The Joomla! Extensions Directory ™

I had been using QContacts for a long time on websites I built. While it worked better than the core Contact extension in Joomla, it was still very limiting.

Then I stumbled upon Contacts Enhanced. I looked at the demos and decided to buy the extension. I could not be happier with the purchase!

First of all, there is integrated Google mapping, built on the 3rd generation Google API (no key required!). And the display of the map within the contact form looks incredible. Time and care was taken to ensure the map looked good, and wasn't just inserted as an afterthought.

The next powerful feature is the ability to add custom fields to your contact forms. Not only this, but Douglas took the next logical step by allowing you to designate fields based on the contact category! What does this mean for you? It means you can use this extension for FAR more than just a basic contact page. Douglas has included most of the field types you would want or need.

Another bonus is the ability to create custom HTML or plain text email confirmations - again based on contact category. So I can have one nicely formatted HTML thank-you email go out to the submitter of the form for one type of contact, and a completely different one for other contact types. Get in and play around with this and you will see what a fantastic feature this is!

Better than all of these, however, is the support from Douglas. I posted a feature request in his forum, looking for a Contacts Enhanced advlink plugin for JCE. In less than 2 hours Douglas had emailed me the plugin for me to test, and told me to donate to him if I wished! Amazing service!!!

Please, if you are struggling with other contact extensions on the JED, stop wasting your time. Buy this extension and you will NOT be sorry you did. It is WELL worth the money!!

Rick

A simple solution to a nagging issue! These are the types of extensions I really LOVE to come across. Something simple that solves a problem - without creating more issues!! Thanks to the developer for this much-needed little gem.

The team at Akeeba have put out another gem. Not content with providing the ULTIMATE backup solution for the Joomlasphere, they have decided to tackle another administrative headache.

The extension was absolutely simple to roll out to my sites. And, just like Backup, it JUST WORKED!!! Exactly what the developers promised is what was delivered.

Whether you administer one J! site or 100, you MUST HAVE this extension. Many, many thanks to the dedicated group of developers at Akeeba!

If I told you how many of the menu extensions I have tried over the years, you probably would not believe me. The ones I tried either did WAY too much (and did nothing well), or dis WAY too little. Both were useless to me.

This extension worked the first time, exactly how the developer said it would. No template changes necessary, no CSS to screw around with. And, best of all, uses the built in Joomla menus to populate itself. So many of the other extensions in the category require the user to manually create an XML file with the menu options and links. Tell me, what good is that? Doesn't that go against why we are all here using Joomla in the first place?

Well, Hardik got it right with this one! Installed the mod, selected my existing menu, set my colors (includes a color picker - YEAH!!), and published the mod. Looked and worked perfectly the very first time!!

Don't waste time with other extensions in this category. Spend the paltry amount Hardik is asking and be up and running in NO TIME AT ALL!!

Thanks, Hardik!!!

Rick

I have been using JEvents for several years (way back to Joomla 1.0.x) in my site development. I have seen and tried numerous other calendar components, but not one can match JEvents in any category - functionality, ease of use, solid and clean code, customizability, continued development, and last but NOT least - developer support. All this, and the core component and modules are FREE!!!

JEvents has become one of the few extensions that I install in nearly every site I develop. The only time I do not use JEVents is because my client did not need a calendar. The simple reason is that this extension JUST PLAIN WORKS as intended, right away. No tweaking, no messing around, just install and go.

The administrative user interface is very clean and easy to understand. You will have no trouble setting up a very robust calendar for your site without even reading a support doc. The configuration options are many, but the most standard options are already set, leading to expedites roll-out. An extremely helpful feature is the interface between the core component and the Latest Events and MiniCal Modules. You can set all display defaults for each of these modules in the configuration, making the addition of these modules on different pages very easy to manage. All of the basic display settings are already configured - all you need to do is choose which calendar categories to display. Simple! You can, of course, change the settings at the module end as well, overriding the config defaults. Another win!

While this core extension is free, the meager cost of a subscription with JEvents is absolutely the best money you will spend. The add-ons available to subscribers are extremely powerful and well worth the cost. Please, please support Geraint so that he can continue providing this necessary component!!

Speaking of Geraint, I would like to address support for JEvents. I would be surprised if you could find a more responsive, accurate, or KIND developer of any Joomla extension. At least I have not in 4 years. No matter what idiotic mistake I've made (and I've made my share), Geraint always guided me through a solution without condescension. If you think this is the norm, you have not been around the Joomla community long enough! My queries in the forums are answered so quickly that I am unsure if Geraint even sleeps!!

To sum up, this extension is the best of its kind you will find - PERIOD. The developer is extremely active and committed to this product, and is continually adding new features. Do yourself a huge favor and buy a subscription at the JEvents site. Download, install, and feel the love!!!

Rick

Let me start by saying that I have been using Acajoom for years, and never found a good or even decent replacement. That was until I tried AcyMailing!

This is one fantastic package! An important feature for me is the ability to create different lists, then develop newsletters that can send to one list or a combination of lists. This was sorely lacking in Acajoom, but is integrated perfectly here.

Another huge benefit of AcyMailing is the front-end mailing interface. Simply put - it just works, and works beautifully! I am waiting on some enhancements due in a release on Dec 8 that will add the ability to tag Joomla content (which can be done in the back-end now), but other than that this is an excellent product.

After testing it on the demo site, I rushed out and purchased the Enterprise edition. I am not sorry I did. The support in the forums is unbelievably fast, accurate, and FRIENDLY - something you don't often see. The developers actually care about their client's experience.

If you have been using Acajoom (even the Pro version) and are sick and tired of the inherent limitations and slow support - take my advice and try AcyMailing.

I can confirm what other reviewers have said. This plugin is incredibly useful and works absolutely perfectly. I have a school district client, with each building in the district having their own area of the site. Each building has similar modules, but each module point to their own content. Without this plugin, I was struggling to find which module went where (i.e. - 8 modules all titled "Upcoming Events"). You get the drift. Now, I can easily describe my modules, making my job (and my end user's) SO much easier.

Many, many thanks to Bigshot for this AWESOME plugin!!!!!

Rick

This extension just saved me (and therefore, my client) a whole bunch of time. I was trying to figure out how I was going to pre-populate their user and CB tables with their existing data. I figured I'd have to write several queries and push data all over to get it to work.

That's when I found CBJuice. It did ALL of the work for me, and did it absolutely perfectly. All I had to do was name my fields in my TXT import file to match the user/CB field names and CBJuice did the rest. Perfectly imported and set up all of my custom CB data!

Not only that, but it allowed me to define a custom email to automatically be sent to each user imported, letting them know exactly what was done. This was perfect, as it allowed me to give the users specific instructions pertaining to my client's wishes.

A very BIG thank you to the developers of CBJuice!!!

If you have any history using CB, you know that the biggest downside to it is the amateurish look of the profile pages. Go to any CB site, and you'll know it right away by the look of the profile pages. And changing those pages is no easy task. That was until I purchased this extension.

Profile Pro takes a very ingenious approach. Rather than trying to mash-up and edit the core CB templates, they went the route of utilizing a standard Joomla article to allow customization of the profile pages. So, if you're comfortable with creating Joomla articles, you can use this extension quite easily.

They have made the process extremely simple - create an article to be used as your CB profile page. An included plugin gives you a button right in your text editor to select and insert CB fields. Just set up the page the way you want, and use the button to insert the fields. That's it!

The included CB plugin will provide a tab so you can insert your custom template into the profile. This is the best - you can still maintain all of the CB tabs you want! Granted, they still may not look as good as you'd like, but at least they are there (an upcoming release will allow for the insertion of standard CB tabs as well - according to the developers, so keep your eyes peeled).

Oh, and don't forget the fact that you can set up any number of profile views and even allow your users to choose the one they want! I've seen other reviews about allowing end users to customize their own layouts. This does not allow for that functionality. However, I did not want that.

Once I downloaded this extension, it took me literally 10 minutes to get two beautiful templates set up and running on my site. Now my profile pages do not look like every other CB profile page. Many thanks to the development team for a much-needed, well conceived and executed product. If you are at all serious about using CB on your sites, even just one site, then do yourself a favor and purchase Profile Pro.

I have been using this extension for a long time. Still do, even on new sites. Has its quirks, like anything else, but is really a rock-solid extension.

What has me concerned is that their site has been down for an extremely long time, and does not show any signs of that changing. Has active development of this product ceased? Will we ever see the site again? If we cannot get answers to these questions, it may be time to find something else.

You won't find an easier extension for generating a site map. Installs and configures in seconds, plus it provides the ability to add plugins for other components. Very nice work!

Although I've spent years in the Joomla world, including loads of installs of CB, I had never had the need for a PMS system. That changed last week.

A new client had a requirement for integrated PMS, so I spent some time looking around the JED and stumbled upon uddeIM. With all of the great reviews, I decided to give it a try. I am very glad that I did.

The installation was clean and seamless. There are loads of configuration options, but everything is so well documented and described that I was able to blow right through it to get exactly what I wanted.

Integrating with CB is absolutely mindless, and as it comes with all the plugins you'll need - right in the single download. Again, everything is documented so well you should have no problems.

I have paid substantial money for extensions that did not provide half of this level of professional development. If you want integrated PMS for your site, you have GOT to give uddeIM the first try. You will not need to go anywhere else! Thanks to the developers!

Unfortunately, I would have to agree with cefnlly. I also found the food extension items buried all over the code, in addition to other snippets

For the price, I did not expect robust docs or instant support. All I ask for is an extension that does what it says.

I have spent the better part of a couple of weeks trying to get this to look/work correctly, but I'm afraid I have to abandon ship. Even after the last 'update' from Nuno, I still continue to have the same issues.

Simple things are just not handled. For example, if a user inputs a price with a separator in it (i.e. 15,000), then the search by price feature will not work. Prices need to be entered without the ',' or other separator. Of course, the system does not TELL you this, you'll get this surprise later. So, you say, just enter the price without the separator. You can do just that - if you want your front-end product display to look amateurish. It's a no-win.

The component does not play nice with many templates, and I could not even get it to perform well with the developer's own.

Simply put, please be VERY careful about paying money for this.

Oh, and my forum posts didn't receive adequate answers, even when they received a response. As cefnlly says, take a look through the forums and see the sort of answers Nuno gives. He can be extremely condescending - so be warned.

These guys just keep doing it! This little beauty does exactly what it says. Integrates real-time chat into your site with no overhead on your server. Plus, the customizable available/unavailable module is nice - easy to integrate into your site look and feel.

Not sure what Kendrascahefer is complaining about. I have been a member with Shape5 for a while now, and their site is not difficult to navigate. And to complain about signing up for accounts? Please! This is all offered totally FREE. If you want to take a few less steps, then PAY FOR SOMETHING. And, sorry to say, there is certain code which needs to be installed so this can all work so smoothly.

In the end, this extension is wonderful, and is yet another testament to Shape5, who continually seem to fly under the radar for reasons I just do not understand. Their entire offering is brilliant!

If you are using Joomla, than you need this extension. Period. Do not even attempt to use any other editor. Every time I think the developers have done the best they could, they prove me wrong.

JCE is still under constant development, and bugs don't last long with this group. Routine releases correct any reported issues, with nary a hiccup.

And if you're still using just the free component/plugin, you are missing the true value of JCE. Fork over the measly subscription ($20 per year right now) and get hold of some awesome plugins. Pay these guys to keep up the development, because this extension is worth so much more.

In the end, you and your users/clients will be much, much happier with your end product if you integrate JCE. Thanks to the developers on this one!!!

Great work here! I love it. One of the most intriguing extensions I've seen in a while. Sure makes development easier. Thanks!!!

As has become the norm with Shape5 extensions, this one is fantastic. Easy to configure and beautifully styled. Don't mess with other weather extensions, just use this one!

Mike has done an outstanding job on this plugin. Absolutely perfect! Enough said.

With the extremely poor implementation of ACL's in Joomla!, even in 1.5.x, this module is a MUST. Does everything the developer says and more. So many other extensions focus on showing/hiding content, but I usually had a need in the past to show/hide modules. Now I can - without any code changes or hacks (which is what I resorted to in the past). You NEED this extension.

Great job by the developer!!!!!