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This is very interesting post! chuntley.
First of all, thank you for bring it up! Let’s split into each point and see how JAT3 is handling it!
<blockquote>
It is a step in the wrong direction, very few module positions (compared to Rockettheme), and very hard to edit.
</blockquote>I have just downloaded the latest version of Gantry and then installed the JAT3 framework into the Gantry quickstart, set JAT3 blank template as default templateIt took me 30 minutes to collect all supported module positions from the index.php page of Gantry
<?php
/**
* @package Gantry Template Framework – RocketTheme
* @version 3.0.11 September 5, 2010
* @author RocketTheme http://www.rockettheme.com
* @copyright Copyright (C) 2007 – 2010 RocketTheme, LLC
* @license http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html GNU/GPLv2 only
*
* Gantry uses the Joomla Framework (http://www.joomla.org), a GNU/GPLv2 content management system
*
*/
// no direct access
defined( ‘_JEXEC’ ) or die( ‘Restricted index access’ );// load and inititialize gantry class
require_once(‘lib/gantry/gantry.php’);
?>
<!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” xml:lang=”<?php echo $gantry->language; ?>” lang=”<?php echo $gantry->language;?>” >
<head>
<?php
$gantry->displayHead();
$gantry->addStyles(array(‘template.css’,’joomla.css’,’style.css’));
?>
</head>
<body <?php echo $gantry->displayBodyTag(); ?>>
<?php /** Begin Drawer **/ if ($gantry->countModules(‘drawer’)) : ?>
<div id=”rt-drawer”>
<div class=”rt-container”>
<?php echo $gantry->displayModules(‘drawer’,’standard’,’standard’); ?>
<div class=”clear”></div>
</div>
</div>
<?php /** End Drawer **/ endif; ?>
<?php /** Begin Top **/ if ($gantry->countModules(‘top’)) : ?>
<div id=”rt-top” <?php echo $gantry->displayClassesByTag(‘rt-top’); ?>>
<div class=”rt-container”>
<?php echo $gantry->displayModules(‘top’,’standard’,’standard’); ?>
<div class=”clear”></div>
</div>
</div>
<?php /** End Top **/ endif; ?>
<?php /** Begin Header **/ if ($gantry->countModules(‘header’)) : ?>
<div id=”rt-header”>
<div class=”rt-container”>
<?php echo $gantry->displayModules(‘header’,’standard’,’standard’); ?>
<div class=”clear”></div>
</div>
</div>
<?php /** End Header **/ endif; ?>
<?php /** Begin Menu **/ if ($gantry->countModules(‘navigation’)) : ?>
<div id=”rt-menu”>
<div class=”rt-container”>
<?php echo $gantry->displayModules(‘navigation’,’basic’,’basic’); ?>
<div class=”clear”></div>
</div>
</div>
<?php /** End Menu **/ endif; ?>
<?php /** Begin Showcase **/ if ($gantry->countModules(‘showcase’)) : ?>
<div id=”rt-showcase”>
<div class=”rt-container”>
<?php echo $gantry->displayModules(‘showcase’,’standard’,’standard’); ?>
<div class=”clear”></div>
</div>
</div>
<?php /** End Showcase **/ endif; ?>
<?php /** Begin Feature **/ if ($gantry->countModules(‘feature’)) : ?>
<div id=”rt-feature”>
<div class=”rt-container”>
<?php echo $gantry->displayModules(‘feature’,’standard’,’standard’); ?>
<div class=”clear”></div>
</div>
</div>
<?php /** End Feature **/ endif; ?>
<?php /** Begin Utility **/ if ($gantry->countModules(‘utility’)) : ?>
<div id=”rt-utility”>
<div class=”rt-container”>
<?php echo $gantry->displayModules(‘utility’,’standard’,’basic’); ?>
<div class=”clear”></div>
</div>
</div>
<?php /** End Utility **/ endif; ?>
<?php /** Begin Breadcrumbs **/ if ($gantry->countModules(‘breadcrumb’)) : ?>
<div id=”rt-breadcrumbs”>
<div class=”rt-container”>
<?php echo $gantry->displayModules(‘breadcrumb’,’standard’,’standard’); ?>
<div class=”clear”></div>
</div>
</div>
<?php /** End Breadcrumbs **/ endif; ?>
<?php /** Begin Main Top **/ if ($gantry->countModules(‘maintop’)) : ?>
<div id=”rt-maintop”>
<div class=”rt-container”>
<?php echo $gantry->displayModules(‘maintop’,’standard’,’standard’); ?>
<div class=”clear”></div>
</div>
</div>
<?php /** End Main Top **/ endif; ?>
<?php /** Begin Main Body **/ ?>
<?php echo $gantry->displayMainbody(‘mainbody’,’sidebar’,’standard’,’standard’,’standard’,’standard’,’standard’); ?>
<?php /** End Main Body **/ ?>
<?php /** Begin Main Bottom **/ if ($gantry->countModules(‘mainbottom’)) : ?>
<div id=”rt-mainbottom”>
<div class=”rt-container”>
<?php echo $gantry->displayModules(‘mainbottom’,’standard’,’standard’); ?>
<div class=”clear”></div>
</div>
</div>
<?php /** End Main Bottom **/ endif; ?>
<?php /** Begin Bottom **/ if ($gantry->countModules(‘bottom’)) : ?>
<div id=”rt-bottom”>
<div class=”rt-container”>
<?php echo $gantry->displayModules(‘bottom’,’standard’,’standard’); ?>
<div class=”clear”></div>
</div>
</div>
<?php /** End Bottom **/ endif; ?>
<?php /** Begin Footer **/ if ($gantry->countModules(‘footer’)) : ?>
<div id=”rt-footer”>
<div class=”rt-container”>
<?php echo $gantry->displayModules(‘footer’,’standard’,’standard’); ?>
<div class=”clear”></div>
</div>
</div>
<?php /** End Footer **/ endif; ?>
<?php /** Begin Copyright **/ if ($gantry->countModules(‘copyright’)) : ?>
<div id=”rt-copyright”>
<div class=”rt-container”>
<?php echo $gantry->displayModules(‘copyright’,’standard’,’standard’); ?>
<div class=”clear”></div>
</div>
</div>
<?php /** End Copyright **/ endif; ?>
<?php /** Begin Debug **/ if ($gantry->countModules(‘debug’)) : ?>
<div id=”rt-debug”>
<div class=”rt-container”>
<?php echo $gantry->displayModules(‘debug’,’standard’,’standard’); ?>
<div class=”clear”></div>
</div>
</div>
<?php /** End Debug **/ endif; ?>
<?php /** Begin Analytics **/ if ($gantry->countModules(‘analytics’)) : ?>
<?php echo $gantry->displayModules(‘analytics’,’basic’,’basic’); ?>
<?php /** End Analytics **/ endif; ?>
</body>
</html>
<?php
$gantry->finalize();
?>
And declare them into the default layout of T3, after 5 minutes I have this layout codes<?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”utf-8″?>
<layout name=”desktop”>
<!–Extra css load for this layout–>
<stylesheets>
</stylesheets>
<blocks name=”top” style=”xhtml”>
<block name=”header” type=”header”></block>
<block name=”cpanel” type=”usertools/cpanel”></block>
<block name=”top” type=”spotlight” main-inner=”1″>top-a,top-b,top-e,top-d,top-e,top-f</block>
<block name=”header1″ type=”spotlight” main-inner=”1″>header-a,header-b,header-e,header-d,header-e,header-f</block>
<block name=”mainnav” type=”mainnav” main-inner=”1″></block>
<block name=”showcase” type=”spotlight”>showcase-a,showcase-b,showcase-c,showcase-d,showcase-e,showcase-f</block>
<block name=”feature” type=”spotlight” >feature-a,feature-b,feature-c,feature-d,feature-e,feature-f</block>
<block name=”utility” type=”spotlight”>utility-a,utility-b,utility-c,utility-d,utility-e,utility-f</block>
<block name=”maintop” type=”spotlight”>maintop-a,maintop-b,maintop-c,maintop-d,maintop-e,maintop-f</block>
</blocks>
<blocks name=”middle” colwidth=”20″>
<block name=”content-top” type=”spotlight”>content-top-a,content-top-b,content-top-c</block>
<block name=”content-bottom” type=”spotlight” >content-bottom-a,content-bottom-b,content-bottom-c</block>
<block name=”inset2″ type=”modules” >sidebar-a</block>
<block name=”right1″ type=”modules” >sidebar-b</block>
<block name=”right2″ type=”modules” >sidebar-c</block>
</blocks>
<blocks name=”bottom” style=”xhtml”>
<block name=”mainbottom” type=”spotlight” main-inner=”1″>mainbottom-a,mainbottom-b,mainbottom-c,mainbottom-d,mainbottom-e,mainbottom-f</block>
<block name=”bottom” type=”spotlight” main-inner=”1″>bottom-a,bottom-b,bottom-c,bottom-d,bottom-e,bottom-f</block>
<block name=”footer” type=”spotlight” main-inner=”1″>footer-a,footer-b,footer-c,footer-d,footer-e,footer-f</block>
</blocks></layout>
And here is what I got after refreshing the homepage
I hope this has answered your question about how many position JAT3 can support. It has no limit on the number of module positions :). If you know how to arrange them, you can put hundreds of modules.
<blockquote>
Have you taken a look at Rocketthemes framework? It’s one page with options, not split into numerous tabs with “Profiles”, “Layouts”, “Themes”.</blockquote>
It is hard question for me because for me it is out of question 🙂
I see the logic in putting them into tabsit is not fair for fellows at RocketTheme if I said our Tabs structures is better than 1 page option structure. If you have developed 75 Joomla websites, how many templates you used Tab module/plugin? Have you wanted to put your content in tabs or you want to put everything in 1 page?
<blockquote>
A good approach to this sort of product development is to make something that is not only powerful, but easy to use and change. T3 is confusing</blockquote>You are right. Usability is the biggest problem for all of software makers not just for Joomla template developers. More features, more flexibilities means more code and more difficult to use.I am not sure how easy/hard JAT3 is to use/customize but I hope other member can help me to confirm on this.
<blockquote>You need to take a step back and look at T3 from our perspective, not from your perspective since you’ve been the developer (of course it’s easy for you). Referring people to read pages and pages of documentation when they do not understand is a horrible practice as well.</blockquote>
No, this is wrong. JAT3 is developed not only for us. We developed it with “user and other joomla developer perspective” set in mind.
We may have not made the best cake for everyone, however we are quite sure that most of people like the cake and it is more important that we are trying to make it better day by day.
<blockquote>
Also, why you thought it was a good idea to have only 2 module postions on the left and right of the main content area was poorly thought out as well. What are you guys thinking?!And for some credibility to my statements: I’ve created numerous templates from scratch and developed over 75 Joomla websites. </blockquote>
That’s an amazing number. JAT3 should have been the right choice for a Joomla expert like you.
May I know how many template have you tried with JAT3?
It’s a cool thread for discussion.
I think T3 is very flexible for developer. But I found that T3 takes much higher system resource (CPU) than the other. On JA Community Plus templates, T3 usually takes more than 60% CPU when website get a hit.
It’s also slow down other applications (Jomsocial and Kunena in my case).
When I turn off JA Community Plus and get back to original joomla template, both jomsocial and kunena are d.a.m.n faster.
May be I’m wrong, buthope that T3’s developer please take a look on this to improve our framework.
My server information:
- Intel Xeon 2.4 Ghz, 4GB RAM, 02 x 320GB SATA RAID 1;
- RHEL 5, PHP 5.2.9, MySQL 5, Apache 2
Regards,
