For more info about the Morph toolset and if it’s right for your Joomla website development, click here to learn more.

Watch the video below and you will see how to create child menu items, activate the different menu systems in Morph and how to set up the search module. As a bonus, this video will also help you get setup with the Ultra Candy themelet (download here).

Are you running the latest version of Morph, Configurator and themelets?
If not, download it all here!

Tell us, by writing a comment below, what you’d like to know more about and we’ll add it on the roadmap for more videos and documentation about Morph.

Related posts:

1. New screencast: Understanding and working with Morph’s sidebar layouts The sun is shining here in Cape Town, but there’s no time for a holiday here at Joomlajunkie/Prothemer HQ just yet. The aim for...
2. How to install Morph for Joomla The first video of many about Morph is now ready for you to watch. This one is a quick screencast showing the steps needed...
3. New version of Candy themelet The Candy themelet for Morph has had over 100 downloads so far and a new version is now available for download in the club....

For more information about the Morph toolset and if it’s right for your Joomla website development, visit www.joomlajunkie.com.

On the documentation site, which will be accessible from within Configurator, there will be tutorials, faq’s, guides and screencasts, some of which you can already watch on our YouTube channel. Prepare yourself by taking these 3 easy steps now:

1. visit the channel – www.youtube.com/prothemer
2. watch the videos that interests you – rate and comment to give us an idea about what you’d like to see in upcoming videos
3. subscribe to updates to be notified about new videos

In the screencast below…

Andy gives you an overview of how the sidebars work in Morph:

Are you running the latest version of Morph, Configurator and themelets?
If not, download it all here!

Related posts:

1. How to change sidebar layouts in Morph for Joomla This screencast shows you how quick and easy it is to setup (and change) the sidebar layout scheme on individual pages using Morph’s Configurator....
2. How to install Morph for Joomla The first video of many about Morph is now ready for you to watch. This one is a quick screencast showing the steps needed...
3. What makes the Morph framework different? As you get to know Morph, you will see how vastly different it is from your average Joomla template. Using Morph you can develop...

ok, what happened?

If you build websites, at one point or another you will install or run a script and get a blank white screen.  Chances are, you will have this tell-tale look on your face.

Never fear, you have most likely just hit the memory limit on your server.  Memory limits are very important to have.  They help to keep scripts from running out of control or using up all of your free memory.  On the other hand, sometimes you are adding a rather fancy or elaborate feature to your site, that simply requires slightly more memory then the default 8mb that Apache gives you.   Let’s show you how to fix that.

First, before we get too far, these instructions assume your server is running Apache and you either are on a VPS, or a dedicated server.  If you are on a shared host, this might still be possible, but it is dependent upon how your host has your account setup.  It may or may not be easy to change.  If you are unsure, submit a ticket to your webhost.  You are paying for their service, there is nothing wrong with asking them.

Now, let’s get rolling.  You will want to be able to see what your memory limit is easily.  If you are on Joomla, you can login to the backend and go to:

Help>System Info>Php Information

Search the page for “memory_limit”.  You will see something similar to this.  (yours will possibly say 8m)

If you do not have a Joomla install ready, you can also create a file, put it in your public_html directory and insert this code:

<?php

phpinfo();

?>

Name the file something like phpinfo.php, (it must end in .php) and access it.  You will now see your servers php info.  It is very important that you do not leave this file and delete it when done.  Leaving this file in place is a huge security hole.

memory overload?

Now that we know what our php memory limit is, let’s get to changing it.

Many guides for changing your memory limit on the internet are written for people with a dedicated server and presume you want your entire server, and all it’s enclosed websites to have a higher memory limit.  This is less then ideal, but I will explain who to do it anyhow.

Edit your php.ini file.

Open your php.ini file.  YMMV, but it will most likely be located at:

/etc/php.ini

Search for memory_limit and change the value from 8m, to 16mb or 32mb. (don’t go much higher)

Save the file, then restart Apache via ssh using this commend or whatever method you prefer.

/etc/init.d/httpd restart

Check your phpinfo now, and you should be fixed.

Do as I say, not as I foo.

Now, if you have more then one website on your server you most likely do not want to raise your memory limit globally.  You would want to do it on a per-site basis.  To do it this way, you will make a change in your websites public_html directory.  This is called a override.

Not all webhosting companies are the same.  There are two ways you can do this.

A: .htaccess override.

Open up, (or create) a file in your public_html directory called .htaccess.  Inside this file, add the line

php_value memory_limit 16M

Save it, and check your phpinfo again.  No restart is required for this.

B: php.ini method

If .htaccess didn’t work, some webhosts will have you put a file called php.ini in your public_html directory instead. Inside that file, insert the line:

memory_limit = 16M

Save it, and check your phpinfo again.

Use one or the other of these methods.   Typically one of these methods will make your site 500 error if your webhost does not allow it.  Make sure you check your site after every change you make.  If your site 500’s, then your host does not permit the method you tried, and revert your changes.

500 error. No bueno!

There. Now you have raised your php memory limit to be able to handle heavier scripts.  Do a little dance, have a beer.  Celebrate.

Cheers!

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Later on in this series, I will take you through a detailed look into the individual tools that are present and how they can help you as a developer or designer, speed up your Joomla! website development and help you “go live faster”.

What is The Developer Toolset?

The Developer Toolset was something we built into the Morph Framework in the early pre-beta development days. It was initially added as a means to speed up debugging and to make testing user sites easier as well as help us during the development of Morph.

It has been present since the early private beta versions, but up until this point, it was something that was never showcased to the users because it was not yet ready for public consumption.

While you may have seen some references to it in the change logs, or in the forums, it was never something that was adopted as one of the features of the Morph Framework.

The more we developed Morph and the more we added/refined new features and tools, the more we realized the power of the Developer Toolset and how beneficial it could be to you. We realized that there are certain tools we here at Prothemer and you as designers and developers could not go without.

But, rather than sit here and take you through the concepts and ideals of the toolset, lets get started on how you can actually use it for your website.

MDT (Morph’s Developer Toolset) is actually comprised of 2 toolsets. One which can be accessed directly from the visual layer, or frontend of your website, and another, which can be accessed from the Configurator component. The 2 share many of the same tools, but each are very specific to their usage.

1. Frontend Toolset

The frontend toolset was built with production websites in mind – “live” sites that are already up and running, and have a growing user base.

If a javascript error or CSS layout issue were to pop up, taking your site offline to fix these errors/issues could mean a loss of visitors, loss of sales or unfortunate SEO results. With this in mind, we adopted the earlier tools and merged them into one toolset, and thus created the Developer Toolbar.

The Developer Toolbar gives you access to a range of tools that can help you debug your site, test performance and layouts, all without distracting your viewers browsing experience.

Yes, you heard, or read correctly, the Developer Toolbar gives you, and only you access to the tools. Your viewers won’t even know that you are working on your site. But wait, what if I am still developing my website, or working with a development team and I want them all to have access to the tools? Ask no more. The developer toolbar has 2 states:

Session based, single user state – This is the first method I mentioned, and is only visible in the browser it was enabled in. Using any of the tools will only effect that session and user’s experience.

Site wide, multiple user state – This is aimed for development sites or development teams and is enabled via Configurator. This will enable the Developer Toolbar for anybody who views your site. But again, using any of the tools will only effect the users experience and be contained to their, or your browser.

In short, both states allow full usage of the tool and neither of them make permanent changes to your website, but one is accessed when needed and the other via a switch in Configurator.

But how do we use it I hear you asking.  It’s really as simple as this:

1. While viewing your website, add the following – without quotes – to your url: “?show_devbar“
2. Wait for the page to reload and view the awesomeness that is the Developer Toolbar.
3. To disable the toolbar, change show_devbar to hide_devbar.

If you wish to enable the Developer Toolbar site-wide, login to your administration area, navigate to Configurator and then under the General tab, click on Debugging, switch the Developer Toolbar to “On” and save.

2. Backend Toolset

The backend toolset is very much the same as the Developer Toolbar, but has 3 distinctive differences:

1. Changes are site-wide and visible to all who view your website.
2. The tools are only accessible via Configurator and there is no toolbar (unless you have it activated).
3. There are a few more tools.

You may be asking why we would have them as a permanent option at all, and to answer, it comes down to personal preference and server setups. Some of the features may not work on certain server setups or some website owners might not want to have some of the features enabled.

Also to further clarify, if you look at the Developer Toolbar and the Toolset that is available to you in the Performance and Debugging tabs in Configurator, you will see that certain tools are not suitable for production sites, and as such would take up unnecessary real-estate on the toolbar for the tools that can and will be used in production websites.

As I mentioned earlier on in this post, I will be going through each of the tools in a bit more detail later on in the series, as well as posting a few videos/screencasts, showing you how to use the tools as well as how they can benefit you.

Till then.

Byron

Developer tools help you work faster and smarter – We have included a number of tools that you can use when working with Morph to manage and extend your website to suite your specific needs. The Configurator component lets you manage hundreds of features available and the mind-blowingly simple interface makes it all easy to use for both Joomla! beginners and more experienced developers. Test drive here

Related posts:

1. Sneak peek – features of the Morph toolset for Joomla A few days ago we blogged about the screencast showing you how easy it is to change the sidebar scheme/layout using Morph’s Configurator component....
2. Week 1 update of Morph second beta It’s been another super productive week of bug-fixing, general refinements and even a couple new features added to Morph. We have received some awesome...
3. New updates available for Morph We have updated the downloads with new versions of Morph, Configurator & the Light Base themelet for Joomla. The Light Base themelet will be...

We’ve also released the preview release of the Explorer themelet. I’ll be putting a demo up soon, as well as posting the setup guide in the Explorer forum board tomorrow. I would have liked to have had the guide up today, but it just wasn’t possible to cram everything in

Here is a list of whats changed:

Configurator component updated to version 1.01

• Fixed error with the tagline options not showing when using text-based logo.
• Added a check into the themelet uploader to prevent the “Activate Themelet” dialog from launching if the themelet is active.
• Fixed the issue with the backgrounds not saving.

Morph template updated to version 1.01

• Added an option to enable modules outline via a pages url. ?/&debug_modules=on/off
• Extensive updates the html overrides.
• Added new hook class to the topnav if subtext is not enabled (no-subtext).
• Added a unique article id to each article item in blog view.
• Removed the “Written by” text from blog view.

Vanilla themelet updated to version 1.01

• Updated the Joomla css to accommodate the new html overrides.
• Updated the css for the border & background stripping classes.
• Added support for div.componentheading & .contentheading (for 3rd party extensions).
• Updated the styling for the print view & email to friend popups.
• General layout tweaks carried through from Explorer.
• Extensive updates to the typography, including lists, alerts, tables, image styling, quotes, etc.
• Number of updates for better control of grids in articles.

Grab the updated files here: JoomlaJunkie Downloads

Related posts:

1. New updates available for Morph We have updated the downloads with new versions of Morph, Configurator & the Light Base themelet for Joomla. The Light Base themelet will be...
2. Release Candidates for Morph, Configurator & Vanilla now available I am thrilled to announce that we have officially hit RC (release candidate) on Morph, Configurator and the Vanilla themelet!!! We’re aiming to also...
3. Pre-release candidate of Morph for Joomla available for download We’ve just updated the Joomlajunkie club downloads with new versions of Morph, Configurator and Vanilla (see change log below). There have been a ton...