One of the most common questions I get from my Joomla training students now is: “how do I make my Joomla site ready for mobile phones?”
There are two different paths to do this and the choice depends largely on whether you have a template or not.
1) Template Frameworks: If you’re looking for a template, choose one of the designers whose templates automatically adjust for mobile browsers. Click to visit this section. But there are many out there. Just “google Mobile Joomla templates.”
2) Template plus plugin: If you already have a template, there are systems that will provide both the mobile template and a plugin to detect when someone is visiting from a mobile phone.
Here is a guide to the different ways to make your site mobile and at the end we’ll show you how to manage and update your site from your phone.
Template Framework: Rocket Theme. and the Gantry Framework
- Site: http://rockettheme.com
- Framework: http://gantry-framework.org
- Sample site for your phone: http://demo.rockettheme.com/sep10/features/gantry-features
- Price: The framework is free to download. Fully designed templates cost $50 and up
- Screenshots and video:
Template Framework: Joomlart and the T3 Framework
- Site: http://joomlart.com
- Framework: http://wiki.joomlart.com/wiki/JA_Template_Framework/Overview
- Sample site for your phone: http://templates.joomlart.com/ja_rave/
- Price: The framework is free to download. Fully designed templates cost $59 and up.
- Screenshots and video:
Template Framework: Joomla Junkie and the Morph Framework
- Site: http://joomlajunkie.com
- Framework: http://www.prothemer.com/morph/
- Sample site for your phone: http://www.joomlajunkie.com/demo/themelets/explorer/
- Price: The framework part of the JoomlaJunkie.com membership package starting at $49
- Screenshots and video::
Template plus Plugin: Tap Theme
- Site: http://taptheme.com
- Price: $29 each for the iPhone, Android and iPad versions.
- Screenshots and video:
Template plus Plugin: Mobile Joomla
- Site: http://mobilejoomla.com
- JED Listing: http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/mobile/mobile-display/11722
- Price: Free
- Screenshots and video:
Managing Your Site From Your Phone: J! Admin Mobile
- Site: http://www.covertapps.com/jam
- JED Listing: http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/mobile/mobile-display/11722
- Price: Free or $9
- Sample screenshots:
9 thoughts on “How to design a mobile website in Joomla”
Hi would you mind stating which blog platform you’re working with?
I’m going to start my own blog in the near future but I’m having a hard time selecting between BlogEngine/Wordpress/B2evolution and Drupal.
The reason I ask is because your design and style seems different then most blogs and I’m looking
for something unique. P.S My apologies for getting off-topic but I had to ask!
It depends what your needs are Drupal is for large content base sites. Drupal’s tools are fantastic at structuring and managing content. The Entity, Field and Form APIs make managing content a pleasure, while modules like Taxonomy and Menu give us efficient ways of structuring, organizing, and filtering the content. I like WordPress because it very search engine friendly (for some reason google likes it), and i use it as a personal blog tool. Which ever CMS system you choose make sure it will be scalable (if you need to grow your business), but most importantly that it has design flexibility. With WordPress you can choose pre-design templates, but if you know some CSS and PHP coding you can change the look and navigation of your site. Good luck!
It is true that the Malaysia airplane vanished in a black hole haha 🙂
Thanks for posting this. I was looking for a while.
I am sure this post has touched all the internet users, its really really nice
post on building up new webpage.
Good Post!
Will try to switch to mobile. Thanks for the tip
Having read this I thought it was rather enlightening. I appreciate you taking
the time and effort to put this article together.
I once again find myself spending a significant amount of time
both reading and posting comments. But so what, it was still
worth it!
I think is good to offer two different versions for mobile users, the mobile site and the desktop site. I hate when they make me stay in the mobile site. I want options.