Introduction

This document covers the installation and use of this template and often reveals answers to common problems and issues – we encourage you to read this document thoroughly if you need an in-depth guide on how to use the template.

If you have any questions that are beyond the scope of this document, feel free to ask via ticket support system: Ticket System

To get access to the ticket system, create an account on this page: Create an Account

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Installation

The section will help you with steps to install JL Balder template – Quickstart and Manual installation.

Which installation method you should use depends on the current status of your site. Also, before installing either the template manually or the Quickstart Package, please make sure you meet the Joomla! and the template requirements.

You can download the gantry 5 framework here http://gantry.org/downloads#joomla

Requirements

• Apache 2.2+ or Microsoft IIS 7 (Apache strongly recommended)
• PHP 7+ (PHP 6+ Recommended)
• MySQL 5.1+
• Joomla 3.4+

Also, please have a look at the Gantry5 requirements. Basically, they are the same as the above, but you will find some additional details there.

Quickstart Installation

Download JL Balder quickstart package, upload to your server and extract it.

Step 1 Configuration: add Site name, Admin email, Admin username and password

Step 2 Database: select database type, host name, database username, password, database name & table prefix

Step 3 Remove/Rename “installation” folder: for security purpose, you need to rename or remove the “installation” folder

Detail documentation with screenshots

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Manual Installation

You can find step-by-step instructions as well as a video instructions regarding the Manual Installation in the Gantry5 Documentation, in the “Installation” chapter.

Install Gantry 5 Framework

Step 1 Install Gantry 5 Framework

From your back-end setting panel, go to: “Extensions ? Extension Manager”, browse Gantry 5 plugin installation package then hit the “Upload and Install”

Install JL Balder template

From your back-end setting panel, go to: “Extensions ? Extension Manager”, browse JL Balder template installation package then hit the “Upload and Install”

Step 2 Set default template style

Go to: “Extensions -> Template Manager”, set JL Balder template style as your default template style.

Update

Updating the template

Updating the template is really easy. Here are the steps you need to perform:

1. Download the new version of the template from the “Download” section on our website
2. Go to “Extensions” -> “Manage” and click on the “Browse” button
3. Select the template file you downloaded in step 1. It will usually be called tpl_it_NAME.zip
4. Click on the “Upload & Install” button

Gantry5 Framework update

This is just a simple one click task. If there is a newer version of the Gantry Framework released you will notice that in your Joomla Admin as well as in the Template Manager. Then just click on the button.

You might also want to read the “Updating” and “Updating Themes” chapters in the Gantry5 Documentation.

Gantry 5 Basics

Please have a look at the Gantry Documentation in order to discover what Gantry is all about, the core-concepts behind it, and how to get started with this next-generation framework.

The most important things you need to know when working with our Gantry5-based templates are:

• The Layout Manager is used mostly for creating your module positions. Apart from the module positions, you should also keep the static content in the Layout Manager. By “static content” we mean the “Logo” particle, the “Menu” particle, the “System Messages” particle, the “Page Content” particle, the “To Top” particle and the “Mobile Menu” particle.
• If you want to hide some modules/elements on some devices (phones, tablets, etc) you should use the hidden-phone, hidden-tablet, etc. classes but you should add them in the particular module positions (under the “Block” tab) in the Layout Manager, rather then in the “Module Class Suffix” field for the particular module. You will find more details in the “Layout Manager” chapter in the Gantry Documentation.
• As mentioned above, you create your module positions in the Layout Manager, but then you will use the Module Manager to assign your modules, as you would do in any other framework as well as in the default Joomla!
• In order to publish the custom particles that come with the template you will use the “Gantry5 Particle” module in the Module Manager, rather than adding them directly in the Layout Manager.
• If you want to change the style of some sections (background color, background image, text color, etc.) globally, for the whole website, you should do it under the “Styles” tab in the “Base” outline. The “Base” outline holds the defaults for the whole website. You can then override those defaults in each outline you create.
• If you want to load an asset (JS, CSS, etc.) globally in the whole website, you can do it under the “Page Settings” tab in the “Base” outline.
• If you want to create an empty page so you can assign modules to it, you will use the “Gantry5 Themes” -> “Custom Page” menu item type. Previously, you would use the “Featured Items” menu item type.

Required Atoms

Please have a look at the Atoms sections in the Gantry Documentation so you know what they are all about.

Atoms basically load assets (scripts and stylesheets).

Particles

Gantry5 comes with a brand new Particle system which makes it easy to create, configure, and manage content blocks.

Basically, everything that you would create a Custom HTML module for is now coded in to a particle. You no longer need to copy/paste long HTML codes and edit them, you just need to click here and there and fill out fields in the Admin.

In this chapter we will show you the custom particles that we developed as well as some of the core Gantry 5 particles that we modified and enhanced, for example the “Social” particle.

Core Gantry5 Particles

• Logo
• Menu
• To Top
• Social
• Module Positions
• Spacer
• Mobile Menu
• Custom HTML
• Module Instance
• Page Content
• System Messages

Premium Gantry5 Particles

Balder Layout Manager

Base Outline

This page will acts as the global default for any gantry pages. This is where global style, particle defaults, page settings, and layout options are set. For more information, please take a look at Gantry 5 Inheritance. To edit this page, go to Outline -> Base Outline -> Layout Tab

Home Layout

Using this layout for any pages built with Joomla Pagebuilder like Quix page builder or Sp page builder. To edit this page, go to Outline -> Home -> Layout Tab

Blog Layout

The blog layout assigned to Main Content / Right Sidebar, You can control the sidebar and main content with different layout if you want. To edit this page, go to Outline -> Blog -> Layout Tab

Load different layout for Blog layout (2 Columns left/right, 3 columns and 3 columns left/right)

Changing content via Layout Manager

1. Header Content

Go to template settings -> Base Outline -> Layout. Here you can change the content info for Opening hour and social icons. Just click the “settings” icon then modify existing content.

2. Navigation Content (Logo and Menu)

Go to template settings -> Base Outline -> Layout. Here you can change the content info for Opening hour and social icons. Just click the “settings” icon then modify logo image or select main menu.

2.1 Changing the Navigation Height

Select Base Outline layout -> tab Styles -> scroll down then set the Navigation Height for Navigation

3. Bottom positions

A Module Position(Joomla) or Widget Position(WordPress) particle plays an important role in the layout of a page. Each position particle represents a position where modules can be assigned.

By default, we created 03 Sub-bottom positions(bottom1/2/3) for Bottom section. However, you can create UNLIMITED positions for Bottom section.

For more detail about Positions with Gantry5, please take a look Positions

3. Changing footer content

Go to template settings -> Base Outline -> Layout then scroll down to Footer section. Here you can change the footer info, branding and so on. Simply click the setting icon to change/modify the existing content

4. Offcanvas Section (Mobile Menu)

The Mobile Menu Particle is made for the Offcanvas Section in the Layout Manager. It has one primary purpose: to display a mobile version of the main menu for visitors displaying your site from a mobile/tablet device.
Go to template settings -> Base Outline -> tab Style then scroll down to Offcanvas settings panel. Here you can change the panel width, and look and feel for mobile menu.

Build Demo Pages

Demo pages are built with Quix Joomla Pagebuilder. See Quix Documentation to Customize, integrate and extend Quix pagebuilder. Go to Joomla administrator -> Quix -> Pages -> Home to modify Home content

Example Home Page Layout built with Quix

Positions

JL Balder comes with unlimited module positions. Thanks to the awesome Gantry 5 framework you can now easily create as many module positions as you want. You just need to go to the Layout Manager, drag and drop the “Module Position” particle wherever you want it to be and set the module position name.

Learn how to create any positions quickly without coding here.

Customization

All your customization (custom code) should be placed in your “Custom Style Sheet” file. This is the custom.scss file. By default, the custom.scss file does not exists, so you will need to create it. You need to create this file in root/templates/TEMPLATE_NAME/custom/scss. You will find all details in the Gantry5 Documentation, in the “Adding a Custom Style Sheet” chapter.

Extensions

The Web is full of all kinds of different Joomla extensions. Throughout the years we had the chance to work with many extensions from many different providers which helped us to filter the best of best ones. The extensions that we use in our templates have the cleanest code, the best functionality and they’ve been very well supported by their developers.

Below you will find the Download link and the Documentation for each extension (Component, Module, Plugin) that we have used in this template.

• Quix Page Builder (PRO version already included in Quickstart)- Download | Documentation
• Unite Slider (already included in quickstart package) – Purchase | Documentation
• Our Gantry 5 Particles