New page or new site?

[Mike-LeBlanc]

I am very new to VM and still a beginner with Joomla. I have an existing site built with Joomla and want to add a 'store' to it.  I have installed VM there and configured a menu item to link to it.  Everything works, but ...  I have a 'theme' for my site and VM inherits it - and it doesn't look good.

Can VM have its own theme?  Or should I (can I?) make a new site in a sub-domain with a separate Joomla+Virtuemart installation?

If there is a sub-forum more appropriate, please let me know so I can move there.  Thanks.

[jenkinhill]

You can assign a different Joomla template (which you refer to as a theme) to the VM parts of a single website by using menu switching, where menu links are assigned within the template to VM pages. See https://docs.joomla.org/J3.x:Switching_templates

Alternatively you could use css and template overrides to style the default template files to suit and work with your existing Joomla template

[Mike-LeBlanc]

Thanks very much!  I'll look into the switching solution.  As for your alternative, I know nearly nothing about CSS and, since this is a one-shot development for me, I don't want to have to learn too much that I won't ever use again.

In fact, for either case, I'm wondering if I should just buy a theme/template, if I can find something appropriate in the dozens of suppliers.

[jenkinhill]

If you want a reliable template that is designed for VirtueMart and "normal" Joomla content without all the bloat that you get from many template developers, check out http://olympianthemes.com    - the developer of these works with the VM development team so you can be assured of compatibility.   Unfortunately too many templates are overloaded with bells & whistles to make them look good and exciting, but in use are very difficult to set up and even more difficult to update when necessary.

You say this is a one-off development, but do remember that you must regularly update Joomla, VirtueMart and any other elements used to maintain site security.