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

#143883

The Teline series, why it is unique, popular and why Joomlart needs to keep developing it

I am amazed how many non-users of the Teline templates are so quick to post knee-jerk and disparaging comments because Joomlart is spending so much time upgrading the Teline series of templates.

What Joomlart could possibly do is to treat the Teline series as a separate product altogether just like what it did with the Magento templates. This will shut up many of the uninformed and underserved criticisms from non-users of the Teline series. As a long time user of the Teline series, I would not even be aversed if Joomlart would charge a premium, or go to per template charge for each Teline template iteration, or “Developer premium” charge for new iterations of the Teline series.

Here are some reasons why such special treatment of the Teline series is deserved:

The Teline series is the most popular brand of Joomlart.

Since Joomlart does not provide a breakdown of the usage of each template, I can only use the statistics*** of the unique threads and total posts for each template to gauge popularity.

1. The original Teline was the most popular templates of Joomlart. In fact, up to now, not including Teline II, the original Teline remains the most popular Template Forum
2. Within a two months or so upon release, Teline II has replaced all Joomlart subforums as the most popular subForum
3. In terms of most recent postings, during the months of May to October 2008, about 35-50% of all recent postings were about Teline II
4. Combined, the original Teline and Teline II, ranged from 50-75% of most recent postings.

To ignore the popularity (and thus the users) of the Teline series would not be a prudent move for Joomlart.

The popularity of Teline III can be gleamed by the observation that even before it was released, there were people already talking about it. In fact, many users of Teline II have been clamoring for Teline III more than a year ago. However, what may dissuade many Teline II users to migrate to Teline III is if Joomlart does not provide a detailed tutorial on how to transition from Teline II to Teline III.

When something is good, usually it generates so much conflicting reactions.

It is the script in Teline II (and Teline III) that makes a difference

The original Teline was popular because of its aesthetic template design. One that would not be appreciated by many users who are more into whistles and bells (i.e., more extensions, more colors, etc.).

Teline II is revolutionary, and the first news-magazine Joomla template of its kind when it came out in mid April 2008. While it retained the elegant aesthetic design of the original Teline template, additional scripts were added (not too apparent in what is seen by the reader) that made it unique from other Joomlart template, or for that matter, any template that were created by any Joomla template company.

To date, I only know of another Joomla template, that made by RocketTheme, that is of the same category as Teline II. I was tipped of the RocketTheme template, that came out in July 2008 (three months after Teline II). Frankly, I would not have had any reservations to shell out another $70 to buy the comparable RocketTheme news magazine template. But, it was not what I am looking for and I preferred the Teline II design.

I have been looking for better news-magazine Joomla template since 2007, but to my knowledge, there are no other Joomla template companies, except those already cited creating them. The reason: Teline II and the comparable RocketTheme template require more complex scripting to create. It cannot be created just by adding new extensions.

Teline II and now Teline III are not just a news-magazine templates.

To borrow from Tom, if you spend enough time, you can create a more unique template to suit your taste and the focus of your website. Some could add more extensions, or add “Christmas tree effects”, or “whistles and bells” in an attempt to attract visitors.

What Tom and many are proclaiming here however is only partially correct. Unless you have programming (scripting background and experience), one can create any other Joomla template from Teline II but not the other way around.

Teline II and now Teline III are most suited for any any information rich websites, one that requires a more systematic presentation of groups of articles that require nested categories. For this reason, it is not intended for everyone. If you are creating simple personal pages, or intended for focused sites, either for a company, organization, or a cause, you do not need Teline II or Teline III or their future iterations.

On the other hand, if you are planning to start any site that you intend grow long term, from a few hundred pages to thousands and tens of thousands or more in the future, they will require more systematic presentation — efficitent groupings into volumes and issues, sections and categories or even intersecting groupings of articles and topics — you better start learning how Teline II and Teline III work and some related extensions specifically being tailored for such sites (e.g., Jxtended Magazine, iJoomla Magazine and iJoomla News). This is true whether you are creating a news-magazine, health and biomedicine, travel and tourism, education and information, science and technology, or any other information rich website.

Is there need for Teline III, IV, V, and so on?

<em>@amejat 142734 wrote:</em><blockquote>Moreover, I would like to indicate that “creating” templates is not releasing updated ones every 6 months…

We already had Teline I and II, who needs a Teline III ??? and then IV, V, VI…</blockquote>

To those who really understand Joomla — its potentials and limitations — and wanted to create information rich websites as indicated above, the answer is YES.

I am very excited with Teline III because of the new innovations it is bringing to Teline II. [Read: http://www.joomlart.com/forums/topic/full-script-of-hungs-new-framework-and-ja-teline-iii/ ] If you pay yourself for the amount of time and effort (including trial and error learning), you may spend hundreds of hours (thousands of dollars for your time) just to get what some of the added features to Teline III, if you can get them all and if you have the time. If you are like many of the average Joomla users, I doubt you can do it with the same aesthetic quality.

As excited as I am of Teline III, I understand its limitations. In fact, I am going to pay someone to integrate features that is not in Teline III. [Read: http://www.joomlart.com/forums/topic/desired-features-of-teline-iii/ ] They will require more programming (scripting) as well as webdesign skills and experience that I cannot possibly do myself at a short period time. Thus, it would be worth the investment to pay someone who has the background and skills to do such a job.

My hope is that Joomlart will integrate those features in future iterations of Teline series. [Read: http://www.joomlart.com/forums/topic/desired-features-of-teline-iii/ ] Why? A good template is not just the summation of the extensions and “whistles and bells” added to it. Also, I am going to pay premium to enable what I want done because I am the only customer for the customized product. In contrast, I might have paid less for a premium Teline template coming from Joomlart because the cost will be distributed among current users of the Teline series who wanted such evolution in the Teline II, III, etc.

And just like what Joomla has done with the other third party extensions, the customization to integrate with the unique Teline look is an added bonus.

The Teline Series iteration.

The best analogy I can think of is what Apple is doing with the iPhone. The iPhone has its origins from the extensive experience of Apple with its successful iPod. But to suggest that the iPhone is just an iPod with a phone function added to it does not understand technology or when a new revolution or significant evolution has arrived. Similarly, the iPhone has evolved and has gone a long way from the first version to the current iPhone 3GS. As newer technologies become commercially feasible, they are likely to be considered in the future evolution of the iPhone, or perhaps its future iteration in the form of new Apple products, like the much awaited Apple Tablet.

What the above comment suggests — if applied to the iPhone — is that Apple should stop evolving and move on to other products.

The Teline series is in a similar state. There are things that the Teline II or the Teline III cannot do because Joomlart either does not have the expertise to do it, or Joomla has not yet evolved to integrate such new innovations.

Of course, more than likely, you do not understand or appreciate what I am sharing here, unless you have a need for a product like Teline II or Teline III, and perhaps (what is more likely) you have not even used Teline II.

Looking at the Demo or installing the Demo quickstart will not make you appreciate the beauty and the power of Teline II and perhaps Teline III. You have to have a need for the Teline template “to get it”.

Cornelio

N.B.
*** The statistics data was not difficult to generate, if you know how to use Excel or similar software and have basic understanding of statistics. I generated the statistics however to justify some reforms I proposed and was hoping Joomlart would implement to make it easier for Teline II users to upgrade their websites, as Joomla is upgraded.]

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