10 Must Have Joomla! Extensions
When setting up a new Joomla! site, there are a couple of extensions that are installed right after the installation of the core Joomla! files, even before I start thinking what the site really is all about. Here’s my list, only existing of completely free extensions!
Website Adminstration
Akeeba Backup (akeebabackup.com)
don’t lose anything of the hard work you devoted to your site, and make sure that you have a “copy” of all your content and of the setup op your site by using this software. Additionally, it’s not just possible t orestore your site tot he same host, but using Akeeba Backup and Akeeba Kickstart, you can move your site from one host to another without even having to install Joomla first. A must have for every Joomla website administrator.
JCE Editor (joomlacontenteditor.net)
You need an editor to enter content to your site, then why won’t you take the best available editor. It has a lot of possibilities out of the box to manage your articles, and you can also buy plugins on this tool for more advanced features.
Cache Cleaner (NoNumber.nl)
To optimze the performance of your site, you have to speed it up using caching. But what if you’re making adaptations to your site and you want to test them immediately? Right, you have to clear the cache. Tried this already using the default process in Joomla? Then you know it’s really tedious. But with this plugin, you get a button on your administrator button bar which gives you the shortcut for this handling. A major timesaver.
Cupdater (compojoom.com)
Vulnerabilities on software can be detected anytime, and it’s not easy to keep informed about all changes that have been made to the core software and the plugins you use on your Joomla site. The cupdater plugin checks if any of the installed software components has an update and it can send you a dialy mail if something needs an update. If you don’t have enough sites to use Watchful.li, this is a very good alternative
Add to Menu (NoNumber.nl)
A plugin which gives you the possibility to add an extra button to your administrator page when editing an article. Instead of having to add your articles to the menu in the Menus page, you can directly add your article to your menu even while editing it. Timesaving.
Admin Tools (akeebabackup.com)
Another tool from the makers of Akeeba Backup, this time focused on system maintenance by the administrator: you have the possibility to bring your site offline for an emergency reason, set a master password for sensitive or dangerous administrator tasks, password protect your administrator site by adding an extra password to .htaccess, and a couple of other tools for database maintenance.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
JCH Optimize (jch-optimize.net)
Website optimization in terms of speed and size is a determinig factor in your search engine rankings, so you better pay some attention tot his. JCH Optimizer is real good at this, even in its free version: you can combine all js in 1 file, as well for css; you can minify all your js and css files, and you can place your JavaScript tot he bottom of your page. Don’t forget to test if nothing is broken if you choose to activate that last option.
OSMap (alledia.com)
Search Ranking Engines always try to crawl your site, but it’s better you help them somewhat by providing a sitemap yourself. The OSMap Component can create a sitemap.xml file based on your menus.
OSMeta (alledia.com)
The last indispensible plugin for the SEO of your site of this list: a very simple tool to fill the metadata for all of your articles in. You can fill the search engine title as well as the description of your article in one overview, divided per 20 articles with a lot of filter options.
Security
Marco's SQL Injection - LFI Interceptor (mmleoni.net)
This is a simple sql injection / local file includes preventer plugin for Joomla. Small, very limited configuration necessary, very effective and you can get an email whenever the plugin gets active because of suspicious actions on your site.
Conclusion
I created a list of only 10 free Joomla extensions which I always install. Because of the limitation to 10, I've surely skipped other really useful ones, so please feel free to let me know your indispensible extensions and plugins.