: Select Menu to configure Mega Menu

Step 4: Configure Mega Menu

Mega Menu Configuration

This is the video tutorial for Mega Menu configuration, you will learn how to build up a Mega Menu, how to use Mega Menu settings effectively, how to add icons, how to style menu items with our T3 Framework.

JA Magz is a Joomla multilingual template that supports up to 41 languages (as supported by Bing). The section will guide you through how to build a Joomla multilingual site and maintain it.

1. Translate your site with JA Multilingual Component

The Multilingual component is a free joomla multilanguage translation extension. It uses BING API translation service (free service). With this, your site can be translated to any language, everything will be auto configured by this component. Once the translation is done, your Joomla site will be multilingual already. No manual configuration is required.

Detail Documentation Video Tutorials

2. Clone styles and assign menus

This step is applicable for JA Magz template only, as JA Magz uses 2 menu types system: Main Menu and Section Menu. For other templates, please skip this step:

Step 1: Clone styles

Once the translation is done, open the template manager panel (Extensions >> Template Manager). For each language, it should be cloned in 2 styles: Default and No Sidebar (except for the default language).

Step 2: Edit Default style

Now open the cloned Default style, we will assign language for the style and change its name corresponding to its assigned language.

Next, open the Navigation tab, you would need to assign the translated Main menu & Section menu to the original Main menu & Sidebar menu.

You can find the translated Main Menu and Sidebar Menu in the Association Manager of JA Multilingual component (Component >> JA Multilingual).

If you want to edit it, go ahead and click on Edit button of a language then copy the title.

Step 3: Edit No Sidebar style

For the style, do not assing language, you just need to assign the translated Main menu & Section menu to the original Main menu & Sidebar menu.

The "No Sidebar" style used "no-sidebr" layout so you have to assign the style to any menu that uses the layout (for current language only). To do this, please open the "Menu Assignment" tab.

Then assign the menu of current language.

Repeat the steps above for other languages.

Now check the front-page to make sure we don't miss anything.

The above userguide should help one in replicating the Demo site settings for the template and extension on their site.

Support :

Please raise your support queries in the forum and make sure you follow the support guidelines. We spend more time in getting the information from user in case the support guidelines are not followed.

Latest post

Product Updates: JA Boxing, JA GDPR, and More

Updates: T4 Framework, Ad Agency Pro, JA Builder, and More

Product Updates: Enhanced Compatibility, New Features, and Joomla 5.2 Support

Updates: T4 Page builder, Guru Pro and Gavick framework updated

[Updates] JomSocial 4.9.4, Joomla 5.2 & PHP 8.2 and more

Introduction

1. Main Features

2. JA Extensions Supported

3. Third Party Extensions Supported

4. Layout and Module Positions

System requirement

Joomla 3 System requirement

Software

Databases

Web Severs

Joomla 2.5+ system requirement

Software

Web Sever

Browser requirement

Development Environment

Windows

Linux

Mac OS

Download & Installation

1. Plan your site Development

2. Download Template and Extensions

3. Install Template

4. Install Extensions

Extensions Configuration

1. JA Extension Configuration

1.1 JA Slideshow Module

1.2 JA Newsticker module

1.3 JA Tabs Plugin

1.4 JA Disqus Debate Echo plugin

1.5 JA Google Map plugin

2. Default Joomla Extensions Configuration

2.1 Articles Category module

2.2 Banner module

2.3 Footer module

2.4 Language Switcher module

2.5 Latest News module

2.5 Login module

2.6 Menu module

2.7 Popular module

2.8 Search module

2.9 Popular Tags module

2.10 Latest Users

Custom HTML Modules

1. Social

2. Footer Logo

3. Footer Social

4. JA Tabs

Third Party Extensions Configuration

1. EasyBlog Component

1.1 Installing Easyblog component

1.2 Configuring Easyblog component

1.3 Configurations for Easyblog Modules as on our Demo

Template Customization

1. Template Override

2. Themes Settings

3. Layout Settings

Layout Configuration

Layout Customization

4. ThemeMagic Settings

ThemeMagic Customization

5. Extended Settings

5.1 Introtext Limit

5.2 Userpage Menu item

5.3 Addthis integration

5.4 Related articles

5.5 Sidebar Menu

5.6 Infinity Pagination

6. Content Type Settings

6.1 Gallery type

6.2 Video type

6.3 Text type

7. Category advanced options

7.1 Color for category

7.2 Category layouts