Joomla! Template Design: Create your own professional-quality templates with this fast, friendly guide Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Preface

• Chapter 1: Getting Started as a Joomla! Template Designer
• Let's Get Going!
• Designing Templates vs. Designing Web Pages
• Things You'll Need to Know
• Joomla!
• XHTML
• CSS
• Not Necessary, But Helpful
• Summary

• Chapter 2: Identifying Key Elements for Design
• Creating and Reviewing the Mock-Up
• The Joomla! Template
• Considerations to be Made
• Refining the Wheel
• Getting the Design Rolling
• Two Minute Color Schemes
• Defining the Graphic Style
• Slice 'n' Dice
• Putting It All Together
• Summary

• Chapter 3: Coding It Up
• Got Joomla!?
• Joomla! Servers
• WYSIWYG Editors: What-You-See-Isn't-Really-What-You-Get
• Setting Up Your Workflow
• Firefox: Use It
• Let's Make a Template
• Making Changes to Your New Template
• The Difference between CSS Classes and IDs
• Changing Our Template Colors
• Changing and Adding New Images to Our Template
• Top Navigation Images
• The Header Image
• The Truth about XHTML
• Tabula Rasa
• The DOCTYPE
• The Main Body
• Getting the Layout Started
• Adding Joomla! Modules and Content
• Module Options
• Styling the New Template
• Summary

• Chapter 4: Debugging and Validation
• Introduction to Debugging
• Troubleshooting Basics
• Advanced Troubleshooting
• Fixing CSS across Browsers
• Out-of-the-Box-Model Thinking
• The Road to Validation
• Advanced Validation
• Firefox's JavaScript/Error Console
• Firebug
• Extra Credit
• Summary

• Chapter 5: Your Template in Action
• A Picture's Worth
• Easy XML
• Getting to Know Your XML
• Zip it Up!
• Uploading to Joomla!
• Summary

• Chapter 6: Templating Markup Reference
• Your Markup and Joomla!'s
• What You Can and Can't Control
• mosLoadModule $style Control Options
• Menu Options
• Your CSS File
• IDs
• Classes
• Summary

• Chapter 7: Dynamic Menus and Interactive Elements
• Dynamic Menus
• Drop Downs
• SuckeroomlaFish
• What If Nothing Drops?
• Installing the Extended Menu Module
• Applying the CSS to Joomla!
• Applying the DOM Script to Joomla!
• Using Flash
• The Template
• Pass Flash a Joomla! Variable
• Getting Around IE's ActiveX Restrictions
• In a Joomla! Page
• Summary

• Chapter 8: AJAX / Dynamic and Interactive Forms
• Preparing for Dynamic and Interactive Forms
• You Still Want AJAX on Your Site?
• Joomla! Extensions
• Installing Joomla! Extensions
• Wrapping It Up
• Using the Wrapper Menu Item
• The AJAX Factor
• JavaScript Components and Libraries
• More Joomla! Extensions!
• Summary

• Chapter 9: Design Tips for Working with Joomla!
• The Cool Factor
• Rounded Corners
• The Classic: All Four Corners
• Using Two Images Instead of Four
• The Two-Image "Cheat"
• I Don't Want Rounded Corners on all My Modules!
• Sizeable Text
• Graphic Header Text
• Using PHP to Make Graphic Headers Easy
• Advanced Tips
• Common WYSIWYG Editor Issue
• What About SEO?
• URLs
• Keywords and Descriptions
• Ways to Remove More Tables from Joomla!
• More Ways to Edit Joomla's XHTML Markup
• Final Note On Customizing the mainBody();
• Summary

• Index