Frontpage Slideshow (for Joomla! 1.5)

Thursday, 21 January 2010

The following instructions apply to Frontpage Slideshow version 2.1+ for Joomla! v1.5 websites only, released after January 22nd, 2010.
Joomla! v1.0 based websites will no longer be supported as of version 2.1+ of the Frontpage Slideshow.

DOWNLOADING

Updates can be downloaded either via your e-Junkie link (which you received upon payment confirmation on your mailbox) or through our client system, PDS. Both e-Junkie and PDS contain the latest releases of the product. If your e-Junkie links have expired, login to PDS and grab your latest copy.

QUICK INSTALLATION

After you download the main zip file, extract it to reveal the 2 separate zip files included, one for Joomla! 1.5 websites and the other for any PHP based website. Locate the file FrontpageSlideshow-v2.X_j1.5.zip (where X is an incremental version number).
Login to the backend of your Joomla! 1.5 website and navigate to Extensions >> Install/Uninstall.
Choose to upload the zip file FrontpageSlideshow-v2.X_j1.5.zip (where X is an incremental version number) and the Frontpage Slideshow package will be installed and ready for your website to use.

UPGRADING FROM v2.0 TO v2.1+

To upgrade from v2.0 to v2.1+ just follow the same process as described in the "Quick Installation" guide above. Frontpage Slideshow v2.1+ comes as a package that can upgrade older files without losing your slideshow data. The only thing you need to do additionally is open each module instance of the Frontpage Slideshow and check its settings, then hit the "Save" button to write the new variables. This is an important step which you shouldn't skip.

JOOM!FISH SUPPORT

Version 2.1+ of the Frontpage Slideshow bundles all necessary "content elements" for translating slideshow contents to any language using Joom!Fish. Installing/upgrading Frontpage Slideshow will install/upgrade the Joom!Fish "content elements" as well.

If you need to install these translation "content elements" manually, download this zip file http://www.joomlaworks.gr/files/FrontpageSlideshow_v2_Joom!Fish_ContentElements.zip, extract it and copy the 2 files to: /administrator/components/com_joomfish/contentelements/

REQUIREMENTS

In order for Frontpage Slideshow to function as intended, you need to have Joomla! 1.5 installed (preferably the latest version) and working properly on the right environment (Apache 1.3+ or IIS 6+ server, PHP 4.3.10+ & MySQL 4.1.x+). See detailed Joomla! requirements here.
You also have to make sure that the folders /components/com_fpss/images/ and /components/com_fpss/images/thumbs/ are writable, in other words, check that the permissions for these folders are 755 or 777.
The GD Image Library for PHP must be installed and enabled on your server. All hosting servers usually have GD installed and enabled - if you're not sure, please ask your hosting provider to enable it. GD is used by Frontpage Slideshow to handle resizing for the images you upload on your slideshows.

DEMOS

You can see Frontpage Slideshow for Joomla! 1.5 running on our demo site at demo.joomlaworks.gr.

SETTING UP YOUR FIRST SLIDESHOW

When you install Frontpage Slideshow for the first time, a set of sample data will be installed as well. So it's very easy to understand your way around and create slideshows. Either way, here's some basic instructions to quickly setup your first slideshow:

1. Make sure Frontpage Slideshow is installed.

2. Navigate to Components >> Frontpage Slideshow and then click on the "Configuration" page. Set your desired settings.

3. Navigate to "Categories" and click on "New" to add a new category (slideshow). As you can see, the options in the category page are self explanatory. Once you're done, hit "Save".

4. Navigate to "Slides" in the component's menu. Click on "New" to add your first slide.
Here's what you need to do:
- insert a title
- check if the slide is published (and if it should be published for a certain time period)
- add custom text or tagline text
- choose where this slide will link to (either a content item from the dropdown, menu item or a regular URL) and where this link will open (new or same window)
- choose the group access that has permission to view this slide (leave as is for public access)
- set what content elements will appear (e.g. the title, the text body, 'read more...' link and so on)
- choose to upload an image from your computer or browse for one directly from your server.
- Click SAVE to save the slide and return to the "Slides" page.
The title, text and image you uploaded make up the "slide". Repeat this process to create more slides. All these slides will eventually make your slideshow.

5. Go to Extensions >> Module Manager. Click on "Frontpage Slideshow (by JoomlaWorks)" and open the parameters page of the module. Choose to publish the module, select which "position" you want it to appear and assign the module to some menu item (all or selected menu items). Next, edit the module's parameters. Choose the template you want your slideshow to appear through, along with the width, height and sibar width values of the slideshow. Explore the rest of the options by reading each explanation when you hover your mouse over each parameter title. When you are done setting up the module, hit the "Save" button.

6. Go to your site. Navigate to the page (menu item) where you published the module and voila, your Frontpage Slideshow is ready!

MVC TEMPLATING: THE POWER TO CREATE UNIQUE SLIDESHOWS

The feature trully setting apart Frontpage Slideshow from any other Joomla! slideshow system is its MVC architecture. It means you can use HTML and CSS template overrides inside your Joomla! template and create a unique slideshow for your website!

If you are wondering what MVC is or means, please read this for general information on Joomla! MVC template overrides.

If you are comfortable with Joomla! templating, here's what you need to know to create unique Frontpage Slideshow templates.

Frontpage Slideshow comes with 8 pre-designed templates, which can be used as a starting point to design your own.
The 8 pre-packaged templates are located in /modules/mod_fpss/tmpl/
To override one of the pre-packaged templates, simply copy its folder to /templates/YOURJOOMLATEMPLATE/html/mod_fpss/. So if you want to override the "Movies" template, copy /modules/mod_fpss/tmpl/Movies inside the folder /templates/YOURJOOMLATEMPLATE/html/mod_fpss/ (you will first have to create the folder mod_fpss inside your /templates/YOURJOOMLATEMPLATE/html/ folder). Then you just edit the default.php and the 2 css files located in the sub-folder /css to modify the resulting slideshow. By doing this, you obviously don't have to worry about Frontpage Slideshow upgrades overriding e.g. your custom CSS settings on a pre-packaged template.
To create a new slideshow template, the process is almost identical. In this case, you can copy one of the pre-packaged templates just to get started, but you can name the template's folder differently. The Frontpage Slideshow will "see" this new template even if it doesn't exist on the module's tmpl folder. It's what we call "on the fly" MVC templating and it's a concept we first introduced with our flagship Joomla! extension, K2.

Below you can see the file structure of a Frontpage Slideshow template folder, located by default inside the /modules/mod_fpss/tmpl/ folder.

default.php (the main HTML file)
/css
|-- template_css.php (dynamic CSS file)
|-- template_css_ie.css (IE7-and-older CSS file)
/images
|-- (contains image files currently used in the CSS files)
/psd
|-- (contains Photoshop source files - optional)

People who design templates for Joomla! can now fully support Frontpage Slideshow by offering pre-bundled slideshow templates in a single package.

BACKEND SCREENSHOTS

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

IE6 transparency issue
There is a rendering limitation (bug) in Microsoft's IE version 6 browser. This version of the IE browser cannot fade text over another fading element (image). Thus, we cannot make the slideshow text bar transparent as with all other browsers. Aside this limitation in IE6 only (IE7 and above will handle transparency just fine), Frontpage Slideshow operates identically as with all other browsers.

Last Updated ( Tuesday, 02 February 2010 )

Back