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Issue 2011 June > Did you know...?

Extending Joomla! 1.6

Written by Jacques Rentzke | Wednesday, 01 June 2011 00:00 | Published in 2011 June
One of the factors that first attracted me to Joomla!® was the number of Free (or low-price) Extensions available. These Extensions (Components, Module, Plugins, etc.) make it possible to build virtually any web site that my clients ask of me.
Extending Joomla! 1.6

The total number of Joomla 1.5 and 1.6 extensions, listed on the Joomla! Extensions Directory (JED) now stand at 7610. (Some feel that we should not have 10 extensions for the same or similar function, but I personally enjoy the choice and freedom it gives me.) I decided to have a look at how the Extension developers are making progress with the support for Joomla 1.6

While I like the new features of Joomla 1.6, and have not even begun to fully explore them, it is also important to me that I can install my favourite extensions on it. I was therefore glad to see that 1.6 support has increased to 23% of the total number of Joomla extensions.

This means that I have a total of 1765 extensions to choose from when using Joomla! 1.6 for new web sites! Even more exciting, was finding that 38 of the 100 most Popular Extensions supports 1.6.

Extensions by Category

  • 405 Components - Mini-application to render the main page body.
  • 1066 Modules - Renders small html blocks on any page.
  • 738 Plugins - Changes code behavior dynamically.
  • 388 Language - Provides language translation.
  • 166 Extension Specific Addon - Specific addon that requires another ext. to operate.
  • 19 Tools - External application that helps with creating or managing Joomla! site.

(an Extension can include a combination of Component, Model, Plugins, and Language files)

Here are the number of Extensions in each Category (including Sub-Categories) that support 1.6

Access & Security: 82
Administration: 15
Ads & Affiliates: 39
Calendars & Events: 32
Clients & Communities: 32
Communication: 41
Contacts & Feedback: 55
Content Sharing: 25
Core Enhancements: 42
Directory & Documentation: 35
e-Commerce: 42
Editing: 32
Extension Specific: 175
Financial: 19
Hosting & Servers: 6
Languages: 32
Living: 28
Maps & Weather: 64
Migration & Conversion: 3
Miscellaneous: 16
Mobile: 9
Multimedia: 6
News Display: 123
News Production: 24
Photos & Images: 232
Search & Indexing: 19
Site Management: 85
Social Web: 175
Sports & Games: 12
Structure & Navigation: 74
Style & Design: 81
Tools: 22
Vertical Markets: 27

Many thanks to the Extension developers who have already put in the effort to support the latest version of Joomla! and to those who are in the process of upgrading and testing.

Tip: to find extensions in a Category that support Joomla! 1.6, use the Advanced Search link

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Jacques Rentzke

Jacques Rentzke

I specialize in building and supporting web sites on the Joomla! CMS. I'm the owner of New Web Consulting, and Vice-President of the board of Open Source Matters, Inc.

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Comments (4)

  • avatar
    • 1
    • 0
    Linda Dolente
    2011-06-02 11:53:28

    This is a great article, but it doesn't quite tell the whole story of how many important extensions have given indefinite timelines as to when they will be Joomla 1.6 compatible. Specifically, as of this date, the following extensions are NOT compatible with Joomla 1.6:

    JCE Content Editor (Component)
    JCal Pro Calender (Component)
    Glossary (Component)
    AiContact Safe ((Component))
    X-Map (Component)
    AllVideos Reloaded (Component/Plugin)
    Extended Menu (Module)
    DocMan (Component)
    Mobile Joomla (Component)
    Filtered News (Module)
    Smart Bookmarker
    Sobi
    Virtuemart

    P.S. Why are the images not showing on this page?

    ReplyQuote
  • avatar
    • 0
    • 0
    Lars Eggert
    2011-06-20 16:36:52

    well, at least X-Map and JCE have working versions for 1.6.
    Even they might be RC or beta .. they work pretty well.
    Sobi has SobiPro for 1.6
    so it's not that bad at all and there are alternatives for mainly everything that work in 1.6.

    And the importance of an extension is different for each other.
    But as they are Open Source .. you can make them 1.6 or get someone doing it for you.
    Not a problem at all.

    I for myself just hope the step to 1.7 will not force me recoding all extensions again *worried*

    ReplyQuote
  • avatar
    • 0
    • 0
    Rich Taft
    2011-06-13 14:42:31

    With the Recent announcement of 1.7 going GA in July, 1.6 going EOL in August and 1.5 going EOL early next year I would have thought that the compatibility % would be in the high 80% by now. With the major players at 100%

    It also looks like a lot of the developers are taking the "Opportunity" to start charging a fee to get the 1.6 compatible version of their currently free software, with some even charging a subscription fee to be able to continue to get future updates.

    I too was attracted to Joomla as its user community supported architecture fits very nicely with many of the non-profit organizations that I support. But if these fees keep increasing I may not be able to utilize a lot of the added features that we currently enjoy. I am all in favor of a "donate if you like/use it" mentality and have done so out of my own pocket. But with everything starting to cost more and more I and these organizations may have to look for alternatives

    ReplyQuote
  • avatar
    • 0
    • 0
    wardha-web
    2011-07-01 11:12:46

    J1.6 Is way cooler than its predecessor, in design,framework,ACl,etc.

    But 1 thing that is making me stay with J1.5.x is that many of components/extensions, which I use, are still in design precess.

    So eagerly waiting for my developers update. :)

    ReplyQuote
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