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Create 2 Color Module Titles in Joomla 1.5

Written by Dallas

TAGS: 2 color module titles, title spans, 2 tone module titles

The simplest method to do this is to use module chrome. If you are using a template that has a custom module chrome the file will be located at /templates/{template_name}/html/modules.php.

If your template does not have the modules.php file we will create one by copying the file from templates/system/html/modules.php.

Step 1:

function spanReplace($title){ $title = "<span>" . $title; $space = strpos($title," "); if($space){ $title = substr($title, 0, $space) . "</span>" . substr($title, $space); }else{ $title .= ""; } return $title; }

Step 2:

Next you will need to do a find and replace. Find all instances of this:

And replace with this:

Step 3:

Save the new modified file at: templates/{template_name}/html/modules.php.

If you don’t have an html folder in your template, just create one.

Step 4:

Next add some CSS in your template.css for your new module title colors:

Example:

.moduletable h3 span {color: #0496eb} .moduletable h3 {color:#666}

You should now have 2 color module titles.

If it is not working, check the module chrome style in your template’s index.php file. Make sure your modules are using a chrome style that you modified in the modules.php file

Example: In the modules.php file I replaced “$module->title” in the function named:
function modChrome_xhtml
so I want to make sure that in my index.php file my modules look like this:
<jdoc:include type="modules" name="left" style="xhtml" />

The Best CSS Framework to use is NONE!

Written by Dallas

I’ve been designing and coding websites for years now but only recently have I looked into CSS frameworks. At first I thought these frameworks were great because they included many standard rules that I usually base many of my template layouts on anyway. I will be honest, they do save a lot of when coding but is that the overall goal? Is the new goal to cut down on development time and costs? What happened to good quality code? You must look at the bigger picture. The extended use, or should I say abuse, of these CSS frameworks can easily defeat the purpose of CSS all together.

The purpose of CSS is to keep your presentation separate from your markup. The less code used in your markup the better. CSS framework is not like Javascrtipt where you include a base framework/library and then call functions from it to do additional work. Instead all it gives you is declarative rules, many of which you can easily cut down the wasted framework by writing a few simple rules of your own.

I recently worked on a few existing sites that used frameworks and I couldn’t believe how out of control their markup had become, adding and extending the framework. I see developers using 5 or more classes on html tags, when honestly, they would be much better off just going back to old fashion tables because even tables used a lot less markup than that.

So my point here is that CSS frameworks can be effective when you want to cut down you development time or if you’re new to CSS and you’re not familiar with floats and clears, but I wouldn’t want to use it on any of my own sites, and you won’t find these frameworks in any of my templates.

Dallas Moore
Joomla Web Design | San Antonio Web Design

Google QR Codes Joomla Module

Written by Dallas

For Joomla 1.5 & Joomla 1.6

This module will display QR Codes for the current URL using the new Google API. The code is auto-generated on page load so there is no need to have to click buttons or mess with lightbox effects. This is fast, simple, and dynamic.

Version 1.0 Features:

• Add a QR Code to any or every page dynamically!
• Connects via the new Google API
• Easily change the image size to suit your needs
• Easily adjust the image alignment

Package Includes:

• mod_gqrcodes_v1.0 for Joomla 1.5
• mod_gqrcodes_v1.0 for Joomla 1.6

Joomla!® Web Design

Written by Dallas

What is Joomla and what can it do for Website Owners?

For website owners, Joomla is an excellent content management system that allows you to easily manage and maintain your website with little or no programming knowledge necessary. It offers all the needed features to add and update everything such as your images, article pages, navigation menus, users, and much more. A good comparison to the user friendliness of Joomla would be Microsoft Word. I tell customers that if they can use Microsoft word than they can use Joomla. The text editors provided in the Joomla article manager provides the same basic features that you would use when creating a word document. Also, the size of the Joomla community has grown to great numbers over the last 5 years. Getting help for using Joomla is as easy asking your question in Google search or on the Joomla forum. There are literally millions of Joomla users all over the world and this large of a community can provide great support for new Joomla users. I’ve found hundreds if not thousands of Joomla tutorials and videos that cover almost everything about how to use Joomla!

Social Media Icon Links v1.6 Released

Written by Dallas

This simple module will display Web 2.0 style icons that link to your social media profiles. Works for Joomla!^®

Version 1.6 Features:

• 30 Web 2.0 style icons
• 5 different icon sizes: 60px, 48px, 32px, 24px, and 16px.
• Now supports icon theme packs!
• We will be releasing new theme packs every month
• Option to allow links to open in a new browser window
• Option to include the rel="nofollow" link attribute
• Change hover text for mouseover for "Follow us on..."
• Now you can easily add your own icons
• Now includes option for additional icon themes