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10 January 2010
Joomla has thousands of extensions to help add to the functionality of the CMS. There are 3 different types of extensions...
- Components - Usually the largest type of extension. Components are small applications that display in Joomlas main body.
- Modules - Modules are smaller than components and renders small html blocks on chosen pages.
- Plugins - Plugins are usually very small programs that dynamically changes the code behavior.
Getting Extensions
Joomla extensions can be found all over the internet. Some are free and some are not, it all depends on the author. Althoug you may find extensions everywhere, the official Joomla extension site is at http://extensions.joomla.org/. There you can find tons of Joomla components, modules and plugins. If it says "commercial", that usually means that it is not free. If it says "non-commercial" it is usually open source and free. Some extensions however add a copyright or linkback to the authors website that may or may not be removed.
Installing Extensions
After you find a component, module or plugin that you would like to have on your website,- Download it to your local machine.
- Log into your Joomla backend at www.yoursite.com/administrator.
- Go up to Extensions and click Install/Uninstall
- Click Browse and then find the package that you downloaded to your local machine
- Click upload file and install
Thats all ther is to installing a Joomla extension..Configuring the extension is a different story. Some extensions are easy to configure and some are extremley hard and require extensive skill in development.
Where do I configure the extension?
Extensions are configured in different areas..
To configure a component, in the backend of your Joomla site, and you should have an actual menu item called components. You will see a list of components in the actual menu. Joomla has some core components already such as Polls and Contacts. All installed components should show up here.
To configure modules, goto extensions and then click module manager. This will take you to a list of modules that you have installed on your website. From here you can edit/configure modules, enable/disable and create new modules. You can also create new custom modules and add your own code. Do this by clicking new and then custom html.
Plugins are configured similar to modules. Goto extensions and then plugin manager. Plugins typically have much less options to configure and edit.
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