We first introduced our custom XTC Template Framework for Joomla in 2010 and over the years we have been making advancements with each template release. The XTC Framework has become the perfect solution for designers and developers alike. To celebrate our 9th year as one of the top Joomla Template and Extension clubs we started on one of the biggest update yet! We have begun updating everything from the UX, UI, Parameters, Image Handling, Typography and more. Here is a small preview of what's to come:
UI:
We have made a major update to the User Interface with a custom flat design style. As always we have kept the core Joomla coding standards in place without adding any extra scripting that might break in future updates or with 3rd party extensions. The XTC Framework has never looked so beautiful!
UX:
UX has been the biggest term and focus of 2016. We have paid close attention to the User Experience by optimizing the template parameters, features, tool-tip info and the overall layout and structure of the framework.
In the last few versions of our template framework we changed our mobile menu out to the menu navigation from Joomla's Core Bootstrap. This was a huge update as we removed the need for our custom JavaScript and MooTools dependency. The menu effects were based off of a CSS3 Menu suffix. In the latest version of the framework, you will be able to select the number of columns for the drop-down and the CSS3 effect style right in the template manager.
The major update to the parameters for UX encompasses the design, layout, structure and features. In previous versions of the framework the parameters and layout could be a bit confusing to start, now with better styling, organization, and documentation, parameter editing is a breeze.
The template styling has another nice update with better UX and a newly updated feature - responsive image thumbnail caching. In previous versions of our template's you could choose to swap out a region background image at a certain PX value with another image named mobile_originalimagename. This would allow you to deliver smaller image sizes for devices, but you had to create the mobile image yourself. In the new update the background images will auto thumbnail at multiple device sizes making your job quicker and your site faster for multi-devices!
CUSTOM CODE:
Adding custom code to the index of our templates was never rocket science, but to make designers and novices lives easier, we have added a new custom code tab to add custom codes to the template with ease.
We are also working on the Typography section with Google Fonts and many more updates. As new features are added we will be announcing them here first, so be sure to check our blog often!
If you have a feature suggestion we would love to have your input!
