The Joomlashack Blog
The 6 Best Joomla Forms Extensions
- Written by Alex Smirnov Alex Smirnov
- Published: 06 April 2020 06 April 2020
Are you looking to add Joomla forms to your site?
It is possible to use the Joomla core, and we explain how to do that in this tutorial: How to Create a Joomla Contact Form.
However, there are some limitations to using the "Contacts" component in the Joomla core. The default component doesn't have many features and doesn't save your submissions.
So, if you want a powerful contact form on your Joomla site, you'll need to look for a new extension. Here's our ranking of the 6 best Joomla forms extensions. We tested dozens of these extensions and compared their pros and cons.
Creating Multiple Private Calendars with JCal Pro
- Written by Alex Smirnov Alex Smirnov
- Published: 31 March 2020 31 March 2020
One of our customers asked how to give each Joomla user a JCal Pro calendar only with events they created themselves from the frontend. JCal Pro calls such events private events.
In this blog post, I will walk you step by step through creating multiple private calendars with JCal Pro.
Read more: Creating Multiple Private Calendars with JCal Pro
Say Hello to Shack User Switching
- Written by Steve Burge Steve Burge
- Published: 27 March 2020 27 March 2020
Shack User Switching is the 30th extension available at Joomlashack.
Yes, you read that correctly. Joomlashack Everything Club members now get access to 30 extensions.
Shack User Switching allows you to test any user account on your sites, without compromising their passwords. With one click, you can browse your site and see exactly what your users see. This is a safe and useful way to troubleshoot problems for your site's users.
We use this plugin at Joomlashack. Whenever a user reports an issue with their account, we can use Shack User Switching to find the solution.
Click here to get Shack User Switching, or click here to join the Everything Club.
Google Released Covid-19 Related Font Awesome Icons
- Written by Alex Smirnov Alex Smirnov
- Published: 26 March 2020 26 March 2020
Are you looking for icons to communicate good hygiene and social distancing in your existing or upcoming Joomla site? If the answer is yes, then you will be interested to hear that Google just released Font Awesome 5.13.
This release focuses purely on Covid-19 related icons. Their goal is to help your site communicate some of the most vital things your site visitors and customers must do to protect themselves and their communities.
In this blog post, you will take a look at some of these icons which are free. You will also learn how to use them in your Joomla site.
Read more: Google Released Covid-19 Related Font Awesome Icons
Adding Text Between Fields in Shack Forms Pro
- Written by Alex Smirnov Alex Smirnov
- Published: 24 March 2020 24 March 2020
"Shack Forms Pro" is one of the most popular Joomla extensions. It allows you to quickly and easily build nicely looking forms for your Joomla site even if you don't know how to code.
In some scenarios, you may want to mix the fields of your form with some text. In this blog post, I'll show you how to do this.
Dealing with the "Call to undefined method" Error in OSMap
- Written by Alex Smirnov Alex Smirnov
- Published: 23 March 2020 23 March 2020
One of OSMap users faced the "Call to undefined method Joomla\CMS\Document\XmlDocument::addCustomTag()" error. You may see it trying to view either the "XML" or "Images" sitemaps.
The most likely reason for this error may be one of the 3-rd party system plugins you installed. In this blog post, I'll show you how to find which one of them is the source of the error.
Read more: Dealing with the "Call to undefined method" Error in OSMap
Join us for a Weekly Online Joomla Meetup
- Written by Steve Burge Steve Burge
- Published: 18 March 2020 18 March 2020
Will you join us for a weekly Joomla online user group?
This is a project that we will run for long as most of us are stuck in lockdown at home:
- Place: We are hosting the meetups on Zoom. If the topic is suitable, we will stream live via Joomlashack's Facebook page.
- Schedule: We'll meet every Thursday for an hour.
- Time: Morning US Eastern time (around 11 am), afternoon in western Europe (around 4 pm).
Say Hello to Shack Error Notify
- Written by Steve Burge Steve Burge
- Published: 18 March 2020 18 March 2020
Shack Error Notify is the 29th extension available at Joomlashack.
Yes, you read that correctly. Joomlashack Everything Club members now get access to 29 extensions. And we've got an additional extension to be released next week!
Shack Error Notify will rescue you from serious site problems. This plugin will send automatic notifications if anything goes wrong with your Joomla site.
We have used this plugin at Joomlashack for years, and it has saved us on many occasions. It is easy to miss site errors, but Shack Error Notify catches them all! You will get an email describing what went wrong on your site, and showing you where to fix it.
Click here to get Shack Error Notify, or click here to join the Everything Club.
How We Are NOT Responding to COVID-19
- Written by Steve Burge Steve Burge
- Published: 18 March 2020 18 March 2020
In the last couple of weeks, my inbox has been over-flowing with COVID-19 emails:
- "Hey, it's the hotel you visited five years ago. This is how we are responding to the virus."
- "We sold you some software in 2012. Here is some bland work-at-home advice."
- "We have no idea why we're emailing you. But our boss told us to send out a virus update."
To be honest, I don't have any great advice at all. We're trying to navigate day-to-day, just like you are. Events are moving so fast that even good advice today is likely to be out-of-date tomorrow.
Listen to the Joomla Podcasts from Watchful and JoomCast
- Written by Steve Burge Steve Burge
- Published: 09 March 2020 09 March 2020
If you are a podcast fan, you can find three active Joomla podcasts at the moment.
I'll start with a little self-promotion. One of the three is the Watchful podcast that features myself and Vic from Watchful. Our interviews focus on Joomla agencies: how they manage products, find customers, manage their cashflow and so on.
Another is JoomCast and it's a collaboration between Naveen from Joomdev and Tim from Basic Joomla. They interview people from around the Joomla world.
Also, if you speak Spanish, there's also Mastermind Joomla from Carlos Camara, who gave a great session at last year's Joomlashack Conference.
Read more: Listen to the Joomla Podcasts from Watchful and JoomCast