Custom Blog Layouts in Joomla with Menu Item Type Support

One of our users needed a customised blog layout. The user wanted to keep the default blog layout in some situations, and use a new design for some blog pages.

In this tutorial, I'm going show you how to create a custom layout and how to control it via a menu link.

Step #1. Copy the category blog files

• Navigate to components/com_content/views/category/tmpl/
• Copy these files:

• Paste the files into this folder: /templates/your-template/html/com_content/category/

Step #2. Rename the layout files

Replace the word "blog" from the filenames with something unique. In my example, I'm using "custom":

• custom.php
• custom.xml
• custom_children.php
• custom_item.php
• custom_links.php

Step #3. Edit the xml file

• Edit your XML file. In my case the file is custom.xml
• Find the layout tag and set your custom values for the attributes:

• Look in the message tag and set a custom description for the new layout

This is my example:

Step #4. Test the new menu item type

The custom layout will generate a new menu item type.

• Go to Menus > Your menu > Add new menu item
• Menu item type > Articles > Your custom menu item type; in my example is "Custom Blog"

• Choose the category, set a title and save.

Step #5. Customise the new layout

The main purpose of a custom layout is to display content with a different design. Depending on your needs, edit the PHP files to generate the result you need:

• custom.php
• custom_children.php
• custom_item.php
• custom_links.php

Test your customisations by refreshing your frontend. In my custom layout I added a blue area with some dummy text.