Tim Krause - PhD

Joomla FAQs - Components

Thereare enough really crappy free components, that I won't do a worst-of list to go along with this one. This is truly a best of. Order matters. Want to make the list? This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and let me know what you have. On the one hand, we test with non-profit organizations and student developers. But you also need to get past my review first.

• Virtumart - Don't get any ideas guys: I'd pay money for this. Seriously. I paid $60 for a Quiz component just because I wanted the intellectual exercise. If I can make money with such a robust solution that gives me no troubles, why wouldn't I pay for it? Highest praise I can offer.
• Kunena - Need a forum? I'm impressed and can't find anything better. I can manage categories/subcategories, who can post, who needs approval, etc. etc. The options seem endless.
• Community Builder - Technically, CB should also make the commercial list, but how can you go wrong with the free version. If you need advanced membership management, and Joomla doesn't do that much here, you'll be looking for CommunityBuilder before you know it. Absolutely amazing. Yeah, I paid for the latest release, so it's almost unfair to list it here.
• Docman 1.4 - The only real downside to document management? You gotta run Joomla in legacy mode. Not a problem for now, but you also want to be ready for Joomla 1.6. Right?
• JoomlaPack - This is a beautiful, configurable backup component that ideally uses an AJAX interface. I have absolutely no criticism of this one. So why at the bottom of the list? I host with Rochen which performs automatic backups that serve my needs. But if you're developing a new site and need to pursue an aggressive backup schedule, JoomlaPack is literally the only way to go.

Given my caveat above, also please note that I'm an independent academic. I don't profit from my list.

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