Simple Renew is Now Part of Joomlashack

simplerenewWe're delighted to announce the 11th extension here on Joomlashack

Simple Renew is the best way to create a membership site with Joomla 2.5 or 3.

Simple Renew is the membership extension that powers Joomlashack and OSTraining.com. It had previously been available at SimpleRenew.com, but we decided to host all our Joomla extensions in one place.

We promise that Simple Renew will be fun and easy to use. We are really, really committed to making Simple Renew as easy to use as possible.

Read more: Simple Renew is Now Part of Joomlashack

OSMap Update Fixes Virtuemart and Weblinks Issues

osmapA couple of weeks after the first release of OSMap, we're pleased to release another round of bug-fixes and improvements.

The OSMap code base has not had significant updates since 2012, so there's a lot of minor issues to solve.

Version 3.0.1, released today, solves problems with the Weblinks and Virtuemart extensions.

Read more: OSMap Update Fixes Virtuemart and Weblinks Issues

OSWistia Now Has a Rewind Button

oswistiaWistia.com is the streaming service we use for the thousands of videos at OSTraining.com.

Wistia has a really great toolbox that you can use to improve your video display, and we've been taking full advantage.

OSWistia Pro users can now add a rewind button to their videos. This allows your viewers to easily go back 10 seconds or more, in case they missed something important.

Here are the settings inside OSWistia Pro. You can change the rewind time to set it for as long as want:

Read more: OSWistia Now Has a Rewind Button

OSMap Version 3.0 is Available

osmapOne week after the first release of OSMap, we're pleased to release a round of bug-fixes and improvements.

One big change is that we updated OSMap's version number to 3.0. This marks a clean break from XMap and its numbering scheme.

We've also made several visual changes to improve the admin interface and several of the core plugins (especially Kunena) have been improved.

Here's an overview of the major changes in OSMap 3.0 ...

Read more: OSMap Version 3.0 is Available

OSMap is Here: The New, Free Joomla Sitemap

  • osmapDo you need a sitemap to successfully optimize your Joomla site for Google?
  • Do you want your sitemap to be reliable, free and supported by an expert team? 

If you answered yes to either question, then you're in the right place: today we released OSMap.

OSMap is the new, free and powerful way to build sitemaps for Joomla.

Read more: OSMap is Here: The New, Free Joomla Sitemap

We're Going to Release OSMap: a New Version of XMap

osmap[UPDATE] OSMap is now ready. Click here to download OSMap.

Over a month ago, we wrote a post called "The Future of XMap", wondering whether the extension could be revived.

Very little has changed since that post and we've come to the conclusion that we should continue development of the extension under a different name.

For people using Joomla, it's absolutely essential that there be a reliable and free sitemap extension. A sitemap is absolutely critical if you want to successfully optimize your site for Google.

So today we're announcing OSMap, which we'll release in the next couple of weeks.

Read more: We're Going to Release OSMap: a New Version of XMap

OSDownloads Now Has Email Validation for Downloads

osdownloadsWe have just released OSDownloads 1.3 with several great new features.

The most important new feature in OSDownloads Pro is email validation. Now you can email download links to users. This makes sure that they enter a valid email address.

If someone does enter valid email address, you can automatically add them to your MailChimp list.

On the other hand, if they enter a fake email address or don't click the link, they won't be added to MailChimp.

You can also disable this feature for logged-in users (because they have probably already confirmed their email address).

Read more: OSDownloads Now Has Email Validation for Downloads

OSYouTube Has Improved Autoplay and a Smart Autolinker

osyoutube The best YouTube video embedder just received two new features that will give you more control and flexibility. We have improved the autoplay capabilities and added a smart autolinker

YouTube already supports autoplay and it is great, but we've found a way to add further improvements so you can control how and when a video will autoplay.

We've also resolved a limitation with links to YouTube. Previous versions of OSYouTube would automatically convert all YouTube URLs into videos, but now you have the option to leave the link as it is.

Read more: OSYouTube Has Improved Autoplay and a Smart Autolinker

OSpam-a-not: Our New Joomla Spam-Fighting Extension

OSpam-a-notWe're Knights of the Round Table,
We dance when ere we're able,
We do routines and chorus scenes
With footwork impeccable.
We dine well here in Camelot,
We eat ham and jam and spam a lot.
--Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Last year at OSTraining.com, we started using an unobtrusive technique on some of our web forms in an attempt to stop the flood of spambots submitting junk on those forms. It worked better than we could have hoped and we've been talking about turning it into a Joomla! plugin ever since.

With apologies to Monty Python we are calling it OSpam-a-not.

Read more: OSpam-a-not: Our New Joomla Spam-Fighting Extension

The Future of XMap

xmapThere is something unique for me about XMap.

We first used XMap back in 2007 and we're still running XMap on OSTraining.com in 2015.

I can't think of very few other Joomla extensions that have been so useful for so long. We hope we're able to use XMap for a long time to come.

But, XMap development isn't moving forward. The last major release was version 2.3 back in 2012. The last minor update was in the summer of 2013.

We'd love to help move XMap forward.

Read more: The Future of XMap