Public Web Sites Introduction

So far our introductions have shown database features and the regular table maintenance screens, things that we usually associate with intranets.

But Andromeda was built as well to create public database applications, applications that require not only complex databases but also up-to-date visuals.

Custom Layouts

Any layout can be turned into a template and used with Andromeda. Andromeda is also comfortable with running multiple sites off a single database. Here are two example layouts that are running Andromeda underneath:

Joomla Templates

Anybody familiar with the world of CMS knows of "Joomla", a comprehensive and mature CMS system. One thing about Joomla that is very nice is its support for templates, there are people all over the world who make very nice layouts that can be dropped into a Joomla site.

While Andromeda is not in any way associated with the Joomla project, and is not a CMS, we do have need of standardized templates. Therefore, we implemted a 'glue' layer that allows any joomla template to be converted into an Andromeda template in about 2 hours.

The standard administrative interface for Andromeda is a modified Joomla template known as "Pixel Perfect", produced by Rocket Theme, who have generously allowed us to distribute it as a GPL'd portion of Andromeda:

You can use any Joomla template as either a public face or intranet face, as in the case of this template, known as "Modern Business", also from Rocket Theme, which we simplified for our use: