RocketTheme Blog

Oct 2010

Posted by Andy Miller

MissionControl - New Joomla Admin Template

For the past month we've been working on a little "SkunkWorks" project that started off life as an experiment, but has slowly morphed into a working prototype. The idea was to create a cleaner, more flexible Administrator template that could be color-configured, and also clean up some UI elements that have long bothered us. After the jump you can see some screenshots that are from an actual 100% live but stock Joomla install. We created a few extra administrator extensions for improved user tracking that you can see on the Dahsboard.

UPDATE (10/21/10): MissionControl Alpha is available to download for RocketTheme members, check out the special MC Forum for more information.

A summary of features

Joomla 1.5 compatible
Joomla 1.6 compatibility to follow
Extensive CSS3 / minimal images for blazing fast performance
Revamped CSS menu for more intuitive navigation
Customizable menu for your custom navigation needs
Color-controlled for easier branding
Custom logo can be uploaded
Ajax-based Editor switcher
Consistent 'active' and 'hover' colors for clarity
Toggle to enable/disable CSS3 hover animations
Revamped Edit Article UI providing cleaner interface
Useful and informative Dashboard with custom tracking modules
New audit module with configurable 'levels' for administrator activity tracking.
New Admin edit tracking in Edit Article view
Firefox, Safari, Chrome, Opera, IE7+ (no css3 effects)

The intention of this MissionControl Joomla Administrator template is that it will eventually be a free GPL release, but during the next few weeks and months as we continue to develop it and test it with 3rd party support, it will be available in a limited alpha-testing program for our RocketTheme Joomla club members.