Let's look at the distinction between these three again and then look at how to install them. We will also look at how to give your Joomla site an instant overhaul and facelift by installing a new template.

Let's review the role of Components again. A component is an add-on that provides you with interactive functionality - for example, a shopping cart, or a forum, or a picture gallery. Components sometimes come with accompanying modules and plugins (mambots) to make them work properly. You normally have to install these modules and mambots separately. A great source for Joomla add-on components is the 'Extensions' part of the Joomla site. You can find it here: Joomla Extensions

On this site you will find a directory of extensions that you can install for your site. The extension listing will normally indicate whether the particular add-on product is a component, a module, a plugin (mambot), or whether the whole extension requires all three types to operate propertly.

This is how you can distinguish between the different types of extensions:

If the extension is marked as requiring a component, a module and a plugin (or mambot) to operate, you must remember to download all three from the download site.

Before Joomla 1.5 you must know which menu option to choose for installing the right type of extension (component, plugin or module). In Joomla 1.5, it picks up automatically whether you are trying to install a component/module etc and it installs it for you. These tutorials are still based on Joomla versions pre version 1.5 and you have to select either Component, Module or Mambot from the 'Installer' menu (at the top). 'Mambot' is what you should choose when you have downloaded a 'Plugin'! (Why is this? The term Mambot stems from the days before Joomla when Joomla was still Mambo. After the split with Mambo it was felt that the term Mambot refers too much to the Mambo version and it was decided to rather start using the terminilogy Plugin. The menus and code in Joomla (before v 1.5) still make use of the term Mambot though.)

Watch this video to see how to install a Joomla Component.

You can also first upload the zipped component to a folder on your server, and then install the component from there.

Modules, as we mentioned before, are little blocks of functionality that normally appear either in the right or on the left column. There are also sometimes positions available for modules at the top or at the bottom, or in other places in your template.

Watch this video to see how to install a Joomla Module

Watch this video to see how to install a Joomla Module manually by first uploading the zipped module file it to your server and then installing it with the installer.

Here is a tip!

If you ever get the error message 'Cannot find XML file for component', or something similar, this can be due to one of two reasons:

* Firstly, you might be trying to install a module by using the 'Install Component' menu item. In other words, it will look for Module type information when you install a module. If you try and install a component when it expects to find module information (and vice versa), or you will get a message like this. Make sure that the file that you are selecting to install is the right one. Components are normally named to start with 'com' and modules with 'mod'. This is not a hard and fast rule, however, but more a convention.

* Secondly, sometimes the extension files are zipped in such a way that either a) the zip file contains the component installation file, the module installation file as well as the plugin/mambot installation file. You first have to then unzip the big file into the three separate zips for each of these, or b) the component itself is zipped twice. I have come accross cases where I have downloaded a component zip file and it didn't want to install. When I looked at the zip file, it contained ANOTHER zip file for the actual component. You also then need to unzip the outer zip file and install the one inside.

Plugins or Mambots.

As mentioned before, Mambots and Plugins are basically the same thing at the moment. These are utilities that help you with executing bits and pieces of code inside Joomla, or helps you with modifying (in a small way), how Joomla acts. An example of a Plugin/Mambot can be found on the site http://jogadgets.com/. This mambot helps you to prettify your Joomla headings by converting the normal text to a picture font. I used it on the website Cape Property Rentals

Watch this video to see how to install a Joomla Mambot

Lastly, we know that the other great thing about Joomla is that you can easily change the look and feel with one click of a button. If you don't like the way your website looks, just install a new template! Watch this video on how to install a Joomla Template

Watch this video on how to install a Joomla Template