The intent of this plugin is deceptively simple: Allow PHP (or Javascript) to run in selected positions on a page. Why would you want to? Imagine being able to tap into the Joomla database to display a menu wherever you want. With some coding knowledge you could build a home page with images that display menus when the user hovers over them. You can't do that with Joomla alone. In fact, this plugin lets you tap into the full power of Joomla and the database in any way you want.

With this great power comes great responsibility. To make any use of Jumi you need to be comfortable with writing PHP code and accessing MySQL databases. Joomla does provide some nice classes to make this easier, and the few examples on the site show how this can be done. Once you're comfortable with that, Jumi has the potential to replace many different modules and plugins. In fact, I believe it is possible to write your own page templateing system using Jumi, at least on a page by page basis.

So who is Jumi for? Not for the Joomla beginner who hasn't worked with PHP and MySQL before. But if you're comfortable writing your own code, Jumi lets you pry open Joomla's hood and work directly with the engine, allowing you to make Joomla sing to your own tune. All without hacking any core files.

I've looked at a number of Joomla forms components, and to be fair there are some good ones out there. I kept going back to FacileForms for one simple reason: the WYSIWYG from editor. Every other form component that I've tried has you enter form questions as a list, and then displays them in that same list. I couldn't find a way to put the questions next to the form fields.

Not so with FacileForms. As I entered labels and fields I was able to put them anywhere on the form. This let me group fields, put fields side by side, or organize the form any way I wanted. Better yet, with the addition of some code, I was able to have multiple pages.

Let's talk about the code issue for a moment. Several other reviews have remarked that you need to know PHP or JavaScript to use FacileForms. This is true, to a point. For example, to add a Submit button you need to create the button, then add an action to it. The action is a script, but a non-programmer would simply select the action from a drop-down list. Many actions are preprogrammed, including moving from page to page in a form.

With a minimum of effort, even beginning programmers can create a script that will show a thank-you message after a form has been submitted. FacileForms even has an option to generate a command framework that you can customize for your needs.

Advanced programmers can use PHP and JavaScript to do just about anything they could want: Accessing or saving data in a database, pre-filling fields, showing or hiding fields based on user selections, even modifying the structure of the form on the fly. Very impressive.

Let's touch on the negatives for a bit, however. While FacileForms allows you to put a form just about anywhere, it likes to run in an iframe. In fact, if you have more than one form on a page you'll have to let it use an iframe. It also generates a lot of code, wrapping every field in a div, the whole form in a div, and then nesting everything in an iframe. It also seems to take me longer than I would like to create a form, since I need to create a label and then create the field. Other form components allow me to do both in a single step.

These negatives do have upsides, however. The use of divs really allows the designer lots of styling options, from each field all the way up to the whole form. Labels can be HTML code, so the text on the form can use any template style. And creating the label and field separately gave me unbelievable design freedom.

Yes, FacileForms can be confusing if you get hung up on all the programming options. But there is a wealth of information on the site that will ease you into the complexities of the system. And if you don't need that kind of power, FacileForms makes it very easy to create simple forms.

With this kind of ease of use as an entry point and available power for growth, FacileForms is one of the best form components for Joomla, and possibly one of the premier Joomla components.

This is the first commercial extension I've purchased for my site, and I must say that I'm impressed. Due to hosting limitations I haven't been able to use the full functionality but I'm working with my hosting company to allow Cron backups.

I did have problems initially, however. I read the instructions carefully but was unable to back up any files. There were a number of reasons for this, mostly due to how my hosting company had set up my account. Despite this, the developer was very gracious as he worked with me to resolve the issue. I did have to work to transfer information between the hosting company and the developer, but in the end the issues were all resolved and I was able to successfully back up my site. I never had to wait longer then two hours for a reply from the developer, and often they came much sooner. In fact, on one occasion he sent me a follow-up email with more information and something else I could try.

One reason my backup was ultimately successful was the number of backup options that are available. I ended up using the most manual process, but even that is no worse then clicking two links. If you have better control over your hosting account than I have, you can go so far as to fully automate the backups through a Cron job and speed up the process by using server utilities to tar or zip your files. Even my manual backup, with over 4000 files, took less than ten minutes. Another option that I will be testing is the ability to have finished backups automatically FTPed to another server for off-site storage. There is even the option to age backups and automatically remove the older ones.

Cloning is another nice feature. If you need to move your Joomla site to another host, simply clone it. The current site will be backed up, FTPed to the new host, and once you've entered the MySQL login information the backup will be automatically restored on the new host. This sounds like a great way to launch a live site after it's been developed in a test area.

Based on the number of backup and restore options, and especially the outstanding customer support, I would highly recommend JoomlaCloner.