Best place to start: RocketTheme or original Joomla?
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- Derek G.
- Newbie
- Posts: 8
- Thanks: 0
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I apologize for such a newb question, that has probably been neat to death a million times. Opinions change over time, so I thought I would ask.
I am starting the task of learning Joomla (no website history to speak of), and like all beginners, find it a bit of a challenge. Not that that scares me.
What I'm wondering though, is if it would be in my interest to first learn the basics with the original Joomla Template at Joomla.org, or if I should just start off using the RocketTheme templates? I am a member of the RocketTheme club, so I definitely want to use one of these templates. I assume most who use these RocketTheme templates, first learned the basics with the Joomla.org templates, but I may be wrong.
Point of my question is this: should I start out with RocketTheme templates or the basic original? Do a lot of people start out with these templates, or is it wise to not use Rocket Themes until I have a level of experience?
Any opinions would be greatly appreciated, as I'm about to invest significant time into learning this.
Thanks!
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- Kat05
- Preeminent Rocketeer
- Posts: 25898
- Thanks: 334
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hi derek!
actually when i started with joomla few years back, i started with a rocketlauncher install of my favorite template (a complete joomla install + rockettheme template + rockettheme sample data as seen in the demo)
i just compared backend with frontend to see how certain things are done and slowly got an idea. there are several great tutorials in the internet, including here on rockettheme, but at that time i just liked to find out myself.
whenever i couldnt find an answer i tried to search the forum and most of what i know i have learnt here myself. the forum here is a great place, as a newbie i have been helped here so much, so i am even more happy to be a moderator now and share what i know. so whenever you get stuck and need an answer, just post a new thread.
you can also do google searches about certain options in the joomla backend and most of the time you will find very good answers.
it may take a while to get your head around things, but learning joomla is great and when you get your first joomla site up and running thats just awesome! all of us keep learning new things every day.
it will help a lot if you can get certain programs installed. our all time favorite is firebug add-on for mozilla firefox, it is a fantastic tool to use when working on a joomla site. also the mozilla firefox web developer add-on is great. take time to watch the firebug tutorials that james s! provided.
make sure when building a site, to check on the frontend after each change you have made in the backend to see how it looks. also test in different browsers, most problems occure in internet explorer, so it will be helpful to check all the time, to know what was the change to get that stupid browser to crash. it happens, you will find a lot of posts regarding problems in internet explorer while all other browsers display the site just fine. keep that in mind and you will prevent some headache.
here some nice links, that will hopefully help on your "joomla journey"
a great link collection written by moderator ben (thanks
). make sure to read at least the first 3 parts (including the info in the given links)
-basics
-joomla security and configuration
-joomla basics
then you have a great start and can save yourself some hardships in the future
www.rockettheme.com/forum/index.php?f=2&..._v=viewtopic#p283196
official joomla documentation docs.joomla.org/
very important security checklist!! docs.joomla.org/Category:Security_Checklist
official joomla extensions directory extensions.joomla.org/
joomla on youtube www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=joomla
when posting a question, it helps us a lot to help you quickly when you can provide the info as stated here www.rockettheme.com/forum/index.php?f=17...36997&rb_v=viewtopic
you can see a collection of joomla sites based on rockettheme templates here www.rockettheme.com/forum/index.php?f=17&rb_v=viewforum
hope this was helpful, welcome to joomla and rockettheme and all the best!
kat
- Kat05 / QA Lead & Support / Germany
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- Derek G.
- Newbie
- Posts: 8
- Thanks: 0
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Hi Kat105!
That was a very detailed and helpful post, and I very much appreciate it! You really answered all all my questions and concerns.
The main thing I wanted to be sure of before investing all kind of time learning Joomla, was if a total beginner is ok starting with the more complex Rocket Themes, to which you indicated that that's how you got your start. That's really what I needed to hear.
Thanks again!
PS Thanks for the links.
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