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Ideal Weather – Documentation

Ideal Weather shows the current weather for your town with animated icons and the real moon phase. This guide covers installation, the OpenWeather key, display and settings.

Contents

Requirements

  • Joomla 4.4, 5 or 6 and PHP 8.1 or newer
  • YOOtheme Pro 4 or 5 for the builder element (the module works with any template)
  • A free OpenWeather API key (see below)

Installation

  1. Download the ZIP from My licences or from the link in your order e-mail. Do not unzip it.
  2. In Joomla, open System › Install › Extensions and drop the ZIP into Upload Package File.
  3. Ideal Weather enables itself. There is nothing else to switch on.

A new version installs the same way, over the old one. Your content and settings are kept.

Licence key and updates

Your licence key (format IDPC-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX) is in your order e-mail and on the My licences page. Paste it once per site:

  1. Open System › Update › Update Sites.
  2. Click Ideal Weather. Joomla shows “missing download key”.
  3. Paste the key into the Download Key field, then click Save & Close.

New versions then appear in System › Update › Extensions and install in one click. Updates and e-mail support are included for 12 months. After that, the extension keeps working with no time limit; only access to new versions stops. You can renew at any time from My licences.

The key does not go into the plugin settings or into YOOtheme. The same key works for all your IdealPC extensions.

The package installs the component (Components › Ideal Weather), the Joomla module and the YOOtheme Pro element.

1. OpenWeather key

No key, no live weather. The key is free and the free OpenWeather plan is more than enough thanks to the built-in cache.

  1. Create an account at openweathermap.org.
  2. Confirm your e-mail address (link sent by e-mail), then copy your key from the « API keys » tab.
  3. In Joomla, open System › Plugins › System - Ideal Weather and paste the key. It is used by every module and element on the site.

A new key can take up to 2 hours to become active. Meanwhile, an « API key rejected » message is shown to administrators (never to visitors); the extension retries on its own every 5 minutes.

2. Show the weather

With YOOtheme Pro: in the builder, add the Ideal Weather element (IdealPC group), then enter the town (« Neuchâtel,CH ») or the latitude and longitude.

Without YOOtheme: create an Ideal Weather module in Content › Site Modules, choose its position and pages.

Details to choose from: town, description, feels like, min/max, humidity, wind, pressure, sunrise/sunset, moon phase. °C or °F; wind in km/h, m/s, mph, knots or Beaufort.

3. Styles and layouts

  • Icon styles: Classic, Line (takes the text colour), Gradient, Minimal. All are animated; animations stop for visitors who asked to reduce motion, or can be switched off with « Animated icons ».
  • Layouts: vertical card, horizontal, or inline (header, menu).
  • Moon at night: real phase calculated for the current day, or classic crescent.
  • Classic style only: « Icon colours » for light or dark backgrounds.

4. Forecast for the next days

The Forecast for the next days setting (module Content tab) or Forecast (Content tab of the YOOtheme element) adds a row with the weather for the next 1 to 5 days, starting tomorrow: day, icon, high and low. Default: « None ».

  • Uses OpenWeather’s free forecast (5 days in 3-hour steps): the same key is enough.
  • The forecast is cached for at least 1 hour: only one extra call per hour and per place.
  • Depending on the time of day, the 5th day may be partial (limit of the free plan).
  • No forecast with the « Inline » layout, or when only the icon is shown.
  • In « Preview » mode, a sample forecast is shown.

« Preview » mode

The Preview (no key) setting shows sample weather (13 conditions, day and night) without calling OpenWeather. Handy for layout work before the key is active. The « Preview · sample data » label is always shown: set it back to « Live weather » before going online.

Multilingual sites

With « Description language » set to Automatic, the description and labels follow the language of each page. Settings are translated into French, English, German, Italian and Spanish.

Upgrading from the old 8.x module

Simply install the package over the old module: your modules keep their look (white text, icons for dark backgrounds, wind in m/s, one decimal). Old files are removed automatically.

FAQ

The card does not appear for visitors.
Log in as an administrator: the message shown gives the cause (missing key, key not active yet, town not found). Visitors never see an error.
How often is the weather updated?
Every 30 minutes by default (« Cache time » setting, minimum 10). If OpenWeather does not answer, the latest known weather stays on screen for up to 6 hours.
Can I show several towns?
Yes: one module or element per town, as many as you like.
Are multi-day forecasts included?
No, Ideal Weather shows the current weather.

Support

A question, a bug, an idea? Write to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with your Joomla, PHP and YOOtheme Pro versions and, if possible, a link to the page. I reply personally, usually within one working day.