About MaestroDrop down Menu Generator
Now you can make drop down menus in Maestro and with one click export that menu in your Joomla template. We provide tool to create custom, cross browser compatible CSS menus. Our menu generator makes it easy to create custom CSS menus without having to know programing at all. We embed Drop down menu module in Maestro. This module (Drop down - Menu Generator) makes css menu entirely using CSS and with use Joomla HTML markup without javascript. Great thing about this menu is that works in Joomla without any modification. You don't need to manualy change links or alias or enything else, it will be driven from Your Joomla menu. Any change in Joomla menu will be reflected immeadatly in browser. CSS menus benefit from being accessible and search engine friendly. Since they do not rely on javascript, they have good cross platform accessibility and degrade gracefully, if a browser does not support the CSS variant, or has javascript and CSS disabled, the links are still perfectly usable.
Menus from Maestro are:
- - Full Accessbility (cross browser, search engine accessibility, simple keyboard accessibility and graceful degredation).
- - Multi-level menu - ie the ability to have submenus up to n levels. These menus are built using nested ul and li tags.
- - All presentation configured by CSS (no javascript config files for presentation).
The list of features are as follow:
1. Menu is CSS based but if you want you can choise some fancy jQuery stuff
2. This menu is cross browser and support all modern browser and Internet Explorer
3. Search Engine Accessble (no links or text served as javascript files).
4. Simple Keyboard Accessiblity - using tabs and enter.
5. Menu have Graceful Degredation - when some browser not support CSS and javascript are disabled menu will display links and text
6. Unlimited levels - supports unlimited levels of menu (although unlikely you need more than 4 levels).
7. Option to automatically add indicator when menu node has submenu attached.
8. All presentation in CSS file - this includes relative positioning of the submenu, or submenu widths.
9. Animated submenu .
10. Option to control how submenu animations appears (slide, fade, etc).
11. Ability to put more than one menu on a page .
12. Time delay when mouse is in "mouse out" position
13. Additional geometry which is imposible with css only solution (when you check JS options)
14. Click for drop down (for mobile devices)
Carousel in Joomla
In Joomla Carousel Slider Maker module you will get these options:
- Browse for image from your hard disk.
- Heading text for every image which you insert into module. You can choose font, font size and color for heading text.
- Paragraph text for every image which you insert into module. You can choose font, font size and color for paragraph text.
- Adjust position for images and texts.
- Adjust position for navigation arrows.
- Adjust size of content for carousel.
- Link for every carousel slide. Adjust for speed of carousel slider.
- Adjust for interval of carousel slider.
- Ability to turn on or turn of navigation for the slider (arrows for next and previus slide , naviggation bullets for slides)
- Ability to turn on or turn of auto play for slides.
- You can put more than one carousels on page. Every carousel works in separate div position.
- This module is not Joomla extension and you don't need to go in administrative panel of Joomla.
Everything what you do, you do from Maestro. The module is based on rcarousel Jquery plugin from Wojciech rrh Ryrych.
Slider in Joomla
If you want to make а slider for your Joomla template, an easy way is to use Maestro Creative Template Designer. Maestro has a very powerful module for making full image slider for Joomla templates. You don't have to do any programming, just pick images, determine type of transition between images and transition speed. Everything else Maestro will do for you and it will embed the code in your template. It sounds very easy and it is, and the slider looks really great and your template will get that dynamic look which all best templates on the market have.
In Joomla Slider Maker module you will get these options:
- Browse for image from your hard disk
- Slide caption for every image which you insert into module
- link for every image
- transition effects (Fade, Slide Top, Slide Right, Slide Bottom, Slide Left, Carousel Left, Carousel Right)
- ability to turn on or turn of navigation for the slider (Arrows, Progress Bar, Play button, Slide Counter, Slide Caption, Tray Button , Control Bar)
This slider makes sliding of images in background of layout, so you can make the whole template in front of this slider or use this slider as the template.
The module is based on Supersized Jquery plugin from Build Internet project.
Who is Maestro CTD intended for?
This question is relatively easy to answer. All who need to create templates for Joomla CMS are the potencial users of this program.In short, Creative Template Designer is a program that is ideal for several groups of people:
- For web designers who are good at their job but aren't professional programmers and don't know how to move their creations into the valid code and to complete a template.
- For the programmers who know how to make a code, but are not good at defining the look of the website.
- For the encoders that provide services of "transfering" the existing design into CMS template (this is popularly called PSD 2 Joomla or PSD 2 template), for who this program will significantly reduce the time needed to complete the job.
Framework or not?
If you have ever tried to do programming by yourself you’ve seen that it’s not easy. You need to learn a lot of things in order to be able to create just a small thing. If you want to speed up your progress you may want to use some of the frameworks. Wikipedia says that a framework is “a reusable set of libraries or classes for a software system (or subsystem).” Frameworks can really speed up your work but you have to learn how to use them. Powerful frameworks may be very complicated and you will spend a lot of time to get familiar with them. If your goal is to create joomla templates, maybe you don’t need to learn a framework. Maestro is a visual template creator with great possibilities. In another words, Maestro is a visual framework and you don’t need days to learn the syntax of a framework. With Maestro you need to spend only several hours watching video tutorials and after that you can start creating templates.
What is „PSD to template“?
It's a process in which some design that is usually made with Adobe Photoshop is being converted to a template. The most queries are for the designs to be converted to a HTML site, Wordpress theme or Joomla template. There are many good designers. Much smaller number of designers knows how to convert their design into a programming code that is necessary to get a Wordpress theme or a Joomla template. Very often the designers hire programmers to do this part of the job for them. The price for that job is in the range from 50$ to 150$ for a HTML website, but if you want a Wordpress theme or a Joomla template the price is even higher and starts at 200$. These prices are only for the first page. Each additional page is being charged extra. The best way to convert an image into a template without problems is to use Maestro. Maestro is a software that has a unique algorithm for converting an image into a Joomla template. It's enough to import design (an image) to Maestro and to draw boxes over the image. These boxes are the module positions for the Joomla template. After that you need just one click with mouse and the rest of the job will be done by Maestro. The price for Maestro is smaller than what you need to pay to an agency for a single service "PSD to template". Another great feature is that Maestro doesn't require a PSD file. Maestro works with JPG, PNG and GIF files.
System requirements
In order to be able to install and use Creative Template Designer, it is necessary to comply with the minimum hardware and software requirements that are very modest:
- System requirements Intel or AMD processor 1500 MHz or faster
- 100 Mb free space on the system hard disk
- 1Gb RAM
- Monitor resolution 1024 x 768
- Microsoft Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7
- Java SE
These are the minimum system requirements for the operation of Creative Template Designer. If you comply with these requirements the program will work just fine. It is even better if you have more memory or a faster processor because then the program will respond to your commands more quickly.
Supported browsers:
- Internet Explorer7 +
- Firefox 2+
- Opera 9+
- Safari 1+
- Google Chrome 1+
Supported technologies: Joomla 1.5 CMS (there is a plan for Drupall and Word Press CMS but for now only Joomla is officially supported).
List of Maestro CTD's functionalities
Creative Template Designer is a program that provides great opportunities to the designers of Joomla template. CTD is constantly being developed and we add new options very often. Currently, this is a list of program functionalities:- The mouse is used for all operations that will be listed, which is the biggest advantage of this program, so there is no "diving" into the code, because this is the right program for designers and not an editor for programmers.
Module Skeleton
- The page size is selected from the menu or you enter it according to your wishes.
- Although the page layout has to be drawn, it doesn't have to be absolute. It is possible to assign different parameters to each DIV (box, module position).
- Boxes (DIV, module positions) are being drawn ie. created only with the mouse. CTD does all necessary calculations automatically.
- Drawing is possible in several ways: rectangles, single-box sharing, multiple-box sharing, a single division of multiple boxes simultaneously.
- Various modifications of an already drawn template are possible, such as e.g. moving the whole box or any of its pages.
- It is possible to merge several boxes and split the existing box.
- Naming boxes (this will be the name of the module position).
- If you want you can draw over the grid. The grid is both horizontal and vertical. Grid spacing and width are being determined by the user.
- It is possible to assign some box to be the "component". The program itself will ensure that there is only one module position which is the component.
- Margins, padding, border, align are also being determined in real time with the mouse.
- Importing an image (or several images) that will be used for "tracing".
- The image may change its "transparency" for an easier "tracing".
- Images can be set as background for the whole template or just a certain box.
- There are rulers (in pixels) for a better visual orientation and info panel with the correct values for the position of the mouse or the size and position of the box.
- It is possible to delete the contents of a certain box without changing the structure of the page, even if in it there are other boxes.
Module Slicer
- You can enable or disable the display geafičkih elements on the screen such as the border line, cutting line, background images, images that were clipped, the background color
- In addition to simple colors it is possible to assign to each DIV mild gradients that can be placed at arbitrary angles.
- There are layers (like Photoshop), where it is possible to manipulate images.
- Select a background color for the background for each box individually.
- Colors can be selected using the color palette or by sampling from the entire desktop (even with the display of a non-CTD-in).
- You can set up multiple images on the same modular position.
- Manipulation is possible and this in several ways, Resize, Crop, Erase, Flip, Rotate.
- Enabled the "slicing" (cut) image boxes.
- Each image can have its orientation in the box.
- There is a Slicer module manager that is used when needed while changing a parameter in several boxes.
- It can be determined part of the picture to be a pattern (mold, pattern) that can be repeated horizontally or vertically or in both axes.
Module Styler
- Defined are the parameters for the appearance of the most commonly used modules (Breadcrumbs, Search...) that can easily get changed with a simple interface and integrated into the template.
- There is a module that creates menus. More menus within one template can be made.
- The menus are animated. Animation settings menu is selected by the user.
COMMON OPTIONS for all modes of Maestro Creative Template Designer
- Everything what we said the program is able to display on the screen, the program turns into a template.
- Everything that the program lists as the final code, will pass validation at HTML and CSS.
- The code that “comes out” of the program is compatible to all popular browsers.
- The program itself creates a zip archive that contains all necessary files (index.php, templateDetails.xml, template css, folder with photos, additional CSS files and all other files).
- When saving, the user types in information about the template name, date of creation, email and all other information that go under the "description".
- The user has the option to asign favicon himself.
What can you do with Maestro CTD?
This will be the site of many words but the shortest possible terms: Maestro Creative Template Designer is a program used to create templates for Joomla CMS (expect to soon be able to make templates for WordPress and Drupal). In contrast to all the programs that are currently on the market, Maestro Creative Template Designer is not an editor, so here it is not necessary to know programming languages XHTML, PHP, XML, and specific rules that exist in each CMS, because in this program you don't type commands. This is the true designers program where Joomla template is created by designsers and not by programmers .
Is it possible to make a professional template with Maestro CTD?
Creative Template Designer is a program that has great possibilities. With little time invested in learning that is most easily done with the help of video tutorials that you can download for free from our site you will be able to create templates of superior form and function.
What are the main advantages of Creative Template Designer?
- Saving time. If you have already prepared the desired design, the "transfer" into the template will be completed very quickly.
- Saving money. To create a template now you only need a designer because the program itself will "write" the whole necessary code.
It allows advanced users great freedom in creating templates and it helps the beginners not to feel lost among many rules they need to know in order to be able to make a template for Joomla CMS.
The software that creates templates for Joomla CMS
Creating templates for popular CMSs is a great job. On the Internet you can find literally thousands of companies who do that, a lot of them have earned a fortune. It seems that nowadays it is quite easy to get the template.The first option is to hire a company that develops templates according to the customer's order. Such service could cost between 250 and 500 U.S. dollars. If you have defined your wishes well, you will get exactly what you need, however any change that you want in the template will be charged per hour rate of that company. So, if you've been hesitant about the look of the template, this may cost you up to a couple of hundred dollars more than the original price. The good thing about this approach is that you get the template just as you want it to be and the bad thing is that you spend considerable amount of money for the template.The second option is less expensive. Go to the website of the company that sells already made and existing templates, choose one that is closest to your wishes. This template you will pay between $ 50 and $ 100 and you've come into possession of a good template. Well, this is when the problems begin. This template is most likely not 100% as you need it to be, and the changes of such a template are very complicated and beyond the knowledge of people who are not very long in this type of business.As you can see, you should you take one of these two options. This means to either pay a lot and get exactly what you have imagined or pay less and don't get everything the way you need it. The question is whether there is a third option that doesn't cost much, that allows you to get a template exactly as you'd like and also gives you an option to modify the template whenever you want to make a change, refresh, modernize it. Well, if there were a program that would simplify all the difficult parts of creating a template and enabled you to create a template yourself exactly the way it really suits you down to the smallest detail that would be great and if this program would cost only as much as a good template costs that would be fantastic. So far there wasn't such a program on the market that would allow you to easily create a template. I am saying this now because the situation has changed.We present you Creative Template Designer. This is a program that combines an easy operation and a very convenient price. In order to present this program in an easy way we have to say the following:
- Everything is done with the mouse, you don't have to enter the code.
- This is the only program that allows arbitrary design, setting, shifting, changing the size of boxes (module positions) and gives the correct code. This is a huge advantage over any program that is on the market.
- "Inserting" and "slicing" background images require a lot of time and patience to be"tailored" in the template. With this program this is done with a click on a button.
- It has the whole set of tools for a complete and precise definition of CSS styles.
- It contains a part that creats the menu. The menus created in this way are directly implemented in the template and do not require any additional modifications in order to work.
- The program also has a module for making background patterns.
- The program also comes with video tutorials, where all program functions are explained in a very simple way.
- The program creates a clean code that runs HTML and CSS validation.
- The result of work in this program is a completed template ready to be installed into your CMS (currently only JOOMLA is available but soon the options for Word Press and later Drupal will be implemented).Of course, there are many more options but this is enough to understand what this program is all about. In order to satisfy your curiosity please take a look at the set of video tutorials that explain work with Creative Template Designer.
Does Maestro CTD use tables to create templates?
NO!
The program DOESN'T USE TABLES!
The entire template is made by a web standard in which there is no room for tables. This applies to the Joomla output script which is overrun with the appropriate HTML folder, which eliminates the standard view in which there were tables.
Work modes in Maestro Creative Template Designer
Work in the CTD is divided into several logical units. Practically every unit represents a mode in which CTD works. The transition from one mode to another is done by simple clicking on the icon at the bottom of the screen. There are three modes:
- Skeleton
- Slicer
- Styler
Skeleton – is a part of the program which defines the areas that will exist in the template. Defining areas is performed in a highly efficient manner, by drawing with the mouse.
Slicer - is a part of the program where the images will be “inserted” in the areas that are defined in Skeleton.
Styler – is a place where everything that was previously defined gets its final form.
There are several modules that perform specific tasks within the units to which they belong.
Menu Generator - is a part of the module in which you will define menu parameters and it is in Styler.
Background Generator – is a simple module for creating background images, and it is in the Slicer.
How was Maestro Creative Template Designer made?
To explain this story I have to first introduce myself. I made my first website in 1996. Since that time I have made quite a lot websites. But I was never a full-time web designer. I worked on the Web when there was work, when not I have dealt with any area where there was work: photography, video, graphic design, programming ... From this you can see that I have many areas of interest. However this is not always great. I have to constantly learn new things, and occasionally even some of the old things that I forgot in the meantime because I wasn't doing that kind of work.
At one point I decided that I had enough of this approach. I wanted to become very good in one area. I have chosen the Web and the development of websites in Joomla CMS. Basically, I've progressed relatively quickly. The only problem was creating a template. Not that I couldn't do it or didn't know how to do it, but I was terribly annoyed with the fact that none of the programs made would enable me to do the whole job. If a designer would create a template layout in Photoshop, for example, that would be the end of it because he wuld have to give this job to a programmer who would encode it into a form that would be suitable for Joomla, and this is the place where the fun begins. You can't do one thing, the other thing takes a long time, these DIVs aren't in the grid, all in all terrible. Immediatelly I've realized that I want such a program that would help me design a Joomla template but also the designer part – with the mouse and not to code it.I have checked all possible web resources, but I didn't find such a program. However, I bought Artisteer but this program just is n't for designers because there are many restrictions. After several months of searching, asking questions, attending forums and googling I came to a conclusion that was shocking. I was looking for a program that DID NOT EXIST! I could not believe it and once again I repeated the entire search. The result was again the same. UNBELIAVABLE.
For couple of days I've been thikning and then I made a decision. I wanted to make a program that I needed. I gathered a team, we made a plan, spent many, many hours working on a program that was supposed to be an internal tool that would speed up the work. But the appetite increased much after a certain time. We added a lot more functions than we initially thought, and the program became larger. Now we are happy to tell you that Creative Template Designer is available for download.
Is Maestro CTD expensive software?
It is NOT!
The price for a good professional template is around $50. If you need some further work on the template to make it really fit your needs this price can easily rise between $200 and $500. Also if you have already created a template layout and you want to "convert" it to the template, the web studios charge for this service once more between $250 and $500. When you have all this in mind the price of 100 € for a program with which you can create professional templates is actually very small.
Acknowledgments
A lot of work has been invested in Maestro Creative Template Designer. The development of this program was long and difficult. In addition to all of our will, desire and knowledge, this program would not be possible to be made if there weren't many people who have made a lot of good things before us. We thank them and wish them their careers and lives to be successful, special thanks goes to:
- the Joomla team that has developed this fantastic CMS- members of the Serbian / Montenegrian Joomla forum that have provided support during the development of CTD
- Joel Birch who has developed the SuperFish menu
- Angie Radtke and Robert Deutz who have made the BEEZ template
- Jason Johnston who has made the projekat PIE
- Dragan Bajčič CODY, an excellent programmer and a great person who helped us when we struggled with problems
To all people mentioned above we wish good karma and good luck:)
