Early preview of Creativa – new themelet design for the Morph toolset
Creativa is an upcoming community style themelet for the Morph Toolset for Joomla. It is still in the early design phase, but we’ll keep you posted on this blog about the development. For full preview, click here.
The overall style of this themelet is around community, so we will be adding support for a number of leading Joomla extensions, giving you a complete solution to use for your next Community site.
Let us know what you think about this design – write a comment below.
Update (15 Jan ’10): List of extensions we’ll be supporting
Based on the extensive feedback we’ve received so far, i’ve compiled a list of extensions that we will be supporting. Obviously its going to take us a while to do each of these properly, so support for each will be added in as its ready. Keep an eye on the blog and
twitter for updates.
Social Engine:
JomSocial,
Anahita (when available)
Blog:
WordPress for Joomla,
K2,
FlexiContent,
MyBlog
Comments:
JomComment,
JComment
Ecommerce:
Tienda
Forum:
Ninjaboard,
Kunena
Tags: Anahita, Design, flexicontent, JComment, JomComment, JomSocial, K2, Kunena, MyBlog, Ninjaboard, themelets, Tienda, wordpress for joomla
This looks really promising,
I assume that the main changes will be in the morph template so it should not be to complicated to add that support for the extensions also to the other themlets like Leblanc?
Hey Stefan,
Yup, the idea is that we will roll it out in phases, first doing the default Joomla implementation, then the JomSocial part (at the same time creating a vanilla JomSocial template), then move on to the next one. At the end of it, creating new themelets for any of the extensions will be substantially faster, as all the ground work is done.
Cheers,
Chris
Nice, I like the approach – digging the colors as well. You doing the initial design Chris?
Thanks Mitch :) Yeah, i got inspired over the weekend while reading some articles. One of my goals for this year try spend more time honing my design skills instead of all coding :)
Here’s something you might enjoy:
http://www.noupe.com/design/7-must-see-web-design-videos-and-presentations.html
Nice one Mitch :) Thanks for sharing, that will definitely make for some good watching this weekend ;)
Cool design. I`m really exited because my next project seems to be a new online community. Design in Web 2.0 way, this theme looks so pro.
.-= Joomlapic.com´s last blog ..Joomlapic stuff =-.
Thanks, glad you like it! It’s going to take me a bit of time to roll out all the extension integrations, as each one needs to thought out and done in a way that its reusable for other themelets, but it will mean that rolling out new themelet concepts using the extension a breeze :)
I’ll post some more previews once i’ve had a chance to finish the rest of the layouts. ;)
Cheers,
Chris
Chris,
try to see if you think that this component can be use with this cool template.
This component is Deluxe Blog Factory made by http://www.thefactory.ro/shop/joomla-components/blogging-extension-deluxe-blog-factory.html
Maybe it`s the only weblog component for joomla.
Best regards,
Catalin
Joomlapic.com
.-= Joomlapic.com´s last blog ..Joomlapic stuff =-.
Hey Catalin,
At this stage I am only planning on adding support for WordPress for Joomla, MyBlog (because of its integration with JomSocial), JomComment, JComment.
I haven’t used the other one before, so i can’t really tell if its any good. Is there a demo somewhere that i can see it in action? I couldn’t see a demo link on that page or any screenshots.
We would love to add support for all the available extensions, but doing these base themes takes a lot of time to do properly and we’re already juggling the ongoing development of Morph, working on new themelets, documentation, business development, blogging and providing kick-ass support. There just aren’t enough hours in the day!! :P
The others will still work, they just won’t have base templates written from scratch :)
Cheers,
Chris
Ah wait, the demo link was right in front of me :P
Yes Chris, there is a demo with 3 users.
Tell me what you think?:)
.-= Joomlapic.com´s last blog ..Joomlapic stuff =-.
It looks like quite a nice extension :) Do you know whether it integrates with JomSocial?
.-= Chris´s last blog ..Important and exciting changes in our team =-.
No Chris, I really don`t know
.-= Joomlapic.com´s last blog ..Joomlapic stuff =-.
Hi Chris,
Would you also perhaps be able to include a event system later on.
I’m on my way to separate the community part from the new site, but event mapping and registration are being a big part of this for the members to see what events other members attends and also crate own events for other members.
The three following event system all integrates with jomsocial so that members can se new evens, easy register to attend etc…
- Event list http://www.schlu.net/
- Red Event (A danish continued development of Eventvlist with more advanced features) http://redcomponent.com/redevent-v2
J Events (similar in functions as RedEvents but with a more different layout). http://www.jevents.net/
//Stefan
Hey Stefan,
Thanks for pointing that out. I don’t know much about any of the extensions you listed, as i just haven’t ever needed anything along those lines, but i’ll definitely take a look.
Of the 3, have you used any of them personally? Any recommendations?
Cheers,
Chris
.-= Chris´s last blog ..Important and exciting changes in our team =-.
When will this theme be finish? Any target date?
Hi Glyn,
No release date planned yet, as i am still in the design phase and haven’t even started on the base extension sub templates. On top of that i still need to drive the ongoing development of Morph and juggle a zillion other ongoing tasks that consume my day :) I’ll be sure to keep you all in the loop though ;)
Regarding the actual release schedule, i’ll most likely release it in phases, starting with the base Joomla and then layering updates as support is added for each of the different extensions.
Hope that helps :)
Cheers,
Chris
.-= Chris´s last blog ..Important and exciting changes in our team =-.
Chris – Amazing work all around. I just dug into Morph this week and I love it. i just left a forum post about the need to integrate 3rd party components and here is this Blog.
I actually just sent the proverbial “Your project must wait” e-mail to client because I want to wait until this themelet comes out before trying to force the project through another framework. It was not easy and I may lose the project but good things are worth the wait right…
I am jealous of your move to focus on design again. I have been so deep in code, I have drifted from my design passions. One day I will go back to front-end love and all the bells & whistles.
I won’t be “that guy” asking when Creativa is going to launch or when I can expect Jomsocial to fully integrate with Morph. Instead I will do as the technologies were meant to do – subscribe to your feed and watch the news. *Secretly hoping it’s next week though : ) *
Keep up the amazing work – we will all benefit from your programming expertise and your renewed design passion.
Also – out of all the Joomla Blog components out there my favorite is now Lyftenbloggie which by the way gets totally mangles in Morph.
Hey Jacob(?),
Thanks for the kind words :) I’m stoked to hear that you are enjoying using Morph :)
Creativa is still early days (especially since coding hasn’t even begun yet and i still have quite a few layouts to get through), so something to consider is using Vanilla to get the structural side of everything sorted – that way when Creativa is ready, you’ll have the base already completed.
As for shifting focus to design, the transition takes a bit of time, as i still have the responsibility to manage the ongoing development and refinement of Morph – but at least its a step in the right direction.
Regarding the timeline for Creativa, as i mentioned to Glyn above, there is still loads of work to be done on the design side and the base sub templates for the extensions are going to take a while, as each needs to be thought out so that they are reusable. You are spot on about staying informed via the blog, twitter, etc – as that is exactly what those channels are intended for :)
I think the issue with Lyftenbloggie is a pretty easy fix (if my memory serves me correctly) and was just a case of removing a line or two from the lyftenbloggie css. If you drop me a pm on the forum i’ll rack my brain to remember the fix :)
Cheers,
Chris
.-= Chris´s last blog ..Important and exciting changes in our team =-.
Hello!
Just found this website. Love the templates! This new Creativa looks just like one I have been trying to get to work from Joomlart to no avail:
http://www.joomlart.com/demo/#templates.joomlart.com/ja_halite
My website is a membership based website. It (the link above) will NOT work with JSubscription or Jomsocial, so I have been trying to find alternatives. I have gotten nothing but the runaround from Joomlart about it as well.
Creativa looks so similar and promising. Do you know if it will be compatible with JSubscription?
Also, Joomlart has something called the “Mega Menu” which I think is pretty slick. Do you have something similar to that as well?
Thanks for your site and creative ideas! Like everyone, I know this all takes time, but I am launching soon and would love to use this new fabulous template if it is compatible and ready.
Hey Angie,
Glad you found your way to us and that you like the preview of Creativa :)
JomSocial is already planned, but that will only be after the standard Joomla and WordPress for Joomla implementations are done, as it has a lot more layouts and we have already been working on the other integrations, such as K2 and Kunena.
I have never used JSubscription, but we know the developer, so i’m sure we could make sure it works with Morph. That’s the nice thing about working with a framework – you only need to add compatibility once.
We’ve been planning on implementing a mega menu in Morph for some time, but it isn’t on the cards for Creativa, as i already have my work cut out for me and need to draw a line somewhere ;)
There is no definite release date for Creativa yet, so while i’ll be doing my best to ensure it’s out as soon as possible – i still have a lot of work to do the various different layout designs and then still all of the base coding. Since the aim of all these integrations is to make them reusable through out the framework, they cannot be rushed, so if your project is planned to go live soon, i wouldn’t recommend putting all of your eggs in Creativa’s basket ;) Something i have recommended to a number of other users is to use the time getting to know the in’s and out’s of Morph, as well as setting up your sites structure, content, extensions, etc using Vanilla, then when Creativa is ready, its simply a case of installing a themelet and doing a couple of tweaks. We use this “content-out” approach often and it works really well.
Hope that helps :)
Cheers,
Chris
.-= Chris´s last blog ..New stable version of Morph, Configurator and Vanilla now available =-.
Any thoughts on having Morph work with the K2 component for JoomlaWorks?
Hey Terry :)
There shouldn’t be any issues with K2 working on Morph. There was a javascript conflict a while ago, but that has subsequently been fixed.
We’ve also added a check in the core Morph framework to automatically load Mootools when k2 is loaded, so there should be no hassles there either. If you are experiencing any issues with Morph and K2, please don’t hesitate to let us know on the forums :)
Cheers,
Chris
.-= Chris´s last blog ..Important and exciting changes in our team =-.
Howdy Chris, new to Joomla Junkie here and just wanted to stay in touch with this design your working on as it really does look great from the screen snaps. I also have not used Morph with Joomla so I might signup with you guys and get familiar – im guessing this is the best way to get up to speed with this design? I have a community type project coming up where this would actually sit like a duck in water :)
cant wait to take it for a test drive – drop everything else LOL.
Cheers,
James
Hey James :)
Glad to hear that you like Creativa! Its definitely been the most popular design i’ve done so far :P
I’ve managed to get some more done on the design and will probably post some more previews next week, so keep an eye on the blog and twitter for that.
As for getting started with Morph, you could definitely take the time to start learning the in’s and out’s of Morph and prepare the base infrastructure and content for your site so long, then when Creativa is launched you are all set ;)
Morph is a powerful beast and there is quite a bit to take in, so giving yourself some leeway to get to a handle on everything will definitely pay off in the long run :)
Hope that helps..
Cheers,
Chris
.-= Chris´s last blog ..Important and exciting changes in our team =-.
:) I think I will be purchasing a membership on Joomla Junkie in the next few days…. Need to get up to speed on morph and this idea of themelets etc.. I am surely a newbie:)
Very curious about this wordpress in joomla you mention also – just gotta find a way to get my cb builder community over onto jomsocial which I have been meaning to do for quiet some time now – all head of me. good luck with your progress and as I say well done on a great design – I use another template crowd alot but I think I have been turned hahaha.
Well, lucky for you there is extensive documentation and help is only a forum post away :) We realize there is a lot to take in and thus are there every step of the way to help.
WordPress for Joomla rocks. I love WordPress and personally would always choose it over any other systems, as its specialized software and thus hard to compete with. The fact that we can run it inside of Joomla (though the wp admin looks identical to the standalone version), it means i can take advantage of Morph and not muck about with doing a separate WordPress theme.
Anywho, Andys been doing some good work on the Wp4J integration with Morph and we’ll be using our own new site (Prothemer.com) as a showcase of all of this in action.
Regarding JomSocial, thats another thing you could do in the mean time :) I don’t see us extending support on the social engine side beyond JomSocial & Anahita, as both of those do really good jobs and its never a good idea to spread ourselves to thinly.
Look forwarding to seeing you on the forums ;)
Cheers,
Chris
.-= Chris´s last blog ..Important and exciting changes in our team =-.
No doubt il be leaving in the forums and hopefully I can contribute some help. I see in the footer area under ” Member Features” a link called mobile version. Will this themelet be mobile friendly?
You are certainly right to stick to Jomsocial as I have been meaning to move away from cb builder – its good but very hard to customize and make user friendly. Anyways il leave u be now, so we all can enjoy this theme when the day comes :)
See u in the forums haha.
Hey James :)
Each of the themelets have their own iPhone optimized version, which can be customized inside Configurator and via the themelets iphone.css ;)
Yup, i think between Anahita and JomSocial we have the social engine pretty much covered.
See you in the forums indeed :P
Cheers,
Chris
.-= Chris´s last blog ..Important and exciting changes in our team =-.
Just took a look at Anahita – nice im in follow mode on that too – this seems like it could be a real contender to take over from cb and jomsocial. Im more excited for Creativa now :)
Yeah, the Anahita guys are definitely on to something. I really like their pricing structure too, offering the base engine for free then letting you buy the various addon apps that you need. I think its safe to say that we can expect to see some very cool stuff coming from them over the next year. Plus some friendly competition for both is always a good thing :)
.-= Chris´s last blog ..Important and exciting changes in our team =-.
Well, if you add a light version of the themelet plus support to K2, Eventlist, Kunena and JomSocial as planned, I would be the first to buy it/join the club.
.-= Ivo Apostolov´s last blog ..Лавините и как да се справим с тях =-.
Hi Ivo :)
We’re planning on starting the porting of K2′s frontend js to jQuery, as well as getting it to only load when K2 is being used. Once that is done it will be a lot easier to add support in the various themelets.
As for the others, i’ve updated the post with a list of the extensions we’ll be adding support for. Obviously doing all of these is going to take some time, so we’ll need to be phase them in, as each is completed.
Hope that helps :)
Cheers,
Chris
I am going to try and beat u too first spot:) especially with the inclusion of possibly Anahita in this:)
Anahita is definitely on the list, we just need to wait for it to be released first :P
Man, I’ve been working on my site for months but now I want to ditch it and start over with this themelet (if the colors and backgrounds are editable). Will they be? I use community builder, will this work with that? I am also going to be using MUWordPress, those are the two biggest parts of our community website. Do you think that this themelet will work for us? Thanks!
Hey Kathleen :)
At present you are able to customize the colors of the headings, links, body text, as well as the body and html backgrounds from Configurator. Everything else can easily be edited via the themelets css, or the built in code editor :)
We are planning on extending this even further, to allow you to customize all the different menu colors as well as for each specific block.
Regarding Community Builder, i’ll probably install it and do a few tweaks to make sure everything works properly, but i don’t think i’ll go beyond that, as doing the other two will already be quite a bit of work to do properly. I’m not sure if there are any way to import your CB users into either JomSocial or Anahata, but i’ll get in touch with the developers and post an update here once i have an answer :)
As for WordPress MU, we’ll be starting with the standard WordPress for Joomla, then as a next step tackle the multi user aspect.
Does that help?
Cheers,
Chris
.-= Chris´s last blog ..New stable version of Morph, Configurator and Vanilla now available =-.
If this themelet isn’t going to work with community builder, can someone email me because I’d like to talk to anyone who can help me figure out if it’s possible for me to switch to jomsocial or the other one mentioned. Thanks :)
Hi Kathleen,
I’ve spoken to Mark from JomSocial and they have a migration tool available, that will move all your Community Builder stuff over to JomSocial. You can read more about it here: http://www.jomsocial.com/webforum/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=1291
Hope that helps!
Cheers,
Chris
.-= Chris´s last blog ..New stable version of Morph, Configurator and Vanilla now available =-.
Hi Kathleen, il be making the switch to jomsocial or Anahita from cb builder over the coming months also and will be sure to be living in the forums and postings my experiences in the forums aswell so you aint alone on this for sure – but it wont be done right away…..
Thanks so much, I went ahead and bought jomsocial and learning it now. Can’t wait for creativa! Right now I’m using vanilla, are there any tips on how to use it temporarily until creativa is ready? I’m afraid to change anything from the way it is now (I used the full install from this site). Thanks~!
Hey Kathleen :)
You can configure your sites structure so long, as well as install, publish and place all the different extensions you’ll be using, as well as get all your sites content 100%. We call this a “content-out” approach and from our experience in the past this works really well :)
Possibly also setup a separate test site just for playing – one where you don’t have to worry about breaking anything and can just go crazy on :P
Cheers,
Chris
.-= Chris´s last blog ..New stable version of Morph, Configurator and Vanilla now available =-.
Hi Chris,
It looks really GREAT :)
Fast question, will it support RTL sites? I’m not sure if you have this option or not built in the component at the backend, if you do THAT IS AMAZING :) if not I WISH YOU WILL CONSIDER adding it.
THANKS :D
Turk
Thanks Turk!
Yes it will support rtl :) The rtl support in Morph is something that we will continue to refine and improve with the feedback from our members ;)
You can read the discussion about rtl support in Morph here:
http://www.prothemer.com/blog/research-and-development/rtl-right-to-left-support-in-morph/
Cheers,
Chris
Hi Turk,
Thanks for your feedback. :)
As Chris said, RTL support is part of the roadmap and discussions are also going on in our forum (members only): http://www.joomlajunkie.com/member/general-chat/4357-there-any-template-compatible-rtl-functionality.html
Cheers,
Tess
.-= Tess´s last blog ..New stable version of Morph, Configurator and Vanilla now available =-.
So cool. Looking forward to a Jomsocial Themelet. Do you know jseblod CCK? ). Maybe it’s the better choice than flexicontent. It’s stable and with a lot more features. even frontend submission. I tested both and will use jsebold cck for my next projects.
Hi Fletsch,
We’ve looked into different CCKs for the past months, so checkout this discussion: http://www.prothemer.com/blog/industry-news/cck-for-joomla-say-hello-to-k2/#comment-1888
Cheers,
Tess :)
.-= Tess´s last blog ..Joomla blogosphere – Recommended reading Jan 25-31 =-.
Thanks Fletsch :)
Yup, i’ve been watching jSeblod since it was first released and it is indeed a really nice extension.
That said, we can’t support all the different cck extensions available and we feel that FlexiContent is headed in the right direction and inline with our vision for Morph. Plus it helps that we have a really relationship with the lead developer, who listens closely to the feedback and suggestions we give ;)
Cheers,
Chris
.-= Chris´s last blog ..Joomla blogosphere – Recommended reading Jan 25-31 =-.
Guys, new blog post about Creativa is now published: http://www.prothemer.com/blog/company-updates/new-preview-of-the-creativa-themelet-typography/ Check it out and have your say. ;)
.-= Tess´s last blog ..New preview of the Creativa themelet – Typography =-.
Hi Chris,
jSeblod team will have a lot of pleasure to discuss with you about the right direction.
I saw your comment with Durino and we heard you, for example by adding a part for jSeblod CCK content templates in Joomla template manager.
We work too with your templates and Morph. And some great features will be soon available in jSeblod CCK to manage easily content template (near Morph concept).
I’m at your disposal.
Best Regards.
Bes
.-= Sebastien Lapoux´s last blog ..Use RokBox plugin =-.
Hi Bes,
Thanks for stopping by the blog! :D As i’ve said many times before, i’ve been watching the progress of jSeblod closely since the project first launched and you guys are definitely doing some really good stuff!
I’m a bit jam packed this week, but I’ll put some time aside next week to install the latest version of jSeblod and give it a good test, then send you an email with any questions / suggestions i may have :) Maybe after that we can follow up on Skype too..
Cheers,
Chris
Hello everybody,
The Creativa themelet (phase 1 beta) is now ready for download: http://www.joomlajunkie.com/member/downloads/morph-themelets-23/creativa-55/
View the demo at http://www.joomlajunkie.com/demo/index.php?betathemelet=creativa
…and read the setup guide here: http://www.prothemer.com/morph/livedocs/index.php/themelet-guides/item/95-creativa-setup-guide
If in need of some assistance, this is the place to get it for Creativa: http://www.joomlajunkie.com/member/creativa/
Enjoy! :)
- Tess
.-= Tess´s last blog ..How to customize the iPhone version of your Morph powered Joomla site =-.
Do i have to pay to get Creativa?
Hi Chris, love the Creativa design, may i know has it been released?
Hi William,
Creativa is available for download here: http://www.joomlajunkie.com/member/downloads/morph-themelets-23/creativa-55/
Try it out and let us know in the forum if you have any questions or feedback! :)
Cheers,
Tess
PS See http://www.joomlajunkie.com/ for a membership special we’re running for a few days now. ;)
Maybe I’m old fashioned or something, but the Creativa screen shot shown in this post is too content rich as far as I’m concerned. My brain wants to dismiss the horizontal panel at the top of the page as a useless banner (I realize it isn’t…but my brain is conditioned to think that it is). Beyond the top panel, the call to action on the page is lost in the “over-portalization” of the content. Just my opinion.
Just took a look at Anahita – nice im in follow mode on that too – this seems like it could be a real contender to take over from cb and jomsocial.