YOOtheme News Feed

New template framework

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:04:01 +0000

Today we introduce our new framework called 'Warp'. So whats this all about? First of all since the beginning every YOOtheme template design is based on a framework. A framework provides a powerful layer you can develop a new template upon which uses all the features like CSS/JavaScript compression and JavaScript effects to create richer user experience. Overall using a framework makes it easier to create great templates which simply work in a cross-browser environment. Also our Warp template framework evolves over time because we constantly apply updates, add enhancements or introduce new features. Finally we think it's important for you guys to know that each YOOtheme template is more than just a design because there's also a lot of stuff happening inside. Further the template framework helps anyone who extends and customizes a YOOtheme template to create a individual website for a small or even large webproject.

Also with our framework we are pioneers on some trends for Joomla templates. For example: Tableless CSS design since January 07, the introduction of YOOtools in January 08, combining CSS and JavaScript in a single file with gzip compression also since January 08 and module templates since June 08.

This is a brief history of milestones of our template framework:

1. First version (starting January 07):

Tableless design which validates to XHTML & CSS
Flexible left column which can be left or right aligned
Font- and a JavaScript-based width styleswitcher
Complex menu system with split functionality, icons and active item detection
JavaScript menus like accordion, slider, tab and fancy menu
Morphing effects as well as lightboxes and reflections
Display widgets like top panel, slider and carousel
PNG fix for IE6

2. Second version (starting January 08):

Removed hard-coded display widgets of the template to make them flexible and template independent: invention of the famous YOOtools (YOOaccordion, YOOslider, YOOcarousel, YOOdrawer, YOOscroller and many more)
Delivering CSS and JavaScript files, each merged in one file with gzip compression
Improved menu system to provide any kind of effects for the main menu
Added a smooth animated drop down menu
Optimized and cleaned up CSS & HTML framework

3. Third version (starting June 08):

Usage of new Joomla 1.5 templating features
New module system to provide optimized templates for each module type
Usage of module class suffix to apply module and badge styles
Development of many module templates which are independent of the background
Different module proportions for each module position
Ajax-based search results

4. Fourth version (starting January 09):

Tableless template overrides for all Joomla core components
Implementation of a new IE6 PNG fix
Improved module templates (based on the new possibilities of the IE6 PNG fix)
Optimized and cleaned up CSS & HTML framework

So many of you may think: What’s next? Yes, Warp5!

Warp5 Template Framework

All new YOOtheme template starting with July 09 will be based on the completely re-engineered Warp5 framework. We re-wrote the complete CSS/HTML and PHP. The bar is quite high, but we came up with a couple of things that'd be cool to implement in Joomla templates. Here are a few key features:

Completely new CSS and HTML Framework
Awesome new menu system
Improved CSS and JS handling with gzip compression
Enhanced module system
and more...

Make sure to check out the new July 09 Phoenix template which is based on the new Warp5 framework. It has a lot of new features like a new awesome multi-column dropdown menu. To get some more inside informations about the new Warp5 framework take a look here. We will post some more detailed information about the new framework in the next week.

Phoenix template

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:52:53 +0000

We are happy to announce that with our new template Phoenix we are introducing a new era in YOOtheme templating: our shiny new Warp template framework. Warp is what's under the hood of a YOOtheme template. With Phoenix, you get a wide range of awesome new features. First of all, there is our amazing new multi-column dropdown menu, which is a true novelty for the Joomla world: You can set as many columns as you want, set the column width in the backend, display big icons for second level items ... you gotta check it out yourself, it looks so cool!

Phoenix also comes with lots of modules, some of them with color variations. Now you can also show icons in your module headers. Phoenix provides an endless supply of combinations of module styles, colors, badges and icons. The new 2-1-3 column ordering makes Phoenix super search engine friendly. The two nested 3-column-layouts makes your website amazingly flexible. And also, this is our fastest template ever, sporting a new way of CSS/JS compression and background image sprites.

Feature list

Built with the new Warp template framework
Amazing new muti-column dropdown menu
Icons in module headers
Lots of modules with color variations, endless combinations with icons and badges possible
2-1-3 column ordering for search engine friendliness
Our fastest template ever, using image sprites
Works with all YOOtools

ZOO event in retrospect

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:15:01 +0000

Today we want to give a brief roundup on our ZOO presentation at Hagenbeck ZOO's Tropical Aquarium on May 27th, 2009. We know that it has already been five weeks since we had this great event but it took us some time to look through all the pictures, create the video and prepare this blog post.

First of all, thanks everyone for coming. We were almost 40 people in the Huge Shark Atoll, and we think it was a very nice evening with a stunning atmosphere. The presentation was divided into three parts. The first one was held by Annabel, talking about the architecture and the different application purposes of the ZOO. Then, Janine talked about everything you can do in the backend of the ZOO, creating catalogs, categories, types and items. After Janine's presentation, Sven showed what you can do with templates and overrides, how to render elements and what the different views are for. He also showed in which folders you can find all the files needed to create templates and what all of those files do, basically everything you need to know to be able to create your own templates. After the presentation, Steffan gave a lookout on which features are going to be implemented in the next ZOO versions. We will do a blog post about the upcoming features of ZOO 1.1 in the next weeks. Finally we had individual conversations about Joomla, the ZOO, YOOtheme and the daily work we all do as web developers, of which some were very inspiring.

We recorded the whole event and created a short video for all who could not participate. Don't forget to continue reading to see all the images. Enjoy the video impressions:

Thanks again to everyone who was there, we hope you liked it, too, and we hope we could also give you some input and inspiration for you current and upcoming projects. We're hoping to see you guys at the next YOOtheme event! Here you can take a look at all the pictures we took at the event:

Level template

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 15:36:28 +0000

Welcome "Level" the new June'09 template from YOOtheme, the overall simplistic, elegant and versatile design makes it a perfect match for your website. Level's top and bottom module position uses a transparency effect which combined with the background image is the eye-catcher of this template.

It's also a perfect spot to place your product teaser or banner for example utilizing the YOOscroller module module. Level brings you 9 beautifully designed glossy module variations, which nicely integrate in your different page layouts.

Further the template offers 12 great business style color variations you can choose from! By the way: The Level works perfectly with the ZOO extension, the versatile catalog component which includes a content construction kit!

Feature list

12 great background variations
9 different module variations
Tableless overrides for all Joomla components
Smart CSS to customize Joomla components
Enhanced module system with flexible proportions
Fully sliced Fireworks .png Source files
Works with all YOOtools

Last chance to join the ZOO presentation

Mon, 18 May 2009 12:07:31 +0000

Hi there, we want to remind you that on the 27th of May we are going to present our ZOO component at the Huge Shark Atoll of the Hagebeck Zoo in Hamburg, Germany. If you want to participate, drop us a line within the next two days as we will only accept registrations until the 20th of May. The entry is free. You can find more information on the previous blog post.

Date: Wednesday, May 27th, 2009
Time: 19:00 (Central European Summer Time)
Location: Hagenbeck ZOO, Tropical Aquarium
Address: Lokstedter Grenzstraße 2, Hamburg, Germany
Email registration is required until May 20th, 2009
The presentation and discussion will be held in German language

See you on the 27th!

Motion template

Fri, 01 May 2009 13:20:20 +0000

Everything is in motion. This month's template Motion pays tribute to the way the world spins. It comes with beautifully designed widescreen landscape backgrounds and subtle animations.

The landscapes you can choose from range from islands and cities to deep sea and space images. Take a closer look and discover the lovely animated sailing boats, clouds, stars, etc.

Also, if you haven't seen it yet, go and get the YOOtweet module we released last month. Displaying Twitter updates on your site has never been easier.

Of course, like all our templates from 2009, Motion comes with tableless overrides and smart CSS to easily customize all Joomla components, the enhanced YOOtheme module system with flexible proportions, countless options to compose and layout your content and typography and fully sliced Fireworks .png image source files. This way, you can completely modify this template, like all our templates, to suit your needs.

Feature list

10 awesome background variations
7 beautifull header illustrations
12 lovely animated objects
Tableless overrides for all Joomla components
Smart CSS to customize Joomla components
Enhanced module system with flexible proportions
Fully sliced Fireworks .png Source files
Works with all YOOtools

ZOO presentation in Hamburg

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 13:59:01 +0000

Our newest product ZOO was well received by the Joomla community, so we think it's time to celebrate the pleasant outcome of a year's worth of work with you! On May 27th, 2009, we are going to have our first YOOtheme event ever: We are really excited to invite you to our ZOO presentation in Hamburg, Germany. The event will begin at 19:00 (Central European Summer Time). The rough agenda is that first we will present the power of the ZOO and its true CCK functionality and show you how everything works. We will structure the presentation to be informative for both people who haven't used the ZOO yet and experienced developers. After the presentation we are planning on having a lively discussion amongst the participants. The presentation and discussion will be held in German. Of course, all YOOtheme developers and designers will be there. We are looking forward to meeting you!

Exciting Location

We chose a location with an ambience that fits the occasion perfectly. Experience a night in company of sharks roaming the reefs of the South Seas: Our presentation will take place at a tribune viewing the Huge Shark Atoll of the Hagenbeck ZOO's Tropical Aquarium. Snap at the chance to meet fellow web developers in a stunning atmosphere!

Date: Wednesday, May 27th, 2009
Time: 19:00 (Central European Summer Time)
Location: Hagenbeck ZOO, Tropical Aquarium
Address: Lokstedter Grenzstraße 2, Hamburg, Germany
Email registration is required until May 20th, 2009

The entry is free. The number of seats is limited though, so drop us an email soon. First come, first served! See you on the 27th of May!

I love YOO Winners

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 10:22:34 +0000

Thank you so much for all the photos you sent us! We are still surprised to see that your photos came from all over the world, this is so cool! So it was really hard for us to pick the ten winners. The people who sent in the ten most awesomest photos each won a license of the ZOO Pro Edition. We will notify all winners by email today.

We especially want to highlight one thing here: There is this one guy, Ben, who made our PDF into a huge billboard and took his family on a trip to take pictures of himself with that thing. Ben: Well done! Check out the I love YOO page on his website and especially his kid saying "I love you (YOO)" in the video, that's the cutest!

We want to thank all of you guys again for participating in our competition, this has been so much fun! Now take a look at the winner photos:

UPDATE: Great video made by Denise. She took some pictures at the Joomla! Day Las Vegas.

Win a ZOO Pro Edition

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 16:43:20 +0000

Three days left to win a ZOO Pro Edition. Just join the I ♥ YOO competition. Read more...

Learn more about ZOO's CCK

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 09:46:53 +0000

It has been two and a half weeks since the ZOO release and we have over 5700 downloads of the Lite Edition. We are glad to see more and more reviews, news articles and Twitter discussions going on about our ZOO extension. Also, the term CCK is a hot and intensely discussed topic and we would like to share our view on some points and answer some questions here.

What is a true CCK architecture?

In the last couple of days a lot of people asked, "What is so special about ZOO?" and, "What is the difference between ZOO and other extensions with a so-called CCK functionality?" The term "Content Construction Kit" (CCK) originally comes from the Drupal world. It is the name of a third party module for Drupal which allows users to add custom fields to custom content types, using a web interface. We at YOOtheme really liked the idea of this great and powerful feature and started planning a catalog system with a CCK. You can read more about the time this whole process took in this blog post.

Okay, let's get to the question "What is so special about the ZOO extension?" now. Our approach in designing the ZOO's architecture was to create a true CCK. Basically this means that by default, an item has nothing but a name. Everything else is inherited from the item's type. You can easily create these types yourself: You select the exact elements the type shall consist of, like text, images or a file download. The item itself has no properties like an image or video that are bound to it hard-coded. As said above, everything is inherited by the type. The ZOO's most powerful feature is that we broke down the design of content into items, types and elements. This is where its architecture unfolds its strengths. In one type you can use any kind of element as often as you want, in any combination. You can also add and remove elements from a custom type at any time, even if you already created items of that type. The elements are completely pluggable and we will continually extend the current set of elements. The flexible and powerful design of the ZOO will allow us to integrate many more features in the future.

More parameter settings = more features?

Do less configuration options mean the application is less complex in its functionality? Of course not. We had the intention to make the ZOO's backend interface as simple as possible to not overwhelm the user with parameter settings. Instead of adding every functionality as a parameter option we thought it is more important to have a clearly arranged user interface and all the options in the right places. Anyhow, the ZOO offers a lot of flexible and powerful features like the API which allows you to build your own elements and templates. In short: It is possible to achieve most common functionalities with the ZOO.

ZOO Lite too light?

The Lite Edition of the ZOO provides all core features of the ZOO. You can develop your own custom templates and elements. Please take a look at How to start templating and Develop your own "hello world" element. Both tutorials are a good start to learn more about the ZOO API. If you don't feel like looking into code and want to start your web project right away, go and get the ZOO Pro Edition. We created additional templates with pre-built types for the Pro Edition. All these templates are ready to use and are designed for specific purposes like a personal blog or a download archive.

ZOO reviews on the web

We like to highlight a really comprehensive review by Tom Bohacek. Tom is the developer behind the bContent extension. So make sure to take a look if you understand German.

What's next?

We started the development on ZOO 1.1.x. So keep an eye on our Twitter tweets. We will tweet about the upcoming features...