Our new Joomlashack group on Facebook has been growing quickly with some really helpful posts.
One question in particular got some great responses: "Do you have a really cool extension that you install on most sites?"
I specified we were not looking for famous extensions that everyone knows, but something that's almost a little secret.
My contribution was ImageRecycle. It automatically optimizes the size of our images when we upload them. ImageRecycle definitely makes our sites faster and other members of the group agreed, including Marcel who uses it on 60 sites.
If you have your own recommendation, let us know on this Facebook thread or in the comments below.
#1 and #2. Latest News Enhanced and CoalaWeb News
Thanks to Laura, Lisa and Elias for these recommendations. Here is the JED listing for Latest News Enhanced and here's the listing for CoalaWeb News.
I put these two extensions together because they are very similar. Both allow you to display your Joomla articles in a variety of different ways. They are great for building homepages and blogs.
If you're a Joomlashack user, you have access to Shack Article Layouts which is similar to these two. Olivier Buisard, the developer of Latest News Enhanced, spoke at the Joomlashack Conference last year.
#3. Automatic Intro Image
Thanks to Brendan for this call. Here's the JED link for Automatic Intro Image.
Brendan's feedback was, "I found this little plugin a while ago which I've started to include as standard. It automatically generates a smaller image for the standard "intro image" from the full image field in the article. It's great."
#4. ochResponsiveImages
Thanks to Tracey and Jim for this one. Here's the JED link for ochResponsiveImages.
This extension helps you show the correct image size for different devices. It stops your site from showing huge images to mobile viewers, or tiny images to desktop viewers. You can configure a set of breakpoints for devices you want to support. The plugin will then create an optimized image for each breakpoint.
This extension is €10 per year.
#5. ALDEF
Thanks to Chris for this one. Here's the Github link for ALDEF.
This plugin allows Google Fonts to be downloaded and installed on your own web server. This is great for GPDR-compliance. You can use Google Fonts, but you will never need to make calls to Google's servers.
#6. R2H Image Manager
Thanks to William for this one. Here's the JED link for R2H Image Manager.
William's feedback is, "My contribution to this topic is R2H Image Manager. You can move pics and rename them in the image manager without having to worry about links being broken as it automatically rewrites the links for you." This extension can also list all unused images and delete them.
This extension is currently $39 per year.
#7. Google Structured Data
Thanks to Dave for this recommendation. Here's the JED listing for Google Structured Data.
Dave says, "It cleans up all the markup for Google and has great options for local business websites, etc."
If you're a Joomlashack user, you have access to Shack Open Graph, which is similar to these two.
#8. Improved Registration
Thanks to Michael for this recommendation. Here's the JED link for Improved Registration.
With this extension you control user registrations by creating rules. For example, you can block all users with an email address of a certain domain. Or you can automatically assign users to a user group based on their email address and username. The extension can also simplify the Joomla registration form by removing unneeded fields such as "repeat email" and "repeat password".
This extension is currently $29 per year.
#9. Seblod
Thanks to Luca for this recommendation. Here's the JED link for SEBLOD.
Seblod is a CCK (Content Construction Kit). It allows you to create new content types while remaining compatible with all Joomla extensions. You can create showcase catalogs, plus directories, calendars, or even whole applications. You can compare it with an even more flexible version of K2 or FLEXIcontent.
#10. Ignite Gallery
Thanks to Laura for this recommendation. Here's the JED link for Ignite Gallery.
Ignite is a full-featured image gallery that costs $25 per year. It has a ton of cool gallery effects and can show videos. It's responsive, and the images can be swiped on mobile devices.
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