February 15, 2010 • 5:44 pm
I have just finished installing the new beta of JXtended’s Finder component, and it works beautifully.
The first thing that you notice after installing the component is the very cool Googlesque predictive search terms that Finder provides. The only thing missing is the ability to be able to tap down on the keyboard and press return to search. Right now you need to click on your desired search query from the list and then press return.
There is further polish when you see your list of search results. Every instance of your search term is highlighted:
And then when you click on on of your results, Finder continues to highlight the query!
The best thing about Finder is that it’s an index based search component. This means that it searches a single table of entries rather than the whole site. This means:
- Speed: this search is so speedy.
- Control: you can publish and unpublish your items in the search table to be displayed in results. Ie: you can turn off the custom 404 page, remove dead links, choose which types of components articles should be displayed (such as contacts, or weblinks).
The only drawback from this type of search is that any type of content to be searched needs a plugin to talk to Finder. JXtended builds in plugins for all core Joomla! components, and many third party components. Check out their website for more info.
Filed under: Third Party Updates
The home of EventList, the amazing Joomla! events component, schlu.net has a new look website.
If you have not tried EventList before, it is well worth a look. I use it in my own Joomla! website crawl.net.au, and also contribute the EventList project run by Christoph. The new EventList forums are powered by the new phpBB, as is the new Joomla! Forums.
Link: EventList on extensions.joomla.org.
Filed under: EventList, Third Party Updates , eventlist websites
February 12, 2008 • 1:26 am
Joomla! 1.5 just out of the gates, and already the bright minds in the Joomla Development Team are preparing the way for Joomla! 1.6. Who knows how long the period will be between now and and Joomla! 1.6 RC1, but personally, I am in no rush.
The jump from 1.0.x to 1.5 was what the developers called a major re-write, in that significant parts of the Joomla! code was re-written, forcing 3PDs (Third Party Developers) to update and modernise their extensions to run in the latest version. I absolutely love 1.5. I just love using it. But what I don’t love is waiting for 3PD’s to update their extensions to function in the new version of Joomla.
I am not being critical of 3PDs, everyone knows how much hard work (most of it volunteered) it is to develop and maintain software for open source projects like Joomla. I simply would like to see a very long period of watching (and helping when I can) developers migrate to 1.5, and then refine and polish their 1.5 software.
Via Amy Stephen at OpenSourceCommunity.org
Update: You can check out a fascinating discussion on the J1.6 white papers at the Google Discussions page for Joomla here.
Filed under: Joomla! 1.5 Development, Joomla! 1.6, Opinion, Third Party Updates , Amy Stephen
October 23, 2007 • 4:32 pm
A few months ago, Steve Burge from Alledia.com completed some rather good reviews of Search Engine Optimisation components for Joomla! Recently he added a review of the SerrBizSEF SEF URL Extension.
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Filed under: Opinion, Search Engine Optimisation, Third Party Updates
