Despite the extensive core functionality and the flexibility offered by overrides, custom fields, etc., there are always situations in which we would not want to miss out on some extensions in our daily agency routines.
In this article we would like to introduce you to our favorite Joomla! extensions.
Overview:
- AcyMailing (Newsletter)
- Advanced Custom Fields (Custom Fields Extension)
- AkeebaBackup (Backups)
- d2-Content (Admin-Customization)
- DP Calendar (Calendar)
- JCE-Editor (Content-Editing)
- Kick Consent Manager (Consent-Management)
- RS! Forms (Forms)
- PWT Sitemap (Sitemap)
- YoothemePro (PageBuilder)
AkeebaBackup - Joomla! backups made easy
A project without AkeebaBackup? No longer imaginable for us! AkeebaBackup is the tool to create and, in combination with AkeebaKickstart, restore Joomla! installations.
Depending on the backup size and the settings in the administration area, the entire installation is saved in one or more archive files. With the help of the restoring script AkeebaKickstart installations can be restored afterwards with just a few clicks.
More: https://www.akeeba.com/
AcyMailing - Newsletters in Joomla
You are looking for a newsletter extension to create and manage newsletters directly in Joomla? Exactly this is the functionality offered by probably the most popular newsletter extension on the market: AcyMailing
An easy-to-use drag & drop editor allows you to build content the way you want it. For this purpose, various templates are provided in advance by AcyMailing which, with a little coding know-how, can be adapted to the look & feel of the respective page.
Another cool feature and a big advantage over external email marketing tools: AcyMailing can directly access various Joomla! contents and thus integrate e.g. published articles incl. introductory image and text directly into the newsletter. Even the content of entire categories can be integrated with just a few clicks. This saves painful copy and paste work!
More: https://www.acymailing.com/
Advanced Custom Fields - Extend your custom fields
The possibilities of the custom fields implemented in the Joomla! core are not sufficient for a project? No problem! With Advanced Custom Fields you can add more field types to your Joomla website.
With Joomla 3.7, custom fields were added as a new feature to the Joomla! core. For us in the agency's day-to-day work, this marked the beginning of a new era in the creation of customer websites, as we now had completely new options for individualizing content creation and editing.
On the one hand, custom fields simplify the input of data for editors, and on the other hand, in combination with template overrides, they offer a wide range of possibilities for the development of tailormade solutions for the front-end. At this point, we would like to thank Allon Moritz (DigitalPeaks) for his contribution ✌️.
Tassos also has other cool extensions in its portfolio. It's worth to have a look!
More: https://www.tassos.gr/joomla-extensions/advanced-custom-fields
d2 Content - Content creation made easy!
With d2 Content you can customize the input form for creating articles. Unused parameters and input fields can be hidden or re-ordered. This makes it easier for editors to create and edit content.
Joomla offers various ways to edit content. Although this results in a great flexibility - at the same time less trained users can be overwhelmed. This could lead to frustration on both sides: Editors cannot find the desired fields, or even worse - they change parameters that should not be changed. And we as a service providers have more support efforts.
With d2 Content, the article edit form can be set up in such a way that editors only see the fields that are important to them. So they can maintain their content more easily and quickly. Instead of 76 standard fields, only exactly the right ones that you select will be shown. Including selected custom fields.
In April they will release a new version for Joomla 4 which will be re-branded to "d2 Profiles". That extension has even more possibilities, because in the future other Joomla edit forms could be configured as well.
More: https://data2site.com/extensions/d2-content
DP Calendar - You don’t need any other calendar-extension!
DP Calendar for us is the calendar extension in the Joomla! ecosystem. In addition to its ease of use and a wide range of settings, the tool offers good code quality and excellent support.
With the help of DPCalendar, various calendars and events included in them can be displayed in various layouts as a component or a module. The paid standard version also makes the integration of third-party calendars via iCal a breeze.
Paid events can be easily implemented with the paid versions including a booking section and various integrated payment service providers.
Our absolute favorite in the area of calendar extensions!
More: https://joomla.digital-peak.com/products/dpcalendar
JCE Editor - One Editor to rule them all
An extension that also finds its place on every Joomla! website we create: the Joomla Content Editor - JCE for short. It replaces the TinyMCE and offers a variety of settings for the configuration of the editor panel.
A feature of the JCE Editor that we particularly like to use is the Template Manager plugin, which allows to provide HTML snippets that can then be loaded directly into a post by editors, similar to images. This way, more complex layouts (e.g. a card or a testimonial) can be integrated directly into a post without any additional module or page builder.
More: https://www.joomlacontenteditor.net/
Kick Consent Manager - Manage consent in Joomla!
The Kick Constent Manager is in our eyes the tool of choice if a Consent Manager has to be integrated into Joomla!
In addition to all the required functions for managing the actual consents in the administration area of the page, it also offers flexible design settings for the output of the cookie banner in the frontend of the page. Thus, the extension integrates seamlessly into the look & feel of the page.
Since March 2022 the extension is also available for Joomla 4 and definitely our recommendation!
More: https://kicktemp.shop/komponenten/17/kick-consent-manager?c=6
RS!Forms - Forms without coding know-how
RS!Forms offers a simple editor for creating forms of almost any complexity in Joomla. The forms can then be displayed as menu items or implemented in various places on the page with the help of a small plugin using a shortcode.
Time and again, there are customer projects in which editors need to be able to create and publish forms quickly on their own. This is exactly where RS!Forms shows its strength: after a short introduction, the editor allows editors without technical know-how to create forms according to their needs.
Whenever we encounter such a requirement, RS!Forms comes into play and makes life easier for us and our customers.
More: https://www.rsjoomla.com/joomla-extensions/joomla-form.html
PWT Sitemap - Improve Google search results
An (XML) sitemap is an essential part of any professionally created website. PWT Sitemap makes creating a sitemap for your Joomla! pages a breeze and keeps the sitemap permanently up-to-date.
PWT Sitemaps allows to automatically generate an XML and HTML sitemap based on selected menus and to create a corresponding menu entry for the sitemap itself. For each menu item it can be individually controlled whether it should be listed in the sitemap or not.
PWT Sitemap is Joomla!4 compatible and supports multilingual installations.
More: https://extensions.perfectwebteam.com/pwt-sitemap
YOOthemePro - The best PageBuilder in the Joomla! ecosystem
There are many PageBuilders for Joomla! - but none of them does its job as well as YOOtheme Pro.
A user-friendly drag-and-drop editor allows you to quickly and easily build a page structure and fill it with various content modules. In addition to simple text or image modules, more complex modules such as galleries, accordions or tabs are also available.
The basic look & feel of the site is also controlled in YOOtheme Pro: typography, colors, logo, favicon and everything your heart desires. This makes YOOtheme pro suitable for both hobby administrators and professionals in use for customer projects.
More: https://yootheme.com/