Installing a Joomla! template

Knowing how to install a Joomla! template is fundamental knowledge for any Joomla! template designer.

Getting ready

Access your Joomla! website via FTP, and navigate to the templates directory. Decompress your Joomla! template if it has been compressed. If you're installing a Joomla! template called ch2-test, it should be contained within a directory called ch2-test.

How to do it...

1. You can also install templates via Joomla!'s Template Manager feature, available from the Extensions | Install/Uninstall option in the administration panel's menu:
   
2. From here, locate the compressed (ZIP) folder that contains your Joomla! template from your computer by using the File Upload field under the Upload Package File option:
   

   Tip

   It can be useful to make use of separate tabs in your browser—one for the frontend of your website, and one for Joomla!'s administration panel.

3. If you now enable the newly uploaded template as your Joomla! installation's current template in Extensions | Template Manager, you should now be able to see the new template displayed.

How it works...

As we've seen before, a template needs particular files to work—at the very least, a templateDetails.xml file and an index.php file. When installing your template, at least these two files need to be present so that Joomla! can output content to display to your visitors.

There's more...

There are a few other small tasks that you might want to do once you've installed your Joomla! template.

Checking referenced files exist

It's worthwhile to double-check that all of the files referenced in a theme's templateDetails.xml file exist on your server where Joomla! is expecting to see them! These files are referenced in the templateDetails.xml file between the<filename> elements of the XML file. For example, if this section of the templateDetails.xml file contains the following code, it is worth checking that these three files exist within the correct directory:

<files>
<filename>index.php</filename>
<filename>templateDetails.xml</filename>
<filename>template_thumbnail.png</filename>
</files>

However, some templates comprise hundreds of different files, so it can be difficult to do this!

Reassigning content permissions

Depending on your current Joomla! website's configuration, you may also find that you will need to reassign a module and components to module positions so that they appear!

Installing via FTP

To install a Joomla! template with FTP, upload the files onto your Joomla! website into the templates\ch2-test directory. Enable the new template in your website's administration panel (under Extensions | Template Manager), and refresh the frontend of your Joomla! website (that is, example.com rather than example.com/administrator).

See also

• Selecting the default Joomla! template
• Understanding Joomla! templates