Various Types of Joomla! Add-ons

Description: Templates are additions to Joomla! that affect the appearance and formatting of a Joomla! website. They generally include HTML code, image files, and style sheets that define how the website will look when it is loaded in a web browser. When a web browser loads a Joomla! web page, Joomla! takes the template code and inserts content from the website into the web page as defined by the template in various locations.

Because the appearance of a Joomla! website is defined by the template it is using, its appearance can be easily (and dramatically) changed by using a different template while keeping the same content.

Description: Components are additions to Joomla! that add new functionality to a website. Components usually load their in their own web page taking up the main content area of the page and provide access to a certain type of content or functionality.

Uses: Applications of components include photo albums, message boards, file download repositories, event calendars, and online shopping carts, among many others.

Description: Joomla! modules add a specific functionality to a page. They can stand alone or they can extend the functionality of a component. Stand alone modules tend to display simple things on a page. Some modules draw information from the Joomla! website's database. Some modules do not stand alone and are designed to work with components.

Unlike components, modules can appear on any page of a Joomla! website in module positions, which are usually along the edges of the main content area.

Uses: Example uses of modules include showing links to popular or recently updated articles, displaying simple quotations, showing login id and password fields, showing thumbnail versions of recently added images from photo album components, inserting advertisements into the page, and showing hit counters and other website statistics.

Also known as: Mambots

Description: Plugins are additions to Joomla! that change the usual way that content appears on a Joomla! web page. When a plugin is enabled, content is filtered through the plugin before it appears on the web page. One simple use of plugins is to search for and replace certain key words that may appear in the content.

Uses: Plugins are used to insert images into content items, replace certain words with rollover links that include their definitions, to paginate long articles, and to translate website content into other languages.