Joomla! 1.5 Template Design -- Table of Contents -- Joomla! 1.5 Template Design -- Credits -- About the Author -- About the Reviewers -- Preface -- What this book covers -- What you need for this book -- Who this book is for -- Conventions -- Reader feedback -- Customer support -- Downloading the example code for the book -- Errata -- Piracy -- Questions -- 1. Getting Started as a Joomla! Template Designer -- Joomla! 1.5 perks -- Pick a template or design your own? -- Drawbacks to using a pre-made template -- This book's approach -- Things you'll need to know -- Joomla! 1.5 -- CSS -- XHTML -- PHP -- Not necessary, but helpful -- Tools of the trade -- HTML editor -- Graphic editor -- Firefox -- We'll be developing for Firefox first, then IE and other browsers -- Summary -- 2. Template Design and Approach -- Things to consider -- Types of sites -- Modules, components, and plugins -- Getting ready to design -- We have a problem -- It gets worse -- The solution: Rapid design comping -- Let's get started! -- Think about it: Positions -- Sketch it -- Consider usability -- Start with the structure -- The DOCTYPE -- The main body -- Attach the basic stylesheet -- Basic semantic XHTML structure -- Adding text: Typography -- Start with the text -- A quick note about starting to style with CSS -- Font choices -- Get daring: Font stacks -- sIFR -- Cascading fonts -- Font sizing -- Paragraphs, blockquotes, and other text markup -- Default links -- Form elements -- The layout -- How wide to make your site? -- CSS tables versus floating divs -- Navigation -- More navigation: Joomla! 1.5 specific styles -- Color schemes -- Two-minute color schemes -- Color schemes with Gimp or Photoshop -- Adding color to your CSS -- Create the graphical elements -- Graphic styles -- Handling edits and changes -- Relax and have fun designing! -- Slice and export.

Don't forget your favicon! -- Make your favicon high resolution -- Summary -- 3. Coding It Up -- Got Joomla? -- Understanding the Joomla! 1.5 template -- Basic, core template files -- Advanced template files -- Your Joomla! 1.5 work flow -- Let's build our template! -- Tabula rasa -- Including Joomla! 1.5 content -- Congratulations! -- General Joomla! stylesheets -- The content component -- Module positions -- Jdoc tag overview -- Updating the templateDetails.xml file -- Placing module positions in the index.php file -- Assign modules to your positions -- Hello? Content is wrapped in tables. Gross! -- Everything is better with Beez -- Using template overrides -- Final CSS tweaks and fixes -- Summary -- 4. Debugging and Validation -- Don't forget about those other browsers and platforms! -- Introduction to debugging -- Troubleshooting basics -- Why validate? -- Joomla jdoc tags and PHP -- CSS quick fixes -- Advanced troubleshooting -- Fixing CSS across browsers -- Box model issues -- Everything is relative -- To hack or not to hack -- Out-of-the-box-model thinking -- Style for IE separately with conditional comments -- The road to validation -- XHTML validation -- CSS validation -- Advanced validation -- FireFox's JavaScript/Error Console -- The Web Developer Toolbar -- FireBug -- Checking your work in Internet Explorer -- Run multiple versions of IE -- IE Developer Toolbar -- Don't forget about the QorSMode bookmarklet -- Extra credit: Optimizing for text and mobile browsers -- What about the new Mobile Safari browser? -- Summary -- 5. Your Template in Action -- A picture's worth a thousand words -- Template packaging basics -- The templateDetails.xml file -- Quick XML syntax overview -- From the top -- Descriptive tags -- Copyright and licensing? -- File, position, and param tags -- What about the html directory? -- Param tags -- ZIP it up!.

No way to ZIP? -- One last test -- Troubleshooting installations -- Summary -- 6. Joomla! 1.5 Template Reference -- Jdoc include tags -- Site header information tag -- Joomla! 1.0 to 1.5 conversion -- The component include tag -- Joomla! 1.0 to 1.5 conversion -- Module position tags -- Module position styles -- Joomla! 1.0 to 1.5 -- Menu output options -- Using overrides -- Module overrides and chrome -- How module chrome works -- Component overrides -- Pagination -- Additional template information -- Common Joomla! CSS -- Joomla! 1.5 CSS ids -- Joomla! 1.5 CSS classes -- Joomla! 1.0 to 1.5 conversion -- Template parameters -- Define a parameter in the templateDetails.xml file -- Retrieve a parameter in the template file -- Useful standard parameter types -- Summary -- 7. Dynamic Layouts, Menus, and Interactive Elements -- DIY or extensions? -- Dynamic layouts -- PHP syntax -- PHP if/else conditional statements -- Update your CSS -- Dynamic menus -- Drop-down menus -- DIY Suckerfish menus in Joomla! 1.5 -- Applying the CSS to Joomla! -- Applying the DOM Script to Joomla! -- Flash-ize It -- Flash in your template -- Pass Flash a Joomla! variable -- The ObjectSwap method for Flash -- Flash in Joomla! content or modules -- Summary -- 8. AJAX/Dynamic Content and Interactive Forms -- Preparing for dynamic content and interactive forms -- Joomla! extensions -- Deciding where AJAX is best used -- Installing the Joomla! comment component -- Installing the core design Ajax Pagebreak plugin -- Installing the AJAX RSS Reader Version 3 with Draggable Divs module -- AJAX: It's not just for your site's users -- The AJAX factor -- JavaScript component/plugin scripts -- The problem -- Enter jQuery lightBox -- Summary -- 9. Advanced Enhancements and Design Tips for Joomla! 1.5 -- Giving users control -- Editing a template override.

Adding suffixes to modules and pages -- Page suffixes -- Module suffixes -- The trick -- Design tips and tricks -- The cool factor essentials -- Backgrounds -- Lists -- See it in action -- Rounded corners -- The classic: All four corners -- The two image cheat -- Text to image replacement -- Extra credit: Use PHP to make graphic headers easy -- More extra credit: Make unique fonts even easier with the sIFR technique -- Learn all about your image editor and keep tabs on current design trends -- Good design isn't always visual: Looking at SEO -- Search-engine-friendly URLs -- Keywords and descriptions -- Summary -- Index.