I want to replace the default Joomla login page displayed when my site is offline with a static splash page of my own design. Is it as simple as copying an index.html file to the server of should I be looking in Joomla for the login page to customise?

Hi Adam,

To do that, you have to change these files:

templates/system/offline.php
templates/system/css/offline.css

It involves a number of changes to both the php and css, depending on what you want specifically.

Hope this helps,
Tom

Thanks Tom,

I'm really just after a logo change to reassure clients that they've come to the right place. It was a cinch to do. For the sake of the thread, here's how I did it.

1. Create a new logo. In this case named Wanderlusting_on_white.jpg

2. Download the templates/system/offline.php file.\

3. upload Wanderlusting_on_white.jpg to the images folder.

3. Open offline.php in Dreamweaver

4. locate line 28 - code reads
<img src="images/joomla_logo_black.jpg" alt="Joomla! Logo" align="middle" />

5. replace joomla_logo_black.jpg with Wanderlusting_on_white.jpg

6. upload the altered php file and hey presto it's done.

I didn't bother playing with the CSS.

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction Tom.

a

As always, there is another way to skin this cat...

What I've done when building a new site or doing major revisions to an existing one is create a static 'index.html' in Dreamweaver (or any other HTML editor). I'll then upload the created file(s) to the Joomla's root folder via FTP. At this point, everything is done! When someone types in the sites URL they will see the 'index.html' page I created. Since browsers look for the .HTML extension first and not .PHP, they will see this and not the Joomla site. By doing this I do not have to put the site 'off line' in the Global Configuration settings. If I want to view the Joomla site all I have to do is type 'index.php' after the URL within my browser's address bar. When I'm ready to launch Joomla I just delete the .HTML file(s) or rename it so I can use it again in the future.

The only draw-back to this would be people accessing the site via a search engine that posts the full URL to an article. This generally does not come into play with a new, in development, creation...

Ed

Hi Adam,

Great, if that's all you wanted, that's the way to go about it indeed. Good it worked out!
In fact, in those cases, what I do is simply keep the original joomla logo name and replace that. Then it's done too.

Hi Ed,

Good trick too. I didn't think of that, while it is a great and easy way too. Thanks!

Cheers!
Tom

Thanks Tom and Ed,

They both sound like great solutions.

Best,

Adam

Thanks Adam and Ed - this is a good tip Im going to sticky this thread