The Joomla! Extensions Directory ™

My search for the perfect CCK for joomla would be over if Zoo used Joomla's native content system like Jseblod or Flexicontent. Still for now I rate Zoo at the top of the heap. For two reasons

A) It shows that Zoo is developed by a well known name in Joomla templates and extensions. It boasts a superior interface and is fairly intuitive .
B) Although all CCks have complexity and can be hard to master Zoo has extensive documentation. this might seem like a simple thing but unfortunately quite a few CCKs out there for Joomla seem to care little for how users learn how to get what they need out of the extension.

Using Zoo there is very little you can't get your head around to create compellign websites. I just wish it didn't create another layer of content distinct from Jooml'a default content system

There is little sense in trying to use a CCK if yoy can't figure out how to use it

Though this extension has promise its been mostly unfulfilled. It continues to be one of the hardest apps to master due to an unexplainable continued lack of good documentation. Although it is relatively simple to setup new content types getting to diplay them is hampered by a very archaic convuluted and counter intuitive templating system. In short for most people who want to actually build sites that look good there are better alternatives such as K2 and Zoo. Unfortunately as others have pointed out the community behind Jseblod leaves much to be desired. Many posts go unanswered or the answers are defensive or lack detail. As most people know the community behind an open source software is vital. Finally there are often promises of changes and new versions but the developer refuses to abide by the normal conventions of beta, Release candidate etc so releases to fix these problems continue to be overly buggy though claiming to be release or release candidate worthy. If you are planning to use this software please be aware of this break from convention particularly if you are attempting to install to a production ready site (as an RC or official release implies it is ready for). Jseblod is one of the few CCKs for joomla that use the native content system and for that reason is easier to integrate with other extensions but the price is too high if you actually want to use joomla to build sites easily.