The Joomla! Extensions Directory ™

A raft of programs and bridges let users sign up for lists to receive newsletters and other one-way mailings. But Mailster is the only real solution I've found to incorporate the interactive discussion functionality of the venerable Mailman listserve into a Joomla site. You simply set up an email account and Mailster will forward emails sent to that address to every list subscriber.

I've used Mailster's non-commercial version for more than a year, and recently purchased the Pro version to accommodate a couple of larger lists (over 50 subscribers) and provide some other functionality. Most functionality is identical in both, including everything mentioned in this review.

Options are broad, and seem to expand with each release. You can limit lists to registered site users, or allow visitors to subscribe. You can limit posters to specific individuals or subgroups, or allow every subscriber to post. A large number of message formatting and sending options as well.

As expected in a pre-1.0 release, a few edges are still rough. There's no way at present to send validating or welcoming emails to new subscribers. The only way to catch signup spam comes via a large-format Captcha; that works fine if you use the signup plugin, but doesn't fit well inside the signup module.

But these are small issues, and Holger's ultra-responsive support more than makes up for them. I found a small bug importing a CSV user file from a freestanding Mailman installation, and he had a fix in my Inbox about two hours later. It's not often that you see support like that.

I've been using this on a couple of sites since 2008, and it's long past time to thank the developer for one of the great, easy-to-use Joomla extensions. Works out of the box, sets up easily if you want to make changes, and more than enough options to keep almost anyone happy, What an extension should be!

Let me emphasize what others have said: anyone who can write and publish a Joomla content article can easily have SimpleCaddy up and running in a few minutes.

But it's so basic that it's almost impossible not to hit one or more of its limitations almost immediately. It's only possible to have one fixed amount for shipping -- any item, any quantity. Only one possible tax rate. Only one option per item (so if you sell a clothing item, you can't choose both color and size for the same item; you'd need to make each color a separate item.)

Bottom line: it's the right tool only in a very limited, specific shopping setup.

Without a doubt, the slickest and easiest way I've found to put together a moderately-sized FAQ on a single page. Great feature: you can run it more than once without conflict in order to separate and headline multiple categories of FAQ, and keep them all on the same page.

Just a note for potential users that this plug-in does not work with images in modules -- even custom HTML modules, but only content items. You also can't "fool" it by using "include content item" to publish a content item to a module position. Too bad!

I needed to give a small group of site users access to certain pages, and didn't want to go through the whole process of creating groups. With this extension, I simply created a menu linking to those pages and published it inside MetaMod, then made the MetaMod module accessible to the specific list of usernames. Simple!

Yes, it's slick and easy to set up for newbies, with lots of tweaks and customization available for techies. And every extension developer should be required to take a look at the online documentation -- line-by-line pictorial instructions on installation and parameter setting.

I've installed this on two sites, and can't say enough about it. Extremely simple to use out of the box with the default parameters, but broad configuration options let you completely customize the appearance of the styled type if you're after a particular look and willing to take some time to play with it. I'm especially a fan of xtypo_quote insert, which is a great graphic tool for breaking up type-heavy pages or emphasizing specific take-away points from a long piece.

A surprisingly simple gallery / slideshow component with a great look. Setup is straightforward and logical; display options are reasonable, if not comprehensive. Wish-list: collaborative additions to galleries from the front-end.

Quick to install and does just what it claims -- but only for content articles. There's no website name on any page that's a listing for a section or category, or another component (calendar, forum, user registration, etc.).

its limitations are inherent in Google Calendar itself, and the wrapping of a completely separate component.

For example, to add an event or comment to a website's shared calendar you have to log in a second time to Google calendar itself, not just the website on which it's wrapped. And as far as I can figure out, it's impossible for group (i.e. website) members to RSVP for an event on the calendar unless they've all been individually invited to attend via Google -- even if they're members of the site.

These issues make it a lot clunkier to use than it otherwise would be. Too bad, because it's a good calendar and a well-done Joomla integration with the modules.