Apr
03
2008
| Drupals Garland Theme Inspires JoomlaShack and Rockettheme |
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| Thursday, 03 April 2008 | |
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It allowed you to either choose from one of sixteen default color sets, or to select your own colors for the site's base, links, header and text. You can also upload and install a new logo and favicon directly from the same interface. My view was that:
"I doubt it will be long before we see a similar tool for Joomla. Making it easy for people to design and customize their own templates is a big step towards making software more attractive for non-techies. A year later, this technology has been launched in Joomla by two different companies within three days of each:
Recently we've seen Drupal themes adopt techniques from Joomla. Roopletheme have been a leader in this area introducing Suckerfish menus, multiple color options and complex block layouts to the Drupal world. Now innovation has traveled in the opposite direction.
Having tried them out, what do you think?
Comments (18)
  written by Cory, April 03, 2008
One man's useful tool is another man's unnecessary bloat.
 From my perspective, including that type of color switcher in a template like RocketTheme has done is unnecessary bloat. However, it is a neat trick, and will likely attract new customers. Smart move by RocketTheme. JoomlaShack's tool is pretty smart. The only thing I would recommend is to try and apply the same tool to more than just the MyTemplate template you have to purchase from JoomlaShack. If they can do that, I think they may have something really useful. I especially like it because it takes the customization out of the template package, which means that it does not have the unnecessary bloat.  written by Randy, April 03, 2008
I agree -
The Shack is right on track! JTB is a much better strategy - hope most of their templates will work with JTB as an option moving forward. Even better if they will make some of their existing templates JTB compatible as well. Anyone know if that is part of their strategy?  written by Zorro, April 04, 2008
RocketTheme's colour chooser is definitely neat, although it's in the wrong place. There is no sense at all in putting it into the frontend - but it's a perfect tool for the developer. So, my advice is to enable it during the testing phase, play with the presets and finetune the settings, then enter those in the template's configuration and switch the colour chooser off.
JoomlaShack's template builder is blazingly innovative. All I can say is 'wow'. Kind regards, Zorro  written by guido, April 04, 2008
I agree with Cory, Shack's one keeps template and configuration separate, which allows the code to be lighter! In contrast Rockettheme's one is all in one package and they clearly state is not made for older browsers, like IE6 (they say it leaves out many effects...),which, at least in Italy, means more than 30% of visitors...
Did any of you try it with IE6? or at least, since I have IE7, do you know a way to test it with IE6 (virtualization, a web service, whatever...) anyway, technology on joomla is making big strides (and many say innovation is not for OS...)  written by Barrie North, April 04, 2008
We had the same thinking in mind when Casey developed our Joomla Template Builder. The concept is to allow non-designers to create color schemes AND templates without Fireworks or Photoshop. My special favorite is the module builder that allows you to create curved corner modules with any color style you want.
Stay posted at Joomlashack for more of our templates to get added to the Template Builder! written by Dave C, April 04, 2008
Cory
As I understand the way that builder works it is entirely possible to make this work with other Joomlashack templates, Simplicity for one. One thing about this builder is that it is VERY light on graphics, as it uses mostly css for the colors to make for some quick loading sites! written by Cory, April 04, 2008
That's great news, Barrie. I love the idea of the the template builder. You guys are doing great work!
written by eric, April 04, 2008
Wow! That is really cool! Makes me want to sign up for Rockettheme again.
I think this is a step in the right direction for both end-user and designer. The end user can now make the theme any color combination they want and the designer can save time by not having to design all the different colored themes. I hope to see a modular template tool in the future. That would be the ultimate.  written by Steve Burge, April 04, 2008
Hey Eric
You make a great point there. Joomla's templates have offered professional designs at a low price but one downside has been that lots of sites have the same look. This is a big step towards solving that. written by jonias knight, April 04, 2008
Each of these tools are actually quite different.
While Rockettheme gives you chocolate or vanilla, Joomlashack gives you the scooper. I think the builder is better for creative types and Rockettheme's is better for someone who needs to have it done for them (at the cost of bloat). Personally, I like Joomlashack's method. It has nice Ajax features and good use of mootools across the board. At first I was a little overwhelmed but once I got the hang of it I had to by the template for it. Hope to see more in the future. Kudos to both of these guys! written by Gillian MB Tyrer, April 04, 2008
The Joomlashack tool is absolutely brilliant in my opinion, really well done.
I'm a big fan of the light on graphics approach, I thought the 1.5 template they are giving away  was superb. Now all I want to be able to do is choose my own module positions  written by guido, April 07, 2008
To answer what many are asking, here's the statement about templates supported by joomlashack's templatebuilder:
"The first thing you will need to do is purchase the "myTemplate" from Joomlashack which costs about 40 bucks. More new templates will be supported in the future as well as some existing Joomlashack templates" ...which apparently means there's only one template supported as of now... written by tombea, April 08, 2008
interesting approach from joomlashack but
to be honest many of the 1.5 designs you can get offer similar functionality already via the backend changing the site name, fixed and fluid width plus the background color can be altered pretty quickly my concern is it locks customers into joomlashack if was released as a component then I think these guys would have hit the jackpot  written by Richard Cussons, April 10, 2008
I've got quite a few related site so this type of thing makes keeping the brand going whilst making sutuble changes to diferenciate them easy.
written by Brian Teeman, April 10, 2008
@tombea.How does this template customisation lock anyone into joomlashack?
written by guido, April 15, 2008
Brian's right, every template maker could build a similar component or adapt their themes, that's the beauty of Open Source!
written by tj.baker, April 18, 2008
"to be honest many of the 1.5 designs you can get
offer similar functionality already via the backend changing the site name, fixed and fluid width plus the background color can be altered pretty quickly " I would respectfully disagree with this statement. While it's true you can get some templates that have built in params to change some aspects of a 1.5 template, there is nothing at all in the 1.5 template offerings that allow you to customize a template like this..... nothing that offers the creation of modules, with rounded corners to your specs, for instance... plus much more... Write comment
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As someone with limited css knowledge but a clear idea of how I want a site to look I usually spend hours tweaking the css by trial and error until I found the correct line to edit.
Now with the template builder it is easy for me to find the correct thing to change and the builder ensures that I do it in a standards compliant way.
There are of course some improvements/changes that I would like to see but hey whoever said we had to get it perfect first time.
All in all I'd give this a 9/10 and I'm sure we will hear lots more about this tool in the months to come.