With over 3800 Joomla! extensions available in the Joomla! Extensions Directory it is hard to know exactly which extensions are worthwhile to install, and which ones to leave alone. I have been using Joomla! for around 4 years now, and as a website designer I have tried 100's of extensions.

This list of Joomla! Extensions are the extensions I add on almost all Joomla! Sites I develop here at Azureus!

#1 Joomla Pack

"JoomlaPack is an open-source backup component for the Joomla! CMS, quite a bit different than its competition. Its mission is simple: create a site backup that can be restored on any Joomla!-capable server. Its possibilities: endless It creates a full backup of your site in a single archive. The archive contains all the files, a database snapshot and an installer derived from the standard Joomla! installer. The backup and restore process is AJAX powered to avoid server timeouts, even with huge sites. Alternatively, you can make a backup of only your database. If you want a reliable, easy to use, open source backup solution for your Joomla! site, try it out. "

JoomlaPack is always my #1 extension install, the best and fastest way to backup or restore your Joomla! website. I give JoomlaPack a 10/10

#2 sh404SEF

"sh404SEF rewrites Joomla URL to a more user-friendly format (SEF URL or URL rewriting): mysite.com/index.php?option=com_content&Itemid=69&id=34... becomes mysite.com/en/sh404SEF-and-url-rewriting/list-of-available-plugins.html).
It is also a security component and manages title and meta tags : automatic tags, or manual for every page. It works with or without .htaccess file. Joomfish compatible. Caching system for high speed and very small DB queries overhead.
Support many components natively but uses also sef_ext from OpenSEF/SEF Advanced. VirtueMart, Fireboard, Community Builder, mosetsTree, HotProperty, Sobi2, Docman, myBlog, iJoomla Magazine,News Portal, Remository and more supported natively. SSL switch, automatic 301 redirection from non-sef to sef and from Joomla SEF to sh404SEF, insert Google news style numerical ID,.. Many backend parameters to control URL construction behavior".

#3 seo Simple

This simple Joomla 1.5 plugin simply takes the starting chunk of text from the page’s content and applies that as the value for the meta description tag in the page’s head. Search engines often use a Web page’s meta description in the SERPs, and as such it is important that these meta descriptions have relevant text related to the page’s content.

#4 G Translate

This module uses Google power to translate your web page. With 52 available languages your site will be available to more than 98% of internet users.

#5 Google Maps

Plugin (Mambot) for displaying one or more Google Maps within content-items, modules or components of Joomla 1.0.x or 1.5.x.

Version 2.12 is available and added: multiple kml files, Simple directions on map, directions in lightbox and possibility to use print version of directions, streetview with button!, 3D and automatic control, lightbox out of infowindow, navigation label, Wiki & You tube layer & other, Yahoo pipes support, directions animation, tabbed infowindow, Earth control lookat & camera and ArcGis layer

Look at the demo site first for documentation. If you've problems please do the checklist on the demosite. If this doesn't help or you have questions or new wishes please send me an email.

#6 Virtuemart

The complete e-Commerce shopping cart solution for Joomla! - used by thousands of store owners. It can be run in Store- and Catalog-Mode.
With its powerful Administration Tool you can handle an unlimited Number of Categories, Products, Orders, Discounts, Shopper Groups and Customers.

#7 RSFormPro

With RSForm!Pro you can create Joomla! contact forms within minutes. In fact, almost everyone that tried it, noticed how easy is to create forms in Joomla!

The RSForm!Pro Joomla! form creator has all the form fields that you need when building custom forms for Joomla!. The RSForm!Pro back-end uses Ajax for quickly managing fields and submissions.

Also, RSForm!Pro is the ideal tool for non-programmers. It has built-in form layouts that you can use without any HTML or PHP knowledge.

Notifications can be sent by e-mail to staff members and to customers(different messages for each). Also the form submissions can be exported in CSV format for 3rd Party use, or directly saved into external databases using the Mappings plugin. No more custom SEF extensions nightmare. RSform!Pro works with all of them.

#8  XMAP

Xmap is a Site map generator component for Joomla, it's based on the popular Joomap component. Xmap allows you to create a map of your site using the structure of your menus.

#9 Jumi

Jumi is the set of custom code extensions for Joomla! 1.0.x and 1.5.x in their native modes. Since 2006 more then 200.000 downloads.

With Jumi
*you can include php, html, javascript scripts into the modules position, articles, category or section descriptions, or into your own custom made component pages,
*you can even include static html or txt pages into your pages without using wrapper component,
*you have full access to Joomla! variables, functions, constants, etc. in your php scripts. Jumi is ideal solution for
*including banners or text ads into your Joomla! site: no matter if your own or affiliates ones,
*easy and fast inclusion of smart javascript, php, html and dhtml scripts into your Joomla! content,
*fast development of not only small and simple customized modules and plugin solutions based on php, javascript and html or dhtml scripts like flash shows, ads and picture presentations, forms inclusion, etc. but for the development of more sophisticated solutions including database data processing.

#10 Cache Cleaner

With Cache Cleaner you can clean your cache fast and easily via a link in your Joomla! Administrator!

If you are editing an article - for instance - and want to see the changes in the frontend, you first have to clean the cache.

Normally this means having to go to the Joomla! Cache Manager, select all cache types and delete them. This is very irritating and needs a lot of clicks and waiting time.

Cache Cleaner gives you a quick link in the top right of your Joomla! Administrator (status bar) which will clean all cache by simply clicking on it. It doesn't need to reload the page either, because it uses ajax to do this in the background

From here, I will add some notiable extensions I use on some of my Joomla! Websites

#11 PUArcade

PUArcade is the original and first arcade component for Joomla, hailing from Mambo - but it is nothing like the PUArcade of old. PUArcade 2.3.1 was released on March 23, 2009. Needless to say, this project is very active. As always, this arcade is completely FREE and open source.

#12  Bear League

BearLeague – is a simple component allows you to create your own league and manage it. You can create tournaments with access to playoff. Also you can add photo reports of the matches, match stats and player stats.

Component consists of

1. Tournament 2. Season 3. Teams 4. Match Day * Match details 5. Players 6. Positions 7. Events * Player events * Match stats 8. Groups 9. Additional fields * Player fields * Team fields

#13 Community Builder

Community Builder suite (CB) extends the Joomla! user management system. Key features: extra fields in profile, enhanced registration workflows, user lists, connection paths between users, admin defined tabs and user profiles, image upload, front-end workflow management, integration with other components, like PMS, Newsletter, Forum, Galleries. CB has many CB plugins from CB Team and from third parties, including Profile Gallery, Profile Blog, Profile Guestbook, Profile Wall, Paid Subscriptions Membership management, Donations management, Shop, Captcha and many more. Over 180 extensions for CB are listed here. CB is compatible with all Joomla! 1.5 native, Joomla! 1.0.x native and Mambo 4.5.2-4.6.5. CB allows multi-criteria user searches, full field controls of core fields, ajax email and username checkers, image and integer fields, custom validations and many more features. CB 1.2.1 Stable is open-source and free. Please see announcements on our homepage.

#14 ADS Manager

Classifieds Component with a lot of features:
- PMS Integration
- Automatic Account Creation
- Choose ad Fields by Categories
- Ad Expiration
- Advanced Search

#15 Feed 2 Post

Feed2Post, the ultimate time saving tool. Feed2post allows you to get content in minutes from any RSS/Atom feed and repeat the content gathering with just a few clicks. It will also improve your page seo as it can filter the content using keywords and negative keywords. Items posted can get advertising inserted automatically, no more editing to get your google ads into each post, just set the advertising field to your ad code...
Fully configurable, each feed can be configured with different parameters (such as section/category, etc).

#16  JCE

An advanced, configurable WYSIWYG editor for Joomla! based on Moxiecode's TinyMCE.

Includes advanced Image/Media, File and Link handling, plugin support, and an Administration interface for editor configuration.

#17 SOBI 2

Already in 2006, as no one talks about CCK for the content management system Joomla! Sigsiu.NET developed a Content Construction Kit for Joomla!. Designed as a business directory (online business index) SOBI 2 could already be used for every kind of directory. Therefore everything what the operator of a website wants to get listed in a directory like companies, clubs, persons, shops or products can be created.

# 18 Attachments for content articles

The 'Attachments' extension for Joomla! allows files to be uploaded and attached to content articles. 'Attachments' includes a plugin to display attachments at the end of articles and a component for uploading and managing attachments. There are options to control who can see the attachments and who can upload them, along with many other options to increase its flexibility and usefulness. To install 'Attachments', unzip the download file and install the two plugins and the component.

#19 JoomSEO

JoomSEO is a Search Engine Optimizing(seo) bot making Joomla content more Search Engine Friendly(SEF). JoomSEO dynamically creates meta keywords, meta descriptions, changes the title on the fly (Adds the sitename for Joomla 1.5), adds heading tags to content titles and more. JoomSEO is highly customizable and saves the hassle and time of manually adjusting these settings, keeping all words and descriptions relevant for the search engines, improving ranking and accessibility. JoomSEO has many options giving you control and flexibility including, * Show, hide or override keywords, site name, content title, first paragraph in the title and more. * Adjustable element order in the title. * Supports variable phrase lengths * Override meta data per page * Sticky words to give keywords more weight. * Bad words and characters to exclude from the keywords. * Enable or disable elements on the front page. * Front page title and meta replacement text. * Heading tag selection (Add H1, H2, H3 tags to content titles) * Caches content in the database for superior performance. * Converts stray Microsoft Word characters that can harm seo JoomSEO has come a long way making Joomla more seo Friendly, please upgrade and enjoy. (JoomSEO NOW supports Joomla 1.5. JoomSEO 1.5. Now works on any component including template / module parsing thanks to the new Joomla API. Thanks to the complete Joomla Team) Some of the additional feature of JoomSEO for 1.5 include * Site Name in the title (from the word go) * Parses any component / template * Runs in Native Mode * And more The new version 1.1 includes some great new features and optimisations, please update to the latest version On the horizon * {joomseo tags} Parsing tags to disable individual pages or perform other functions

#20 JEvents

This well known and loved Events Calendar for Joomla. JEvents consists of a Joomfish compatible Joomla component and a number of modules and plugins.

Component
* One-off Events and complex repeating patterns of events can be created and viewed in an attractive calendar and a variety of list formats
* Multiple Design layouts possible
* Fully compatible with Joomla 1.5 MVC framework
* Ical imports/exports
* Repeat exception handling
* Events can be categorised and calendar views can be customised to show all or some of these categories