Joomla is Amazing
… BUT
it has limited flexibility.
An estate agency/realtor’s site may need:
- Energy efficiency or survey reports
- Floorplans
- Broadband availability
- Address information
- School catchment information
A cookery website with recipes will need:
- list of ingredients
- preparation instructions
- nutritional information
- allergen list
Clubs and societies may need information about their users:
- membership numbers
- qualifications
- team memberships
- competition/match scores/results
Current Solutions
- Joomla user profile plugin
- CCK or directory addons
- Special purpose/custom components
- Template overrides
BUT …
There are downsides
Complex to implement
- Edit and maintain user profile plugin xml files
- Template overrides require coding skills & time
- Custom extensions need to be written
- Find a combination of add ons that meet your needs
- CCKs often unintuitive (not naming any!)
Complex to manage
- Maintaining template overrides/bespoke extensions
- Joomla updates
- Changing site requirements
- Remembering how your CCK works :(
Expensive to implement/maintain
- Pay developer for template overrides/custom extensions $$$
- Expensive CCK (and other addon) updates - money and time
Users yearn for the simplicity of Joomla content articles
Joomla 3.7 has welcome new feature
- Custom Fields for the core content types
- Add custom fields to Content, Contacts, Users
- 3rd party addons can add support
- “No longer” need complex CCKs and User Profile plugins
How do Joomla Custom Fields Work?
- Joomla content, contacts and user profiles.
- Fields can be grouped
- Allocated to specific categories
Lets create a “foodie” website
Set up different fields for different content types
- Recipes, Chefs & Restaurants
- By category
- By group
Just the first step
Now to customise the output - how?
- Position the output by field (basic)
- Limited control ????
- Display in lists vs. articles
- Nothing in modules
Other options
- Content Plugin e.g.
- Layout overrides
- com_fields (universal)
- component specific (e.g. com_content)
- “special” layouts
- Template overrides
So what is the solution?
- Addon to manage layouts for you
- Introducing EasyLayouts
- What is it and how does it work?
Graphical Layout Manager
- Create layouts for your content
- Vary by
- view type
- category
- module
- Best explained by a demo
- Demo
EasyLayouts
- Core Joomla! content
- Core Joomla! custom fields
- Extra custom field types e.g. linked items, maps
- Edit and manage your layouts easily
- Filter menu items/modules by custom field value
EasyLayouts
- New features coming soon
- Conditional field display
- Filter module
- Customisable edit pages by type
- More custom field types and output options
http://demo.easylayouts.net
Create layouts for your content
Vary by
view type
category
module
Best explained by a demo