Installation
The most important decision to make before proceeding with your installation is whether you should install the template manually, or if you can use the Quickstart package, which will install everything for you.
Which installation method you should use depends on the current status of your site. Also, before installing either the template manually or the Quickstart Package, please make sure you meet the Joomla! and the template requirements.
Requirements
- Apache 2.2+ or Microsoft IIS 7 (Apache strongly recommended)
- PHP 5.4+ (PHP 5.5+ Recommended)
- MySQL 5.1+
- Joomla 3.4+
Also, please have a look at the Gantry5 requirements. Basically, they are the same as the above, but you will find some additional details there.
Quickstart Installation
The Quickstart Package consist of a full installation of Joomla! that installs Joomla itself, the template, the extensions, the demo content and the database data to match our demo layout. Have in mind that as this is a full Joomla! installation it may only be used on a clean server; the package cannot be installed in an existing Joomla installation. It can only be used when you start a new project/website.
Installing the Quickstart Package is a fairly simple process. Generally, a Quickstart install will consist of these small steps:
- Ensure you have installed an FTP client and prepared a database for your server, or have the credentials for an existing database.
- Download and extract the Quickstart Package.
- FTP the extracted Quickstart contents to your preferred install location.
- Open your browser to the install location on your server to begin the Joomla! installation process, entering the database credentials where required.
Once this final step is complete you will have a fresh install of Joomla!, along with the template and all the settings and content needed to match the demo, including sample article content. However, the images from the demo will NOT be included, as they are licensed via a third party. Instead, blank placeholder images will be included so that you can customize the content easily with your own images. For some users, the above steps are all that is needed for a successful installation of the Quickstart Package, but for those who are less experienced with this process, we recorded the following video.
Manual Installation
Manual Installation refers to installing the template on your Joomla! powered website. This means you already have a website with content items, modules, extensions, so you just decided you want to improve the design of your website.
You can find step-by-step instructions as well as a video instructions regarding the Manual Installation in the Gantry5 Documentation, in the "Installation" chapter.
Customization
All your customization (custom code) should be placed in your "Custom Style Sheet" file. This is the custom.scss file. By default, the custom.scss file does not exists, so you will need to create it. You need to create this file in root/templates/TEMPLATE_NAME/custom/scss. You will find all details in the Gantry5 Documentation, in the "Adding a Custom Style Sheet" chapter.
Changing the logo
You will need to change the logo, that's for sure. You can do that easily by editting the settings of the "Logo" particle:
- Go to the "Template Manager"
- Click on "365News - Default"
- Select the "Base" Outline
- Go under the "Particle Defaults" tab, scroll down to the "Logo" particle and upload your logo file
You can also change the logo from the Layout Manager by editing the "Logo" particle in it.
The logo defines the height of the Header section so if your logo is with different height than the 365News demo logo (90px) you might need to adjust the logo margins in order to make it in the middle of the Header. You can do that easily by adding the following code in your custom.scss file:
.g-logo {
margin: 20px 0;
}
You need to modify this 20px so the logo fits the design. This 20px are actually 20px space/margin from the top and 20px from the bottom. This example is for logo image with 50px height.
Have a look at the following video. It shows everything that we explained above.
Update
Updating the template
Updating the template is really easy. Here are the steps you need to perform:
- Download the new version of the template from the "Download" section on our website
- Go to "Extensions" -> "Manage" and click on the "Browse" button
- Select the template file you downloaded in step 1. It will usually be called
tpl_it_NAME.zip - Click on the "Upload & Install" button
Gantry5 Framework update
This is just a simple one click task. If there is a newer version of the Gantry Framework released you will notice that in your Joomla Admin as well as in the Template Manager. Then just click on the button.
You might also want to read the "Updating" and "Updating Themes" chapters in the Gantry5 Documentation.
Gantry 5 Basics
Please have a look at the Gantry Documentation in order to discover what Gantry is all about, the core-concepts behind it, and how to get started with this next-generation framework.
The most important things you need to know when working with our Gantry5-based templates are:
- The Layout Manager is used mostly for creating your module positions. Apart from the module positions, you should also keep the static content in the Layout Manager. By "static content" we mean the "Logo" particle, the "Menu" particle, the "System Messages" particle, the "Page Content" particle, the "To Top" particle and the "Mobile Menu" particle.
- If you want to hide some modules/elements on some devices (phones, tablets, etc) you should use the
hidden-phone,hidden-tablet, etc. classes but you should add them in the particular module positions (under the "Block" tab) in the Layout Manager, rather then in the "Module Class Suffix" field for the particular module. You will find more details in the "Layout Manager" chapter in the Gantry Documentation. - As mentioned above, you create your module positions in the Layout Manager, but then you will use the Module Manager to assign your modules, as you would do in any other framework as well as in the default Joomla!
- In order to publish the custom particles that come with the template you will use the "Gantry5 Particle" module in the Module Manager, rather than adding them directly in the Layout Manager.
- If you want to change the style of some sections (background color, background image, text color, etc.) globally, for the whole website, you should do it under the "Styles" tab in the "Base" outline. The "Base" outline holds the defaults for the whole website. You can then override those defaults in each outline you create.
- If you want to load an asset (JS, CSS, etc.) globally in the whole website, you can do it under the "Page Settings" tab in the "Base" outline.
- If you want to create an empty page so you can assign modules to it, you will use the "Gantry5 Themes" -> "Custom Page" menu item type. Previously, you would use the "Featured Items" menu item type.
Required Atoms
Please have a look at the Atoms sections in the Gantry Documentation so you know what they are all about.
Atoms basically load assets (scripts and stylesheets).
You must load the following atoms so the template can work properly. We recommend adding these atoms to the "Base" outline so the assets can be loaded on all your pages:
- "UIkit for Gantry5" Atom - loads a modified and optimized version of the UIkit Framework.
- "Template.js" Atom - loads the template specific JavaScript code.
Optionally, you can also add the "ScrollReveal.js" atom if you want to have onscroll animations. ScrollReveal.js is a library to easily reveal elements as they enter the viewport.
You need to load these Atoms if you install the template manually (refer to the "Installation" section for more details).
The following video shows how you add the Atoms.
Particles
Gantry5 comes with a brand new Particle system which makes it easy to create, configure, and manage content blocks.
Basically, everything that you would create a Custom HTML module for is now coded in to a particle. You no longer need to copy/paste long HTML codes and edit them, you just need to click here and there and fill out fields in the Admin.
In this chapter we will show you the custom particles that we developed as well as some of the core Gantry 5 particles that we modified and enhanced, for example the "Social" particle.
Branding
The "Branding" particle is almost the same as the Custom HTML particle - it allows you to displays a text/HTML of your choice. The following video shows the particle itself and most of its options.
CTA Button
The "CTA Button" particle display a really nice and highly effective Call-to-action button. The following video shows the particle itself and most of its options.
Contacts
The "Contacts" particle displays contact information. It is a really flexible particle so you can basically display whatever contact details you want. The following video shows the particle itself and most of its options.
Features
The "Features" particle displays, the quite popular nowadays, features that you, your company or your product provides. The following video shows the particle itself and most of its options.
Gallery Feature
The "Gallery Feature" particle is divided into a left and right side. It takes most of the features from the "Gallery" particle and adds some new options so you can have your images on one side and then a title, description and a button on the other side. The following video shows the particle itself and most of its options.
Google Map
The "Google Map" particle is really flexible and displays a Google Map. The following video shows the particle itself and most of its options.
Main Feature
The "Main Feature" particle is divided into a left and right side. It displays an image and some text with a button. You can achieve some really nice visual effects if you add the ScrollReveal.js functionality to this particle. The following video shows the particle itself and most of its options.
Modal Search and Offcanvas Toggle
We put these two particles together because they are both supposed to be used inside the Main Menu. The "Modal Search" particle displays a nice magnifier icon and when you click on it a small popup window with the Joomla Search appears. The "Offcanvas Toggle" button displays an icon of your choice which, when clicked, triggers the Offcanvas section. The following video shows the particles themselves and most of their options.
OnePage Menu
The "OnePage Menu" particle display a sidebar, vertical menu that gets sticky/fixed when the user starts scrolling. And the page gets smoothscrolled to the particular sections when a menu item is clicked. The following video shows the particle itself and most of its options.
Our Team
The "Our Team" particle is a variation of the "Content PRO" particle. It displays team members together with their social accounts in a nice way. The following video shows the particle itself and most of its options.
Page Title
The "Page Title" particle is a nice, small particle that shows a title, icon and description. The following video shows the particle itself and most of its options.
Slideshow (Joomla)
The "Slideshow" particle is basically the UIkit Slideshow coded into a particule and brought as a feature in our Gantry5-based templates. The difference between the "Slideshow" particle and the "Slideshow (Joomla)" particle is that in the first you create your slides manually, while in the second the particle fetches Joomla articles automatically. The following video shows the particle itself and most of its options.
Social
The "Social" particle displays social icons and/or text. We enhanced it so you can now also have tooltips with custom test. The following video shows the particle itself and most of its options.
Fixed/Sticky Header
365News has a nice fixed/sticky Header that stays on the top of the screen when you start scrolling down. This effect is achived with the UIkit Sticky component. Basically, all you need to do is to add the following "Tag Attribute" to the Header section:
data-uk-sticky="{media: 768}"
You can use only data-uk-sticky but then the Header will always be fixed, on all devices. The {media:768} tells, that the Header should only be fixed on devices that are wider than 768px.
You can easily disable the fixed Header or make another section fixed. The following video explains everything (it is from the Oxygen template but everything is absolutely the same).
Modules and Positions
365News comes with unlimited module positions. Thanks to the awesome Gantry 5 framework you can now easily create as many module positions as you want. You just need to go to the Layout Manager, drag and drop the "Module Position" particle wherever you want it to be and set the module position name.
Quickstart Package - Modules Overview
Here, just for your orientation, you can see where the modules from the demo are published and what Module Class Suffixes they use.
"Home" Page
1. Exclusive News (Top)
Module Position: top-a
Module Class Suffix: none
Show Title: Hide
2. Top Menu (Top)
Particle: Menu
Module Position: top-b
Module Class Suffix: none
Show Title: Hide
3. Logo
4. Radio Banner (Navigation)
Module Position: banner-a
Module Class Suffix: none
Show Title: Hide
5. Menu (Navigation)
6. Main Slideshow | Home Page
Particle: Slideshow (Joomla)
Module Position: showcase-a
Module Class Suffix: none
Show Title: Hide
7. Small News Slider Home Page
Module Position: showcase-b
Module Class Suffix: none
Show Title: Hide
8. International News
Module Position: intro-a
Module Class Suffix: none
Show Title: Show
9. Editor's Choice
Module Position: intro-b
Module Class Suffix: box4
Show Title: Show
10. Audi A4 Banner
Module Position: feature-a
Module Class Suffix: none
Show Title: Hide
11. Weather Banner
Module Position: feature-b
Module Class Suffix: none
Show Title: Hide
12. Photo Of The Day
Particle: Gallery Feature
Module Position: subfeature-a
Module Class Suffix: none
Show Title: Hide
13. Technology
Date Format: Blog
Module Position: utility-a
Module Class Suffix: none
Show Title: Show
14. Travel
Date Format: Blog
Module Position: utility-b
Module Class Suffix: none
Show Title: Show
15. Health
Date Format: Blog
Module Position: utility-c
Module Class Suffix: none
Show Title: Show
16. Cheer Up - Dog Banner
Module Position: utility-d
Module Class Suffix: none
Show Title: Hide
17. Call To Action Home Page
Particle: CTA Button
Module Position: maintop-a
Module Class Suffix: none
Show Title: Hide
18. Our Reporters (Our Team Particle)
Particle: Our Team (Style 1)
Module Position: mainbottom-a
Module Class Suffix: title-center
Show Title: Show
19. About 365
Module Position: last-a
Module Class Suffix: none
Show Title: Show
20. Our Offices (Contacts Particle)
Particle: Contacts
Module Position: last-b
Module Class Suffix: none
Show Title: Show
21. Latest News
Date Format: Blog
Module Position: last-c
Module Class Suffix: none
Show Title: Show
22. For Advertisement (Features Particle)
Particle: Features (Style 3)
Module Position: footer-a
Module Class Suffix: none
Show Title: Show
23. Copyright (Branding)
Particle: Branding
Module Position: copyright-a
Module Class Suffix: none
Show Title: Hide
24. Social Icons | Footer
Particle: Social
Module Position: copyright-b
Module Class Suffix: none
Show Title: Hide
21. To Top
"Contact Us" Page
1. Page Title
Particle: Page Title
Module Position: breadcrumb-a
Module Class Suffix: none
Show Title: Hide
2. Breadcrumbs
Module Position: breadcrumb-b
Module Class Suffix: none
Show Title: Hide
3. Contact Image
Particle: Custom HTML
Module Position: sidebar-left
Module Class Suffix: none
Show Title: Hide
4. Address
Particle: Contacts
Module Position: sidebar-left
Module Class Suffix: box4
Show Title: Show
5. Google Map
Particle: Google Map
Module Position: sidebar-right
Module Class Suffix: none
Show Title: Show
"Portfolio" Page
1. Page Title
Particle: Page Title
Module Position: breadcrumb-a
Module Class Suffix: none
Show Title: Hide
2. Breadcrumbs
Module Position: breadcrumb-b
Module Class Suffix: none
Show Title: Hide
3. Portfolio
Particle: Portfolio (Style 1)
Module Position: utility-a
Module Class Suffix: none
Show Title: Hide
"Ads Pricing" Page
1. Page Title
Particle: Page Title
Module Position: breadcrumb-a
Module Class Suffix: none
Show Title: Hide
2. Breadcrumbs
Module Position: breadcrumb-b
Module Class Suffix: none
Show Title: Hide
3. Banner Sizes | Ads Pricing
Particle: Image Features
Module Position: utility-a
Module Class Suffix: none
Show Title: Hide
"FAQ" Page
1. Page Title
Particle: Page Title
Module Position: breadcrumb-a
Module Class Suffix: none
Show Title: Hide
2. Breadcrumbs
Module Position: breadcrumb-b
Module Class Suffix: none
Show Title: Hide
3. FAQ
Module Position: utility-b
Module Class Suffix: none
Show Title: Hide
"Typography" Page
1. Page Title
Particle: Page Title
Module Position: breadcrumb-a
Module Class Suffix: none
Show Title: Hide
2. Breadcrumbs
Module Position: breadcrumb-b
Module Class Suffix: none
Show Title: Hide
3. OnePage Menu
Particle: OnePage Menu
Module Position: sidebar-left
Module Class Suffix: none
Show Title: Hide
Category Setup (example: World) - Menu Item Setup
1. Blog Layout
Intro Articles: 3
Columns: 1
Links: 0
2. Popular
Date Format: Blog
Module Position: sidebar-right
Module Class Suffix: none
Show Title: Show
3. Weather now
Icon Set: Meteocons Light
Module Position: sidebar-right
Module Class Suffix: box2
Show Title: Show
4. Web Design Banner
Module Position: sidebar-right
Module Class Suffix: none
Show Title: Hide
5. Trending
Module Position: sidebar-right
Module Class Suffix: box3
Show Title: Show
Extensions
The Web is full of all kinds of different Joomla extensions. Throughout the years we had the chance to work with many extensions from many different providers which helped us to filter the best of best ones. The extensions that we use in our templates have the cleanest code, the best functionality and they've been very well supported by their developers.
Below you will find the Download link and the Documentation for each extension (Component, Module, Plugin) that we have used in this template.
- RokSprocket - Download | Documentation
- News Show SP2 - Download | Documentation
- Weather Module GK4 - Download | Documentation
- Disqus Comments - Download | Documentation