A new Joomla Blog Template that stands out

Joomlart.com released a new template called JA Uvite and it is really one of the greatest templates I have seen that you can use on a Joomla based Weblog.

The templates features some module’s in its footer that you could use for Related items, Recent posts and even for recent comments if you have a Joomla comment component and modules installed.

A great homepage setup like in their example makes this template one of a kind. I really like te colors and the way the modules are placed though out the page.

Joomla Blog Template

You can download the template if you are a member of the Joomlart template club, membership includes not only this template, but at the moment you have access to 60 others and more to come!

Which I think is a great deal for the great looking templates the put out every month.

Giving your Joomla Blog section a different Template

Did you know you can assign different templates to different sections that are called on by your Joomla menu?

Let’s say you want your Joomla Blog categories to have a different Template then the rest of your website, how would you do  this?

First you have to create a menu item that holds your section, or the categories like you did in Creating your Blog Menu 

Now go to “Site” -> “Template manager” -> ” Site Templates” and there select the template you want to use.
Then click the “Assign” button in the upper right menu of the screen.

Now you can select the menu item(s) that should show the different layout.

After that, you should see something linke the screen below.

Go to the Frontpage of your website, and try the link yourself, look if it works…it does…!
If you want to reverse the process, simply push assign again and choose the top choice “None”.

So, where could you run into trouble and how to fix it…. for this to work, you should select two (or more) templates that have the same modules like ” left”, “right” end other positions you want to use, since you can only assign a module to one position.

If you have a template that works the wrong way, you could try to chance position calls in the index.php of the template (via the HTML editor in your template manager) .
For example, your want your menu to appear in “left”, but your new Blog template only has a ” right” column.
Go into the Blog template HTML and simply change “right” into “left” and see how that works out.

I know, it is so simple, you just don’t think about it this way… 

How to find a Joomla Blog template

So, you have got the categories and sections done, created you first post and it all went fine.
The Joomla Blog Layout options for your Blog menu is working fine, but as you look at the frontpage of your site, it doesn’t look like a Blog, does it?

So I your really want to get a great looking Joomla based Blog, then the template should also be a bit Blog-styled.

Now here are a few templates that you can use for Blogging with Joomla.

The first one is a free template form www.redevolution.com with great old fashion feeling to it.
The template has some simple module positions that will allow you to look like a pro blogger.

 

But if you want something more clean, then maybe the Newswire version is more your thing:

This template also has some Blogging like features like the Double Menu positions on the right-hand side of the template.

Or you could use a free template like Haiku from Rockettheme, a template that will give some peaceful meanings to your Blog, or so you might one to think so. 

Or of course you want to go full out and buy a Professional template that has a high Web 2.0 ring to it or is more glossy and up-to-date with glossy looks.
Like this one from Joomlashack.

 

Which ever way you want to go, make sure you have a template and images to match the topic of your Joomla based Blog.

That way people are more likely to see what your Blog is about at first glance, thus making it easier for you to get subscribers to your feed, and as that number rises, your are on your way to successful blogging with Joomla.

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