SOLVED Gantry page templates vs Joomla native page layout creation
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- Joombler
- Elite Rocketeer
- Posts: 715
- Thanks: 5
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Dear team,
Just started working with Gantry. Before I dive into the abyss of confusion (nub online), I would like to know what Gantry offers more when comparing it to the way I created J! native page creation over the last 20 years. Now it seems that I have to create for every page a Gantry template, as where I do it in J! itself, I just use a module that I activate on certain page locations, depending on de menu I click. This question is not meant offensive, I just lost it here totally (sorry).
Are latest RT templates also usuable without Gantry (as it defines my module locations like Header, Footer etc)? - Last Edit: 2 years 11 months ago by Joombler.
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- MrT
- Preeminent Rocketeer
- Posts: 101084
- Thanks: 13481
- Web Designer/Developer
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No problem
You will be familiar with creating modules and assigning them to the fixed module positions that the template offers. With Gantry 5 you have the flexibility to create as many positions as you want, anywhere that you want, called what you want and arranged in any way that you want. So Gantry 5 offers a great deal more power and flexibility over tranditional Joomla templates. So that's the "traditional approach" covered...
Next, Gantry 5 also offers the possibility to create "particles" (specific to Gantry 5) but analogous to joomla modules directly on the layout of your outline (no need to use modules or module positions at all). Some users prefer this as they just arrange their content on the layout of their outline (aka template) and just drag and drop the arrangement as they wish so it can be easier to understand. You may think this might lead to more outlines being required (and you would be partially correct). But Gantry 5 also offers functionality called "inheritance" I.e. on your layout you can tell it to "inherit" some of the content from other outline layouts. This is particular useful for things like navigation, menu, logo, copyright, footer, etc - where you only want to maintain the content once.
Particles are a very powerful piece of functionality. If you're a developer, they're far easier to write that a normal joomla module would be. Particles use TWIG and YAML and are very easy to understand. We've developed hundreds of particles already for Gantry 5 - they provided things like slideshows, gallerys, latest news, newsletter, menu, testimonials, etc etc.
Should you require it, we've also provided the flexibility to add Gantry 5 particles within a "Gantry 5 particle" module wrapper - so you can use them like any other module too.
So, you can take the traditional approach still if you want to, have one outline and just populate that with module positions into which you assign modules. Or, you can take the approach of having one outline per page if your want and just put the content on the layout. The reality is you will use some of both approaches.
I hope that makes things clearer for you. I urge you to read the Gantry 5 documentation and also the chosen template documentation too. Start off with a "rocketlauncher" copy of your chosen template so you can see exactly how we created everything in the demo.
Regards, Mark. - Please search forums before posting. Please make sure your post includes the version of the CMS you are using and a link to the problem. Annotations on screenshots can also be helpful to explain problems/goals. Please use the "secure" tab for confidential information.
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- MrT
- Preeminent Rocketeer
- Posts: 101084
- Thanks: 13481
- Web Designer/Developer
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Good luck.
If you need any more help just ask by creating a new topic.
Regards, Mark. - Please search forums before posting. Please make sure your post includes the version of the CMS you are using and a link to the problem. Annotations on screenshots can also be helpful to explain problems/goals. Please use the "secure" tab for confidential information.
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