3 of 6: Extensions for Joomla

The dynamic developer team of the Joomla! constantly strives to give you a satisfying customer-experience. This includes giving you a wide range of extensions and sub-extensions. Let?s take a look at the kind of extensions on offer. Joomla! has released 18 extension categories, each containing sub-categories. These categories correspond to the different requirements of a web content management project. These categories are broadly listed as:

• Admin Tools ? include add-ons for backup, reporting, file management, statistics, etc.
• Banner Ads & Affiliates ? include advertising banners and classified ads.
• Calendars ? provide for your needs related to events (birthdays, event calendar etc.) and reservations (primarily useful for hotels or guest houses etc).
• Communication ? provides for chat, comments, forums, polls, guestbook, newsletter, mailing list etc on your website.
• Content & News ? this category of extension helps you include blog, clock, weather, quiz, news, RSS, e-cards, ratings and reviews, tips and notes etc in the website.
• Core Enhancements ? group access, categories/sections, cache, credits, security etc. are the categories you may find here.
• Documentation/Document Management ? this extension provides for FAQs, glossary and dictionary, bibliography, Wiki and downloads.
• e-Commerce ? the extensions under these category are those pertaining to shopping cart, auction, payment systems, donation, electronic data interchange and Amazon.
• Extension Specific Plug-in ? These plug-ins can be used only when certain extensions are already installed as the plug-ins are for specific extensions. E.g. if you want to install BannersManager Plug-ins, then you need to install Banners Manager extension first. Other such plug-ins include AdsManager Plug-ins, Community Builder plug-ins, dcsFlashGames plug-ins, VirtueMart Plug-ins, DOCMan Plug-ins etc.
• Web forms ? these extensions help you create various kinds of forms (e.g. forms for surveys, guestbook, polls etc).
• Gallery & Multimedia ? the extension category includes sub-categories like gallery, podcasting and streaming Media. These primarily help in adding pictures/images, audio and videos, providing radio and video streams etc.
• Intranet & Groupware ? CRM, Contacts, LDAP, Project and task Management are the areas addressed by this extension category. It contains address book, blogs, calendar, organizers, etc.
• Languages ? Languages extension is designed to help you with translation and also provides the option of multi-lingual content.
• Miscellaneous ? help desk, religion, quotes, recipes, portfolio, sports/games, etc are the sub-categories included in this extension category.
• Search & Indexing ? it comprises of Search, Site Map, Google and Directory.
• Vertical Markets ? Vertical markets extension contains categories such as education, real estate, auto and vehicles, boat and yachting etc.
• WYSIWYG Editors ? it helps manage editor profiles for the users, manage content, images, links, etc.