Joomla Templates

Like other CMS systems, Joomla also offers a way to change the site design without coding. A template is such a type of Joomla extension, which is used to change the view/style of the site. It can change the entire website look, function, and feel according to the applied template. Joomla uses two types of templates: Front-end Templates and Back-end Templates. The Front-end Template controls the look of the website, which is seen by the users. The Back-end Template controls the look of the website’s administrative tasks, which are seen by the Joomla Administrator. These tasks contain common options such as users, menus, articles, categories, modules, components, plugins, and template managers, etc.

Let's understand the types of Joomla templates that we can use with the Joomla CMS (Content Management System).

• Front-End Templates
  Front-end templates are used to change the view of the site, which is seen by the site readers. Most of the templates are available for the Front-end. Joomla itself provides two front-end templates out of the box, Protostar, and Beez3. Protostar is the default template that is pre-installed when a Joomla site is created. These templates are good to use for basic sites. But there are various third-party templates available to fulfill the purpose of different sites. Joomla also provides an option to use multiple templates assigned to different menu items. It is suggested to use a single template for the entire site to make the customization easy.
• Back-End Templates
  Back-end templates are not easy to find like Front-end templates. You will not probably consider changing your Back-end template. Back-end templates are used to change the view of the administrator interface. Joomla (version 3.x or above) contain two back-end templates: Isis and Hathor. Isis is the default template when you log in to your Joomla account. The Hathor template was designed for accessibility and may not be suitable for people having color blindness.

Before choosing a template, you should pay attention to a few basic characteristics:

• Support
  It's great to have technical support available for the template that you are going to use. So, you can get help and clear your doubts.
• Updates
  Joomla is always working to provide new features and fixing bugs of the current version. They keep updating their system and giving new updates to the users. Ensure that your template provider also releases updates for the templates so that it would work with the latest releases of Joomla.
• Documentation
  As per the release updates, you may need to check tutorial guides to check some features to understand how they work. Make sure that there is a documentation file available with the templates and its updates.
• Responsiveness and Cross-browser Compatibility
  It means your template should work properly on every browser, including mobile devices.
• Customizability
  It's better to use a template that includes the maximum possibility for customization. For example, find the template that has many positions for modules.