So your business has a website — or you simply need one for your project. Joomla CMS is a splendid solution for managing both these tasks. Why? Because it’s one of the most popular content management systems on the web today. Over 2.5 million websites are running on this CMS.
But we’re not here to count how many websites use Joomla as a framework, we’re here to speak about the quality of those templates, on which these websites are based and what the key features are that a Joomla-based website should have to be modern and successful.
Well, the main part of each website is its design, for sure, including selected color schemes, fonts and position of elements. That all makes sense when the talk is about a pleasant user experience. But let’s not forget about how quickly the Internet changes today. Your design will have no value tomorrow if it cannot be found (this is why SEO exists). In fact, there are a huge variety of components that you should include in your site, and it can be tough to remember all of them.
So what are the key components of a good Joomla template?
Powerful Widgets & Modules
Modules and widgets are developed to enhance the functionality and visualization. They can add a live chat to your website; present data in a form of progress bars or other elements; simplify your work with the social media networks and so on. They’re built to simplify management of the webpage, so that you don’t waste your time searching for an appropriate plugin or, even worse, code the function you need on your own. As an example, this premium Joomla theme from TemplateMonster is full of smart necessary widgets and useful modules.
Responsive Layout
From year to year the number of people who use smartphones or tablets for web browsing is growing. On April 21st 2015 Google launched an algorithm that will rank higher those websites that have a responsive layout, or at least a mobile version. It applies only in mobile search, but you wouldn’t want to lose a significant part of your audience would you? If so, and we’re sure you would agree, then try to make your website responsive right from the start of your design process.
SEO-friendly
If you truly want to reap all the benefits of having an online presence, then SEO is a necessity. Otherwise, what’s the point if the users can’t even find your website? Right, there is no point at all. That’s why we’ve put this feature together in the first place. Without this component, even your super fabulous design will be lost among the millions of similar websites. In a few words, this must-have option will make your website more noticeable, ranking it higher on the search engines results pages.
Stylish Design
The first thing that people notice when entering your website is its design, of course. It’s what creates an overall impression of the page and that’s what people will have in their minds when thinking about your website. If the website design isn’t impressive, users might not even scan the content part. But when it’s really exciting and trendy, users will definitely consider bookmarking your page.
Twitter Bootstrap
This feature has something in common with the number 4 in our lineup - the responsive design. On its official website you can see this quote: Bootstrap is the most popular HTML, CSS, and JS framework for developing responsive, mobile first projects on the web
. In fact, that is all true, but besides a responsive layout this framework can help you equip your website with a whole collection of effective elements and features: glyphicons, badges, alerts, image buttons and much more. Every self-respecting pro, or even beginner developer, uses this feature for creating marvellous websites without effort.
Social Sharing
Nowadays, without Social Media the World Wide Web would be just a wasteland. It’s a very powerful weapon, and both website owners and marketers try to make it work properly for the benefit of their businesses. It is not so hard to install, but it will definitely bring you a whole host of benefits e.g. find new customers and expand your audience, receive feedback from your customers’ perspective, increase website traffic and much more. So remember, by placing simple social sharing buttons on your page, you’re taking a step forward in a battle for a better web position.
Easily Customizable
In most cases, none of the readily available templates will fit your needs perfectly. Eventually it will need to be customized: sooner or later you’ll want to change the fonts, color scheme or maybe even the layout of your website. Sometimes, it’s even necessary to make some changes to create a better user experience. For example, if you cannot customize the color scheme of the template, but its layout is perfect for you, why would you waste your time looking for a new one? For this reason, we’re convinced that any Joomla template should be easily customizable.
From our perspective, these are all features that modern Joomla templates should have. Maybe it’s overload for some templates, but the cost of being well represented on the web is also high nowadays. If we’ve missed any important features, please share them with us in the comments under this post. Good luck!
About the author: This post was written by Alex Lewington, a content writer who is interested in writing articles about web design and related topics. Follow him on his Google+ profile.