Bad First Impression for Joomla

A new Joomla user over at Soho Cascade seems to be having a bad first impression of the Joomla CMS.

Basically, he’s been having some problems with the templates:

I sent an email to this company wondering what the problem might be and asking for a refund of my $50 subscription if the template required a lot of configuration, which I can’t do yet. In return I got a rude little email detailing the points of their terms and conditions.

I hate to hear these sorts of horror stories. It really does pain me, because Joomla is an incredible CMS with a wealth of power at your finger tips. Just as long as you follow a few basic rules, you’ll be fine. I’m not saying that Joomla does not have a significant learning curve; it does. But once you’re over that hump, it’s all down hill from there.

First of all, mistake number one was paying for something you’re not sure about. There are a wealth of Free Joomla Templates out there. They do make them a little bit hard to find, but they are out there. Joomla-Templates has a nice little starter kit. I suggest using these templates and any more you can find to test out Joomla first. After you’re familiar with the templating system, you check out a few tutorial sites and modify the templates or make your own from scratch. Here is one nice Joomla/Mambo Tutorial which has helped me. Here is another using Dreamweaver to create the Joomla Template.

Secondly, remember, the forums are your friend. The Joomla Forum always has a wealth of information from people who are ready and willing to share. Don’t hesitate the sign up and ask questions.

Lastly, experiment with the thing. Joomla has a tremendous learning curve to be totally effective, but it does have a lot of potential. Start dropping Modules and Mambots and Components all over the place and see what they do. Download additional addons and see what those do. Bottom line, don’t pay for anything unless you know what you’re looking for and have an idea of how things work. We are living in an open source age; coders no longer beg for money so designers and trying to squeeze a couple cents out of the pie. I have nothing against that but, unfortunately a lack of customer support goes hand in hand with design products.