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[zero1 Friend zero1Join date: May 2008Posts: 3Downloads:0Uploads:0]

#129537

Hi,

I am currently building a new site for promoting sustainable living as the communications and info portal for a not for profit organisation which I have founded. I have, for a short time only, the help of graduating IT and design students at the local college to put this together and then teach me how to manage it. They are having a problem with one aspect where I want to use Teline II template as a magazine within the site and they asked me to ask this question on the forum:

“I’m currently using Edenite as the default template and wish to use the Teline II template for another part of the site. I’m unable to view the ja-spilt menu at the top of the page in the mainnav div. I can only view the horizontal line without any menu items. I’m running Teline II version 1.2 on Joomla 1.0. Any help will be greatly appreciated.”

…I have just decided to get a new host (Siteground-any thoughts on them?) so I can migrate to Joomla 1.5, but we only have a week left to get the site finished. Will this make a difference?Help/suggestions urgently needed! The site URL is http://www.earthloop.net

Thanks in advance.

Cheers, Norm.

[cgc0202 Friend cgc0202Join date: August 2007Posts: 2244Downloads:0Uploads:3 Thanks: 206 Thanked: 262 times in 1 posts]

#252957

Hi Norm,

<em>@zero1 58283 wrote:</em><blockquote>Hi,

I am currently building a new site for promoting sustainable living as the communications and info portal for a not for profit organisation which I have founded. I have, for a short time only, the help of graduating IT and design students at the local college to put this together and then teach me how to manage it. </blockquote>

It is good that you have someone helping you. As the webmaster, one of the most important things to learn from them is how to manage your databases. That is, how to export them, for storage and backup, and import them again, in case something goes wrong or you have to move your site to another server or hosting service.

I shall address the other issues in a separate post because they require more analysis.

Cornelio

[cgc0202 Friend cgc0202Join date: August 2007Posts: 2244Downloads:0Uploads:3 Thanks: 206 Thanked: 262 times in 1 posts]

#252963

Hi Norm,

You stated:

<em>@zero1 58283 wrote:</em><blockquote>

“I’m currently using Edenite as the default template and wish to use the Teline II template for another part of the site. …”
</blockquote>

I am curious, is there a fundamental reason why you have to have two templates?

I looked at the general template layout of Edenite, and except for the “true left side section) in Edenite, there is nothing that Edenite has that cannot be done with JA Teline II. In theory, just by selecting the appropriate modules you want, you can make the “Home Page” of a JA Teline II look almost like your current Intro Page.

Or better still, you can make the “Organization” page an inside Section (rather than the Home page) of a JA Teline II website. This presentation is how many online Non-Profit groups layout their “Outreach” online page:

http://www.sierraclub.org/
http://www.amnestyusa.org/
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/
http://www.cancer.org/

to cite a diverse group of non-profit organizations. For all this groups, the focus is to provide up-to-date information (the things that visitors look for), in various fields of interest to the group (and more likely, also their visitors).

In the long run, the JA Teline II template is better suited to do that as opposed to the Edenite. Everything that you can do with Edenite, it can be done with JA Teline II. Any feature in another Joomlart template you can install in JA Teline II. However, while it can be done, it is more difficult to transform other Joomlart templates to have the magazine features of JA Teline II.

Personally, except for the original JA Teline, it is only the JA Teline II that makes me excited to work on.

In fact, based from the “major sections” you outlined in your website, they are better suited to be part of the Sections of a JA Teline II site. This is not to claim that JA Teline II is indeed a true magazine, as Joomlart’s claims. It has the makings of a true magazine, after a few more improvements in the script (and not just the layout).

What does having two templates mean?

You have to have two separate registration/login — double registration registration/login for those who wanted to be part of your group and double work for you to ensure the security of your site from malicious spammers and bots. Do you really want this, or for that matter, your potential members?

When a visitor searches your site, they may get the impression that they are searching the entire site, but not at all. Most of the information that they are looking for, judging from what you wanted to do may be best placed in a Magazine format.

When you have to upgrade Joomla, for either Joomla 1.0x or Joomla 1.5x, you have two “sites” that you have to upgrade, with potential complexities associate.

With two different templates (sites), you cannot easily move contents from one site to another, save copying and pasting.

There are many more reasons, of course, that I can cite; and the fact that you may not have background in scripting or programming, you might be overwhelmed by the process dealing with two rather than just one website. I should know this because I do not have scripting and programming background myself.

Cornelio

[cgc0202 Friend cgc0202Join date: August 2007Posts: 2244Downloads:0Uploads:3 Thanks: 206 Thanked: 262 times in 1 posts]

#252973

Hi Norm,

<em>@zero1 58283 wrote:</em><blockquote>
They are having a problem with one aspect where I want to use Teline II template as a magazine within the site and they asked me to ask this question on the forum:

I’m unable to view the ja-spilt menu at the top of the page in the mainnav div. I can only view the horizontal line without any menu items. I’m running Teline II version 1.2 on Joomla 1.0. Any help will be greatly appreciated.”[/I]
</blockquote>

I am curious, do you find a module for JA split menu in your Modules panel?

I tried to understand your site. I thought initially you had two different “websites” — one for JA Edenite and one for JA Teline II — but it does not seem to look that way because both templates share the same Joomla directory.

Can you please provide exactly how you did the installation? of Joomla, the JA Edenite template and the JA Teline II template? Have you tried installing the QuickStart kit for the Joomla 1.0x-JA Teline II (as a separate website) to check if you can reproduce the Demo page? Otherwise, it is difficult to find what had gone awry with your JA Teline II template installation.

I really do not know how Joomla works but to my knowledge, there could be only one default template, at a time. How did you get both templates to be active in one site?

My question remains: Why do you need to have two templates?

Cornelio

[zero1 Friend zero1Join date: May 2008Posts: 3Downloads:0Uploads:0]

#253029

Hi Cornelio!
Thank you for your replies. Regarding the question about how the JA split menu and how I integrated two templates in the one Joomla install/website, I will have to refer this to the programmers (they are students so they are learning too…it is just that they actually know how to program, though they are inexperienced. This is part of their training and I am the lucky person to be chosen for them to do their client brief exercise)

They are just learning how to program Joomla too.

Regarding why I want two templates/sites: I wanted a straight corporate looking front end for the site because it will be the public face of a non profit organization promoting community housing with built in sustainable technologies such as renewable energy systems and water recycling (pretty dry here in Australia), along with other community based work.

The main purpose of the corporate look is to look credible to government departments and to the corporate sector as we will be seeking philanthropic funding to assist in community development projects like housing and to further develop sustainable infrastructure (my area of expertise).

I am a disability pensioner now so money is tight. However, I do have expertise in areas where I can use it for the purpose I have outlined here so my life now is about public service and philanthropy. It is a career I CAN have.

I wanted the magazine to be separate from (but still seemingly connected to) the main site so that the two things could be seen in separate light. The magazine would be itself and be more like a place for informal stuff like interesting news articles and commentary and such.

Interestingly I originally signed up for membership here because I wanted the Teline II template as the main site but the programmers suggested that the Edenite template would be easier to work with for what I wanted, so I went with that (it was my second choice).

I am now thinking that the magazine should sit on its own Joomla install as a sub-site which is linked from the ‘Magazine’ menu button on the home page. Does this make better sense? I see now from your comments about the double login etc and other issues re one template-one joomla that true integration may not be possible.

So, thank you for your comments. I have forwarded them to the team. What do you think about the last suggestion re using a second install for Teline II on a sub-site (I have plenty of MySQL databases available). Eventually the magazine will probably become a stand alone entity anyway. It is just that while I have these guys to help I wanted to do everything! 🙂

One other thing: How hard will it be to migrate from Joomla 1.0 where it is now to 1.5? I need to move from my current host to do this and I believe I should do it NOW while I have the help. We have until the end of next week to finish this.

Anyone else have a suggestion?

Thank you again Cornelio, and to any others in advance! 🙂

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