free, tutorial, and review

he Catalyst template offers a professional, yet stylish, design that is perfect for business oriented sites. Catalyst comes bundled with 6 body color style and 10 header / footer style variations, as well as 6 preset theme configurations to get you started. The style variants allow you to utilize Catalyst in a range of different sites to suit your needs.

Catalyst also comes bundled with a versatile 25 module positions, an amazingly wide range of typography styles, impressive dynamic javascript module functionality, an assortment of module variations, and a whole slew of preset font configurations.


Overview

An overview of the key features of this template are as follows:
Joomla 1.0+ compatible
Joomla 1.5 Native version available
NEW 1.0 & 1.5 Native RocketLauncher now available! - Create your own site just like the demo site with only a few clicks
6 Preset Theme combinations, 6 Body Color styles, and 10 Header Texture styles
RokContentRotator module returns
Optional IE6 Warning / Upgrade Notification
The immensely popular RokSlide based tabbed module system
Wide range of versatile typography style options
25 fully collapsible Module Positions
Variety of module variations
Ability to utilise 1, 2, and 3 column layouts
3 built-in menu options - The exclusive RokMooMenu menu system, Suckerfish, SplitMenu, as well as a module position to use your own custom menu module (Module)
Built-in IE6 PNG fix
W3C XHTML 1.0 Transitional. W3C CSS Valid
Fully compatible IE7, IE6, Safari 2, Firefox 1.5+, Opera 9, OmniWeb, Shira, Netscape.
Source Adobe Fireworks PNGs included
Color and Style variations:

Catalyst features 6 body color styles and 10 header color styles that are independently configurable. There are also 6 preset theme combinations built in as well. Use one of the preset themes, or mix and match to create your own style.




Demo

Please check out Catalyst on our demo server
The RokContentRotator Module Returns

The RokContentRotator module is another fine way to introduce snippets of your top stories in a seamless fashion. You can view this module in action on the frontpage of the Catalyst demo. A whole new look and feel have been added to give your content a great look.
RokSlide Powered Tabbed Modules Return

Harnessing the power and functionality of the popular RokSlide module, Catalyst offers the ability to present your modules in sliding tabs. Publish multiple modules into to a single tab module position as well as customize the titles that appear in each tab.

Organize large amounts of information in easy to navigate tabbed panes and reduce the clutter and space needed to display your content. By default, User8-12 module positions appear in the tabbed module pane. You can also add more module positions if needed.
The Exclusive RokMooMenu

Our highly popular exclusive menu is called RokMooMenu. This menu has been developed from scratch using the latest and greatest MooTools JavaScript framework. The RokMooMenu is a highly advanced and fully customizable menu system is accessible and degrades to a standard SuckerFish menu if JavaScript is not enabled or supported. Some of the great features include:
Hover support for IE6 using the sfHover javascript class just like in Suckerfish.
Fully degradable to standard SuckerFish menu if javascript is not supported.
Configurable mouse-out delay to allow for accidental mousing out of the menu.
Completely customizable animation effects using MooTools transitions. Can be configured in X and/or Y directions.
Support for fade-in transparency
Experimental support for IE6 z-index bug using the iFrame hack.

Learn more about RokMooMenu on the Menu Options Demo Page.
Menu Information

The exclusive RocketTheme menu systems in this template use the mainmenu by default and this menu is configured in the admin administator. For these to function correctly, understand that the ‘top level’ menu items will show up as the horizontal buttons across the top of the template. For sub menu items, assign Parent Item to these top menus to the top-level item. These will then show up below in a sub-horizontal menu when you click on a top-level item. For an example of this check out the demo server

For more details on the menu configuration options in Catalyst, check out the instructions on the demo site
Installation Instructions

We’ve created a guide that covers how to set up your new Catalyst template on your Joomla site. Full details on how to install and setup the template can be found on the “demo server”: http://demo.rockettheme.com.

Module positions are summarized in the diagram below:


NOTES:
This template fully supports full width configurations for use with galleries or forums, make sure you do not publish any modules in the side module positions ‘mainbody’ will fill the entire width.
Configuration

There are a couple of configuration options for this template. The configuration variables are located in the template’s own index.php file. This way you can use the Edit HTML button in the Template Manager to quickly and easily make changes to these options. This is how you can choose the color variations and also configure some default variables. Also you can select which menu the system should use.
Catalyst Configuration Options
// *************************************************
// Change the variables below to adjust the template
//
// If you have any issues, check out the forum at
// http://www.rockettheme.com
//
// *************************************************

$default_theme = "theme1"; // [theme1... theme6 or custom]
$body_style = "style1"; // [style1... style6]
$default_theme = "header1"; // [header1... header6]
$enable_ie6warn = "true"; // true | false
$font_family = "catalyst"; // catalyst | optima | helvetica | trebuchet | lucida |
georgia | palatino
$template_width = "958"; // width in px
$leftcolumn_width = "275"; // width in px
$rightcolumn_width = "275"; // width in px
$splitmenu_col = "leftcol"; // leftcol | rightcol
$menu_name = "mainmenu"; // mainmenu by default, can be any Joomla menu name
$menu_type = "moomenu"; // moomenu | suckerfish | splitmenu | module
$default_font = "default"; // smaller | default | larger
$show_pathway = "false"; // true | false
$show_moduleslider = "true"; // true | false

// module slider configuration

$max_mods_per_row = 3; // maximum number of modules per row (adjust the height if this wraps)
$modules_list = array(array("title"=>"Group 1 Stuff", "module"=>"user8"),
array("title"=>"Group 2 Panel", "module"=>"user9""),
array("title"=>"Group 3 Collection", "module"=>"user10""),
array("title"=>"Group 4 Assortment", "module"=>"user11""),
array("title"=>"Group 5 Items", "module"=>"user12""));