Joomla Template Suggestions

I need recommendations on an SEO friendly and fast Joomla Template

[kennydubose]

I have a quick question regarding Joomla Templates.

I'm in the process of switching my site over to Joomla, but before I do I want to get recommendations on Templates.

Here are the priorities for the template:

1. Search Engine Optimized: must allow for easy configuration of all meta tags, title tags, and keyword tags, as well as have an SEO friendly architecture and design.

2. Search Engine Friendly URL's: must allow custom url writing

3. Speed: must load fast

4. Security

Any recommendations on Joomla Templates (Free or Paid) that fit these criteria would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Kenny

[ergophobe]

Kenny,

I've only played a little bit with joomla, but in general...

I don't think your Theme will have anything to do with 1, 2 or 4. These will either be built-in or dependent on adding a module.

3. Fast load. This will depend only in part on the theme and can be helped along by rewriting parts of the theme. For example, most of the server load will be based on generating the page. Where the theme comes in, is typically in the size and number of the CSS and Javascript files.

You can consolidate these and simplify these according to your needs.

So as a general rule, I don't think the template is a paramount consideration for any of your criteria.

[kennydubose]

Ergophobe,
Thanks for the feedback. I guess the better questions would be is Joomla a good fit for me as a CMS considering the criteria I need?

[ergophobe]

Have you had a look at it and installed it on a test server?

It's a serious CMS that runs many major sites. If you like it, it will work for you.

There are a lot of other options too, obviously, but the big thing I see here in this forum is there are 59 options that would all work well for someone, and they get paralyzed choosing which one to go for.

In most cases, I think choosing the "right" CMS is less important than choosing one and getting on with it. There are exceptions, of course, but I don't think your case is one of them. Those are fairly fundamental requirements.

But that's just me opinion as a guy who has only played with joomla a bit here and there, never really used it.

[travelin cat]

Kenny,

It's not the templates that you should be thinking about, they pretty much are the layout for the Joomla install.

You should be looking at extensions that can be added to the site. Go to [extensions.joomla.org...] and look for the highest rated extensions for each concern you have.

[kennydubose]

travelin cat,
Thanks so much. I'll be sure to pay close attention to the extension aspect of the Joomla install.

[spadilla]

Hi Kenny, There are a couple I've seen done by Alledia and one by RocketTheme called Afterburner that are fast loading (for Joomla) and coded for SEO (the content loads as close to the top as possible). Afterburner is actually free too - so you could always download it and mess it for the heck of it. Just do a google search and I'm sure you will locate them easily. Hope it helps!

[baileytech]

joomlart make some really good quality templates that load fast and look great, some of the newer yootheme templates are also really good, i would stay away from template plazza though, they seem to be having some real issues at the moment

[BillyS]

There are a lot of tutorials on the topic of writing your own Joomla template. It's not that hard, even I can do it.

As spadilla mentions, it's possible to make the template more SE friendly by choosing where the content appears on the page.

Joomla also allows you to assign multiple templates to your website.

I don't think the template will help with any of your concerns (speed, security...). The modules and extensions you run are the key.

Joomla is very powerful. I've been using it since the Mambo days. I couldn't imagine using anything else myself.