This form of framework fulfills our expectations and will also make the migration to Joomla! 1.6 our existing templates not very problematic. Therefore, shortly after releasing of stable version of Joomla! we will be able to make accessible our templates with valid version.
Changes made in the framework
In the latest framework version, we have changed the number of menu types; instead of five menu types, we are going to use three of them which differ significantly, namely: Mega Menu, Split Menu and Dropline Menu. CSS Menu and MooMenu functionalities are possible to gain from Mega Menu level, therefore we have decided to resign from these two menu types.
We introduced support for Google Font API which additionally widen the list of fonts available for templates.
Moreover, we have decided to add a code which compresses scripts and CSS styles, the same as it is done in T3 2.0 Framework.
We have prepared support for LESS – with the use lessphp library. Thanks to this, it is easier and faster to create styles for your own www site. This option is prepared mainly for programmers, therefore we have prepared an additional section called “Dev mode” in template’s options. I will write about LESS possibilities later on, in order to show its advantages while using this solution.
A very important change is the change in the way of calculating of left and right column width. Till this moment, the width of left/right column was the sum of right1 and right2 columns (or left1 and left2 in the case of left column). After the change in template’s option, we specify whole column’s width and the width of second inside column. Thanks to this, we avoid the situation where modules placed over or under right1 and right2 positions have width which depends on right1 and right2 columns’ content. It allows to have better control over the site’s arrangement.
Other changes have functions to make the template look neat and to order generated structure by the template (in the field of CSS classes generated).
When it comes to template’s profiles, we are waiting for Joomla! 1.6 where they are built in CMS itself.
What’s next?
Joomla! 1.5.19 includes support for MooTools 1.2.4; we are going to impose support for this framework version gradually in our templates and products (mainly in GK Tools from GK4 series) but it will not be support which excludes MooTools 1.11 totally; every product will have two script versions in order to have full compatibility. Unfortunately, we have to wait until our extensions like: K2, JComments and VirtueMart start to use the latest MooTools version as 1.11 and 1.2* versions cannot cooperate on one site.
In the next few months, we will be focusing on the work over the mobile versions of our templates; there will be a huge conversion in order to provide with high quality comfort while viewing storefronts based on our templates on mobile devices.
