Content Templater - Reusable Layouts for Joomla Articles

Content Templater is a simple to use tool that lets you create standard layouts for frequently used text or layouts. You can use it to create a product listing, a directory listing, or calendar entry that you need to repeat over and over.

It adds a button to the bottom of your article editing window, one click and the saved layout is added to your article or module. Update the information and you're done.

With Content Templater you can create predefined reusable content templates. Not only can you make complete standard page layouts, you can also use Content Templater for text snippets. So any piece of text you want to use more than once, just make a content template of it!

1. Download and install the plugin

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Download Content Templater from this link https://www.nonumber.nl/extensions/contenttemplater

Save it to your local computer in a place you can find it easily.

As of this writing this is only for J15, but an updated version is in the works for 1.7

2. Upload to your site

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Go to Extensions > install/Uninstall

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In the Extension Manager use Browse and find the downloaded file on your computer then click Upload File & Install.

3. Configure Content Templater

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Go to Components > Content Templater

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Click Parameters

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The Parameters are simple. The defaults work really well. You can return to this if you want to fine tune the behavior of the plugin. Save your changes, if any, and you're ready to start creating templates.

4. Create a template

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Click New to start.

5. Add the descriptive information

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Start by choosing the view you want to use. The default setting is Normal. You can change this to whatever works best for you in the configuration step.

Give the template a descriptive name. This is not going to show in your article. It's for your use.

Give the template a description. This is also for administrators, and will not show anywhere on your site.

6. Use the editor to actually create the layout

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Create a layout standard template. Use placeholder pictures, you'll be replacing them and sample text. Format it with all the fonts, styling or colors you want to use.

This could be a single item like the example above or an entire page layout. What you put here is only restricted by your imagination.

Now you're ready to use it.

7. Decide whether you want the template to auto load

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If a template is set to Auto Load, it will be automatically inserted as soon as you create the article. If you don't set it to Auto Load, you will see a button at the bottom of the editing window when you create the article, and using the button will allow you to choose which template you want. Clicking the button will insert the template.

If the template is unpublished, you won't see it as a choice when you use the Insert Template button.

8. Create a new article in the Article Manager

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Go to Content > Article Manager then click the New button
Or
Just click the Add New Article icon in the dashboard.

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Your article editor will open up and the template will already be in place. If you chose not to auto load the template, you can do so from the Insert Template Button.

9. Use the Insert Template button to insert a template

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Choose the one you want. You can insert more than one template by repeating the process. Just click the name of the template.

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A copy of the template will be placed on the page. Now all you need to do is replace the placeholder pictures and change the content as needed.

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Introducing Jubilee: Our latest FREE Joomla 1.7 Template!

Today we've released a brand new Joomla 1.7 template called Jubilee!

jubilee_marqueeJubilee comes in 3 tasty flavors, Chocolate, Strawberry and Mint and includes 14 Module Positions, CSS3, is 960 Grid-powered  and has a handy built -in Sliderman Slideshow. But the best part? It's 100% FREE.

Come and get it!

Where did the Trash Manager go in Joomla 2.5?

Back in the days of Joomla 1.5, there was a separate Article Trash for articles:

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and a separate Menu Trash for menu links:

Read more: Where did the Trash Manager go in Joomla 2.5?

Introducing Our Newest Joomla 1.7 Template, Halcyon

Calm, peaceful, elegant, Halcyon. 

Introducing Our Newest Joomla 1.7 Template, Halcyon
 

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The problem is caused by a brief outage in the security news coming from Joomla.

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webdesigner

Before I joined Joomlashack I had my own web design business like many of you. My clients were a diverse bunch that kept me pretty busy—small businesses, restaurants, Fortune 500 brands, hip hop producers and multi-platinum rock bands. I grew my portfolio from 2 local clients in 1996 to over 50 billable, monthly clients from all over the world just a few years later.

Web designer friends of mine in big cities, like New York and Chicago, struggled mightily to land clients like mine, and whenever we would talk, they'd always ask me, "dude, no offense, but how are YOU getting these clients?"

I wasn't offended. I understood their frustration. After all, these guys were all in big cities where there were supposed be big opportunities for them, and here I was, a 'one-man operation' in small-town Ohio landing the types of big clients they could only dream about.

These guys were über talented (definitely more talented than me), and I assumed they were doing all the things I was doing to get clients. But I was surprised to find out they weren't.

While they stayed in their studios and focused solely on designing, I was out there promoting my business and getting new clients.

Here are 5 things you can do, that my friends didn't do, to get new clients, too:

Read more: 5 Things Web Designers Can Do To Land More Clients and Build a Successful Web Design Business

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Joomla 1.7.0 was released today. Joomla 1.7.0 is a direct upgrade of 1.6.5. All users of 1.6 are recommend to upgrade, since 1.7.0 fixes several security vulnerabilities in all previous versions of 1.6.

Read more: Announcement: Joomla 1.7.0 Released

Multi-language Sites in Joomla

UPDATES:

Joomla includes a basic way to implement a multi-language site. This doesn't replace other multi-language content management like, Joomfish, for example. You can find a complete list of these in the JED.

What you can do is activate the language switcher module, and let visitors switch the joomla core labels and headings to their preferred language. You will need to download and install specific language packs for each language you want to use. You can find the language packs in the JED.

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Here's how to install Joomla 1.7 manually on your hosting environment.

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Migrating from Joomla 1.5 to Joomla 1.7

JUpgradeJoomla 1.5 is solid, high-quality software and it will be supported until April 2012. So with many 1.5 sites working flawlessly, not everyone will rush to migrate. I say migrate because the structure of 1.5 is so different from 1.7 that you can't simply upgrade. Now is the time to consider a plan for the migration process.

With Joomla 1.6, the upgrade process will be built in to the Joomla framework, making incremental upgrades a possibility and streamlining the entire process. However, to move from 1.5 to 1.7 will be more difficult.

This tutorial uses the free jUpgrade extension. We have also reviewed the commercial SP Upgrade extension which is a viable alternative.

Read more: Migrating from Joomla 1.5 to Joomla 1.7