Aplusgarages guide

What tools to use to build a Joomla Template?

Usually you will need Dreamweaver or any HTML editors, Firefox with the firebug extension and Chris Pedric extension. It really depends on what kind of template you are trying to build, in some cases they are available for free download. Some examples of this would be free Joomla church templates or free Joomla education templates, if this is what you are looking for no need to build it yourself! However, let's talk about making your own template for now. The JTT Template Toolbar Tool stand alone plug-in and a standalone server, preferably Movamp 1.0 or Movamp 1.5. I have tried a lot of Joomla Stand Alone servers and for now Movamp seems to be the be one of the industry. The reason you will need a standalone server to build your Joomla template is that since Joomla is an online web based CMS you will be at the mercy of your internet connection. Working offline will be a lot quicker and more productive. It is also better to work offline than being online on a live production web site where you client and the whole world will see you make errors as you develop the site live...however, it is still possible if you choose the "site offline" setting in the global configuration settings, this will make the site only visible to you or however is logged in. For template design only the super administrator should have access to the site.

Do you really need Dreamweaver? While Free are nice to have they are not always necessary, Well...the Dreamweaver extensions make it a little more intuitive than the JTT Template Toolbar Tool tool, however both the extensions and the JTT Template Toolbar Tool do the same job. If you are using JTT Template Toolbar Tool you can use any HTML editor that you need, even notepad will work for that. NVU portable is not a bad editor to use to build Joomla site even if it does have it's shortcomings like any editors around. How do you use and install movamp? Well that is pretty simple, simply unzip and click on the Joom2 go orange icon. This will start your Joomla site automatically in Internet Explorer by default. Give it at least a minute or tow to boot up as it takes time for the virtual server to start. Some settings are also available to set the default browser to Firefox but since I use Firefox portable I let it start in Internet explorer, minimize IE and work on the site in Firefox since it can handle the firebug extension and the Chris Pedric web developer extension.