I also make extensive use of the template addons, like the lightbox effects, sliders, accordians and other tools that are available from these template masters.

My one frustration has always been the limited choice, as both only brings out one template a month, and editing these into unique variations does make life a bore.

It seems there is now a new and credible alternative, in the form of Morph, brought to us by prothemer. Morph is not a template, more a “template engine on steriods”.  When installed it replaces your current theme with a theme configurator, which allows you to refine virtually every element of your site design.  (Read their blog post here for the real explanation)

To make things a bit simpler they have created pre-defined style combinations called theme-lets.  Currently we have two choices but I am eagerly looking forward to seeing more from them in the coming weeks.

I have taken the plunge and have bought a subscription to morph, and will be using it in upcoming site designs.  My experience so far has been that though there is a steep learning curve,  the interface is intuitive and you can figure everything out yourself in almost no time at all.

There are lots I still need to learn, like how to use the ModuleFX and other cool customization tools, but that’s what documentation is there for.  The examples and tutorials available really gives you no excuse not to succeed.

The configurator even tells you when updates are available, which you can apply with relative ease.

Gone is the pain in manually coding sidebar and module overrides for individual pages or components. Gone is the pain in easy menu manipulations. Gone is the pain in having truly flexible page variations, and I have only been using it for one day!

As someone whom regularly runs Joomla training courses, I now have a new must-have item to add to my training content.

Here’s hoping the new flexibility will give me the creative freedom that the other template subscription services are lacking.

I attended Joomla Day in Cape Town this weekend. Ryan Ozimek from the Joomla core leadership team gave the keynote address, giving us an overview on the people and passion behind Joomla. It is good to know that there is real professionalism and drive behind this great open source innovation.

One of the several highlights for me  was the overview of the new Morph template framework introduced by the the joomla junkies.  Another was the talk by Phehello Mofokeng on the real life world of using Joomla.

Four interesting point raised during the day are as follows:

• Call to action by Ryan to ensure Joomla continues its outreach into Africa. Only time will tell how this will happen, but given the amount of people adopting Joomla daily it is bound to succeed.

• Phelello was passionate about Joomla and other Open source tools being adopted and used to drive empowerment and enablement in all sectors and societies within Southern Africa, including goverment.

• Joomla web design pricing came up again. Some argue that others are undercutting “typical” web design pricing,  thus undervaluing the time, effort and skill investment made in Joomla. I see this often, someone picks up basic Joomla skills and starts pumping out really basic sites, often overcharging the customer horribly.  The other side of the coin needs to be argued as well though,  Joomla is an open source product and as such should be used to empower and bring web sites to those that would not typically have been able to afford professional sites.
• Collaboration on work. Sean suggested all the Joomla developers and designers pool their skills and resources so as to make best use of the numerous opportunities available. Sean will make a special SalesForce CRM page available for everyone to register opportunies and availability. (More details once available….)

Despite some technical issues I think my presentation on Jumi went down OK, with most of the audience getting the benefit and power of mixing Joomla with external code.

Many thanks to Sean Grant, Matthew Philogene and Brendon Hatcher for organising a great event, looking forward to the next one.

Update: Some photos of the event is available here

“Joomla is an award-winning content management system (CMS), which enables you to build Web sites and powerful online applications. Many aspects, including its ease-of-use and extensibility, have made Joomla the most popular Web site software available. Best of all, Joomla is an open source solution that is freely available to everyone.”

The course is split into three separate parts, on consecutive days.  This allows participants to pick the days that are suited to there particular skill level.

Training is performed hands on, using the Office Reliance training centre’s laptops and interactive whiteboards.During the three day course you will create your own fully functional Joomla website.

Course fees includes hot lunch, printed training materials as well as a CD containing all the software used during the training course.

Cost is R 750 for day 1, R 1,150 for day 2 and R 1,450 for day 3; or R 3,000 for all three days, inclusive of VAT.

Limited spaces available, so early booking & payment secures a space.

Call 044 802 0400 or email training@officereliance.co.za This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to book.

The new site uses lots more images and unfortunately the template is fairly bloated with icons, styles and scripts, but the overall load time should be manageable.

After burning lots of midnight oil the new site has finally gone live. Go visit the new Office Reliance website, then let me know what you think.