The aim of this guide is to give you a solid understanding of the Morph template framework. Some of the concepts in Morph are completely new and will require more detailed explanation, but we are confident that once you grasp the different concepts outlined here, you will quickly be on your way to harnessing the full power that Morph has to offer.

In this guide we will try explain everything in as much detail as possible, but a basic understanding of Joomla! is assumed. If you are new to Joomla, we highly recommend reading through the official Joomla! documentation site.

Morph is a template framework for Joomla. The first thing that comes to mind when we use the word "framework" varies from person to person, but to make sure we are on the same page, lets take a look at our favorite definition of a framework:

"A framework is a set of tools, libraries, conventions and best practices that attempt to abstract routine tasks into generic modules that can be reused. - Jeff Croft, taken from his article Frameworks for Designers."

Looking at the above statement in context of web design and specifically Joomla templating, we can agree that creating a new template requires a number of different steps that are generic from project to project.

Our aim with Morph was to abstract the common tasks required when developing a new Joomla! template. The idea is that it could be used not only as a starting point for our own commercial offerings, but also be useful for other developers and businesses that create templates on a frequent basis.

This approach not only enables us to release new design concepts substantially faster, but it also allows us to focus our energy into the unique aspects of each new concept we create, rather than recreating the wheel with each new release.