Extensions - which are you using?

Contao's extension page isn't exactly easy to navigate ^-^; As a newbie I'm curious to know which are the more popular, worth checking out extensions? What are you currently using on the live websites and how useful you think it is?

The default page is ordered by popularity, you can also arrange by ranking. So using the popularity default ordering gives you a pretty good idea.

I'm always using:
Page images (page_images)
http://www.contao.org/extension-list/vi ... mages.html
Allows you to add image(s) to page(s).

Ce-access (ce-access)
http://www.contao.org/extension-list/vi ... ccess.html
Allows you to limit users from accessing certain content elements.

Google analytics (googleanalytics)
http://www.contao.org/extension-list/vi ... ytics.html
This extension offers an easy way to include the tracking code for Google Analytics.

Used when needed:
Catalog (catalog)
http://www.contao.org/extension-list/view/catalog.html
Define multiple unique catalogs, custom field types and various front-end display formatting.

Isotope (isotope)
http://www.contao.org/extension-list/view/isotope.html

Change language (changelanguage)
http://www.contao.org/extension-list/vi ... guage.html
Allow the visitor to switch between different languages of a page.
Isotope eCommerce is a totally integrated shop system designed to work exclusively with Contao.

I try to only use extensions I need for that particuluar site. However, small but useful enhancements for every site are:

[BackupDB]
You can simply Backup the entire database with one mouseclick. The backup comes as download file to save outside of your webserver, in example on your home PC.

[easy_themes]
Saves a lot of clicks using the theme-backend-modules stylesheets, modules and page layout. I use it as DOM Inject, so I see the icons in the backend-navigation, even if I only have one theme.

I also really like [boxes], which makes it really easy to create a box of content and re-use it on different pages.

Peter

For my current project (quite large) I'll be using: (a *** indicates something I'd use for every site)

Autoregistration (does not require an admin to approve member account registrations)
avatar ( <( _' o'_)=|===> )
***BackupDB
banner (banner-click tracking)
calendar_ical (haven't played w/it yet)
***ce_startstop (adds start-stop to elements)
Content_Popups (embed webpages, super cool XD)
***csseditor (for full-page css editing instead of the backend GUI type)
***easy_themes
FacebookShareButton (stripped it and used it for its code XD)
fastedit (front-end editing)
***Favicon (browser URL icon)
quickpoll
***recaptcha (can be used for authentication for registration and comments... maybe even more uses)
tags (tag-cloud type searching)
tags_news (tag-cloud type searching for news items)
twitter (stripped it and used for its code)
twitter_search (twitter-feeds)
visitors (stat tracker)
zedseries_* (full website backup and/or relocation - haven't used yet)

now brb... have to uncramp my fingers

Lot of interesting extensions. Thank you! A few I'm curious about

Page Images - What's the different between using this and adding image content?

FacebookShareButton - better than the built-in pdf/facebook/twitter?

fastedit looks like something I'll have to check out - quick :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jpenguin

FacebookShareButton - better than the built-in pdf/facebook/twitter?

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The built-in pdf/print/facebook/twitter feature is attached to Articles (articles.tpl). With the FacebookShareButton you, build it as a module and attach it wherever you want =D. It has a graphic that comes w/it, but I replaced the graphic w/my own and use it as my homepage share button. I use the built in syndication as well for individual news articles however, but still changed the graphic for that via templates =P.

I'm not a fan of standard =/

Extensions that is by default in my projects:

backend_allicon
replace Contao allicon with custom

cacheicon
add a nice icon for cached page in Site structure

clearlog
adds ability to clear system log in Maintenance section

folderurl
makes page alias like http://site.com/services/development.html

folderurl-regen
it's nice alias update helper for folderurl extension

nomootools
because of using jQuery

urlcleaner
Help make news links more friendly

z_fmdcategory
add categorization for BE modules

compression-api, cssMinimizer, DeanEdwardsPacker
for css and js minimization

Also, in some projects I'm using this extensions:

changelanguage, newslanguage
in multi language sites

catalog, taxonomy,
when needed catalog in site

includes
allows you to represent any content element as module

meta_editor
for editing meta data

pageimage, newsgallery, news_teaser_rte, Redirect4ward