This page will guide you on how to install our Joomla templates on your Joomla site, without copying the demo data (demo articles, images, modules, and other content).

You should know that...

• If you are starting a new website, template installation with demo data is probably a better option for you.
• Although the installation without demo data seems easier, it's not. After template installation, you should install extensions (for carousels, image galleries, etc.), create Joomla articles, create Joomla modules (for carousels, image galleries, etc.), set up menus, and so on...
• Template installation without demo data is suitable only for experienced Joomla users.

1. Template Installation

Download the template file that you are about to install and store it on your computer. The file is in ZIP format, named "hot_templatenameXX.zip" (where "templatename" is the actual name of the template and XX is the Joomla version).

Log in to your Joomla administrator panel and go to System > Install > Extensions.

Click the "Browse" button and select the template file. You can also drag and drop it to this window.

If you get the message "Installation of the package was successful", your template is installed.

2. Template Activation

After installation, you can make the template you installed the default template for your website. To do this, go to System > Site Template Styles. You will see all the templates available for your website.

Click the circle in the Default column, in the row where is the template you installed. It will be converted to a yellow star. This means that your newly installed template is now the default template for your website.

Click on the template name (in this example, "business") to open the template parameters. To learn more about our framework, please read the Sparky Framework documentation.

After the template installation, your website will look like this (example from the Business template):

This example shows the plain Joomla installation (without any demo content) with the Business template activated.

Parent and Child Templates

When you install any of our templates, the Sparky Framework template will be installed as well. This is the parent template for all our templates. In this example, we installed the Business template. The Business template is the child template.

You can have multiple child templates. For example, if you install two templates, you will have the Sparky Framework as a parent template and "template1" and "template2" as child templates.

Go to System > Site Templates to see all parent templates and their child templates that you have installed.

You must not uninstall or delete the parent template. Without the parent template, its child templates will not work!

This page will guide you on how to install our Joomla templates on your server including all the demo data that you can see on our demo site. Once you finish this installation method, you should get the same copy of the template demo site on your server.

In order to install the template with demo data:

• You don't need to install Joomla before template installation! Joomla is included in the HotStart template installation.
• Don't try to upload files to your existing Joomla installation!
• This document will not teach you how to use Joomla and it's assumed that you have a fair knowledge of this matter. You may read official Joomla documentation, view Joomla training courses or find some books about Joomla! online.
• It's assumed that you have a Joomla compatible web hosting account. Check the technical requirements of Joomla and make sure your host meets them.

1. Uploading Files

You can upload files either from the hosting control panel if your web host allows that (Method 1) or via FTP (Method 2). We'll explain both methods. Of course, you should use only one method to upload the files.

Upload Files From The Hosting Control Panel (Method 1)

Most of the hosting providers allow you to upload files via their control panels. We'll explain how it works on hostings based on cPanel. If your web hosting is not based on cPanel, please consult their support about the easiest way to upload files. Also, you can always use uploading files by FTP (explained below as Method 2).

Step 1 - Upload the template archive

Download file hot_templatenameXX_hotstart.zip ("templatename" represents actual template name, and XX represents Joomla version). Login to cPanel and find the File Manager icon.

Click on it to open the file manager.

Browse to the folder where you want to install the template with demo data. Click "Upload". Click "Select File" and select file hot_templatenameXX_hotstart.zip ("templatename" represents the actual template name, and XX represents the Joomla version) from your computer.

Wait until the file is fully uploaded.

Now you can click the "Go back..." link below to close the uploading window.

Step 2 - Unzip the template archive

When the HotStart template archive is uploaded, you can unzip it directly from cPanel File Manager. Click the select the file. Click the "Extract" button and click "Extract File(s) to confirm.

Wait until the files are extracted. When it's done, click the "Close" button.

Click the "Reload" button to reload the extracted files. You will see many Joomla files and folders. Now you can delete the archive you extracted hot_templatenameXX_hotstart.zip ("templatename" represents the actual template name, and XX represents the Joomla version).

Your template files are uploaded successfully and you can proceed to the MySQL Database Parameters (Section 2).

Upload Files by FTP (Method 2)

Step 1 - Unpacking (unzip)

Download file hot_templatenameXX_hotstart.zip ("templatename" represents actual template name, and XX represents Joomla version). Create a separate folder on your computer and unzip hot_templatenameXX_hotstart.zip there. The unpacking may take several minutes. If you did it well, you would see several folders and files (see image).

All these files and folders represent a Joomla installation package. Besides core Joomla files, it contains demo images, pages, extensions, etc.

Step 2 - Uploading files

Using the FTP program (such as free FileZilla - https://filezilla-project.org) upload all files and folders (that you unpacked in the previous step) to your hosting space. There are many files (several thousand), so it may take some time, depending on your upload connection speed.

The left pane of your FTP program represents the folder on your computer where you unpacked hot_templatenameXX_hotstart.zip archive. The right pane represents a folder in your web hosting space. If you'd like to install the template in the root site folder (to see it when you go to www.yoursite.com), make sure you're uploading files into the site's root folder. To find out what's site's root folder of your hosting space is, consult your hosting provider.

At the end of the uploading process, your left and right pane must contain the same files and folders. Make sure there are no files in the "Failed Transfers" pane (bottom). If there are some files, upload them again.

Step 3 - Check permissions

If your host is based on cPanel, your permissions are probably OK after upload. However, if your hosting is not based on cPanel, we must make sure that your web server can access the files you uploaded. This is very important, otherwise, you will have problems during installation or later.

Make sure the folder where you uploaded files is readable by the server (all folders should have permissions set to 755, and all files should have permissions set to 644). You can check this in the "Permissions" column (the right pane) in FileZilla.

If the permissions are not correct, you must change them! Select all the files and folders (in the right pane), right-click and select File permissions...

Enter 755 in the field "Numeric value". Select the "Recurse into subdirectories" option and select "Apply to directories only". Click OK and FileZilla will change the permissions of all folders. It may take several minutes.

Now, repeat the procedure for the files. Select all the files and folders (in the right pane) again, right-click and select File permissions... Enter 644 in the field "Numeric value". Select the "Recurse into subdirectories" option and select "Apply to files only". Click OK and FileZilla will change permissions of all files. It may take several minutes.

Make sure once again that all files and folders have correct permissions. Look at the permissions column. Browse the folders (such as "administrator", "components"...) and make sure that files and folders inside them also have the correct permissions set (755 for folders, 644 for files).

If you can't change the permissions, maybe it's not allowed by your hosting provider. Ask your hosting provider to change the permissions of the uploaded files and folders for you.

2. Prepare MySQL Database Parameters

Your hosting account must have at least one MySQL database included. You should know the connection parameters of the database. The connection parameters are:

1. Database Host (usually it's "localhost" or IP address or address)
2. Database Name (this is the name of your database)
3. Database User Name (this is the name of user that connects to the database)
4. Database Password (this is the password of user that connects to the database)

You will get these parameters when you create the database on your host. If you don't have those MySQL connection parameters or don't know how to create a database, please consult your hosting provider.

3. Joomla Installation

In case you uploaded the HotStart files in the root folder of your hosting space, in the browser go to http://www.your-site-address.com/index.php (change your-site-address.com with your site address.

If you uploaded the HotStart files into a subfolder of your hosting space, you should go to http://www.your-site-address.com/subfolder/index.php (change subfolder with folder name where you uploaded files.

If you see this screen on your browser, you're good to proceed. Enter your new website name and click the "Setup Login Data" button.

Enter your real name, username, and password for your super user account, and your email address. Click the "Setup Database Connection" button.

On this screen, you should enter the database parameters that we mentioned above in Section 2 (database host, database username, database password, and database name). For the table prefix, you can leave the randomly generated value. Finally, click the "Install Joomla" button.

You will see a big rotating Joomla logo. Wait until Joomla is installed. If everything was well, you will see the final screen.

On this screen, click either the "Open Site" or "Open Administrator" button to finalize the installation.

Congratulations! You installed the template with demo data! Your website should look exactly the same as our template demo.