The best Joomla ex­ten­sions

Content man­age­ment systems like Joomla have software available which offer options for in­di­vid­ual ex­ten­sions and in­di­vid­ual website designs. This requires some plugins which have been pro­grammed specif­i­cal­ly for Joomla. We will be outlining the best Joomla ex­ten­sions here.

There are several ex­ten­sions that can be very useful for many users in everyday use. The table below outlines the best plugins for each ap­pli­ca­tion.

As of December 2021.

Joomla allows users to create a website with a main page and several subpages for free. The first step is to install Joomla to get started im­me­di­ate­ly. Each page’s design can be cus­tomized with Joomla templates and can display different content. There are a variety of ex­ten­sions which can be added in the backend to improve the func­tion­al­i­ty of the website.

Ex­ten­sions are offered in function packages, for example, in the form of a contact form, an image slideshow or a tag cloud. The Joomla plugins are usually grouped into sub­cat­e­gories, such as “Photos & Images”. Therefore, it is easy for users to search all of the ex­ten­sions for the desired function. Many of the ex­ten­sions can be used for free, however the full range of functions is only available with a paid premium version.

There are about 6,000 ex­ten­sions in total and up to 300 ex­ten­sions per category on the official Joomla website, so choosing the right Joomla extension can be difficult. There are also other developer websites and web archives which offer even more plugins.

It is par­tic­u­lar­ly difficult for newcomers who are just creating their first website to figure out the wide range of ex­ten­sions. Joomla sim­pli­fies things for users by cat­e­go­riz­ing the ex­ten­sions into themes and sub­di­vid­ing the themes into sub­cat­e­gories. The search for the right extension can still be confusing for ex­pe­ri­enced users. Imagine looking through a slideshow of 270 ex­ten­sions to find the most suitable one!

Users should consider a few things when choosing Joomla ex­ten­sions. The ex­ten­sions ensure that con­tin­u­ous im­prove­ments are being made by checking that only a good-quality software is added and regular security updates are carried out. It is a good idea to regularly check the most recent updates to avoid security risks. You can check for updates for Joomla plugins on the overview page.

Ex­ten­sions should only be down­loaded from trusted sources. Joomla’s official web catalog has a wide variety of reliable plugins. Users can get in­for­ma­tion on the ex­ten­sions directly from the developer or by searching the forum. Joomla has a strong community which provides a great customer service for other users. The forum is a good point of contact to get advice from ex­pe­ri­enced users on the Joomla ex­ten­sions. Users can also form an opinion based on an extension’s rating. The overall rating, func­tion­al­i­ty details, and scope of support for each extension is available on the official Joomla website.

A high score in stars and a sig­nif­i­cant number of reviews is a good in­di­ca­tion to users. It is worth noting that the costs as­so­ci­at­ed with plugins may mean that they are regularly updated, as it is in the de­vel­op­ers’ interest to have the extension working properly for users.

It is advised to trial the functions in a protected test en­vi­ron­ment to check the com­pat­i­bil­i­ty with your existing website before adopting the extension in the live en­vi­ron­ment.

Joomla ex­ten­sions are installed in the backend of Joomla, just like any changes to the website. In order to install an extension, it must be available locally. This can be done by down­load­ing the extension from Joomla’s online catalog or from another trusted source which offers Joomla ex­ten­sions.

Once an extension is down­loaded, the in­stal­la­tion follows these steps:

1. In the backend of the website, click on “Ex­ten­sions”, then select “Install/Uninstall”.
2. If the location is known, search for the extension in the Windows “Downloads” section or select “Browse” in the backend and choose the package, which is usually a ZIP file.
3. Click on “Upload & Install”.

The extension must be activated to complete the in­stal­la­tion and to use the extension. Some ex­ten­sions can only be installed if they have been unpacked on the PC be­fore­hand. This detailed de­scrip­tion of the re­spec­tive extension might help.