Do you want to remove the meta tag “generator” from your Joomla site?  It’s very easy to do.


In this post I will show you how to do it with a plugin, and also how to do it with a single line of code.

Why do I want to remove it?

Ideally you do not want large amonts of unnecessary code in your website. You do not want to make it harder for Google and search engines to find what they need–you want to make it easier. Now I understand, this one line of code isn’t exactly a ton of bloat, but it all adds up over time. A bit of code here, an extra meta there, and all of a sudden you have a huge index file that takes ages to load. Keep things tidy.

Give me a plugin.  Code scares me.

By far the easiest way is to use the Joomla plugin ByeByeGenerator.  Install the plugin, enable it, verify the meta tag is removed in the source code and you are done.  Not only is the method the easiest, it will work for any version of Joomla.  1.5, 1.6, 1.7 & 2.5.  This method is also persistent, so if you change your templates a lot or do any updates, this plugin will always work and never get overridden.  But what if you are a purist?

I don’t want another plugin, just tell me how to do it manually

The method to removing the meta name generator tag for Joomla varies between versions.  On Joomla 2.5 you can simply add this code to your index.php file in your template.

JFactory::getDocument()->setGenerator('');

Put it just after the line //no direct access.  This method will vary greatly on what template you are using and from what company, so I cannot get too detailed.  For example YooThemes has a different template structure then RocketThemes.  You will have to noodle around a bit yourself in order to do this.  The main advantage of editing the template code instead of installing a plugin is less overhead.  The fewer plugins you have, the faster your site will be, and queries add up fast.

Conclusion

This is one of the few cases I’d suggest using a plugin over editing code.  This plugin totally removes the meta name generator tag, installs in no time at all and get’s the job done.  I use this plugin personally for the Joomla sites I build.  I heartily recommend it.

The Joomla Project announced on December 22 the newest Beta version for our favorite CMS, Joomla 2.5.  This will be the second release since converting over to their new six month release cycle.  In this article I will outline what you can expect from this new version, how to upgrade to it, and why this version matters to you.

What is the Joomla 2.5 Beta for?

This beta is being released to allow the public to test and play with this new version. Developers can install it and test their extensions to make sure they work. Website administrators can download it and test the upgrade process from Joomla 1.7 to Joomla 2.5.0 on their development sites.
It’s important to note that this version should not be used on a live or a production site. Changes are still being made and running beta scripts such as this on a active site is poor form. Test it, play with it, try and break it, but don’t use it for Grandmas new muffin website.

I like my muffins fresh out of SVN

When will Joomla 2.5 come out of beta?

The Joomla Project people have stated that it will go stable around January 10th, 2012. New releases will come out every six months after that. ex: 2.5.1, 2.5.2 and so on. Of course these are not exact dates, remember Joomla is coded by volunteers.

Will Upgrading from Joomla 1.7 to Joomla 2.5 be hard?

Nope. Remember back a few months ago when Joomla 1.7 was released and we talked about it’s features? The most important new option was upgrades via the administration area. You can safely upgrade from Joomla 1.7 to Joomla 2.5 via a click of a button. Obviously you should test this in your sandbox first and not on a live site, but it will drastically speed up your upgrade process.

How can I upgrade Joomla 1.5 to Joomla 2.5?

There is no upgrade path from J1.5 -> J2.5. You will have to migrate. There are a variety of changes from J1.5 to newer versions including changes to tables and the ACL (access control list) so a migration is the only way. If you are comfortable with migrating from different Joomla releases you probably have a system in place. If not, you can try out this extension. I personally have not tried it, but it seems pretty straightforward. Take all the usual precautions and backup your databases and files before doing something like this. Try it on your development site first and test the process before doing it on a live site.

Will iJoomla extensions work on Joomla 2.5?

We plan to keep up with the development and convert all the products that are 1.7 to 2.5.

Have you installed Joomla 2.5 beta yourself?

Let us know in the comments what your experiences have been and if you had any problems. We would love to know what you think.

Joomla Social Ad Targeting with JomSocial & Ad Agency

We get lots of suggestions from our customers for features and Joomla enhancements that they’d like to see. We try to act on those suggestions whenever possible.

We’ve now acted on the request that we see most often.

We’ve integrated  JomSocial with Ad Agency!

This revolutionary version of Ad Agency will help you take your advertising program to the next level — guaranteed!

Why JomSocial?

Let’s face it, since JomSocial came out, other community components for Joomla have been put to shame! JomSocial is comprehensive, powerful and its developers keep adding cool new features all the time. When it comes to Joomla and Social, JomSocial is the best solution around.

Target Any Ad Based on JomSocial Profile Info

• Want to show your ads only to women?
• Want to show your ads only to people with a college degree?
• Want to show your ads only to women over 30 with a college degree?

Easy! Simple! Done.

It’s called “Social Media Targeting.”

What is Social Media Targeting ?

Social Media Targeting lets you use all of the demographic data available on social media sites to shoot your ads directly to the people most likely to buy.

From Wikipedia:

Video: Social Targeting With Jom Social and Ad Agency

Click here to view the embedded video.

If Facebook Does it, So Should You

Ever notice how well the ads on Facebook match your interests? It’s creepy… like Facebook can read your mind.

Actually, it can read your profile.

Everyone on Facebook has a profile, and that profile is packed with valuable information. It let advertisers be very specific about who sees their ads. Google has nothing that comes close. AdWords? That’s so five years ago. Social ads are what it’s all about now. It’s the secret to successful advertising and it’s what’s made Mark Zuckerberg a very rich man.

It’s Great for You Because:

When you can convince your advertisers that they can target the very best leads, you’ll find it easier to sell your space and for a lot more money!

After all, would you rather pay $100 for 5,000 useless clicks or $200 for 200 clicks that might actually convert?

Advertisers don’t have to throw their hard earned cash on people who aren’t likely to buy their products

It’s Great for Advertisers Because:

They don’t have to throw their hard earned cash on people who aren’t likely to buy their products. They can be as specific as they want with their ad and target ONLY the people who are the most likely to turn into paying customers.

For example, when I advertise iJoomla.com on Facebook, I only show my ads to people who mention “Joomla.” I don’t want to pay for people to click on my ad unless they are using Joomla and may become customers.

Ad Targeting – The Secret of Your Advertising Program Success

If you want to sell advertising packages on your website, you need to offer content-targeted advertising. It’s the only way to be sure you’re monetizing your website in the most effective way possible.

Help Advertisers Choose You, Not Your Competition

To persuade prospective advertisers to advertise on YOUR site and not on your competitors’ sites, you have to convince them that their money will be well-spent.

You have to make them believe that they will get back the maximum amount of revenue from their investment.

Here’s the advice your advertisers are likely reading online:

As you can see, advertisers are being advised NOT to advertise on any site unless it allows them to target their ads — smart advice!

You have to convince advertisers that their money will be well-spent.

You Can Charge More for Targeted Ads!

Targeted ads get more response than generic ads. We’ve seen it again and again, and that value translates into higher prices.

You can charge 2-10 times more for targeted ads! Give your advertisers the ability to target their ads and your site will be much further down the road to serious financial success.

Seamless and Effective Integration

I know. You think integrating targeted ads is going to be a lot of work and the last thing you want is more work.

I get it. As an entrepreneur myself, I know you don’t want a bigger workload. So let me assure you that adding targeted ads is the easiest and most seamless integration you could ever hope for!

How Does It work?

Select the profile questions to include in ad targeting.

Select which fields you'd like to include in the social media targeting

On the back-end, the admin can choose the ad’s targeting.

Adding Social Targeting to an ad on the backend

And on the front-end, advertisers can now choose the ad targeting, too.

Advertisers can choose how to target the ad

Do you have an online community? Will you be using this feature?

MediaPass for Joomla!

Ever since the first days of iJoomla, right back when we came out with iJoomla Magazine, people have been asking me if we had a solution to enable paid subscriptions. We didn’t. I’d always hoped that someone else would come up with something and while a few extensions were created over the years to provide a solution, I just couldn’t get excited about any of them.

A couple of months ago though, MediaPass asked me to create a Joomla integration for their product. Their home page promises to add a subscription feature, just like the big publications use, within minutes. I was impressed! So I agreed, got to work, and… two months later, we have MediaPass for Joomla — an easy subscription service for Joomla sites.

Video: what is MediaPass for Joomla?

Click here to view the embedded video.

MediaPass take on all the tricky stuff. They handle the payments through their secure server and they deal with the customer service. All you have to do is install the extension we’ve created and choose your pricing plans. You get a check each month with your profits. MediaPass keeps 35 percent of the subscription fee for doing all the processing work and you keep the remaining 65 percent. That’s a fair deal in my opinion considering all the work that they do.

I don’t know of any other solution that’s so easy to implement, especially with our MediaPass for Joomla extension. I certainly can’t think of one so full of great new features such as the ability to add MediaPass automatically to articles.

So how does it work?

Once MediaPass is activated on the page, visitors are presented with the subscription box instead of the content. If they want to keep reading, they have to purchase a subscription. Very simple and very effective.

You can show the subscription box in two ways:

In Page

The subscription box appears right inside the page (view demo)

Page Overlay

The subscription box covers the entire window (view demo)

Here are some of MediaPass’s main features:

• Add MediaPass automatically to articles of chosen categories.
• Choose which part of the article will be covered by the subscription box. You can cover the entire article or only the text that comes after the “read more” tag.
• Add the MediaPass manually to individual articles using tags.
• Set the pricing for the subscription plans through   mediapass.com .
• Customize your messaging and logo on the subscription box, also through  mediapass.com access.
• View reports on  mediapass.com .

And it even works for video too!

Create an instant teaser by showing the MediaPass subscription box after a few seconds of your video. To see the rest of the video, viewers have to pay for a subscription. Just add the MediaPass video code and decide how much of the film you need to show to land paid subscriptions. Easy!

View the video overlay demo here >>

And the best feature of all? MediaPass for Joomla is FREE!

Screen shots:

The MediaPass subscription box will replace your content

Choose which categories to include automatically

MediaPass for Joomla! Settings

Knowing where your module positions are located is one of the most fundamental things you need to know when creating a site with Joomla 1.7, however, for some reason it’s not as easy to find as you would think. It was evident in the Joomla 1.7 usability testing I performed a few weeks ago. The tester simply couldn’t find it. Nor could I. I figured I would be able to do it on Joomla 1.7 relatively easily, but I had to hear about it from John Coonen from CMS Expo.

It was not easy to figure out in Joomla 1.5 but at least it was available as a default value. On Joomla 1.7 you’d have to purposely activate this feature to even see it.

Watch this video that explains how to find the module positions on Joomla 1.7:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Or read this explanation:

• Go to extensions-> templates
• Switch to templates tab
• Click on Options button on top right
• Choose “Enable” on the “Preview Module Position” field
• Save

Now you will see a preview link next to the template thumbnail.

A simple solution:

A simple solution to make things easier for everybody would be to add a preview link next to the “choose position” button, this way it is much easier to find.

Place a link to the site preview with module positions right where the user selects a module position

Did you bump into this issue? How did you find the solution?

The roadmap to Joomla bliss

If you use Joomla you are no doubt confused about the direction that the Joomla versions are taking.  I admit, I work with Joomla daily and it has been confusing for even me to follow.  If you Google “Joomla roadmap” the first result is from 2007, and the rest of the results are just as topical.

You won’t find much helpful info until you look for “Joomla versions“, and even then it’s not official info, it’s blog posts from other Joomla companies.  No matter, I’m happy to see Joomla is progressing in the right direction finally.

The official Joomla channel posted this video showing the detailed Joomla roadmap and explains the new Joomla versions in detail.

Click here to view the embedded video.

If you cannot watch the video, in a nutshell, Ron Severdia of the Production Leadership Team explains the versions and Sandy Ordonez asks various questions.

Joomla will go from 1.7 -> 1.8 -> 2.0.  Minor releases will be 2.1, 2.2, 2.3 and long term releases will end in .5.   So a long term release will be 2.5, 3.5, 4.5 for example.  These long term releases will be supported for 18 months.  Minor releases will not have new features, just bug and security fixes.  Long term releases will have bug and security fixes, as well as potentially new toys and changes.

The most important takeaway from this is to make sure you upgrade to Joomla 1.7 as soon as possible.   This will be the first version with one click updating from inside your administrator control panel.   In a previous blog post I covered why you would want to upgrade soon.  All in all, it will make your life easier and upgrades a snap.

Are the new Joomla versions confusing to you?  Did this post help?

Fridge Magnets!

The Joomla team  recently announced Joomla 1.7 is now stable for live sites.  This new version fixes a variety of issues with Joomla 1.6 as well as introduces the ability to upgrade to future versions from within the Administrator panel.

No more uploading via FTP, hooray!

This marks the first step towards a upgrade system that is similar to WordPress, thus making your life as an administrator easier.  The Joomla 1.7 release does not bring a huge amount of changes, but it is a vital step in the right direction for Joomla and it’s new release schedule.  In this article I will cover what is new, if you need to upgrade, and why I used such an ugly graphic for this post.

What are the newest and biggest features?

• One click upgrades – Starting from Joomla 1.6 you can upgrade your install by going to:  Extensions -> Extension Manager -> Update -> Find updates.
• Faster release cycles - Short term releases will be changing every six months and only supported for one month after the next release.
• Multi-Language improvements – Associate menu items to different languages.

There are a variety of other minor changes that you can review on the official Joomla 1.7 page.

Thank you Joomla

Do I really need to upgrade?

Depending on what version of Joomla your site(s) are on now, this may be the last time you have to do a “scary upgrade”.   Scary meaning doing it all via FTP and hoping you didn’t miss any upgrade instructions or caveats.  Upgrading is really easy since J1.6, so this shouldn’t be a huge deal.

It’s also important to note that Joomla 1.6 will go end of life in August 2011.   That means no more security updates or patches or fixes for vulnerabilities.  If your site get’s hacked 6 months from now due to some kid developing some obscure technique, you will only have yourself to blame–not Joomla.  Upgrade them sites!

I am on Joomla 1.5.  How do I do it?

There is no upgrade path from J1.5 to J1.6 or J1.7.   You will have to migrate.  There are a variety of changes from J1.5 to newer versions including changes to tables and the ACL (access control list) so a migration is the only way.  If you are comfortable with migrating from different Joomla releases you probably have a system in place.   If not, you can try out this extension.  I personally have not tried it, but it seems pretty straightforward.  Take all the usual precautions and backup your databases and files before doing something like this.   Try it on your development site first and test the process before doing it on a live site.

I am on Joomla 1.6.  How do I do it?

It’s easy peasy if you already made the leap to Joomla 1.6.   Just go to: Extensions -> Extension Manager -> Update -> Find updates.

What’s up with that ugly Joomla image you used in the beginning of the article?

Kids refrigerator magnets are cute, cheap and fun.  They also stick to anything metal.  Slapping some fridge magnets on a whiteboard or something metal or *gasp*, your actual fridge is a good way to nag yourself that this upgrade is very important and needs to be done soon.

Do I have to worry about extensions breaking?

As with any upgrade there is always the potential for things to break.  You should never do a upgrade or migration without some tested and proven way to revert back to a working site if it all goes pear shaped.   The changes from J1.6 to J1.7 are pretty minor, but ther are so many extensions that do so many things, it’s hard to make a blanket statement.

In regards to iJoomla products, we have fully converted iJoomla AdAgency, iJoomla SEO and iJoomla Surveys as of July 28th 2011.

How about you?

Do you have any tips or tricks I didn’t cover? Let us know in the comments, we would love to hear from you.

Giles Fabris of DiehardCustomers.com is a good friend, a business coach and a customer service guru. He’s also a new Joomla 1.5 user who has been working with the CMS for the past three months. He is a typical Joomla end-user: a business owner, not a developer. I had just one task for him: to place a module on the left side of the template. I wanted to do Usability Testing with him to find out how easy (or hard) it is to accomplish such a basic task with Joomla 1.7.

Here’s the usability testing video:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Usability Testing Summary:

• Giles can see that some module position names make some sense but they are not clear. He thinks that by clicking those modules he will see more detail about each position. He is surprised to find that the module position changes when he clicks.
• I asked him how he can find the position that goes on the left.
• He decides to open the Template Manager.
• He is confused by the two stars on two different templates. He is not sure which is the default template and he doesn’t understand the difference between the “site” and “administrator” templates.
• He opens the site default template but is confused because it doesn’t look like the old one. He can no longer find the the “preview” button and thinks that by clicking on the “view sites” he will see the positions.
• He tries the admin template but that doesn’t help either.
• He decides to click the Help button but he is still not sure what the default template is.
• He tries to look at the template link, but only finds a page for information about the template.
• At this point, Giles said he would call me for help.
• He clicks the Help button again but doesn’t find it useful and says he is not expecting Joomla to be user-friendly.
• At this point he would give it five minutes then seek help from a Joomla professional.

Recommendations:

These issues are “low hanging fruits”: they’re obvious problems that are easy to fix.

1. Show only site templates by default. Users will see only one star for the default template, just like Joomla 1.5
2. Bring back the site preview with the positions feature, and place a link to it right where the user selects a module position.
   

   Place a link to the site preview with module positions right where the user selects a module position

3. Show a video tutorial inside the Help window.

I asked Giles to provide some last words about his usability experience. This is what he had to say:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Making Joomla more user-friendly should not be hard. It requires taking a few weeks off development to focus on usability testing and fixing the UI. Ninety percent of the usability issues that I found are very easy to fix. I will be performing more usability testing for Joomla 1.7 and hopefully the Joomla team will implement some of the recommendations.

What is your usability experience with Joomla 1.6 and Joomla 1.7?

Why should I speed up Joomla?

Google recently announced that it uses your Joomla loading speed as a deciding factor on where your page ranks in the SERPS, (search engine results). Site speed has generally been more of an after thought to most people, but now it needs to be front and center in your development cycle. It’s pretty embarrassing having a terrific site, but having to wait 12 seconds for it to load. In this article we will discuss how to measure your Joomla speed and 5 tips on how to make it faster.

Measure your Joomla speed. Get a baseline

Make Joomla as fast as a bullet

There are lot’s of tools to measure your Joomla speed. Make sure you are consistent and use the same one throughout your testing.

• iJoomla now has a free module you can install in your Joomla site to instantly display your page load time. You can grab it here. It is free for anybody and a quick an simple way to find out if Joomla is slow.
• Another option is to add an additional line to your Google Analytics tracking code. You can find out more info about this here if you are comfortable with making this change.
• An option directly from Google is to use the page speed testing tool. Be warned though, it will use a lot of technical terms.
• Yet another option is to become familiar with the tools at Pingdom.com. They are a terrific website monitoring company that can provide you with all sorts of info about your site.

You may ask yourself, “Well how fast should my site load?” That’s a tough question to answer. Everybody will be different. If you use the Google pagespeed tool they will assign you a number. Take that number. Anywhere from 1-100, with 100 being the best. Strive to get as close to 90+ as possible.

1) Speed up Joomla by compressing your images better

One of the easiest things to do is make sure your images are optimized for the web properly. Avoid using huge, slow loading images. Optimize the size of the images you wish to use in Adobe Fireworks for the highest compression, with the least image degradation. Photoshop will work, but it is not the right tool for the job. Fireworks just compresses better. (Learn more about why Fireworks is a better option for image compression. )
Above all, never, NEVER, upload a 1200×1200 pixel image, and resize it using html or css. The huge full sized image will load, but just get resized on the fly by the server. Multiply that by a 100 or so visitors and your server is overloaded and about to go offline and of course turn your Joomla speed to mush.

Please make with the squishy-squishy for your images

2) Extensions, scripts, bloat

Joomla allows you to install an almost infinite amount of extensions and plugins and tools in seconds. The problem is all of these have been developed by individuals who may not share the same coding practices as the Joomla core team. One component might use jQuery 1.0 with is 19kb, one nifty gallery might use jQuery 1.5, but sends it to you uncompressed so it is 208kb, your forum might be using MooTools, (but not the one in Joomla) and thats another 180kb. Then some other wiz-bang of an extension has some .js that is 248kb. Before you know it you have 10 different types of frameworks being loaded on EACH PAGE LOAD. That is huge code bloat and will bring your server to it’s knees, as well as make page load times incredibly slow.
When installing a Joomla component you cannot always go for the fanciest or prettiest or nifty-ish, you need to factor in what javascript it uses as well. If you are clever, you can do all the cool things you need, and load only a small amount of .js and save yourself loads of headaches.
If anything, you need to decide if you really need that cool toy on your site, or if you simply put it there for eye candy. Ideally, keep the amount of .js to five and under. One is ideal.

ZOMG! javascript overload!

3) Compress, compress, compress

In your Joomla configuration there is a setting called gzip compression. If it is not enabled, click it and save it. This will allow all the css and html to be compressed on the server and a much smaller packet of data get’s sent to your computer, and then uncompressed by your browser. This might seem like a lot of work, but it will make pages load faster.
(some webhosts have this enabled already on their servers. If enabling this setting in Joomla breaks your site, the chances are good it is already being compressed and you can just change it back. It’s not possible to do multiple compressions with gzip.)

zip-zip-zipity-zip it.

4) Anybody got any extra cache?

Caching can be enabled in your Joomla configuration. It takes frequently accessed items and stores them so it can spit them out at you faster. The upside, your pages load faster, the downside, your content is not always 100% fresh. For most sites this is no huge deal, unless you are changing articles every 30 mts or so, and if you are you have other issues outside of the scope of this article.
Save this tip for when your site is completed and ready to go live. If you enable this while you are still building your site, you will wonder why changes to pages or image are not taking effect and drive yourself bonkers.

All the cache in the world.

5) Does your webhost stink?

An often overlooked issue with slow Joomla loading websites is a poor webhost. Are you on a shared server? If so you are sharing your internet connection with hundreds of other websites. Where is your host located? Are you located in Florida and your webhost is in California? Did one of the sites on your shared host get hacked and use up tons of bandwidth? These are all questions you need to ask yourself. Is the 4.99 cheapie hosting really good enough when your page load times are in the double digits? If you have a desire to be a big site, with lot’s of traffic, you need a VPS or a dedicated server. Shared hosting is for n00bs.

hey, is the server offline?

Summary

By following some of these tips, not only will Google potentially rank you higher in their search engine, your visitors will have a much nicer experience. Your dad/mom/sister/buddy/neighbor might not be bothered by waiting 10 seconds for your site to load, but the people on the web need it now, or they will take their business some place else.

How about you?

Do you have any tips or tricks I didn’t cover? Let us know in the comments, we would love to hear from you.

Any site that sells products or services needs a testimonial page. Those personal accounts and recommendations give your site credibility and increase your ROI.

The best testimonials you can post are video testimonials

The best testimonials you can post are video testimonials. If you host events or meet clients, take a video recorder with you, even if it’s just your iPhone or a Flip cam. Before your clients leave the event, ask them to speak about your product or service and record their comments. The clip doesn’t have to be perfect but try to find a quiet corner with a solid background that’s not too busy.

Post the recording on your YouTube channel and  be sure to give it a good title description, something like: “iJoomla Ad Agency Testimonial and Review.” The title will help people who are looking for testimonials about your product to find them.

Once your video testimonial is on YouTube, you can easily post it on your site. Because that testimonial is one of the most compelling arguments for selling your product, I recommend putting it in a module position above the fold.

Adding a YouTube video testimonial to your Joomla site:

There are many ways you can add a YouTube video your Joomla website. You can download an install a Joomla YouTube video from ‘corePHP’, this module costs $7. Another great option is to use a component called Jumi. Jumi is a handy little extension that comes with a module that allows you to dump any code in it so you won’t risk your HTML editor stripping out important code.

How to add a video testimonial using Jumi:

• Download Jumi
• Install Jumi
• Go to Main Menu and unpublish the Jumi “hello world” menu item. (Jumi developers should really consider not overwriting our default menu item!)
• Go to extensions -> module manager
• Filter with the word “Jumi”
• Open the module and change the title to “Video testimonial”
• Enter the video embed code on the right
• Publish and save module
• Depending on the module position you’ve chosen you may have to resize the YouTube video by changing the width and height inside the embed code

Jumi allows you to dump any code into a module

So that’s how you can put a video testimonial on your site. But it’s much easier to get people to write a testimonial than to talk to a camera and you don’t always have access to your customers offline. If you can’t get a video testimonial, a written testimonial can work well too — ideally with a real full name, website URL and, most importantly, a photo. These give the testimonial much more credibility than text alone.

Adding written testimonials to your Joomla site

The simplest way to do this with core Joomla is:

• Create a new category called “testimonials”
• Add articles with the testimonials to the category
• Create a menu item to link to the list of testimonials in “category blog” style

It’s a method that’s simple and it works, but it’s not great because there is no easy way to enter fields like name, website, and photo, etc.

Adding testimonials using RSMonials extension

Thankfully, there is a Joomla component that does allow you to publish testimonials perfectly and even lets visitors submit their own. It’s called RSMonials and it’s free. A big thanks to Grace from the OC Joomla Meetup where I gave a presentation a couple of weeks ago for introducing me to it!

I love this extension because it works beautifully and without any major bugs. It’s pretty basic but it does the work, and any Joomla beginner can use it without too much difficulty. It comes with a component, a module and a testimonial scroller. If you want your testimonials to show without scrolling, install the regular module. If you want them to scroll, you’ll need to install that module.

RSMonials CPanel

Here’s how to get it up and running:

• Download RSmonial
• Install the  component
• Install the module or the scroller module
• Create a new menu item and link it to RSmonials
• Open the settings page and configure your testimonials (don’t forget to replace the admin email!)
• Publish the scroller module

Testimonial Page Created With RSMonials

A list of testimonials will appear on the testimonials page linked from your menu. The testimonials will be ordered by newest first and have a submit form at the bottom. Customers can send in their own testimonials and you can choose to auto-approve them.

You can easily make any changes to the styling and settings.

This is a great extension but it does come with a number of advantages and disadvantages:

Pros:

• Free.
• Easy to install.
• Works well.
• Scrolling testimonials are very appealing.
• Submit testimonial feature is very useful and even asks for a photo.

Cons:

• No way to re-order the testimonials. However you can change the posting date if you want to have control over which testimonials show on top.
• Many of the settings require me to type in “true” or “false” instead of choosing from a drop down menu.
• No way to hide submit date.
• When tested, I didn’t receive notification of a new testimonial.

We have installed it on iJoomla Ad Agency and we’re very happy with it. You can see it here with a scrolling testimonial on the left:

http://adagency.ijoomla.com/testimonials/

Do you have a testimonial page on your Joomla site? If so, how did you create it?