Components are larger extensions that produce the major content for your site. Each component has one or more "views" that control how content is displayed.In the Joomla! administrator there are additional extensions suce as Menus, Redirection, and the extension managers.
The content component (com_content) is what you use to write articles. It is extremely flexible and has the largest number of built in views. Articles can be created an edited from the front end, making content the easiest component to use to create your site content. Help
The contact component provides a way to provide contact forms and information for your site or to create a complex directory that can be used for many different purposes. Help
The search component proviedes basic search functionality for the information contained in your core components. Many third part extensions also can be searched by the search component. Help
News Feeds (com_newsfeeds) provides a way to organize and present news feeds. News feeds are a way that you present information from another site on your site. For example, the joomla.org website has numerous feeds that you an incorporate on your site. You an use menus to present a single feed, a list of feeds in a category, or or a list of all feed categories. Help
The users extension lets your site visitors register, login and logout, change their passwords and other information, and recover lost passwords. In the administrator it allows you to create, block and manage users and create user groups and access levels. Help
Please note that some of the user views will not display if you are not logged in to the site.
Weblinks (com_weblinks) is a component that provides a structured way to organize external links and present them in a visually attractive, consistent and informative way. Help
All components also are used in the administrator area of your website. In addition to the ones listed here, there are components in the administrator that do not have direct front end displays, but do help shape your site. The most important ones for most users are
- Media Manager
- Extensions Manager
- Menu Manager
- Configuration
- Banners
Media Manager
The media manager component lets you upload and insert images into content throughout your site. Optionally, you can enable the flash uploader which will allow you to to upload multiple images. Help
Extensions Manager
The extensions manager lets you install, update, uninstall and manage all of your extensions. The extensions manager has been extensively redesigned for Joomla! 1.6, although the core install and uninstall functionality remains the same as in Joomla 1.5. Help
Menu Manager
The menu manager lets you create the menus you see displayed on your site. It also allows you to assign modules and template styles to specific menu links. Help
Global Configuration
The global configuration is where the site administrator configures things such as whether search engine friendly urls are enabled, the site meta data (descriptive text used by search engines an indexers) and other functions. For many beginning users simply leaving the settings on default is a good way to begin, although when your site is ready for the public you will want to change the meta data to match its content. Help
Banners
The banners component provides a simple way to display a rotating image in a module and, if you wish to have advertising, a way to track the number of times an image is viewed and clicked. Help
