A template is the design of your Joomla website. With a template, the look-and-feel of the website can be changed.

Templates have certain positions in which the component (only one) and modules are displayed. Templates are easy to build or modify and they offer maximum flexibility in how you want your website to look.

The Joomla CMS uses two types of templates: website templates and administration section templates.

What is a website template?

The website template defines the way the website looks to your visitors (the frontend). Most templates you will find are website templates.

In Joomla 3.x, Beez3 and Protostar are included as the default template, these are built using Bootstrap 2. In Joomla 4.x and 5.x, this is Cassiopeia, built using Bootstrap 5.

Cassiopeia - Joomla 4/5/6 Frontend Template

Chances are you are not using a standard template. There are countless free templates available, but I always recommend you choose a template from 1 of the many template clubs. Every template has its own features and module positions.

In addition, it is also possible to develop your own template with some HTML, CSS and PHP knowledge.

What is an administrator template?

The administrator template defines the way the administrator part (the backend) looks, the part where the administrator can customise the website.

Atum - Joomla 4/5/6 Backend Template

In Joomla 4.x, 5.x and 6.x, this is Atum and is created according to the digital accessibility guidelines WCAG 2.1 AA.

From Joomla 5 onwards, this administrator template will also adapt to the dark mode of your device. By default, there are no options for this within Joomla to turn this on or off. You will have to adjust this in your browser settings or windows settings.

Installing Joomla templates

To install a template, go to system > install > extensions

Here you will see several options.

Installing from the web

At the moment, it is not yet possible to install templates directly from an extension directory. I expect this option to be added in a while.

Installing Joomla template via file upload

If you have already downloaded the template via the developer, you have a .zip file on your PC that you can upload (without sample data) in the screen below.

Installing Joomla template from a folder

If you have extracted the zip file to a temporary folder on the server, you can use this option. Enter the folder where the files are located and click install.

Install Joomla template via install from url

If you want to install a template directly from an external url, enter the location here and click install.