Good Template for a NP site? Topic is solved

[CrazyIslander]

Hey everyone,

I'm hoping that someone might be able to suggest a good template or two for me to check out for a NP site that I'm designing.

I'm involved with a project called Camp Courage in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The camp is for girls aged 15 to 19 to learn more about a non-traditional career as a police officer, paramedic or firefighter. We have already had our first camp this past summer and it was a huge success.

Now, as the planning is underway for the 2007 camp, the website needs to be overhauled in a bad way. The current site, www.campcourage.ca just lacks everywhere..and from the discussions we've had about what we want to do with the site, the ONLY way to do a site like this is with a CMS. I've been doing some "homework" and Joomla seems to meet the needs of the site and then some.

So, without further ado, I'll list some of the specifics of the site we're looking to have:

- Separate sections for info regarding the police, paramedic and fire services
- A photo gallery
- Mentor bios section
- Links page
- Fitness page
- Sponsors page
- Guest speaker page (to post pictures, names, etc.)
- Registration forums page (PDF documents)
- Message board
- Contact us (Probably a form with different options available to select)

Obviously, ease of navigation is a big area of concern for us. There's going to be a lot of info on there, but we don't want it to be overwhelming/confusing for people.

So, does anyone have any suggestions for a good template for a site like this?

Also, you can probably expect a lot of questions from me in the coming future. I'm not totally green, however I have my moments.

Thanks everyone!

- G -

[emagin]

I like    r o c k e t t h e m e  templates a lot, and enjoy their forums, but those are paid. As with many template sites, and there are many good ones, the css and flexible modules right/left on/off is a nice bonus.

Also there free ones that do a good job

[compass]

mmmm, for a non-profit with (I assume) limited budget, I was look really hard at a vendor that gives good support. Free might seem good up front, but you should consider total cost of ownership.....

[bzoellers]

I like    r o c k e t t h e m e  templates a lot, and enjoy their forums, but those are paid. As with many template sites, and there are many good ones, the css and flexible modules right/left on/off is a nice bonus.

Also there free ones that do a good job

if you read in rockettheme's terms and conditions, where it states how many concurrent template uses you can have per account at once (i.e. 3 for 75$ membership) does not apply to nonprofits, meaning you can use as many at once as you want.

[DesignGuy]

As a member, and a developer mainly FOR non-profits (non profit does not mean "broke" by the way, don't kid yourself), I'm using one of Rockettheme's right now you may like called ForestFire. Gorgeous look. Navigable. PM me any time.  -JC

[steveoc]

I have to enter another vote for Rockettheme. There are over 30 templates available--many with several unique variations--offering more configuations yet.  A three month membership costs $50 and allows you to use two templates (for as long as you like), and non-profit use does not count to the total.

They also have a great support community available for the life of your membership (making the $75 year membership--giving you up to three templates the best deal!).

I am using Firefrog with our school's site:

http://wellscsd.com

Steve

[emagin]

I did not want to break protocol and pitch one particular vendor here, but since everyone else is, I will jump in and say RocketTheme has really been good to me, I enjoy it a lot.

What I really like, and I don't know if the other template shops are like this, is that once you are subscribed, you can ask questions in the forums which usually get answered within a week by the owner, and faster by other helpful members. So if you go that route, make sure you leverage those forums, they are great!