Having got our head around assigning Templates to different Joomla pages. And also looked at some very basic Joomla/Astroid Module functionality, it is time to role up our selves and finally take a closer look at some of the awesome capabilities of the Layout Section. As mentioned before, the Layout section is pretty much the heart of Astroid. And it is in turn divided up into Sections. In this tutorial we look at how these Sections are populated on a Section by Section basis.

Some of the Sections such as the Top Section draw on extra Astroid Framework functionality that can be found in the Astroid Frame Work. Examples being the Contact Details and Social Icons. Other Sections such as the Banner Section have extra Astroid Functionality that can be found as an extra Tab in the Joomla back end. Whilst strictly speaking the Banner is not active in the Two Template I think it is important to touch on this topic. Because integration like this as seamless as it is can be easy to miss! 

In the last part of this tutorial we take a peak at Widgets. Widgets are a great Astroid Feature and have recently  seen some major update . When I started this set of tutorials Widgets could only be applied to on an Astroid by Astroid Template basis. These days there is extra functionality where you can apply widgets to any Joomla page within any Astroid Template regardless of what pages it is assigned to! Any way in the interests of my sanity I am sticking to the now old fashioned method for the duration of these tutorials. Next up in this series a little more about widgets (the old fashioned way) and how they work with Template Two.” Find Out More About Astroid HERE.

In a previous article we looked at how different flavours of Astroid Templates are assigned to different Joomla Menu Items. In this follow up Article and related Video Tutorial we look in more detail at how Joomla Menus work in conjunction with Astroid. Specifically how different Layouts in different flavours of our Astroid Template affect what happens at the front end. First off we eye ball the Boilerplate Site and establish that we have the same default menu turn up in multiple Module Positions.

We then look at some of the ways we can tweak the look of the version of the Default Menu being published to the Header Section. Noting in the process that this works on a Template by Template basis. This helps illustrates a very basic but important Astroid Framework principle. Assuming that we have more than one Template, depending on what pages the Template is assigned to the changes will affect different pages differently.

Last but by no means least we look at how the standard Joomla Module Position published to all pages on the site will be affected by whether there is a corresponding standard module position published in the flavour of Astroid assigned to the page in question. In some ways a little obscure and twisted but if you can get your head around principles like this you can build just about anything whilst squeezing the very last drop of functionality out of Joomla. We will look at layouts, modules and widgets in the next video tutorial in this series. Find Out More About Astroid HERE.

If you want to take your Joomla Site to the next level then the Astroid Framework for Joomla is an absolutely fantastic option. As outlined in previous articles there are essentially two ways to get started. The Traditional Way which means you start with a Fresh Astroid Install and add Categories, Articles, Menu Items and Formatting as required. The other method is The Quickstart Way and means that you start with a Boilerplate Site Template packed full of all kinds of goodies. Taking this latter approach you will have a head start however will more than likely end up jettisoning and radically altering large portions of the Boilerplate Site.

An important side note is that If you want to follow along in a hands on kind of way you are going to need Joomla 5 or higher. However when push comes to shove regardless of which way actually works for you I would argue that even just watching the the Tutorials in this “Deep Dive” Series is a great way to learn how to build a Joomla Site with the Astroid Framework. As the old saying goes, just because you can do something does not mean that you should. These tutorials, I believe showcase what you can do! Thus helping you to land on your feet, if and when you decide to jump.

Specifically in this first tutorial, we look at the connection between Joomla Menu items and different Astroid Templates. Follow up Tutorials will probably be as follows or similar… Working with Joomla Module Positions with a focus on Menu Modules. Looking at how the Astroid Layout Manager works. Working through some examples of what we can do with the Layout Manager. And possibly a look at the Mega Menu. Find Out More About Astroid HERE.

In a previous article “Getting Up & Running the Traditional Way” we looked at getting up and running by installing the Astroid Framework and Templates on top of an existing Joomla install. At which point you have either already built your Joomla Site from scratch or you need to do so. In both scenarios you are going to have to do the leg work. Ensuring that the Content and Mechanics of Joomla work seamlessly with the Astroid Framework. The advantage of this approach is that you start with a blank canvas adding what you need when you need it. Very much a process of a process of addition rater than subtraction. Slowly getting your feet wet step by step. Whilst the disadvantage is that sooner rather than later you will have to perform a lot of very receptive work in Joomla, getting the site usable. As in creating menus, categories, articles, linking them up and all that Jazz. You might even hit a couple of road blocks this way that could potentially be avoided by taking the Quickstart approach.

Which brings us to the idea of having a head start. And out of the gate having every thing working with Dummy Content and a Boilerplate Template. Enter the Quickstart Way. In this Video Tutorial we will be performing a brand new fresh install of Joomla in its entirety, with the Astroid Framework and a slick new Astroid Template all linked up with demo material. The Content and Mechanics of the site work seamlessly. Maybe not exactly as you would like it but it all works and looks great. This way you can potentially save yourself a ton of leg work. Using the Quick Start Way most of the work you will end up doing will be being modifying content and removing features that you do not require. This time around more of a process of subtraction than addition. The disadvantage of the Quick Start method is that it is not going to help much if you already have an existing site that technically works and is populated with piles of content. You could however also argue that having a poke around a fully functional Joomla/Astroid Site is a good way to understand how to build your own site from scratch. Or maybe you are a developer and want to use a workflow like this to get multiple sites up and running on a daily basis. In which case you will probably really dig this method.

A couple of words of caution. This is currently all very new and things are changing all the time. First up you need to be able to run Joomla 5 to get this to work. Most decent Web Hoster's should be able to do this but you need to check just in case. The requirements for Joomla 5 are listed HERE. Alternatively you can do all this in a so called AMP. The process is very similar and this is actually the method I use for demonstration purposes in this tutorial. But not all AMPs are equal. Examples of AMPs include: MAMP, Wamp and XAMPP. I am on a Mac and my usual weapon of choice, MAMP is not Joomla 5 compatible. I ended up taking a slightly less trodded path and using Herd with DBning. On a side note if you are on a mac and curious about Larvel Herd, I suggest starting HERE. It is early days and I can not really say if I can recommend this method or not...

One last thing maybe you just want to do the install online and cut straight to the chase. And indeed in the spirit of unlocking the Power of the Astroid Quick Start package there are a lot of very good reasons to get this all up and running online from the start. My priority here is being able to illustrate the potential of the “Getting Up & Running the Quick Start Way” with the tools at my disposal. Your exact tools or combination of tools will very likely differ somewhat. Find Out More About Astroid HERE.