NYCPHP Meetup

[Stephen Britton]

This is a big question. Everyone who answers will have a different opinion.
It all depends on what type of developer/designer/coder you are.

I think template clubs are good for people who are not designers and want
to offer professional-looking templates to clients. A good, well-designed
template can make the designed-challenged Joomla developer look like a rock
star.

If you are a designer/coder and frequently need to modify templates, then
you are probably better off making your own or working with someone who
creates custom templates.

My strategy with template clubs is to sign up for the least expensive plan,
usually three months and then download all the templates and experiment.
All the major template clubs license their templates under the GPL, which
means that you can use them on as many sites are you like. (Note that most
template clubs will only give you support for one domain. So if need help
tweaking a template on more than domain, you are out of luck or will have
to sign up for a bigger plan.)

There are four major Joomla template clubs - Rockettheme, Joomlart,
YooTheme and Joomla Shack.

I have used or checked out templates from each club and this is my quick
take.

Rockettheme - Beautiful designs (the best looking in my opinion), lots of
features, but lots of confusing javascript and difficult to modify. If you
want a free preview, download the Gantry Famework.

Joomlart - Nice designs, good tech support, but like Rocketheme, lots of
confusing code (and in most cases, non-commented code!) make these
templates difficult to modify.

YooTheme - My personal favorite - their Warp framework is amazing and
well-engineered. Lots of options, clean designs, and the best backend
control panel. Still, not a good choice if you like to get under the hood
and tweak by hand.

Joomla Shack - Not the nicest designs, but clean code under the hood. These
used to be the most primative templates, but in the past year they done a
lot to improve the back end. You can download the Wright Framework to see
if you like it. They also make the nicest free template, Jubliee.

Have a great weekend.

- - - Steve


On Fri, Apr 27, 2012 at 10:40 AM, Janet Sullivan <jmsullivan50 at yahoo.com>wrote:

>
> I am just getting started with joomla, and thusfar have only played around
> with some free templates.
> I'm looking for advice on joining the various subscription-based joomla
> developer clubs like JoomlaShack, for
> example.
>
> Does most professional developers join one or more of these
> subscription-based services?  Or is it better
> to just purchase templates on a one-off basis?
>
> If joining a club is the better option, which ones?
>
> Thanks!
>
> Janet Sullivan
>
>
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>
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-- 
Stephen Britton
Technology Consultant
sbritton at gmail.com
Twitter: @StephenBritton
ph: 914-661-0040

"Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself." -
George Bernard Shaw
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