Joomla templates club

An introduction to Zappa

LOTS of color options

Web 2.0 is all about color, so what joy would Zappa be without loads of color options to play with. This joomla template comes included with a total of 30 colorful module suffix styles that can easily be mixed and matched to your liking.

• 6 glossy color gradient headers
• 8 Candi color gradients headers
• 4 Icon headers
• 3 Alert headers
• 1 Beige gradient
• 8 Module background colors

60% Faster with CSS Compression and file Include

With modern websites, load times are going up respectively as the size, complexity and number of javascript and css files loaded into a page increase.

With Zappa we have implemented a method built into the template to do 2 very important things in order to help reduce the load speeds.

Compress (gzip) CSS and Javascript
We include a php script that first checks that the server accepts this method, then it uses one of the php compression methods to reduce the size of the file for loading as well as revalidate the cache header.

Using php includes to minimize "http" requests to the server
The main focus here is to merge (on the fly) the css and javascript into single files in order to reduce the http requests. So instead of loading 6 css files, only one is loaded.

These 2 methods have shown us and increase of nearly 60% and we think it makes this an exceptionally fast loading template. This feature is built into the template and requires no setup, directly after install your visitors will enjoy enhanced browse speeds.

New accordion menu

You will notice a new addition to the Zappa demo: we have included a nifty accordion menu. This is not a module or a mambot and nothing needs to be installed. To implement it, we are using jQuery to apply the hooks we need and the effects to the standard Joomla menu. This is only available for Joomla 1.5 due to the improvements in the menu output in 1.5 which we are using as the base of this feature.

Zappa includes the source files

The full source files used to create the header are available in our template club for free download to all club members. If you are feeling a little creative then play a with the source files to modify the effect or make your own.

Superfish menus

We installed our newest Superfish menu into Zappa.

Superfish is great because it degrades gracefully when Javascript is switched off, allowing users who have older system to still be able to navigate your site. It also has a cool time-delay on mouse-out which means your users won’t lose the menu because they weren't quick enough or accurate enough in pointing.

Module versatility at your fingertips

Intelli Modules Built in
This template comes with Intelli-modules which calculate how much space they can take up depending on how many of them you publish. It can handle a maximum of 2 rows of three modules. With this template there are over 11 module positions for you and 6 of those are Intelli. Talk about options!

Module FX - Mix and match module styles!
One thing we have learn over the years is that our users want control and the means to easily customize the template to their needs. That is why we have come up with this clever system allowing you mix and match your different module styles.

Express yourself through layout versatility

Zappa brings a new dimension to layout flexibility using its flexible layout configurations that are available on a per component basis. This allows you to set a 1, 2 column layout for any component, not only that, you can even specify the ordering of the columns!

This allows you to change your sites layout, depending on the content that your users are viewing. For example, if you wanted your site to have a forum, but did not want the sidebar to be loaded when viewing the forum, you would simple set the configuration to com_fireboard = content. It really is that simple!

Extra Goodies included when you buy Zappa

For Zappa, we included a few modules we made in-house. These aren't even on Joomla.org yet.

RSS Feed Module

Ever wanted to display a rss module, but did not know how to customize the default Joomla! syndicate module? Well, we have taken the concept and run with it. With our Simple Feed module, you can now add your own "pre text", customize the link text, customize whether to pull the rss feed from Joomla! or MyBlog and if choosing Joomla! you can specify what type of feed you would like to syndicate. All this without digging in a single line of code!

Company contact Module

A simple yet effective module that allows your company to have a contact blurb. Save space and use this module for easy and quick contact info.

Socializer Module

If you are like us you have a signed up for a bunch of different social websites like MySpace and Facebook and Flickr. Use this module to show users what you use and a link to your profile.

Newsticker Module

A very tiny yet effective news ticker module. This allows you to have one line of news like a teaser on your site, that links back to the main content. You can configure how fast it fades in and out, as well as what it links to. Check it out on the very top of the Zappa demo on the left.

Features Summary:

• Out of box install
• SuperFish menu system
• Compressed CSS
• 10 Normal and 6 Intelli Module Positions.
• Fully XHTML and CSS Validated and Compliant.
• Multiple layout options
• Detailed style guide
• Semantic markup / separation of presentation and content
• Comprehensive setup guide
• Fireworks source included
• Fully collapsible module positions
• Mini menu in top bar
• Fully compatible IE6, IE7, Safari 2, Firefox 1.5+ (mac +win), Opera