Soliciting "Must Have" Extensions for the January 2010 presentation

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Discussion started by Justin Kerr , on 25 November 11:09 AM

Hi Everyone:

I've been asked to help out with the presentation for the January 2010 meeting, which looks like it will be focused on "must have" extensions for a Joomla Web site installation. Now, I have my own set of favorite, must-have extensions, but I'm sure everyone else has theirs as well.

Use this discussion area to propose extensions we should highlight in the January presentation. Here's a suggested format:

-- Name of Extension:
-- Developer's Web Site:
-- Free or Commercial?
-- Why is this extension a "Must Have" for any Joomla installation?

When considering suggestions, think about whether your proposed extension improves Joomla on a "system level" (i.e. things that every Web site must/should have, like security, file access, backup process, caching, etc.), or if the extension is more focused on adding features to the native Joomla feature set.

For the presentation, I'm thinking of focusing more on the former (system-level) extensions, since these are more likely to be needed for any Joomla installation, and there are so many worthwhile feature-extending ones, it would be tough to fairly cover them all. (That being said, we could certainly still briefly touch on some of the class leaders that are commonly used.)

So, post away! I look forward to your suggestions!

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Kendall Cabe, Thursday, 10 December 2009 15:43

I'll be happy to provide screen shots to you of any extensions have available. i've got access to several Nick mentioned among others too.

Justin Kerr, Thursday, 10 December 2009 14:28

Thanks for the suggestions, Nick!

Hey, for all the folks suggesting commercial extensions, do you mind if I contact you through joomlachicago.com to discuss getting some kind of access to an install of the extension at the January meeting, or at least some screen shots? I have a number of these commercial extensions, but not all of them. (Or maybe I'll hit up the developers for gratis versions to install so we can demo them at the meeting.)

Nick Martinelli, Thursday, 10 December 2009 13:46

My two cents:

1) RSForms Pro - No site goes up without this user friendly form generator. FORGET THAT PHIL-A-FORM CRAP!!!

2) XCloner - Automated Joomla backup component. I no longer lose sleep at night.

3) JomComments - Great enhanced commenting comp from Azrul. Quick to setup and roll out.

4) MyBlog - sure beats the core blog listing in joomla. Screw wordpress folks!

5) sh404sef - hands down the best sef extension out there. With built in security to support honeypot RBL (real time blacklists). If you're not using honeypot, you don't know what missing, or should I saw blocking?

6) Simple Image Gallery from JoomlaWorks.gr. No nonsense quicky image gallery. Free.

7) RokBox - Another great image gallery that supports video and audio and uber nice popups. Free

8) VirtueMart - Biggest cart app for joomla. Free.

9) AllVideosReloaded - Superb flash video player for joomla, stream from your site or other external sites. Great thing about this one is that it doesn't give IE errors for no crappy MS silverlight. Free.

Hey Matt, why no just put the couple lines of code in the template for Google Analytics? Google recommends it be loaded right before your closing tag in their documentation. Also, you save one extra database query to pull the data to be processed and displayed. Less calls to the system will get you faster loading pages. I've used these module too, but its really just a waste of processing power. The Google tracking code doesn't really change so why the need for module access?

Justin Kerr, Sunday, 06 December 2009 12:39

Hi Matt: Thanks for the suggestions! I've used a couple of the ones you mention.

Matt Mansfield, Sunday, 06 December 2009 12:15

Interesting discussion! I'm on my fourth Joomla site and already have some extensions that have become my standards:

mavik Thumnails - free - this adds onto Joomla functionality by giving you the ability not only size images within articles, but to also have the little magnifying glass come up which allows a user to pop it open in a shadowbox. http://www.mavik.com.ua/download/mvThumbnails.zip - the site is in Ukranian so just download the extension at the URL above. The read more about it in the Joomla extensions directory: http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/6263/details.

BIGSHOT Google Analytics - free - add onto google functionality. A super-easy way to add Google analytics to your site without touching the template. http://www.thinkbigshot.com/blog/technical/152-bigshot-google-analytics-plugin-for-joomla-15.html

Jcomments - Free - free, easy-to-implement commenting system - need I say more? http://www.joomlatune.com/jcomments.html

DigiFolio - Free - great portfolio component! http://www.uwix.nl/testcase/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2&Itemid=16. I am using it on one of my sites (http://www.biggestpossiblefuture.com/index.php/our-clients-results.html) and had it all up and running in 1/2 an hour (including time to make and upload the images!).

Contact Enhanced ($18.00) (http://ideal.fok.com.br/joomla/extensions/component-contact-enhanced.html) and Multiple CAPTCHA Engine (Free) (http://ideal.fok.com.br/joomla/extensions/plugin-multiple-captcha-engine.html) - lets you easily add more fields to your contact forms, control validation and add Captcha. This functionality should be part of the core Joomla system!

That's all I can thik of off the top of my head. Of course, I also love Jomsocial and Kunena Forums (use 'em both) but they seem more complex than what you were looking for here.

-Matt

Kendall Cabe, Saturday, 28 November 2009 01:09

I think a mix of "system level" and front-end extensions will be a good mix. No great details on any...Maybe the leaders in each "class" for the system and the front-end. Maybe reference the fact that others are planned for more in-depth discussions and jsut skip over those sections entirly to cut out probably a dozen extensions.

I'll add some of my must-have's this weekend for you! I'll start now though with "site backup system extension".

JoomlaPack - http://joomlapack.net/ - free -
This extension does exactly what it says "pack Joomla". It archives the site AND DB into a format you can download. This extension should be included at least weekly in every site's disaster recovery plan. If you don't have anything else setup for backups, you should do this EVERY day. Check into automating this product's backup and you won't have to worry about it making a file. Might even be able to setup a job to FTP the file off-site to a backup site for you, like a home computer or another company computer.

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