Beginner's Guide

Figure 2: Red car (FotoSleuth CC BY-SA 2.0
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)
Both of these cars are made for different target groups. They are an example of different approaches
in design.
Web design is somewhat like a handcraft. Possessing skills in techniques like HTML, CSS, JavaScript,
PHP,7image editing and many others is imperative. Joomla is only one more tool in your toolbox.
A good template is not only about colors and graphics. The shape and positioning of the content is
just as important. The website has to be user-friendly and reliable. Exactly this challenge reminds me of
the two cars again.
Web design is still a young profession. A web designer often has to deal with low bandwith,
incompatible browsers, inexperienced content editors and other people involved in the process of
creating a 'good' website. The creation of a Joomla website is often a process, in which everyone involved
learns a lot. Good web design is hard work. :-)
JOOMLA AND TEMPLATES
Joomla is known for its quality and simplicity. In Joomla a single page is generated by the HTML
output of one component, several modules and the template. Each page is accessible via a unique URL.
Take the front page as an example. The content component produces the HTML output for the articles
in the middle (Figure 3). The blocks next to the articles are different modules. You can combine the HTML
output from one component with the HTML output of any number of modules. Existing modules can also
be reused on other pages.
Joomla! 2.5 - Beginner’s Guide
Monday, 30 January 2012! Page 120
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