Joomla Tutorials: How to Install and Modify a Joomla Template

Joomla uses templates to display the design of your website. You can make your own template or use one of the templates someone else has made and offered for others to use. There are hundreds of templates available for use with your Joomla web site, and many of them are free. If you can not find a free template that you like, you can also buy one or join a template membership club where you can download and use any of their templates for a membership fee.

Templates are zipped files that consist of an .xml file, a .css file and a folder with the images used in the template.

How to install a template on your Joomla web site:

You will first need to have a Joomla template on your hard drive.

1) Log in to your administration panel at www.yoursitename.com/administrator.

2) In the row of menus across the top, choose "Installers".

3) Choose "site templates" from the drop down menu.

4) Use the browse button to find the template that you want to install.

5) Click "upload".

6) In the row of menus across the top, go to "Site".

7) Choose Template manager from the drop down menu.

8) Choose site template from the menu that pops out to the side.

9) The template you uploaded should show up in the list of templates. Put a check mark in the box next to that template name.

10) Click the "Default" button at the top of the page. This will make that template the one that shows up on your web site.

How to edit the Images on your Joomla web site template:

Most templates will come with their own header graphic. Chances are you will most likely want to use your own header graphic.

1) Right click on the image on your web site and save it to your hard drive.

2) Open the image in your image editing program.

3) Make the changes to the image you want or create a new one the same size.

4) Save your image with the same name and format as the original image from the template.

5) Upload your image to the server to overwrite the original one with a file manager or ftp program. The correct file path to find it is public_html>your site folder (if not root folder)>templates>name of template>images

In order to change text color, background color, etc on your Joomla template, you will have to alter the css file. For a tutorial on doing this, please see my article called "Joomla Tutorials: How to edit the CSS and Html files of your Joomla Web Site.

When you install a new template, some of your modules may no longer be visible. This means they are published in locations that are not available with your chosen template. To learn how to change module positions, please see my article titled "Joomla Tutorials: How to Use and Manage Modules".