How to edit a Joomla template to publish a module in a new position.
There has been a number of questions to me, along with a few posts wondering how to get ImageSlideShow to appear in certain locations. Typically the question has bee raised because the particular template being used does not have the capability to publish modules at the required postion.
How do you know what positions are available in a template?
The two easiest ways are as follows
- Add ?tp=1 to the end of the url that you use to display your site. For example http://briask.com/cakes/?tp=1 will display the default Joomla! template on my demo site with the “position” names (and “style”) in red at the relevant locations. So you will see “positions” like top, user3, left, right, etc.
- You can also look at the templateDetails.xml file which will list the “positions” available, look for the positions element. The template details for my demo site is at http://briask.com/cakes/templates/rhuk_milkyway/templateDetails.xml .
Note that the names of the positions do not have to coincide with actual positions on the template. This is all fine if there is a supported postion at the location you want to display ImageSlideShow, what you need to do is modify the module details in the admin screens, select the position you want and you are complete.
But what do you do if there is not a supported position at the location you require? Maybe a static image is displayed there and you want to replace it with ImageslideShow. Follow these steps and you will learn what to do.
- Add ?tp=1 to your url to check if the banner/logo image is in a “position”.
- If there is not you will need to add one to the template so that the module can be published. Make a backup of your template directory before you edit any files, just in case!
- Edit the templateDetails.xml file in your templates directory in a text editor. You should find a <positions> element with a list of <postion> elements. Add a new position maybe call it ”posISS”. You should end up with a section in the templateDetails file that looks something like this:
<positions>
<position>posISS</position>
<position>left</position>
<position>right</position>
<position>top</position>
<position>user1</position>
<position>user2</position>
<position>footer</position>
</positions> - Now need to edit the template itself so it will display modules at the posISS position. Edit the index.php file, find the location at which you want to publish the module and add the following :
<jdoc:include type=”modules” name=”posISS” />
This tells Joomla to publish any modules that are configured for the “posISS” position here. Save your changes.
- Make sure that you now set the ImageSlideShow module to display in postion “posISS”, making sure that no other modules are published at that position. Once enabled and you refresh your site, you should now see ImageSlideShow at work in that position.
This rather simpflies the process as you may find that you need to remove elements that already exist at that position like static images, logos etc. May also be required to fix the CSS that is controlling the display of elements arond that position also. But this should give you an idea of what to do. If you have any questions or queries on this, hop over to http://forum.briask.com and drop me a post about it.
End of life announced for Joomla 1.0.x
Have to say I’ve never installed Joomla! 1.0.x, never been asked to support it and now never will… The Joomla! team have announced end of life for J! 1.0.x. July 22 2009 will see the end of official support for that version.
So if you are on J1.0.x and it does have a huge install base, you need to start thinking about migration to J1.5 or maybe even J1.6 although I’m not sure when that version is coming out.
Interesting point from xkcd
Change in support method
Up until now I’ve been happy to provide support by either responding to comments or directly emailing people but have found with that I’m answering some of the same questions numerous times.
So I’ve introduced a forum at http://forum.briask.com. Please post your questions, issues, suggestions on that forum so that I can share information with all that use ImageslideShow for Joomla!
How to publish multiple copies of ImageSlideShow
Have had a numbers of question recently asking how to have multiple copies of ImageSlideShow displaying on one page. To do this follow the instructions below, these would also apply to any other Joomla! module (assuming that the module was written in a manner that allows multiple copies)
1. Install ImageSlideShow (see instructions here)
2. Configure the first instance of ImageSlideShow i.e. set the Title like this.
3. Click on Apply and you have published the first copy.
4. Click on Cancel which will bring you back to the Module Manager
5. To create a second instance, click on New and then select ImageSlideShow.
6. Click on Next and set a different title llke this 
You can also set different parameters for this instance if you wish.
Click on Apply and thats it! You now have multiple instances of ImageslideShow.
Enjoy! and if you have any questions
If you have any questions on ImageSlideShow, please post the question in my ImageSlideShow forum.