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Having Difficulty Choosing the right Template (Joomla)

  • Having Difficulty Choosing the right Template (Joomla)

    Posted 4 years 8 months ago
    • Hi all,
      I've been asked to create a website for an After School and School Holiday Programme for children, and would like to create it using Joomla and a Gantry 5 Rockettheme Template. I worked with Joomla many years ago, as well as Gantry and older Rockettheme Templates, but a lot of things have changed since then. So far, the features I'd like the site to have are:
      • Information about the different Programmes we offer, including rates/prices
      • Link to where Parents can book their children
      • Our Staff - Staff profiles
      • All contact information, with Phone Number being prominent, and clickable if viewing on a mobile device (clicking it initiates the call)
      • Location, including Google Map
      • Photo's of the children participating in activities
      • Reviews from Parents
      • Showcase section, where we can choose images or videos to be displayed
      • Thinking about a Members only section for Parents, where they can login and view Newsletters, Photo Gallery of children's art, etc. - this is not a definite though
      This list is not exhaustive, and is only a start. I want it to be responsive, look professional, welcoming and inviting, with the important information being easy to find. I'm open to trying Wordpress, Gantry 5 and Rockettheme templates rather than just sticking to Joomla. So, are there any Members out there who could recommend a few Templates that they think might be suitable, with customisation of course. Many thanks in advance.
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    Re: Having Difficulty Choosing the right Template (Joomla)

    Posted 4 years 8 months ago
    • Any of the Gantry 5 templates can do that... the only tricky part will be the "booking" part. For that, I'd recommend that you consider also using a specialist "booking" extension (Look on JED).

      Regards, Mark.
    • The following users have thanked you: Koputai Kids After School Program

    • 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.
  • Re: Having Difficulty Choosing the right Template (Joomla)

    Posted 4 years 8 months ago
    • Hi Mark
      We wouldn't be using the website to actually take bookings, as we use AimyPlus for all our bookings. I'd just want the website to provide booking information and a link to where Parents can book. A lot of the templates I've been checking out seem complicated for my needs, and I'm not confident with customising it to the degrees that I might like. I thought Anacron might be ideal, but there's aspects of it that I'm really unsure how to customise. Even when I tried to add the "Search" particle, it just didn't display correctly, or the Contact section. Am hoping that someone might be able to recommend at least a few templates. Thanks for your reply :)
  • Re: Having Difficulty Choosing the right Template (Joomla)

    Posted 4 years 8 months ago
    • There is one Template I'm drawn to, and that's "Fresco". However, that is a Gantry 4 template. Could you help clarify what the advantages are to using Gantry 5 templates compared to Gantry 4? And as long as they're "Responsive", are they equally good at viewing on all devices? Thanks again.
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    Re: Having Difficulty Choosing the right Template (Joomla)

    Posted 4 years 8 months ago
    • All the Gantry 5 templates are much the same in terms of customisation. What basically changes between templates is the "look" and what "specialist particles" you get with the template. Anacron is a good a template as any for your needs. If you get stuck getting something to work then raise a topic in the Anacron forum (and provide login details in the secure tab).

      If you are just linking to an external booking system then just providing a link and a few basic details is easily achievable in any of the Gantry 5 templates.

      Once you get used to it, Gantry 5 is a really powerful and easily customisable framework, but you do need to invest a little time becoming familiar with it.

      Regards, Mark.
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    Re: Having Difficulty Choosing the right Template (Joomla)

    Posted 4 years 8 months ago
    • Regarding Gantry 4 vs Gantry 5. First let me say that there is nothing wrong with Gantry 4, it has been around a long time and is very stable. But if you are looking for "future proofing" and the best functionality and flexibility then Gantry 5 would be the better framework to choose. Gantry 5 based templates offer better "responsive" functionality as you can adjust the breakpoints and the mobile menu system is better (in my opinion).

      With Joomla 4 being released this year, it would be better to adopt Gantry 5. We are redeveloping some of our old Gantry 4 templates to work on Gantry 5 but it is unlikely that Gantry 4 based templates themselves will be made to work with Joomla 4.

      Regards, Mark.
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  • Re: Having Difficulty Choosing the right Template (Joomla)

    Posted 4 years 8 months ago
    • Thanks again Mark - that's pretty much what I thought, and I believe it is important to future proof this website, so will keep looking into the Gantry 5 templates. I didn't realise that Joomla was releasing another version. Sorry for all the questions, but which do you think is the simplest to work with, and the most secure - Joomla or Wordpress? I've never worked with Wordpress, but if it's simpler, then it might be worth a try.
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    Re: Having Difficulty Choosing the right Template (Joomla)

    Posted 4 years 8 months ago
    • Neither Joomla or Wordpres are "simpler" than each other. Each have their own nuances and terminlogy but Gantry 5 works much the same in either CMS. If you are familiar with Joomla (and I believe that you said that you are) then swapping to Wordpres will fry your brain initially and will probably add to your confusion and learning curve in the short term. My advice would be to "stick with what you know" at least then you only have to learn Gantry 5 and not Wordpress as well.

      Regards, Mark.
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  • Re: Having Difficulty Choosing the right Template (Joomla)

    Posted 4 years 8 months ago
    • Thank you again for all your help Mark!

      After thinking about it all for a couple of days, I have decided to try and continue using the Anacron Template, but see if it would be possible to make it "look and feel" like the Fresco one. Obviously there's no way to make it look exactly the same, and I completely acknowledge that, but how simple do you think it would be to achieve this? And if I forge ahead, would I be best to post in the Anacron forum for help to do it, or Fresco? I'm guessing the Anacron one, but just wanting to double check.
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    Re: Having Difficulty Choosing the right Template (Joomla)

    Posted 4 years 8 months ago
    • If you are using our Anacron template then you post in the Anacron Forum.

      Anacron and Fresco are not a million miles apart in terms of style, so you should be able to do most things provided you have the CSS, HTML, PHP and good familiarity with Gantry 5 to undertake that. Fresco has quite a few overrides in it to do some of the things it does and it also uses extensions that you won't want to use in a Gantry 5 project.

      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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