Uxbridge College website http://www.uxbridge.ac.uk/

The Joomla platform is a great choice for education websites since it is easy to use and highly extensible. Its extensions meet the requirements of this type of website - to present staff profiles, to display organization events and so on. However, choosing suitable free Joomla extensions from the many ones out there is not simple at all.

If you build a website for school, I have a secret for you - I have made a list of useful free Joomla extensions for you. I checked many websites, took a note of useful extension types and chose similar ones on Joomla! Extensions Directory (JED). I also tested them on my local host to make sure they run well.

Let's have a look at them below.

Recommended free Joomla Extensions

There are six must-have Joomla extensions for all websites. Please have a look at these first, then at the recommend extensions list:

• Contact form - RS form!
• Downloads - jDownloads
• Calendar - jEvents
• Newsletter - AcyMailing Starter
• Image Display - JoomGallery

You should be aware that all the extensions below are for version 1.5, are free and are under GPL license.

Details

Contact form

Education websites cannot do without a contact form if the web owner wants to build a relationship with visitors. A contact form allows visitors to leave comments, give feedback or make appointments with an organization. Using external forms is popular because the built-in Joomla form just lets you create a simple form without an attachment function.

Of the 43 current contact form free Joomla extensions on JED, RS Form! is a recommended, because of its high customization ability. With it, you can add an attachment box, a captcha box, and so on.

Getting started with RS form! is easy since it provides you Local Sample Data. After installing this package, you will get a contact form to use. However, the design of this sample data is very simple and may not meet your needs. To create a more beautiful form with different background or special effects, some HTML / CSS knowledge is required. You should not hope to use their documentation to customize the form - it just gives you the most basic information, without illustrated images!

Download RS form! - You need to register an account to download it.

Downloads

jDownloads

Many education organizations need to upload attachments to their websites: timetables, course registration forms and so on.

jDownloads was one of many free Joomla extensions built for that purpose. This extensive Download Manager comes with downloadable files integration in websites. Neat organization is created by a category tree and friendly usage with edit functionality from both the back-end and front-end, I am quite sure that you won't switch to any other Download Extensions if you used jDownloads!

jDownloads provides you with some video tutorials to instruct you how to use it. Moreover, you can download and install an example on its demo to see how it works.

Download jDownloads - You can download it without registration.

Calendar

JEvents

You may know that events are an important part of high school and university life: academic conference, students' activities, etc. So, one other useful extension for an education website is Events Calendar.

jEvents lets you create events and display them on a calendar of education websites. This popular extension is large so please be careful if you haven't used it before. You need to complete the configuration right after the installation. If you don't save these settings, you won't be able to use it. Moreover, you may not get a quick start with jEvents quick start and documentation because they are not complete and don't help you get an overview of the way to use jEvents.

However, if you get used to this free Joomla extension, it might bring you a lot of convenience with the main component and some more optional modules such as Mini-calendar Module, Latest Events Module and so on. You can also edit the content from both the back-end and the front-end.

Download jEvents - You can download it without registration.

Newsletter

AcyMailing Starter

Sending mass emails to subscribers is a basic function of any education website. Organizations need to announce new courses, upcoming events and so on.

You can try out AcyMailing Starter for this purpose. It is popularly used because it provides you with the basic functions of email marketing and it is stable to run.

If you choose AcyMailing Starter, you will love its documentation - very detailed. It is easy to follow its step-by-step instructions: From Pre-Installation and Installation / Configuration with basic knowledge, to Tutorials and Integrations to building AcyMailing forms and your website functionality.

Download AcyMailing Starter - You need to register to download this.

Image Display

JoomGallery

Students need to know about the staff: names, faces, positions or contacts and so on. A photo gallery on education websites which allows users to view photos as an album is essential. And JoomGallery is a great choice for this requirement.

Besides allowing you to present images, you have other options such as linking the names of users in JoomGallery with their Community Builder, Kunena or JomSocial profiles. You will discover what you can do with its 7 modules, 19 plugins and 4 free Joomla extensions. If your website is not in English, you might be satisfied with the 35 languages supported in this extension. You don't need to worry much if you use JoomGallery since it provides quite detailed documentation.

Download JoomlGallery - You can download it without registration.

Now, it is your turn - the second task: installing necessary free Joomla extensions for your education websites. And please, don't forget to leave comments on your experience. We are waiting for them!