This module provides search using the Smart Search component. You should only use it if you have indexed your content and either have enabled the Smart Search content plugin or are keeping the index of your site updated manually. Help.

 The Quick Icon plugin group is used to provide notification that updates to Joomla! or installed extensions are available and should be applied. These notifications display on your administrator control panel, which is the page you see when you first log in to your site administrator.

Default on:

• Quick icon - Joomla! extensions updates notification Help.
• Quick icon - Joomla! update notification Help

The Captcha plugins are used to prevent spam submissions on your forms such as registration, contact and login. You basic installation of Joomla includes one Captcha plugin which leverages the ReCaptcha® service but you may install other plugins connecting to different Captcha systems.

Default on:

• ReCaptcha help

Note: ReCaptcha is a the trademark of Google Inc. and is an independent product not associated with or endorsed by the Joomla Project. You will need to register and agree to the Terms of Service at Recaptcha.net to use this plugin. Complete instructions are available if you edit the ReCaptcha plugin in the Plugin Manager.

Joomla! 2.5 continues development of the Joomla Framework and CMS as a powerful and flexible way to bring your vision of the web to reality. With the administrator now fully MVC, the ability to control its look and the management of extensions is now complete.

All components are also used in the administrator area of your website. In addition to the ones listed here, there are components in the administrator that do not have direct front end displays, but do help shape your site. The most important ones for most users are

• Media Manager
• Extensions Manager
• Menu Manager
• Global Configuration
• Banners
• Redirect

Media Manager

The media manager component lets you upload and insert images into content throughout your site. Optionally, you can enable the flash uploader which will allow you to to upload multiple images. Help

Extensions Manager

The extensions manager lets you install, update, uninstall and manage all of your extensions. The extensions manager has been extensively redesigned, although the core install and uninstall functionality remains the same as in Joomla! 1.5. Help

Menu Manager

The menu manager lets you create the menus you see displayed on your site. It also allows you to assign modules and template styles to specific menu links. Help

Global Configuration

The global configuration is where the site administrator configures things such as whether search engine friendly urls are enabled, the site meta data (descriptive text used by search engines and indexers) and other functions. For many beginning users simply leaving the settings on default is a good way to begin, although when your site is ready for the public you will want to change the meta data to match its content. Help

Banners

The banners component provides a simple way to display a rotating image in a module and, if you wish to have advertising, a way to track the number of times an image is viewed and clicked. Help

Redirect

The redirect component is used to manage broken links that produce Page Not Found (404) errors. If enabled it will allow you to redirect broken links to specific pages. It can also be used to manage migration related URL changes. Help