Chameleon
Version
1.19/2.22 (last update on Oct 3, 2011)
Rating
Compatibility
Votes
Favoured
25
License
GPLv2 or later
Commercial
Type
Views
50555
Date Added
22 January 2010
Editor's Note
- This extension requires registration to download.
You don't have to be stuck with one template per menu item! Chameleon gives easy controls to switch template and turn individual menu items on and off according to:
* Language (front-end/browser)
* Browser (IE v6, FF, iPhone, iPad etc)
* Page type (article, front page, search results, etc)
* Virtuemart page types, cart contents, categories & coupon usage
* Date, time, and time of day
* User id and group, logged-in and logged-out users
* Article id, section and category
* Component
* Domain / sub-domain of your site
* Page URL and HTTP referrer
* Random probability
* GeoIP detection of the guest's city/country
* All "children" of a given menu or menu item
* Anything else you can detect with a snippet of PHP.
As a result of any "rule" you can perform these actions for the current page:
- set the template/style
- dynamically "unpublish" menu items
- set the "default" Joomla page (site home page)
- set which menu item will be highlighted as "Active"
- do an internal or external redirection
- set metadata, page title, and add JS/CSS
- run PHP code
Examples of use:
* Use a different template and change some menu items for logged-in users and guests
* Use a different template just for IE users
* Use a different template if your site is embedded in FaceBook
* Do A/B testing of two different templates, based on random probability. Use different Google Analytics on each template, then compare the performance.
* Use different templates for uk.domain.com and us.domain.com
Chameleon for Joomla 1.5 also contains a template duplicator. With 1 click you can duplicate any installed template directly on your site - great for making backup copies of your templates before altering them, or allowing you to use slightly altered copies of the same template on different pages.
Chameleon plays nicely with front-end template switching modules such as Template Chooser and Template Switcher.
NOTE: as of August 2011, Chameleon is the new name for MetaTemplate Pro.
CHANGELOG
v2.22/1.19 (03 Oct 2011)
* preliminary support for VirtueMart 2.0 (Joomla 1.7 only)
* added support for making rules based on prior purchases in VirtueMart
* improved detection of "article submit" pages
* added debug logging to the "redirect" action
v2.21 (15 Sep 2011)
* fixed bugs in "Featured" (front page) detection in J1.7, and individual article selection.
v1.18/2.20 (12 Sep 2011)
* improvements to VirtueMart page type detection
* improvements to setting of meta tags and page title (especially for sh404SEF)
v2.19 (1 Sep 2011)
* now works with latest Joomla1.7 version of sh404SEF
* worked around some issues caused by buggy Joomla installation system
v2.18 (31 Aug 2011)
* improved compatibility with PHP5.3
v1.17/2.17 (29 Aug 2011)
* GeoIP improvements
* added ability to change page title/metatags, plus add JS and CSS files, driven by rules
v2.16 (1 Aug 2011)
* released for Joomla 1.7
Images
The support is outstanding and Chameleon can let you customize your website without borders!
In my case, I have use Chameleon to detect the language by domainname. I found the solution that sh404SEF, Joomla AceSEF and Joomla 1.7 are still not supporting:
Multidomain names per language, country or whatever you need.
You just need to follow the instructions to configure the rules in Chameleon that will detect the language based on different domain names.
In my case, I have use Chameleon to detect the language by domainname. I found the solution that sh404SEF, Joomla AceSEF and Joomla 1.7 are still not supporting:
Multidomain names per language, country or whatever you need.
You just need to follow the instructions to configure the rules in Chameleon that will detect the language based on different domain names.
The Chameleon extension from metamodpro.com which I recently bought made things easier for me! I was trying to change templates between my joomla pages and vm pages, spend hours of coding, but then I found Chameleon! and everything was arranged in the proper way!
Great Support! They even helped me with a problem caused from my eshop template, not their extension!
Excellent extension and super support from metamod.com!!! Thanks!
Great Support! They even helped me with a problem caused from my eshop template, not their extension!
Excellent extension and super support from metamod.com!!! Thanks!
I wish I could give a higher rating than "Excellent" because that word just doesn't say how powerful and useful this extension is (at all). I only came across this software after revisiting the developer's site for help with another extension (Metamod) he created.
*I know very little about SQL and the developer not only wrote a custom script (called a "recipe" for use with Metamod) for me, he did it without requesting a dime, a donation, a review or any other sort of reciprocation. Did I mention I was using the free version?!! That's great support, especially considering I hadn't even licensed the paid version.
Anyway, while reviewing the help he had posted for me on his forums I took a peak at an older version of Chameleon named Meta Template. I needed to do things like load a specific template only for guests and a totally different template for members... and a THIRD template for a particular component. I started with Meta Template but quickly realized my limited knowledge of php and sql could keep my up at night, wasting the power of this software. So, I did what any somewhat intelligent guy would do- I snapped up the pro (and latest, greatest) version of the software to get me keyboard tapping fingers on a much simpler (yet just as powerful) interface.
To make a much longer story short, after installing Chameleon I was able to accomplish in about 3 minutes a task that could easily have taken me a few late nights and several support emails.
A big "Thank you!" to the developer.
*I know very little about SQL and the developer not only wrote a custom script (called a "recipe" for use with Metamod) for me, he did it without requesting a dime, a donation, a review or any other sort of reciprocation. Did I mention I was using the free version?!! That's great support, especially considering I hadn't even licensed the paid version.
Anyway, while reviewing the help he had posted for me on his forums I took a peak at an older version of Chameleon named Meta Template. I needed to do things like load a specific template only for guests and a totally different template for members... and a THIRD template for a particular component. I started with Meta Template but quickly realized my limited knowledge of php and sql could keep my up at night, wasting the power of this software. So, I did what any somewhat intelligent guy would do- I snapped up the pro (and latest, greatest) version of the software to get me keyboard tapping fingers on a much simpler (yet just as powerful) interface.
To make a much longer story short, after installing Chameleon I was able to accomplish in about 3 minutes a task that could easily have taken me a few late nights and several support emails.
A big "Thank you!" to the developer.
Excellent component, excellent support!! I can't go without it. This stands in all for the genius and creativity involved by the developer.
Highly recommended.
Highly recommended.
After days of trying to figure how to hack the core of VirtueMart (and you know that goes!) I was pointed to this product. MetaTemplate Pro did the job on my site with multiple templates and Virtuemart wanting to redriect to all the wrong pages. Overcame the limitations of the built in template assignment and worked with the native system flawlessly. Way to GO!! This and MetaMod are my new darlings!!
I needed a way to load a different template for users of IE6 (which is still unfortunately 20% of my site's visitors).
For the site I'm building, I decided to use a Yootheme template called Studio. Studio doesn't support IE6. So I wanted to load a different Yootheme template, Explorer for IE6 users.
I just purchased MetaTemplate Pro today, I watched the first tutorial video on the MetaTemplate web site, and I was able to create the rule in a matter of minutes.
It works great. I think I do need to change the names of some module positions, however, because some content is not displaying on the Explorer template. That is to be expected, and isn't a problem with MetaTemplate.
Bottom line, it worked great for me and saved me tons of time. Cheers to stephen for a great component :)
For the site I'm building, I decided to use a Yootheme template called Studio. Studio doesn't support IE6. So I wanted to load a different Yootheme template, Explorer for IE6 users.
I just purchased MetaTemplate Pro today, I watched the first tutorial video on the MetaTemplate web site, and I was able to create the rule in a matter of minutes.
It works great. I think I do need to change the names of some module positions, however, because some content is not displaying on the Explorer template. That is to be expected, and isn't a problem with MetaTemplate.
Bottom line, it worked great for me and saved me tons of time. Cheers to stephen for a great component :)
Owner's reply
Thanks slimbeck. The IE6 issue is a killer at times, and was one of the reasons for MTP. It's sometimes so much easier to find an alternative template that "just works" for IE6, then to set a different template for each browser, than it is to try and wrangle one template into working on everything... sad but true.
Cheers,
Stephen
This provides automation that the free version does not. Very good for people that doesn't want to do programming. We tested the free version, and after that, bought the pro. Is wonderful and very functional application, that solves our multidomain-multitemplate problem.
Owner's reply
Thanks medisoft. The multi-domain handling just got better in v1.5 because you can now also set the "default" menu item for any given domain/rule, which might be useful for you. Thanks for the review :-) Cheers, Stephen
MetaModPro has let me overcome many of joomla!'s limitations. I want to hide and show modules depending on various rules, say a user is logged in. Or i want music modules to appear only when on pages that include music in the article. Metamod gives me total control over what appears where. It plays nice with all my other extensions.
Easy to install, there are recipes on the website for the more common ways the control modules, but once you get comfortable with it you'll start doing some really clever stuff.
Easy to install, there are recipes on the website for the more common ways the control modules, but once you get comfortable with it you'll start doing some really clever stuff.
To fine control your website, your templates, the appearance of everything, to control what you want to show to iphone owners, facebook users, registered and unregistered, this is just GREAT and plain simple.
Of course you can use the simple metatemplate, but for this very small price I must say that it has saved me hours of headache !!
And Stephen is someone very very professional and reactive !!
Just perfect soft !
Of course you can use the simple metatemplate, but for this very small price I must say that it has saved me hours of headache !!
And Stephen is someone very very professional and reactive !!
Just perfect soft !
Owner's reply
For the record, Alterna and I worked on making it so that his Facebook application, done in Joomla, used one template when embedded in Facebook and another when used stand-alone. It was quite complex but helped my understanding of FB and Joomla and the whole process... and the end result was good. Thanks for your patience Alterna!