Everything you need to set up JR Prism. This guide walks you from install to a published showcase — choosing a layout, pulling in your content, tuning the display, styling it to match your template, and keeping the module up to date. Features marked (Pro) are available in the Pro edition.
On this page
- Requirements
- Installation
- Quick start — your first showcase
- Choosing a layout
- Content sources
- The items manager
- Display settings
- Styling & theming
- Keeping JR Prism updated
- Upgrading from Lite to Pro
- Troubleshooting
- FAQ
Requirements
- Joomla 5.x or 6.x
- PHP 8.2 or newer
- A site template built on Bootstrap 5 (the default Joomla templates Cassiopeia and Atum both qualify)
Installation
- Download the package zip — Lite from the Joomla Extensions Directory, or Pro from your joomreem.com account after purchase.
- In the Joomla administrator, go to System → Install → Extensions.
- Drag the zip onto the Upload & Install area (or browse to it). Joomla confirms a successful install.
- Go to Content → Site Modules (or System → Site Modules), click New, and choose JR Prism.
That's it — you now have a JR Prism module instance ready to configure. You can add as many instances as you like, each with its own layout, content source, and position.
Quick start — your first showcase
- Open your new JR Prism module.
- Give it a Title and assign a Position on the Module tab (e.g. a position in your template's main content area).
- On the Module tab, pick a Layout under Advanced → Module Layout (or the layout selector) — see Choosing a layout below.
- Set the Source Type on the basic settings, then add your items in the Items tab — see Content sources.
- Choose where it appears under Menu Assignment, set status to Published, and Save.
- View your site — the showcase renders in the position you chose, styled by your template.
Choosing a layout
Pick one layout per module instance — switch any time, no rebuild. Set it under the module's Advanced tab (Module Layout).
| Layout | What it's for |
|---|---|
| Card grid (default) | A clean, responsive grid of cards. Set how many per row with Items per row. |
| Accordion | Collapsible panels — ideal for FAQs, feature lists, and long content. |
| Carousel (Pro) | A split-panel showcase slider with autoplay and animation. |
| Mosaic (Pro) | A CSS-grid gallery with elegant hover overlays. |
| Tabs | Bootstrap 5 tabbed panels for organising content by topic. |
| Scroller | A scrolling headline list synced to a content preview panel. |
| Zigzag (Pro) | Vertically stacked rows with the image on alternating sides — an editorial, story-style flow. |
Content sources
Set Source Type on the module's basic settings, then manage the entries in the Items tab. The fields change to match your choice.
Articles
Hand-pick individual Joomla articles. Use the built-in items manager to add articles, drag to reorder, and (optionally) override any item's title, image, description, or link — handy when you want the showcase to read differently from the source article.
Simple (manual items)
Build a custom list by hand in the items manager — each entry has its own title, image, description, and link, with no underlying Joomla article required. Perfect for promo tiles, service lists, or curated link sets. Drag to reorder; edit inline.
Category (Pro)
Pull articles dynamically from one or more categories. New articles in those categories appear automatically — no manual updates. Options:
- Categories — select one or more com_content categories.
- Include child categories — also pull from sub-categories.
- Limit — cap how many items show (0 = no limit).
The items manager
For the Articles and Simple sources, items are managed in the module's dedicated Items tab:
- Add items one at a time (paged, 10 per page).
- Drag-and-drop to reorder — the order is your display order when Sort is set to Manual.
- Per-item overrides — open any item to set a custom title, image, description, or link that replaces the source values for that card only.
Display settings
The Display tab controls what each item shows and how the showcase behaves. JR Prism shows each setting only when it applies to your selected layout, so the tab stays uncluttered. Full reference:
| Setting | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Show title | Show or hide each item's title. | On |
| Show image | Show or hide each item's image. | On |
| Show description | Show or hide each item's description text. | On |
| Intro text limit | Maximum characters of description to show (0 = no limit). | 150 |
| Allow HTML in description | Render HTML in descriptions instead of plain text. | Off |
| Image ratio (Pro) | Force images to a fixed aspect ratio: Native, 16:9, 4:3, or 1:1. Applies to any layout that shows images. | Native |
| Image fit (Pro) | How images fill the ratio box: Cover (crop to fill) or Contain (show the whole image). Shown when the ratio isn't Native. | Cover |
| Image hover effect (Pro) | Hover animation for images: None, Zoom, Lift, or Overlay-fade. Applies to the Card grid, Mosaic, and Zigzag layouts; respects the visitor's reduce-motion setting. | None |
| Items per row | Cards per row in the Card grid and Mosaic layouts (1–6). | 3 |
| Items per page | Show this many at first, then reveal more (0 = show all). | 0 |
| Sort (Pro) | Order items by Manual, Date, Title (A–Z), Hits, or Random. | Manual |
| Sort direction (Pro) | Ascending or descending (for Date / Title / Hits). | Descending |
| Autoplay (Pro) | Auto-advance the carousel. | Off |
| Autoplay delay (Pro) | Milliseconds between slides (min 1000). | 5000 |
| Pause on hover (Pro) | Pause autoplay while the cursor is over the carousel. | On |
| Animation (Pro) | Carousel transition: Fade, Slide, or None. | Fade |
Note: autoplay, animation, and pause-on-hover apply to the Carousel layout; Items per row applies to the Card grid and Mosaic; Image ratio and Image fit apply to any layout that shows images; Image hover effects apply to the Card grid, Mosaic, and Zigzag layouts.
Zigzag layout options (Pro)
When the Zigzag layout is selected, these extra controls appear:
- Alternate image side — flip the image left/right on each row (on), or keep it on one side (off).
- First item image side — start with the image on the left or the right.
- Image width — how much of the row the image takes: 33%, 50%, or 66%.
- Text vertical alignment — align the text to the top or centre of the image.
- Mobile stack order — on narrow screens, show the image first or the text first.
Zigzag also uses the shared Image ratio and Image fit settings above.
Styling & theming
- Inherits your template — JR Prism uses Bootstrap 5 variables, so colours and fonts come from your active template out of the box. No clashing brand colours.
- Fine-tune with one variable — override a single Bootstrap CSS variable in your template if you want to nudge a colour.
- Module Class Suffix — add a CSS class under the Advanced tab to target a specific instance with your own styles.
- Responsive by default — every layout adapts from desktop to phone; images lazy-load for speed.
Keeping JR Prism updated
Both editions update through Joomla's normal Update system — no extra tools.
Lite
Lite updates are public. When a new version ships, Joomla shows it under System → Update → Extensions; click to update. Nothing to configure.
Pro — enter your Download ID once
- Copy your Download ID from your joomreem.com account.
- In Joomla, go to System → Update → Update Sites.
- Find JR Prism Pro, open it, paste your Download ID into the Download Key field, and save.
- Joomla now pulls Pro updates automatically through our secure update server.
You only do this once per site. The module keeps working whether or not your subscription is active (it's GPL) — an active subscription is what delivers ongoing updates and priority support.
Upgrading from Lite to Pro
Install the Pro package over the top of Lite — Joomla upgrades in place and your existing module instances, settings, and items are preserved. After upgrading you'll see the premium layouts (Carousel, Mosaic, and Zigzag), the dynamic Category source, image ratio & fit controls, image hover effects, and the advanced display controls unlock. Then add your Download ID (above) so Pro updates flow.
Troubleshooting
The module doesn't appear on my site.
Check it's Published, assigned to a Position your template actually renders, and included in the page's Menu Assignment.
Colours look off / don't match my template.
JR Prism inherits Bootstrap 5 variables. If your template doesn't define them, set a Module Class Suffix and add a small CSS override, or switch to a Bootstrap-5 template.
Images aren't showing.
Make sure each item has an image set (or, for articles, an intro/full image), and that Show image is on.
The Zigzag layout or image effects aren't available.
The Zigzag layout, image hover effects, and image ratio/fit controls are Pro features — confirm you're running the Pro edition. Hover effects also apply only to the Card grid, Mosaic, and Zigzag layouts.
Category source isn't listed.
The dynamic Category source is a Pro feature — confirm you're running the Pro edition.
Pro updates aren't offered.
Confirm your Download ID is saved under System → Update → Update Sites → JR Prism Pro, and that your subscription is active.
FAQ
Does JR Prism work on Joomla 5 and 6?
Yes — both, natively.
Can I run more than one showcase on a page?
Yes. Create as many JR Prism module instances as you like, each with its own layout, source, and position.
Will upgrading to Pro lose my settings?
No — Pro installs over Lite in place and keeps your instances, settings, and items.
Is Lite really free?
Yes — JR Prism Lite is free and GPL-licensed on the Joomla Extensions Directory, with no time limit and no feature nag.
Is it secure?
Yes — JR Prism was security-reviewed: inputs are filtered, and admin actions use a session-scoped token rather than a permanent credential.
Need more?
Start free with Lite, or unlock every layout and the dynamic Category source with Pro — one price, all your sites.