The Joomlashack Blog
The Joomla 2.5 Template, Joomla 3.0, and the Shack
- Written by Joomlashack Joomlashack
- Published: 20 February 2012 20 February 2012
Joomla 2.5 Templates at Joomlashack
Browse through all our Joomla Templates using our Demo Template Gallery
Joomla 2.5 was released January 24th, 2012. Our team started testing Joomla 2.5 two weeks earlier and by 1pm EST on Jan 24th, our team had already updated 25+ templates and extensions to be Joomla 2.5 - compatible. Today we have over 30 Joomla 2.5 Templates in addition to several Free Joomla 2.5 Templates.
This is the kind of immediate access to upgrades and support our long-time customers have grown to count on and expect from the Joomlashack Team. Our team was able to accomplish this in part because they are awesome and in part because our templates were created using the nimble, powerful, and versatile Wright Framework.
Read more: The Joomla 2.5 Template, Joomla 3.0, and the Shack
How to Update Joomla 1.7 to 2.5
- Written by Steve Burge Steve Burge
- Published: 19 February 2012 19 February 2012
Updating has become an easy process since the release of Joomla 1.6. The developers have built in a handy updater that is extremely easy to use. This new utility should make upgrading to all new Joomla versions a quick and painless process.
PayPlans, a Joomla Subscription Extension
- Written by Ed Andrea Ed Andrea
- Published: 17 February 2012 17 February 2012
One of the best ways to make money on the web is to charge for the exclusive content you provide by selling memberships to your site. PayPlans is an easy-to-install solution for anyone wanting to create a paid membership site.
2 in 1 New Template Studio: Pro and Free Versions
- Written by Joomlashack Joomlashack
- Published: 15 February 2012 15 February 2012
Do you remember our blog post from January when we made a commitment to launch more Free Joomla Templates than ever? True to our word, please meet Studio a two in one Template Launch. On one hand, we have a practical, versatile and reliable Free Joomla 2.5 Template built on the Wright Framework. On the other, we have a Pro Joomla Template with lots of cool features and color themes. How do you like that?
Read more: 2 in 1 New Template Studio: Pro and Free Versions
Using AllVideos for a Joomla Video Gallery
- Written by Ed Andrea Ed Andrea
- Published: 14 February 2012 14 February 2012
Update: this tutorial is out-of-date. This new Joomla video gallery tutorial is better, and so is this video grid tutorial. Both use the excellent OSYouTube.
The AllVideos plugin will allow you to display almost any type of media on your Joomla site, whether it's a video or audio file and whether you're using local or remote storage.
We're going to show you how to download and install the AllVideos plugin and then how to get the videos into your article. We also had a member request for a tutorial on making a video photo gallery, so we're going to do that also.
How to Use the Joomla Smart Search Extension
- Written by Steve Burge Steve Burge
- Published: 11 February 2012 11 February 2012
Joomla 2.5 shipped with many new features including multi-database support and much improved one-click upgrades.
One the most important of those features was a brand new search extension: Smart Search. Smart Search is destined to be the replacement for com_search which has been around since 2005 at least.
The SEO College is almost ready
- Written by Joomlashack Joomlashack
- Published: 03 February 2012 03 February 2012
HikaShop USPS Shipping Module
- Written by Ed Andrea Ed Andrea
- Published: 02 February 2012 02 February 2012
Right after I published our tutorial on HikaShop, we had several inquiries about USPS Shipping. There is a module for it and it's free, but it's a little hard to find. Here's where to get it and a short tutorial on how to use it.
Step 1. Downloading and installing the plugin

Before you start be sure you have an account with USPS and you have your USPS Web Tools ID available.
You can get the plugin from this URL www.hikashop.com/support/forum/2-general...20&lang=en#21838 - you can only download it if you are a member of the forum.
After downloading, install it using the Extension Manager as you would for any other installation: navigate to Extensions > Extension Manager > Browse > Upload & Install.

Navigate to Extensions > Plugin Manager and activate the plugin. Click on the plug-in name.
Step 2. Activate the plugin

Click on HikaShop Options. Choose Enabled from the dropdown and click Save.

Fill in your USPS Web Tools ID and other information and you're set.
You can also access this configuration information from the HikaShop dashboard if you need to make any changes.

To get to the configuration, just click shipping methods from the System tab on the dashboard. If you've filled in the weights and dimensions on your products as you entered them, you should get automatic shipping calculations.
If you have problems, click the help button in HikaShop or visit their forum.
New Template Release, Welcome JS Cube
- Written by Joomlashack Joomlashack
- Published: 31 January 2012 31 January 2012
Meet JS Cube, the 2nd Template release of the 6-in-6 Challenge. Like all our recent Joomla Templates, JS Cube is built on the Wright framework and is Joomla 2.5 ready. JS Cube has a wonderful and nifty feature. It has 4 module styles including one, that you guessed it, makes the modules look like cubes. Since it comes with 6 theme colors and 4 internal colors for the modules, there are a total of (6 x 4 x 4) 96 possible color combinations.
Meet Joy, this week's beautiful new Template
- Written by Joomlashack Joomlashack
- Published: 31 January 2012 31 January 2012
"Joy is the feeling of grinning on the inside" - Dr. Melba Colgrove
Despite the hard work and long hours, I believe everyone in the team is enjoying the 6-in-6 Challenge. Joy brings us half way through the Challenge as our 3rd of 6 templates to be released in as many weeks. I still believe our designs are getting better and better.
If it was just one template a week that we were releasing, that would be quite an accomplishment, however, we have simultaneously been working on Wright v 2.0 which will bring many amazing and unique new features and functionality. Once Wright v 2.0 is released, these new updates to will be applied to all our templates built on Wright.