Yesterday I announced v2.2.0 of the Zen Grid Framework and the addition of a new option for treating your navigations on small screens. Another new feature added to the framework in this release (and most of the framework v2 Joomla templates) is the sticky nav.

A sticky nav?

You have probably seen this effect before and in fact it's something we implemented on both the Colourshift and the Lifestyle Joomla templates. The effect basically makes the menu "stick" to the top of the browser window after the user as scrolled down a nominated distance from the top of the page.

Earlier this week I released the Responsive Joomla template which is the first our club templates to be released on Zen Grid Framework version 2. The new update is a considerable update and while I port the existing framework templates across to the new version I thought I would post some of the new features and improvements here.

Unified Joomla 1.5 / Joomla 1.7 packages 

This is a big one for us and hopefully for you too. From now on we will be releasing single packages of both Joomla templates and the framework plugin. This means that the packages will install on both Joomla 1.5 and Joomla 1.7. This will make managing versions and releasing updates a lot easier which means it will be easier for our users to keep track of versions and updates as well. 

I've just uploaded a beta of the second version of our Joomla Template Framework - the Zen Grid Framework. The new version still has some known issues which you can read about on the forum announcement, however much of the core work has been done so we felt it was time to throw the new version over to our members to try out.

I will be writing about the new framework extensively in the next few weeks but until then if you are a member of the Joomlabamboo template club and are feeling adventurous, take a look at the new framework and tell us what you think on the forum.

I am hoping to have the stable version of the Joomla 1.5 version of the framework out in a week or so and then we will start work on the Jooomla 1.7 version. Please stay tuned for more news on the framework.

Club Members can download the beta release of the framework here and a also grab a copy of the beta version of the Hub template.

You already know that the Zen Grid Framework allows for basic css and javascript to be added in the template administration. But what if we want to add functionality for something like FancyBox? This is a little beyond the scope of the basic include functionality, so let's look at a good, efficient way to do this.

In the past we have used our free JB Library jQuery plugin to load the jQuery library for our templates and extensions but the next version of the Zen Grid Framework (due in the next few weeks) changes all of that.

The new version of the framework will be moved from being a collection of files stored in the template folder on your site to a fully fledged Joomla system plugin which means we can incorporate most if not all of the current JB Library functionality into the Framework plugin.

I have just pushed through a minor update to the Zen Grid Framework for Joomla 1.5 and Joomla 1.6. The main feature is fourteen new fonts have been added to the google font list. Who would have thought that Google would have put together such a useful service?

One of the stand outs for me (as you can see above) is the Muli font. I featured it in the screenshot of the Element template posted here and over at Ember and think it's an awesomely elegant sans serif font perfect for the Element's simple block based design.

I've got a few other favourites in the collection - what are yours?

Members can download the framework updates from the Zen Grid Framework download page and check the changelog for Joomla 1.5 and Joomla 1.6 to see what was added.

I've just published a small update to the Zen Grid Framework Joomla 1.5 template framework. The update fixes some small issues that crept in with the last update but also adds six new fonts to the Google font familiy list.

The new fonts are: Swanky and Moo Moo, Over the Rainbow, Wallpoet, Damion Aclonica, News Cycle. Google has yet again bundled some quality fonts into the font directory. Members can grab the new version of the framework from the Zen Grid Framework download page.

I'm very happy to announce the availability of the Joomla 1.6 version of our Joomla template framework - the Zen Grid Framework - and the Zen Default Starter Joomla template.

The Zen Default template is the starting point for our monthly template releases and is ideal for developers and designers who want to get a feel for how the framework operates and start working with a bare bones theme. A quickstart package will be available tomorrow and I will also put up the demo of the Zen Default once that has been finalised as well.

I'm hoping in the next few weeks to flesh out the starter theme catalogue some more with some blank-ish themes that are geared towards a blog, news portal, business, magazine and perhaps even a shop design - but I'll post some more on that later.

To download the framework or the starter theme club members can head on over to the Zen Grid Framework download page and start playing with the latest incarnation of the framework.

We are currently putting together a list of features that will start getting added to our Joomla template framework in the next few weeks - that is once the Joomla 1.6 version and templates have been released. So I thought this would be a good time to canvas for some features, changes, improvements or whatever you would like to see incorporated into the zen grid framework.

Even though the Zen Grid Framework comes with a plethora of module positions you may at times want to add your own module position to your customised layout. The process for doing this is relatively straight forward and for the most part doing so follows the standard Joomla 1.5 conventions.

To do this you need to take advantage of the Zen Grid Framework override system. For this example lets assume that the module position you want to add sits above the top row of modules ie above top1, top2, top3 and top4. The best place to put your new code in this case would be in a top.php override file.

To read the rest of this tutorial please visit the Joomlabamboo knowledgebase.