While there is a lot of competition in the world of web design, the content management system (CMS) Joomla has gained a huge web presence. This is in part because of the ease of use when installing and customizing Joomla themes. Many Joomla themes also offer the advantage of flexibility, and compatibility with advanced, fast-loading frameworks and creative Joomla extensions. It’s no wonder so many web designers and admins prefer Joomla, and many hosts now offer special installations and software to make Joomla hosting even more convenient. Get your website started today with one of these five amazing Joomla themes, fresh for 2017.
- Target by JoomlaTemplates
The Target theme by the Joomla development company JoomlaTemplates is a great, free Joomla theme for 2017. It works with 2017 Joomla release 3.2, and is also backwards compatible down to Joomla version 2.5. It has a sleek, slightly minimalist look, and would make a great general business theme.
The default top positions include a standard left-sided logo placement and right-sided company contact info box. Target includes a clean drop down menu, and a simple 3-color visual scheme to keep readers focused on your content. This theme can be modified via the CSS files and module positions, and since it’s not built on a proprietary framework, customization are rather simple.
- Lighthouse by Themeforest
If you’re looking for a modern, compact theme for your business or promotional page, look no further than the Lighthouse theme by Themeforest. It costs $59 and is compatible with all version of Joomla from 3 to 3.6. Lighthouse works well for churches, charities, musicians, and public bulletin websites because of the way the content is displayed. The default red and yellow color scheme also fits well in these niches. There are also 4 other color schemes available to choose from. You can switch color schemes site-wide using a single option in the Joomla template admin panel.
Anyone with Joomla hosting and some content can build a site using this simple-to-implement theme in just a few hours. Lighthouse uses Themeforest’s well-tested Warp framework, which is already in use on thousands of websites. Bring your existing website to the 2017 market using this visually pleasing theme. Extremely versatile, the Lighthouse theme works well on IE11, Opera, FireFox, Chrome, Edge and Safari. It’s also responsive, meaning it will detect your device’s screen size and adjust accordingly without loosing design value. This theme uses CSS, PHP and JavaScript.
- Handmade by Template Monster
A great way to start an online shop using the Joomla CMS is to install the Handmade theme designed by Template Monster. That’s because it’s designed to be a virtual shopping mart, for online stores and creative projects. This theme is also responsive, and fits well on any screen size. A single-site license use of this theme costs a one-time $75 fee. Handmade has an Etsy-esque vibe, and really narrows your readers’ attention to a few products at a time, eliminating distractions and perhaps increasing your total sales. This theme comes with a slider, which is helpful to keep your content fresh. It also has a social login, allowing users to make an account on your site using their existing Facebook or Google accounts, which is also great to encourage social sharing of your content.
Handmade has familiar, modern 2017 buttons and user interface options, which look especially good on mobile devices. The theme includes VirtueMart and Ajax cart software integration to get your online store up and running in minutes. Other advantages this theme has over the competition include Google Fonts, and search-engine friendly semantic coding.
- Amazed Photography by Shape5
Another new Joomla theme for 2017 is Amazed Photography by Shape5. This theme works with all Joomla 3.x versions and as the name implies is a great theme for photography bases sites. This includes portfolio websites and sites with a lot of non-photography pictures or artwork to display. The theme is just under $50, and includes an easy color picker to give you maximum control over design elements. Amazed Photography is built on the Vertex framework by Shape5, meaning it’s upgradable to work with any newly released Shape5 extensions. Vertex has been proven to be a fast loading, lightweight framework, which is good for users loading a lot of photography content.
Amazed Photography has 99 core positions, so you can easily position your content wherever you want it, without having to edit CSS or other files. By default the main page displays a slide show to showcase your main attractions. Scroll down to see a photo area with a large caption box, and finally six spaces for medium sized photo thumbnails. The drop down menu is versatile and makes it easy to separate your content into albums or categories.
Installing a fresh 2017 Joomla website will give your visitors a modern, user-friendly experience, and let them know you are keeping up with technology. Try one of these impressive themes today to give your website a new look and cutting edge features.
- Acronym by RocketTheme
This new theme is Joomla designed to be futuristic, and can be used for a wide variety of websites. It’s got a modern, 2017 feel to it, with dark color schemes and patterned backgrounds. It’s made for Joomla 3.6 and will be updated as new Joomla versions are released so it will work on any newly installed setup with your Joomla hosting. At just $34, Acronym will display your content on a trendy, responsive textured backdrop, putting you in line with tech-savvy users. The theme would be great for tech or media businesses, or to display personal accomplishments.
This theme comes with a lot of bells and whistles such as accordion menus, video modules, pricing tables, image grids and pop-up menus and banners. It’s built on the Gantry Core framework, which is an established major framework among Joomla templates. One advantage of the Gentry Core used in this template is that you can use inheritances to change multiple pages at once. This is helpful when adding sections or changing layouts. It does require Joomla 3.6 or higher for all features to work, so keep your Joomla installation up to date. This template utilizes MySQL, PHP, CSS, and Curl, so check with your host for this type of Joomla-related compatibility.