Customising Joomla – How to make your website stand out

Joomla is one of the most powerful and flexible content management systems (CMS) available today. With its extensive customisation options, it allows businesses, bloggers and developers to create unique websites that reflect their brand identity.

If you're looking to make your Joomla website stand out, customisation is key. In this guide, we’ll explore various ways to enhance your Joomla site and make it unique.

1. Choosing the right template

Your Joomla website’s template sets the foundation for its appearance and functionality. There are thousands of free and premium templates available, each offering different designs and features.

Our preferred template supplier is Joomshaper – there are many other template providers available such as Template Monster, Themeforest, JoomlArt and YOOtheme.

Considerations when choosing a template:

• Responsive design: Ensure your template is mobile-friendly.
• Customisation options: Look for templates that allow modifications to colours, fonts, layouts and elements.
• SEO optimised: Select templates with built-in SEO features.
• Speed & performance: A lightweight template enhances website loading speed.

Customising your template:

Once you've selected a template, you can further modify it by editing the CSS and HTML files. Joomla's Template Manager allows easy customisation without altering core files, making future updates smoother.

2. Customising the layout with modules and positions

Joomla’s module system is one of its most powerful features. Modules allow you to add functionality to different sections of your site, such as sidebars, headers and footers.

This is particularly useful for elements you’d like to appear on multiple pages, such as menu links, contact details, calls to action or logos.

How to use modules effectively:

• Rearrange module positions: Go to the Template Manager to change module placements and create a unique layout.
• Custom HTML modules: Create custom HTML modules to add text, images, videos or any other content.
• Third-party modules: Install third-party modules from the Joomla Extensions Directory to add features like contact forms, social media feeds, shopping bag icons, etc.

3. Extending Joomla with plugins and components

Extensions are a great way to enhance Joomla’s core functionality. There are thousands of extensions available to add specific features to your site.

Recommended plugins and components:

• JCE Editor: A powerful WYSIWYG editor for content creation.
• Akeeba Backup: A backup and restoration tool for Joomla websites.
• SP Page Builder: A drag-and-drop page builder for easy customisation.
• VirtueMart: A complete eCommerce solution for Joomla.
• JCH Optimize: Optimises your website’s speed by compressing and merging CSS and JavaScript files.

Visit the Joomla Extensions Directory to find out what’s available. It’s always a good idea to check reviews, pricing and installation instructions before downloading.

4. Personalising your website design with custom CSS

If you want a truly unique design, custom CSS is the way to go. Joomla allows you to create a custom CSS file that overrides the default styles of your template.

Steps to apply custom CSS:

• Locate the template’s CSS files: Go to Extensions > Templates > Styles.
• Create a custom CSS file: Name it “custom.css” and save it in the CSS folder of your template.
• Add your CSS rules: Modify colours, fonts, spacing and other design elements.
• Test your changes: Use browser developer tools to preview and tweak styles before finalising them.

5. Enhancing user experience with interactive elements

A good user experience keeps visitors engaged. Consider adding interactive elements such as:

• Sliders & image carousels: Display featured content dynamically.
• Live chat support: Improve customer service with live chat integration.
• Animated elements: Use CSS animations or JavaScript to create interactive effects.
• Parallax scrolling: Add depth to your website’s design.

Joomshaper’s PageBuilder functionality has a lot of these interactive elements built into their addons – such as image carousels, background parallax images and entrance animation.

6. Optimising for performance and speed

Website speed is a crucial factor in user retention and SEO ranking. Here are some tips to improve your Joomla website’s performance:

• Optimise images: Compress images without losing quality using tools like TinyPNG (for more info check out our article The ultimate guide to using images for your website)
• Use a CDN: Content Delivery Networks (CDN) improve load times by serving cached content from multiple locations.
• Enable Joomla caching: Reduce server load and speed up page delivery by enabling caching.
• Minify CSS & JavaScript: Remove unnecessary characters from code files.
• Use fast hosting: Choose a reliable hosting provider with optimised Joomla servers.

For more info on how website speed affects SEO, read our article How fast loading times affect user retention and SEO.

7. Implementing SEO best practices

A customised Joomla website should also be optimised for search engines to drive organic traffic.

SEO tips for Joomla websites:

• Use SEO-friendly URLs: Enable search engine-friendly URLs in Joomla’s Global Configuration.
• Install an SEO plugin: Extensions like EFSEO help with metadata optimisation.
• Optimise content: Use proper heading tags, alt text for images and high-quality content.
• Submit sitemap: Use extensions like OSMap to generate and submit sitemaps to search engines.

8. Strengthening security measures

Security is a top priority when customising Joomla – the last thing you want is for your site to be vulnerable to hacking attempts. Protect your site from threats with these measures:

• Keep Joomla updated: Regular updates ensure you have the latest security patches.
• Use strong passwords: Implement complex passwords for all user accounts.
• Install a security extension: Tools like Admin Tools by Akeeba provide additional protection.
• Enable two-factor authentication (2FA): Adds an extra layer of security.
• Limit user access: Assign appropriate user roles and permissions.

9. Adding custom features with Joomla overrides

Joomla’s override system allows you to customise core functionality without altering the original code. This is useful when you want to:

• Modify component layouts: Change the default structure of articles, categories or contact forms.
• Customise module output: Alter the display of specific modules.
• Create unique login pages: Design a personalised login experience for users.

Here’s how to implement overrides:

• Go to Extensions > Templates > Templates.
• Select your template and click “Create Overrides.”
• Choose the component, module or layout to override.
• Modify the PHP and HTML as needed.

10. Maintaining your Joomla website

A customised Joomla site requires regular website maintenance to function smoothly.

Maintenance checklist:

• Backup regularly: Use Akeeba Backup to create full-site backups.
• Update extensions and templates: Ensure everything is up to date.
• Monitor website performance: Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights.
• Check broken links: Check for any broken links on your website.
• Review security logs: Stay alert for any suspicious activity.

Conclusion

Customising your Joomla website is an excellent way to create a unique and engaging online presence. By selecting the right template, using modules creatively, integrating extensions and optimising for speed, SEO and security, you can build a website that stands out from your competition.

With continuous improvements and maintenance, your Joomla site will remain functional, visually appealing and highly effective in meeting your goals.

Start customising today and take your Joomla website to the next level!