You are having an idea to build a Joomla website and want to use some extensions to support for it. With the thousands of Joomla extensions, you have ever wondered how to choose the best one. Here I share you my experinces. they may be useful for you to create a great website.
Clarify your needs: Which field of extension do you want to use?
You need to clarify which field you want to use a Joomla extension in, Eg: the field of E-Commerce, Access and Security, Marketing, Contact & Feedback,.... You must have your main purpose clearly in mind. Doing such a thing will help you to avoid choosing extensions which are far from your aims.
It is so great when JED has classified the functional group extensions. You only need to search keywords for extensions you want on JED.
How to realize a good Joomla extension?
Your target is to choose the best Joomla extension for your website, I recommend you follow the total steps in this blog. It will support for you find out the good one.
- Features
You should research whether extension you are choosing have almost of features you want and how many other features it includes. Other features are quite important because maybe they are not immediately useful for your site, but will be valuable in the future
If unfortunately that extension doesn't include one or two feature as you expect, let's get in touch with extension provider and ask them if they can do custom work for you with extra fee or free.
You also should visit extension's demo to have a closer look about the way that extension displays.
- Documentation
The correct and detailing documentation is critical and necessary. It is so great to find out the answers for your questions for yourself. A good documentation will save a lot of time for you and developers.
- Support
How many channels can you use to contact with support team?. Many contact channels mean your question will be solved more quickly. The support channels can be ticket system, community forum, live chat and social media,.... You also need to consider whether the developer team are ready to do custom work for you. A extension will be more perfect when it includes some features as you expect.
- The release of new version
The regular release of new version shows the improvement of a extension as well as developer's commitment. So, please choose the extension which has the frequent appearance of the newer version.
- Other's reviews
Other's reviews will help you have a closer look about extensions you want to choose. They will show you the real experience about features and the efficiency of support team. You need to care about the quantity of reviews of that extension and then read carefully the content of those reviews.
Lifetime for supporting and updating extension
Please consider the lifetime of support and update for your subscription. You can ask the seller some questions: "How long do I receive the support after purchasing your extensions?" or "How long is my subscription valuable?" or "Can I update newer version with extra fee or free?". Finding out the answer will help you have a specific plan for your subscription.
Refund policy
Sometimes, after purchasing an extension, you realize that extension is not suitable for your website or it doesn't include functions as you want. In those case, whethe you can request extension provider a refund. or not. It is necessary for you to research the refund policy of that company.
I hope the above tips will help you choose the best and the most suitable Joomla extensions for your website.
If you have any comment or any other idea which are relevant to this topic, please kindly share with us. They will be useful to explore together.