Setting Up

Working with the Zen Grid Framework

 

This template is built on the Zen Grid Framework which makes changing, updating and editing the template incredibly easy. If you would like to learn more about the Zen Grid Framework take a look at the Zen Grid feature item on the Joomla Bamboo Site, or take a look through the Zen Grid framework knowledgebase.

 

For specific instructions on how best to implement the this template please refer to the documentation on the Joomla Bamboo site. The documentation highlights a few small changes to the way that the template is implemented within the framework and it also highlights the module settings required for some of the modules you see here on the demo site so its recommended that you look over that article as well as the core Zen Grid Framework documentation.

 

Core features of the Zen Grid Framework:

• Flexible templating framework for Joomla
• 50+ collapsible module positions to use in a grid based layout
• Versatile theming options
• HTML and CSS Overrides
• Superfish, Accordion and Split menu systems
• Module sliders
• CSS and Javascript compressions
• Google Font Support
• Type Kit Support
• Versatile font options
• Hidden Panel

Last Updated on Dec172010

Understanding the social icons

You have probably already noticed the social icons on the top right of this page. These icons are simple additions to the template that allow you to display a selection of icons and attach links to pages on your website or link to your social media pages. 

Last Updated on Dec232010

Recreating the frontpage layout

 

The front page layout of the Journal uses a combination of Joomla Bamboo modules. The main focus is the use of our JB Slideshow module in the banner position and the jtweet, the new jlastfm module and jflickr modules their respective grid positions. You can see screenshots of the settings used for these module below.

Last Updated on Dec272010

Setting up with a fresh version of Joomla

Setting up the Journal template in a fresh installation of Joomla is reasonably straight forward. This document assumes that you have already setup Joomla and you have also included the default Joomla sample data.

Last Updated on Dec232010

Installing the quickstart package

Most of our templates come with quickstart packages that are as easy as setting up a standard installation of Joomla. Different server setups can often have different requirements for setting up Joomla and its probably best to search the Joomla.org forums to get an overview of the type of server environment that Joomla requires, but lets assume you already have the server set up and you are ready to install A JB template plus the demo content you see on our demo sites.

Superfish menu

While we havent featured the superfish menu in this demo it is available for core Joomla menu modules that are positioned in the usual "menu" position. To read a full explanation of how to set the superfish menu up with this template please review the main Zen Grid Framework documentation. Last Updated on Dec232010

How to install a Joomla template

Choose this option if you already have your site created or have at least made changes to the default Joomla installation and want to overlay this theme onto your site. For a complete installation of the demo site on your server please refer to installing the quickstart package.

Last Updated on Oct122010

How to install a Joomla extension

The following step by step explanations describe how to install a Joomla extension or a Joomla plugin.

Last Updated on Oct152010

A note about compatibility and css3 selectors

The Journal template takes advantage of a few different css3 seelctors that will render flawlessly in all modern and intelligent browsers - namely firefox, safari, chrome and opera. However, the rounded edges and text shadow on some of the elements will not display in internet explorer 6, internet explorer 7 or internet explorer 8.

Rather than add extra javascript or convert these features to image based solutions we have chosen to allow these features to degrade gracefully. This in effect means that the shadow on the text will not display and nor will the rounded edges on the social icons and read more buttons.

For more information regarding the philosophy behind graceful degradation or progressive enhancement in web design please read this post on A list apart.