This is one of two Akeeba extensions I install on every site. There are many combinations and levels of security you can implement with Admin Tools. It is a fairly user friendly extension, but I do recommend reading the documentation to get the most out of it. If you don't know what you are doing, you can lock yourself out of the site. Not a fault of the extension, but of proceeding without reading. Thank you for all the hard work, Akeeba!
One of my favorite WSYWIG editors is JCE. The first thing I do with a new Joomla installation is load in this editor.
I love the way you can upload images with JCE. I also like the DocMan plug-in for JCE. Linking to articles is also very easy because you get dropdown boxes to select either the specific article or the existing link to the destination.
This is one of my favorite components. There are so many types of websites that can benefit from a calendar on their website. JCal Pro/ JCal Client is a great solution. They've released a beta version that now allows you to have multiple calendars. Maybe your site is for your church and you have many departments with multiple events. You can now separate these out so they're less cluttered. If you add on a separate Access Control Level component you could even regulate who sees what on your calendar.
Let me tell you how much I LOVE this component. I was hesitant to upgrade Montano Designs to Joomla! 1.5 because of the utter hassle I thought it would be to convert all of my content and links. Not so with MTW Migrator. It was a simple as creating a new installation of Joomla in a sub-folder, installing the component and running it. If you use Community Builder or VirtueMart you'll need to install those prior to running the tool. You'll also need to install any modules you have on your old site you want converted to the new site. I didn't use that option, but keep in mind that the module has to work in 1.5. Otherwise it won't do you any good to pull the information over. This tool doesn't install the old modules, it only tells Joomla where to put them.
A security side note: It is wise to uninstall any non-core components, templates and modules if you are not using them. Developers try to make them secure, but the bad folks out there are always trying to find a way to exploit websites.
Super powerful manager for all of those modules and articles, plus much, much more. This extension is listed in the Joomla Extension Directory as a "Core Enhancement" for a reason. Peter Van Westen is a Joomla Genius.
The extension manager is all you need to install to get the full power and benefit of all NoNumber Elements. Install the component, then select from the list of available extensions to install. I like the module manager, articles anywhere, modules anywhere, db replacer, cache cleaner, and better preview. My Favorite is What, Nothing!
| Currently there are 12 NoNumber! Extensions in the  Top 100Joomla! Extensions |
This is another of my favorite extensions. The TinyMCE editor that comes standard with any Joomla installation is so very limited and I immediately replace it with JCE on every site I build. JCE is free, but for about $30 you get all of their plug-ins for a year. The plug-ins I use are:
The feature I couldn't live without is the ability to link to existing menu links or content. The links are relative, so turning on or off search engine friendly urls is reflected in the JCE link, as well as moving an article or renaming a menu item.