The Ultimate Joomla Toolbox: Themes, Extensions and Resources
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Joomla is one of the most popular CMSs out there, and it’s no surprise considering how extensible it is. The great thing about Joomla is the extensions (components, modules and plugins), that can be added to your Joomla website. This allows the average user to add more functionality and dynamic content to their website without being a developer or programmer.
In this post you will find a thorough collection of all kinds of resources that will aid designers and developers working with Joomla-powered websites. This collection is intended to simplify your tasks and save you time when working with Joomla.
This post covers essential resources related to Joomla— Themes, Extensions, Tutorials, Forums, Cheat Sheets and Useful Documents.
Joomla’s current version is 1.5, however, some people are still using 1.0. Some of the extensions are only compatible with 1.0, we tried to mix between both version while prioritizing 1.5.
Beautiful Free Joomla Themes
MyPortfolio
Xtreme Sports
Manuscript
Ditystyle
Business
Fashion and Style
Decayed
Sublime
Siteground
ManiFolio
Happiness
Red Evo Aphelion
JW Getty
Beautiful Day
Rainbow
Anemone Colourful
Transparent Bliss
Color Paper
Xblog
Contaminated
Must Have Joomla Extensions
JoomlaPack
Backup is the most important thing for any bloggers. JoomlaPack is an open-source backup component for the Joomla. It allows to create a site backup that can be restored on any Joomla!-capable server.
sh404SEF
sh404SEF is really useful and essentianl Joomla extensions. sh404SEF creates Joomla SEF URL, and turn them to a more user-friendly format for your site visitors, as well as for search engines.
JoomSEO
It is necessary to have correct metadata and keyword get discovered by Search Engines. JoomSEO adds heading tags to content titles and descriptions relevant for the search engines, improving ranking and accessibility.
JoomlaComment
This is a useful comment extension which has features such a threaded comments, CAPTCHA Protection and more.
Avatar/Gravatar Plugin
Avatar/ Gravter is widely used in website. This extension add the gravter functionality to your site.
JoomlaStats
No matter what CMS you are using, Knowing your site stats such as hits, pageviews, search engines & keywords are improtant. JoomlaStats is the great tool to be aware of what users/bots are doing with your site .
Community Builder
Community Builder suite (CB) extends the Joomla! user management system such as : extra fields in profile, enhanced registration workflows, user lists, admin defined tabs and user profiles, image upload, front-end workflow management, Forum, Galleries.
Page Peel Banner
This module is developed based on a wonderful Pageear Script, which shows a Page Peel effect on the site
AllVideos
If you have media site or want to add videos is AllVideo is a must have extension . You can use the plugin to easily embed videos hosted on popular services like YouTube, Metacafe, Vimeo (and many more) inside your Joomla! articles (content items). or playback almost any video/audio filetype directly from your server or a remote server.
JoomGallery
JoomGallery is a gallery component completely integrated into Joomla, with support for Joomla 1.0 and 1.5 native. Easyto configure with fullscreen animated JavaScript view (Lightbox, Slimbox or Thickbox3).
The Ultimate Social Bookmarking Plugin
Blogger all over the world knows how important it is to have a good social network. This plugin will adds social bookmarking buttons to your content, making it easy for your visitors to submit your articles and build traffic to your website.
Joomla! AddThis
Another useful module that intergrates AddThis on your site on specified position.his module only works with Joomla 1.5.x. You can customize any AddThis Parameter easily within the module it self.
Joomulus
A Flash based tag cloud that works with Joomla 1.5
Jumi
If you are web designer or web developer this is a must have plugin. This plugin allows you can include php, html, javascript scripts into the modules position, articles, category or section descriptions, or into your own custom made component pages.
Slick RSS
This is a really cool plugin . It parse and display RSS Feed News with DHTML Teaser Tooltip
AJAX Shoutbox
This Joomla module adds live chat functionality to your Joomla site. Your visitors can chat with each other right in your website without refreshing their browsers.
Contact Enhanced
Getting feedback or allowing your readers to communicate is vital for any kind of website. Contacts Enhanced is a contact component allows to have contact form with CAPTCHA and custom fields.
Mini FrontPage
MiniFrontPage module provides you with a lightweight but powerful news headline style of your most recent content items.
AdSense Module
A really simple handy solution for implementing Google AdSense ads in Joomla.
PixSearch Ajax Search module
Another cool module that mimics search like the one on apple.com. It shows result as you type.
Joomla Tutorials and Resources
A Beginners Guide to organizing content in Joomla
How to administer your Joomla system (set meta info, manage emails, stats)?
How to Move Your Joomla! 1.5 Site to a New Server
How to Convert an existing Web site to a Joomla! Web site?
How to Create Your First Joomla Template
How to make your Joomla admin panel rock?
Writing a Simple Module
Joomla CSS Drop Down Menu Tutorial
How to Speed Up – Optimize Joomla Performance?
Install Joomla locally
Joomla Cheat Sheets and Useful DocumentsJoomla Template Cheat Sheet
A cheatsheet for Joomal Templte files and useful syntax The best place to start for any kind Joomla tips, tricks, questions.Joomla! Official Documentation
Joomla Database Structure
Joomla Developer Manual
All the helpful information behind Joomla development.
Web Developer SEO Cheat Sheet
Joomla Glossary
A Glossary of all terms related to the Joomla. Very useful.
Joomla 1.5 Basic Template Cheatsheet
Cheatsheets for your Joomla! development
Lots of Joomla related references and chat sheets
Joomla! 1.5 API Reference
The Joomla! Framework API, and A number of third-party libraries used by Joomla! and/or available for use by third-party Joomla! extension developers are listed here.
Joomla! and Common CSS debug tools
Forums and Where to Get Started
Here are some of the sites on the web to find any Joomla related news, tips, tricks and resources:
Joomla Official Discussion Forums
JoomlaCode
Joomla Developer Resources
How to Joomla
Joomla Tutorials
Jooml! Shack
Teach Me Joomla
Best of Joomla
We tried to bring you the best Joomla resources on web, but it is obvious to miss a great theme, extensions or Joomla related site. Please share it with everyone in the comment.
Author: Kawsar Ali
Kawsar Ali is a web designer, graphic designer, and wannabe photograper based in NY, U.S. He’s also the founder of Desizn Tech, a site for web designer and web developer. If you’d like to connect with him, you can follow him on Twitter or at his Personal Website.
Rok Ajax search seems better IMO.
Very nicely put together Kawsar. Very informative indeed.
Excellent research, thanks! The links for “AllVideos” and “The Ultimate Social Bookmarking Plugin” are swapped, might want to switch ‘em back :)
Hello, thanks for your share!
I set up a website for my wife (http://www.kongminlawyer.com/)
I use Joomla 1.5.6 and Joomlart JA Teline II.
Kawsar, the link for “How to Create Your First Joomla Template” points to “PixSearch Ajax Search module” on extensions.joomla.org.
Other than that great post. I definitely found some good resources that I hadn’t known about.
Here is correct link http://net.tutsplus.com/tutorials/other/creating-your-first-joomla-template/
Noura you might want to update it .Thanks
Kawsar the link is updated.
@Max thanks for pointing that out and i am glad you found some useful information over here.
Thanks Kawsar for getting us some great content here at Noupe :)
You can say I’m a lucky guy today when stumble to this page. They are great stuff for my new Joomla project. Thanks for smash up these things about Joomla.
typo at Joomla Databse Structure !!
Fixed that too, thanks :)
i am lovin joomla.. thx for the post.. and mambo.. i build sooo many websites with this cms i cant even remember them all :D so if somebody needs help.. ;)
For google sitemap generation, XMAP is a good extension: http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/structure-&-navigation/site-map/3066/details
and forum component KUNENA with native joomla 1.5 support requires mention – http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/communication/forum/7256/details
Great collection and good work posting this article!
I was really looking for such article regarding Joomla.
Check out my blog Fresh Web Developer
Does Joomla allow properly layed out HTML already? Last time I checked, it allowed the main layout to be nice and standards-compliant, but modules were tables in tables in tables in tables and one could do nothing about it, except re-writing the module.
Great article about Joomla stuff. 1 thing though – the article: “How to Create Your First Joomla Template” (I hope it’s from NetTuts as it is awesome for beginners) isn’t working it is not linked correctly.
Great List.
I’ve got a few joomla templates over at joomlacreative.com and a few more coming soon if anyone is interested – let me know!
Ed
Thank you for this great article about Joomla. You can find another 86 free and w3c valide joomla templates with demo here:
http://www.bloggerschmidt.de/Joomla/86-professionelle-Joomla-Templates.html
Some templates may be duplicated.
Bloggerschmidt
This is collection of great List.
I think, this is the best collection of Joomla templates available in Internet.
Can we use this for our commercial purpose ?
thanks for including our free templates. This is a great article for new and even experienced users. Nice work bringing it all together.
Good list.
Don’t forget the plugins like:
- canonical
- google maps/analytics/etc
Great! keep the good work my friend!
I am a huge fan of Joomla! and always recommend it to my web design clients when they are looking for a CMS solution. Just another great list to return to when developing sites for my clients, thanks!
I think Joomla is the best template i ever use to website as a Web designer it gain more points in my every designs.
Awesome list of recurses for joomla, thank a lot ;)
why joomla is hard then wordpress…?
Vidiya
This is great, i use joomla a lot, thanks for this huge resource.
Great post!
Thanks a lot, this is really a compact set of the best stuff existing for Joomla.
There is also a great component for Joomla which is the Letterman, which allows us to manage and create newsletters. Really great component.
Thanks again, regards
Antonio
thanks! great article
Great collection…thanks a lot…I like to keep a single page bookmarked with the best resources for a particular topic instead of bookmarking many different URLS…This is great…
Very-very great!! thanks very much for the author. What i looked for is here…
really good showcase and freebie roundup! Bookmarking right away :)
Great post, lots of good stuff, one small note. When using sh404sef one small annoyance can crop up in the SEF URL where category or section ID number is inserted as part of the path.
Be sure to download the HProuter plugin for J1.5 and install it. This will eliminate the ID from appearing in the SEF URL and make the bots happy!
2 centavos deposited…
Article bookmarked
nice resources for joomla, thanks for great list..
Great article on Joomla! heads up on the links for the AllVideos and The Ultimate Social Bookmarking links – These are mixed up.
Drupal ruls! :)
Excellent collections of themes i like many of them and gonna download.
Your site is attractive and thanks for sharing these many informaiton with us.
I’ve always been a huge fan of Joomla!, awesome to see Template Monster offering such creative templates for it.very cool one.
Awesome collection :-)
Thanks for the share !
i have also seen a cool website , they give templates for free .
check out joompros
Congratulations for the initiative.
This is the list most complete that i saw about joomla.
Sorry if my english is not good, but i’m not exercised it.
thank you
I suggest to use new free PHP IDE Codelobster PHP Edition with special Joomla plug-in.