Are you in search of Joomla! templates? This is the first part of a series of articles reviewing commercial Joomla! template clubs. In the first part we review three Joomla! tempalate clubs: Joomla Art, Template Plazza, and Joomla Jet.

Joomla Art

Website: http://www.joomlart.com

Demos: Template Demos

Prices: $49 for 3 months (46 templates + 6 more, 1 domain), $59 for 6 months (46 templates + 12 more, 2 domains), $70 for 1 year ( 46 templates + 24 more, 3 domains), etc

Good

• Over 46 templates with 2 templates released monthly.
• All templates include source files and user guides.
• 100% CSS and Tableless design with XHTML Validation guaranteed.

Bad

• Too many restricted pricing options. Why would anyone need a 3 month membership with 46+ templates which can be used only on a single domain?
• Only a few of the templates are eye-catching such as JA Crona and JA Fagus.

Template Plazza

Website: http://www.templateplazza.com

Demos: Template Demos

Prices: $35 for 6 month personal usage (up to 2 domains), $60 for 1 year personal usage (up to 4 domains), $185 for a developer licence.

Good

• Relatively inexpensive with unique templates such as Cinema Plazza and Gaming Plazza.
• Provides all .psd and .png format source files.
• Access to all current templates plus 1 year of new releases.
• At least one new template released each month.
• Each template includes unique icons that you won't find anywhere else.

Bad

• Each template is for a different niche (i.e. gaming site, video review site, etc). If you need templates for only one type of site then this template club may not be a good choice.

Joomla Jet

Website: http://www.joomlajet.com

Demos: Template Demos

Prices: $49 AU (about $45 USD) for 1 download, $110 AU (about $100 USD) for 5 downloads, $450 AU (about $420 USD) for unlimited downloads.

Good

• Over 50 professional templates to choose from.
• Free template conversion from Joomla 1.0.X to Joomla 1.5.
• Templates include Photoshop source files.
• Templates are lightweight and fast loading.

Bad

• Too Expensive.
• According to the Terms and Condtions the template release frequency will be reduced after May 7, 2008.

Vivid Tools is a growing design and development company located in Canada's Innovation and Technology Triangle. Vivid Tools offers an array of web design and development solutions including: hosting and installation, custom component and module development and professional site management.