A template is the design of your whole site, including the header, the footer and the page grid. Webal Blocks is built to sit inside a template, and this page says which templates it was built for and what to expect from others.
The best choice: Cassiopeia and its child themes
Cassiopeia is the template that comes with Joomla, and Webal Blocks is built for Cassiopeia and for child themes of it. A child theme is a copy of a template that holds your own changes, so that Joomla updates never overwrite them.
The package installs a child theme for you, called Cassiopeia - Webal. It looks and works like Cassiopeia but adds a Page width setting, and Webal Blocks was designed and tested with this theme.
- With a child theme, the Layout list in the Menu module shows readable names such as "Webal navbar".
- With the stock Cassiopeia, the menu layouts still work, but the Layout list shows file names such as wbl-navbar instead.
To make a child theme of your own, open System, then Site Template Styles. Then open the Cassiopeia style and press Create Child Template.
Page width of the child theme
The Cassiopeia - Webal theme adds the setting Page width, which sets how wide the page may grow on a large screen:
- Normal (1,320 px) is the default and matches Cassiopeia.
- Wide (1,464 px) uses more of a large screen.
On a narrower screen the page shrinks to fit. The choice only matters while the template setting Layout is Static.
Other templates
Webal Blocks is built for Bootstrap 5.3, which Cassiopeia uses. Other templates that use Bootstrap 5 can work, but some parts will look different, and we have tried three template frameworks and kept the results.
- T4 with its Bootstrap 5 Blank template. We recommend this one if you cannot use Cassiopeia, because in light mode the blocks look close to the demo.
- Helix Ultimate and Gantry 5 (Hydrogen). We tried both of them, and they have the same kinds of limits as T4, while Helix also shows module titles of its own.
- A template that uses Bootstrap 4. The blocks are drawn for Bootstrap 5, so some of them look wrong in this kind of template.
Known limits on other templates
These limits were found on T4 Bootstrap 5 Blank. Webal Blocks does not change another maker's template, so the limits stay as they are.
- Dark mode. The Webal colours turn dark, but the template keeps its own light page background.
- Mega menus. On a page with a slideshow, the mega menu can open behind the slideshow.
- Side-by-side rows. Rows that sit side by side on Cassiopeia stack one under the other instead.
- Menu layouts. The install does not copy the four menu layouts into a template that you add later, so you should press Install all on the Webal Blocks Dashboard after you install the template.
Tip If you are choosing a template for a new site, choose Cassiopeia or the child theme that comes with the package, and then you will have none of these limits.