It seems straightforward, you find a template that has a design that you like and would very well fit into what you have in mind for your site.  You download the template and then install it into your Joomla site.  You then go to add modules and then you realise, you don't know what module positions you have available.  Ok, this is an extreme example as most template demo's will show you what module positions are in the template you are about to download.  However, not all do, and many of my clients admit they don't have a clue how to find out what module positions they have available to them.

The Joomla Chick to the rescue!

In a few simple steps you will know what positions you have available to you, for any template you have installed.

1.  Go to Extensions - Template Manager

2.  Click the radial button (the round button beside your template name on the left hand side) and then press edit template.  Don't worry we are not going to actually edit the template.

3.  Click on preview.  This isn't the preview button at the top of the screen where you can preview the template in the browser.  There is a preview button further down the page which has a huge magnifying glass next to it.  Click it.

4.  You will then see your template with it's available module positions showing.  This will show up every module position whether there is content in there at the moment or not.

It is a good idea just to draft where the module positions are and keep this close at hand as you develop your site.  For me, it's more important what module positions are available to you than the actual design of the template and in the past I've had to change templates half way through as I found there wasn't template positions where I needed them to be.  Yes you can add module positions but that's another article and not under Joomla Basics!