The section will help you with steps to install the JA Essence quickstart or manual installation.

• Quickstart installation: Replicate Template demo to your server.
• Manual installation: install template, plugin manually on your Joomla site

System requirement

Please make sure your system meets the following requirements:

Download packages

JA Essence download section includes the following files:

• Quickstart package for Joomla 4
• JA Essence template
• T4 Framework plugin
• JA ACM Module
• Smart Search Module

Quickstart installation

Quickstart installation allows you to replicate the demo site to your server with all T4 extensions installed and demo content

Joomla 4 tutorial

Manual Installation

Installing the JA Essence, T4 framework, and other extensions on your existing Joomla website.

From your back-end setting panel, go to: "Extensions > Extension Manager", browse the extension installation files then hit the "Upload and Install"

• T4 Framework plugin
• JA Essence template
• JA ACM module
• JA Extension manager component

By default, the T4 plugin will be auto-enabled after installation. You can check this by going to "Extensions > Plugin Manager" then find T4 Plugin.

Set JA Essence as default template style

Joomla 4: Go to: "System > Site Template Styles", set JA Essence template style as your default template style.

Template folder structure

This section is to help you understand the folder structure of the JA Essence template, where to find the files you want.

JA Essence template

JA Essence template is built on the T4 Framework so its folder structure is almost the same as any other JA Templates that are developed with T4 Framework.

/templates/ja_essence/
	+-- scss/                 /*  all SCSS files */ 
	+--     scss/tpl                 /*  theme tpl SCSS files */ 
	¦    +--  _acm.scss
	¦    +--  _all.scss
	¦    +--  _offcanvas.scss
	¦    +--  _styles.scss
	¦    +--  _typo.scss
	¦    +--  _utilities.scss
	¦    +--  _variables.scss
	¦    +--  _vars.scss
	¦    +--  _virtuemart.scss
	¦    +--  jpages.scss
	¦    +--  rtl.scss
	¦    +--  template.scss
	¦    +--  theme.scss
	¦    +--  _bootstrap.scss
	¦    +--  _components.scss
	¦    +--  _forms.scss
	¦    +--  _global.scss
	¦    +--  _joomla.scss
	¦    +--  _megamenu.scss
	¦    +--  _modules.scss
	¦    +--  _navigations.scss
	+-- scss/tpls 
	+-- css/                     /*compiled files from SCSS*/
	¦    +-- template.css
	¦    +-- rtl.css
	¦    +-- acm.css
	¦    +-- jpages.css
	¦    +-- off-canvas.css/
	¦    +-- offline.css/
	+-- html/               /*override modules and Joomla com_content*/
	¦    +-- com_content/
	¦    ¦    +-- article/
	¦    ¦    +-- category/
	¦    ¦    +-- featured/
	¦    +-- com_contact/
	¦    ¦    +-- contact/
	¦    +-- mod_articles_categories/
	¦    +-- mod_articles_category
	¦    +-- layouts/
	¦    +-- ...
	+-- fonts/ 
	+-- js/ 
	¦    +--owl-carousel/
	¦    +--html5lightbox/
	¦    +-- bootstrap.bundle.js
	¦    +-- template.js
	¦    +-- imagesloaded.pkgd.js
	¦    +-- isotope.pkgd.js
	+-- images/
	+-- language/
	+-- templateDetails.xml  
	+-- templateInfo.php/
	+-- templateHook.php/
	

CSS and SCSS customization

Any customization is not recommended in the t4 plugin.

To customize your site style, you can use either CSS or SCSS customization tool.

More details

1. Layout configuration

JA Essence supports different layouts by default and you can create more layouts using layout builder.

Assign Layout for a template style

To assign a layout for a JA Essence template style, open the template style » Layout setting panel » and assign a layout for the template style.

Set sub-layout

The sub layout is used for child pages. For example, if the Category page is assigned to the main layout, the article detail page is the child page of the Category page, and it will be using the sub-layout, in case the setting is active.

To configure the sub-layout, in the layout setting panel, scroll down and you will find the Sub Layout setting, assign a layout and save the layout setting.

Layout positions:

• default layout
• home-2 layout
• home-3 layout
• home-4 layout
• home-5 layout
• Detail Sidebar layout

Note: You can create multiple template styles with different layouts assigned. Then assign each template style to specific pages.

Layout builder detail docs

3. Site settings

Logo settings

The Logo settings are present under Site configuration > Logo Settings.

For the logo, you can select to use an image logo or text logo. You can also select the different logos for mobile view and dark theme logo

Typography settings

The typography includes the global settings for font family, font weight, and line height.

You can enable the custom font setting for heading and navigation (menu).

Local font supported: due to the GDPR issue, you can disable Google font, and use the local font that is already supported at core.

Other settings:

• Page: set page backgroud image and background style attributes
• Author Settings: show, hide the author block and link for the author
• Favicon setting: add custom favicon

Site setting detailed docs

4. Navigation configuration

JA Festival supports Megamenu for Desktop layout and dropdown or Off-canvas for Mobile layout.

Megamenu setting

Go to Navigation > Megamenu, select a menu and configure the megamenu. You can build a mega menu with multiple rows, each row can include multiple columns. You can assign menu items, modules or a module position to each column.

Megamenu detailed docs

Off-canvas Menu setting

Enable Off-canvas (it is enabled by default), select module position, module style and other options.

Next, create a menu module, assign it to the position: off-canvas.

• Module settings

Menu Breakpoint setting

The Mobile Menu Breakpoint is an additional customization option. Using this feature, you can choose the screen width necessary for the Mobile Menu to be triggered. With a larger Breakpoint Width, you can make the mobile menu appear on the desktop.

5. Theme color settings

The theme color allows you to use the color picker to change color for brand colors, base colors, main menu colors, and footer colors.

You can view the changes in the website preview on the right panel.

6. Global settings

JA Essence template global settings include:

• T4 edit layout: this is the front-end editor (article, module) layout setting, you can select to use clean layout or full position layout
• CSS & JS optimization: JS and CSS optimization is the process of making your website smaller and faster to load by minifying the JS and CSS codes.
• Custom Code: You can insert any CSS, JS, meta tags, links, and verification codes using the custom code option. With multiple options to add custom to specific tags.
• Add-ons: includes settings to enable or disable font icons like Font Awesome, Iconmoon. When an Addon is disabled, its CSS and JS will not be loaded on your website, this is to help keep your site clean and load faster.
• Open Graph:

Detailed docs

7. CSS & SCSS editor tool

Customizing style for your site is even simpler with the inbuilt custom CSS Editor. In the Tools panel, hit the Edit Custom CSS button and you can add your own custom CSS rules to the editor.

You can override the default variables in the Variables customization editor, as well as the adding custom SCSS.

Detailed docs

Home - 1

Step 1. Create menu item

Go to Menu » Main menu, add a new menu item, select Articles » Featured news menu type.

Step 2. Blog Layout settings

Open Blog layout tabs and configure the options for the articles.

• Blog layout settings

Home - 2

Step 1. Create menu item

Go to Menu » Main menu, add a new menu item, select Articles » Featured news menu type.

Step 2 - Assign content to the Home page

The home page includes multiple sections, each section is a module and feature articles.

Home layout structure

1. Categories: Articles - Categories Module

Module position: main-top-1
Module Suffix: NOT USED
Layout: Default

• General settings
• Advanced settings

2. Editor's choice: Articles - Categories Module

Module position: main-top-2
Module Suffix: NOT USED
Layout: Default

• General settings
• Filtering Options
• Display Options
• Advanced settings
• Extra Field

3. Blog layout

• Blog layout settings

Home - 3

Step 1. Create menu item

Go to Menu » Main menu, add a new menu item, select Articles » Featured news menu type.

Step 2 - Assign content to the Home page

The home page includes multiple sections, each section is a module and feature articles.

Home layout structure

1. Feature Lead carousel: Articles - Category

Module position: main-top-1
Module Suffix: NOT USED
Layout: Default

• Filtering options
• Filtering options
• Advanced settings

2. Feature Lead: Articles - Category Module

Module position: main-top-2
Module Suffix: NOT USED
Layout: Default

• Filtering Options
• Display Options
• Advanced Options

3. Blog Layout

• Blog layout settings

Home - 4

Step 1. Create menu item

Go to Menu » Main menu, add a new menu item, select Articles » Featured news menu type.

Step 2 - Assign content to the Home page

The home page includes multiple sections, each section is a module and feature articles.

Home layout structure

1. Blog layout

• Blog layout settings

The layout included the Trending module and Highlight article

1.1. Trending: Articles - Category Module

Module position: article-highlight
Module Suffix: NOT USED
Layout: home-4

• General settings
• Filtering settings
• Display settings
• Advanced settings

1.2. Highlight article

Go to Content » Articles » Edit article and add the item-highlight to the Note field.

• Article Highlight

Home - 5

Step 1. Create menu item

Go to Menu » Main menu, add a new menu item, select Articles » Featured news menu type.

Step 2 - Assign content to the Home page

The home page includes multiple sections, each section is a module and feature articles.

Home layout structure

1. Feature Lead carousel: Articles - Category

Module position: main-top-1
	Module Suffix: NOT USED
	Layout: Default

• Filtering options
• Filtering options
• Advanced settings

2. Feature Lead: Articles - Category Module

Module position: main-top-2
	Module Suffix: NOT USED
	Layout: Default

• Filtering Options
• Display Options
• Advanced Options

3. Blog Layout

The layout showing as the blog layout of Home-1 and different about the Article box color option.

• Blog layout settings

Global module

1. Gallery: JA ACM Module

Gallery : style-1

Module position: main-bottom-1
Module Suffix: NOT USED
Layout: Default

• General settings

1. Articles latest: Articles - Latest Module

Module position: sidebar-r
Module Suffix: NOT USED
Layout: Default

• General settings
• Advanced settings

2. Newsletter: AcyMailing subscription form Module

Module position: sidebar-r
Module Suffix: NOT USED
Layout: Default

• General settings
• Advanced settings

3. Features post: Articles - Category Module

Module position: sidebar-r
Module Suffix: NOT USED
Layout: Default

• Filtering settings
• Display settings
• Advanced settings

4. Tags cloud: Tags - Popular Module

Module position: sidebar-r
Module Suffix: NOT USED
Layout: Default

• General settings
• Advanced settings
• Cloud layout settings

5. Follow me: JA ACM Module

Social : style-1

Module position: sidebar-r
Module Suffix: NOT USED
Layout: Default

• General settings
• Advanced settings

1. Category blog layouts

The template supports 4 layouts for category blog to display your articles flexibily.

Go to Content » Categories, add a new category and insert categories description.

1. Create Category

2. Select category color

Step 2. Assign category blog layout

And Go to Menus » Add new menu item with the Category News type then configure the style of the categries in the Blog layout tabs.

• Blog Layout setting

2. Article detail layouts

JA Essence supports 5 layouts to present your article content.

Configure the article layout for your site.

#1. Global setting: all articles in your site will be using the layout.

Go to System > Global configuration then select Articles. In the Articles setting, select the layout and save.

This section include 4 module position

1. Footer Info: Custom Module

Module position: footer-info-left
Module Suffix: NOT USED
Layout: Default

• General settings

2. Footer Info Right: Custom Module

Module position: footer-info-right
Module Suffix: NOT USED
Layout: Default

• General settings

3. copyright information: Footer Module

Module position: copyright

4. Footer Menu: Menu Module

Module position: footer-menu

• General settings

The best method to upgrade JoomlArt products is using JA Extension Manager. The FREE extension brings a new way to manage extensions: upgrade, rollback, remote install, internal repository, compare versions, and more.

1. Set up JA Extension Manager Component

Download this free extension from this link. Install the extension to your website.

Go to Components > JA Extension Manager then selects Service Manager, now set JoomlArt as your default service. Next, hit the "Edit" button then add your account.

2. Upgrade JA Podcast template

Check the new version of the JA Podcast template. Use the filter to find the JA Podcast template then hit the "Check Update" button.

3. Upgrade T4 Framework and other JA extensions

Using the filter to find the extensions you want to upgrade (JoomlArt products only), hit the "Check Update" button to check for a new version then hit Upgrade Now to upgrade the extension to the latest version.

Check out more details about JA Extension manager