Essential and Effective Joomla Blog Extensions That You Must Have

It would not be incorrect, if we say that there is nothing Joomla can’t do! From most powerful and popular Content Management System (CMS) to the Website Development platform, Joomla has been the preferred platform for everything. Though, it’s tough competitor - Wordpress has a much smoother process for blogging than Joomla, people still choose Joomla for blogging platform because of its maturity and list of feature-rich extensions.

Joomla has all the required features, functionalities and add-ons for a secured and comprehensive blogging portal. With a strong team of development community across the globe, there are several Joomla extensions and plug-ins which expands the capabilities of the Joomla. If you have Joomla blog and plan to improve it, but don’t know which extensions to use, then we have compiled a list of essential and effective extensions which will take your blog to the next level.

Nested Categories for Blogs

With the help of Joomla extensions available nested categories, you will be easily manage the articles from the admin backend. Using the extensions which can provide such type of nested article format, you can roll out complete blogging platform. There are several extensions available for similar process, but most of the companies are using Komento for improving their blogs. There is another extension also which is speedily gaining popularity, i.e. JComments.

Constructing Content

For improving your blogs, you also need a comprehensive content construction kit which helps in customizing and add fields as per your requirements. It is recommended to use extensions like K2, which offers an array of options to enhance and expand your blogs. From starters to experts, everyone can use this extension with basic knowledge of using Joomla. It facilitates customizable templates and categories. Moreover, K2 is available for free, so make the best use of it.

Variety of Posts

If you are planning to give a unique and creative look to your blog by adding different types of posts, including videos, graphics, infographics and more, then you need the right kind of extension because these features are unavailable in Joomla. Most preferred extensions for adding different types of media posts is Zoo extension. With the help of this extension, you can add comments based articles just by adding few clicks. There are several paid extensions available, but if you need full featured extension for free of cost then it is none other than the Zoo!

Commenting Feature

The most important feature in blogging is enabling user comments on all the blogs. It helps in understanding the reviews of your audience as well as expanding the reach of your blog. There are several extensions, but Jcomments is one of the most popular and community chosen Joomla extension. Both the extensions are compatible with the Joomla 2.5 version.

Blog Author Info

Displaying the author information on the blog is the standard function that is missing in Joomla. With the basic features in Joomla, you can just show the author’s name. This feature is provided in Wordpress, but whether you can display the author info or not depends on the type of theme you have chosen. In order to build a full-fledged blog, you need to have Joomla extensions like Author Info Blog. Using this plugin, you can add email ID, description, picture, and display name of the author. You can use paid extension for these features, but you can get Author Info Blog for free of cost.

Social Network Sharing

For expanding your blog’s reach and enabling global users to read your blog, there are many extensions in the Blog category of Joomla. The simple and fast method of increasing the reachability of the blog is by adding the social networking extension. There are many extensions available which help you in publishing your blogs on various social media sites with tags, images, description and labelling.

Bottom Line

In simple words, just like Wordpress, there are several extensions available in Joomla as well, using which you can add the functionalities as per your choice and requirements. You Joomla Blogs can be turned into a powerhouse using the right extension. Currently in the market, there are several extensions but mostly used are K2, JED and Komento.

And if you are looking for full-fledged all in one extension, then you can use K2. Configuring this extension needs some time, but it is not difficult. From categorization of blogs to social network, you can utilize K2 for all the process.

Now that you have the complete list of exciting and powerful extensions, turn your Joomla blog into a complete attractive platform. If we have missed any point or if you have any update about the extensions, then please feel free to post your comments and let us know. We will keep this blog updated with your comments and posts.   

Strikingly Attractive Web Design Layouts in 2015

A few years from now, the common template of any website you land was very predictable like menus on the top and the links at the bottom with most used menus on the home page. Almost all the website looked similar and there was no ‘Zing’ in the website layouts. With the evolving technology and surge of smart phones in 2015, graphics designers, user interface specialists, website designersWeb Designers and developers experimented and came up with a range of most attractive and striking web designs. We have already entered October and soon we will be flowing into the New Year 2016. In this post, we have brought some of the most compelling and creatively dynamic designs trends and layouts emerged in this year.

Large Background Images

As per the recent online survey, it shows that people who are surfing do not like artificial looking photos. In 2015, you can find a wide range of options for image library where you can find the images as per the requirement of your website. The images in the background compliment the message that you wish to provide to your customers/users, and it is one of the most trending and super popular website layout in the current market. Instead of a lot of content, short and crisp content with illustrative image connects the website and user more easily and swiftly. There are free image libraries and paid ones as well, choose whichever best suits your requirements.

Background Videos Layout

As per the recent market research, online video contents receive almost 50 billion views every month and that clearly explains the interest of the people. Website is one of the essential story telling tools about the products, services, and company to your targeted audience. And people love motion visuals than reading elaborated content. It is also easier to transfer the idea or message to the viewers with the right emotions. By the end of 2015, the trend of using HD videos, 3D graphics and animations will grow more popular than before, giving a new horizon to the website layouts.

Smart Responsive Designs

As far as the monthly search is considered, almost 50% of the traffic come from mobile and smart devices. It is a simple equation, which can help you understand that your website has to and have to be responsive, so that it can be easily accessible to people trying to open in mobile or similar smart device. Websites made for desktop get distorted and irritates the customer which can result in business loss. More and more people are using internet on mobile and the future is of smart phone, tablets and similar devices only. By the end of 2015, we shall many new innovations in the responsive designs also.

No Chrome Effect

A few years from now, people use to chrome the front and rear embellishments of the cars to make it look more beautiful and attractive. But the term Chrome used in the web world relates to the website designs. There are several websites in the market, which is created based on the No Chrome effect, which means instead of providing all the menu links on the home page, the user is attracted to one single focal point. The No Chrome Effect eliminates the distractions and gives a clean effect by which the menus are inconspicuously placed on the page. The focus page will have no header or footer which can pull the eye from the focus area.

Ghost Buttons Web Design

Ghost buttons are one of the most famous and widely used in web design. It is stylish and simple to create, and it can also be combined with animations enhanced features. Observing the wide use of ghost buttons, this concept will last longer in future also.

Tiles like Grid Designs

In this type of web design, the page is divided into various same sized blocks in which elements with equal importance or different sizes can be displayed. This layout is also commonly known as the Card layout or Block design. This layout helps in providing maximum information to the user at the same time. Instead of providing one message on one screen, you have the flexibility to provide major four to five blocks to give your message. Most of the social networking sites and media giants have already utilized this concept to connect their users.

Promoting Dual Concepts

For the companies which have two different product lines or dual business line, using the split screen design is very useful. In this layout, the screen is vertically divided into two and two ideas, business concepts, elements, or messages can be displayed. It is highly suitable for business which has two things to promote and give same importance to both the product/services. In fact, companies can also keep the images of the product on one side and run media coverage, brand identity, customer testimonials, etc. on the other part. It is an ideal web layout for clothing or garments business with scrolling images.

These are some of the web designs that we have researched and learnt from our experience. You can also share your experiences or suggest the best website design trends in the market with us at info@ncodetechnologies.com.    

Misunderstood Concepts of Joomla Which Results In Grave Mistakes

Joomla is one of three most popular content management systems (CMS) used all over the world. One of the major reasons for its popularity is the flexibility of scalability it offers for small to large organizations. As the popularity of the Joomla CMS increases all over the globe, there are certain misconceptions and pre-conceived notions that are clouded among the users. In order to help you find the best solutions and alleviate the thoughts we have compiled some of the top misunderstood concepts and myths which ultimately results into irreparable flaws.

Inefficient To Protect User Data

The foremost common misunderstanding among the users is Joomla does not have enough security level to protect the crucial information of the users because it is an open source and available free of cost. Just because the Joomla source code is open to everyone and accessible, it does not make it vulnerable, but in fact, thousands users who are working on the development part immediately patch the vulnerability, if any such issues are detected. Moreover, Joomla offers you the facility to create multi-user permissions which ensures a high level of protection. Useful tip is to use only essential extensions like modules, plug-ins or components so you can also control and measure at your level.

Blog Application Is Not Joomlas’s Cup of Tea

For those who are planning to launch a website with blogging application. Joomla comes with a built-in blog application so you do not have to install any third party applications or extensions. In fact, most of the blogging sites that you read online have been using Joomla for posting their blogs. However, if you need advanced features for blogging then you can always use blog extensions from the Joomla website. Moreover, if you are planning to launch a blog, then Wordpress is the best option and if you are interested in full fledged blogging with the website then we recommend Drupal or Joomla.

Editing Joomla Is a Child’s Play

Choose any content management system, be it Joomla or any other, it is difficult to find the exact extension as per your interest or requirements. You can extend or customize the available extension using your technical development skills. So, for those who need an extension without any customization, there is an array of options. But, if you are looking for an extension which can satisfy all your requirements then you will have to get all your coding basics clear and get to the war ground.

Joomla Is Not For Smart Phones

Where the evolving technology has touched each and every corner of the segments and industry, how can it be possible that the highly used CMS platform is still in the dark. People who still believe that the Joomla has not been upgraded to support the mobile platforms should come to light and witness the latest admin panel of Joomla which is responsive. In fact, it is not only important, but mandatory for any CMS in the market to upgrade it to support the latest features and functionality to survive the competition.

Joomla is Not Well Supported

Major confusion and misconception among the people is that, Joomla is an open source software and you do not get the proper customer service or technical support. In fact, there are thousands of people involved in the development process of Joomla, who are actively in support of people who are using it. They offer suggestions to your queries, roll out upgrades with bug fixes, security patches and issues in the previous versions. Further, there is constant addition in the themes, extensions and new features as well as the functionalities of Joomla. In fact, instead of different level of support in the commercial solutions, everyone gets the same level of support.

Joomla is not reliable

Most of you who are reading this blog must have decent knowledge of Joomla and must be working on Joomla for quite some time. You must very well know that to get some desired result, you will have to do some basic steps. In the constantly evolving technology, and increasing number of commercial software in the market, we have reached to a point where most people think that freely available open source solutions are not qualitative or reliable. The theory of open source is unreliable does not fit for all the software, especially in the case of Joomla.

It was essential to demystify the critical myths and misunderstanding of Joomla for organizations which incorporate the solution in their ecosystem to benefit out of it. If you are planning to integrate Joomla with your website, then it is worth to consult with a professional team like Ncode Technologies, which has more than a decade years of experience in developing various solutions for clients from all over the world. If you need any assistance with the Joomla development, you can get in touch with us at sales@ncodetechnologies.com or even call us at +91-79-222-222-22.

Use Right Blog Extensions for Magento Website to Draw More Traffic and Sales

With the increasing number of e-commerce stores in the web, it is important for everyone to optimize their website with quality content and right extensions. The content should be strong enough to provide the required information to your customers and attract them to your store. Using product descriptions and reviews are essential part of an online store but it is not sufficient to maintain the strong position in search engines. As the search engine giant, Google, is reforming its search algorithms and social media is gaining maximum popularity, especially for referrals, it is imperative for businesses to publish high quality blog content.

Adding high quality research based blogs will pull customers not only to purchase but also find new and interesting topics on your website. It gives additional space to customers to visit your website and stay updated about the latest features, offers, reviews or information about the products and services, which ultimately results in conversion. Interesting facts and figures about the market trend and products will not only help customers choose the right option, but also help you gain customer’s trust.

As Magento is one of the most popular and chosen e-commerce platform all over the world, there are several blog extensions, which can be integrated to enhance the content publication process. Using the right blog extensions can also enable you to improve the performance of store and help you save time in manual tasks. Moreover, it helps you in simplifying the content publishing and optimizing it with ease. It improves the website ranking by attracting more traffic and helps in increasing the sales.

With years of experience in developing customized Magento Website Development to various clients, we have listed some of the top extensions which can be highly suitable for your store. While customizing your website or integrating the extensions with your website, you can consider the blog extensions given below.

Get Integrated with Magento WordPress Extension

To experience the unbounded support in content publishing and blogging, you can use the blog extension developed by FishPig team which can be integrated with the Magento website. The extension has been developed to support all the Magento plans like Enterprise, Professional and Edition. It is easy to configure and additional support multiple languages makes it more comfortable for users to easily access and manage. With the help of this blog extension you can enable almost all the features of WordPress and give life to your creativity. Whether you wish to enable the most used plugins or use the original URLs for optimizing the content, everything is possible. It also supports the shortcodes used in WordPress and offers themes to enhance the UI of the blog. Integrated with the Magento, it offers you login facility directly from the Magento Admin panel. Take full charge and control the blogging platform as you want using this extension.

Get Responsive with BlogPro Extension

Gone are the days when people used to access online stores only using laptops or personal computers. The current trend in the market demands for responsive and device friendly stores which have attractive user interface even if it is opened in mobile devices. The Blog Pro extension has been developed considering the latest requirements of e-commerce store demands in the market. Integrated with BlogPro, it is easy for e-commerce portals to announce exciting discount offers and interesting product reviews as per the trending topics in the market. As this extension supports responsive design, you can use thumbnails, videos, and images to make your blog post more attractive and accessible on mobile devices. With easy social media sharing features, it offers additional opportunity to expand your posting to large audiences. There are several other features like e-mail notifications on posts and comments, designed templates, WYSIWYG editor, anti-bot support, RSS support, layout constructor and many more. Take the maximum leverage of the features available in this extension make the most of it!

Get Organized with nBlog Extension

If you are looking for blog extension which provides you with the latest pre-designed templates, themes and layouts then look none other than the nBlog extension. You can choose the best and attractive designed templates of your choice for the blogs and schedule the post as per your choice. You can organize your topics and overall look and feel of the blog as per your requirements. You need not worry about the delayed posting anymore as it has the support of scheduling the posts by which it will automatically post as per your scheduled timing. There are many more features to provide you the best blogging experience like RSS integration, social media support, and many more. For those who wish to organize their blog posting process using the right extension can select the nBlog which can be integrated with the Magento website.

Now that you know the best blog extensions available in the market for Magento website, make the best use of it and optimize your website. Should you have any query or comments related to the integration or customizing your e-commerce store using the latest blog extensions, then let our Magento Developers Team contact you. We, at NCode Technologies, use the latest extensions and technologies to provide high quality solutions to our varied clienteles from all over the world. With more than 10 years of experience in developing customized Magento websites for various customers, we can understand your requirements better than anyone else can! 

Why Is Joomla Development Known As Powerful Functionality In Small Packages?

Being one of the most popular and widely used Web Content Management System globally - Joomla has several reasons for its popularity. One of the major reasons behind its popularity is the scalability for all sizes of organizations. Even starting a blog is simple and later expanding it to the next level by using additional extensions is not complex. It is highly beneficial for all the commercial and personal websites like e-commerce websites, corporate websites, hotels and resorts websites, tourism websites, business or government websites, corporate intranet websites, etc.

Another simple, but important reason that makes it more popular in the market is it is available free of cost. You are free to download the latest Joomla version free of cost, including its themes, templates and other beneficial features. So, you just incur a minimal cost of the Joomla development if you wish to customize the website as per your requirements. Even the development process is not so complicated for those who want to create unique and impeccable website. Joomla is supported and backed by hundreds and thousands of Joomla community people, who are very active in addressing any kind of Joomla concerns.

A community which includes more than 200, 000 enthusiasts and developers, dedicatedly construct and contribute in developing qualitative themes, plug-ins and templates. The constant improvement and enhancement of the extensions result in wonderful results of Joomla-based websites. With several numbers of extensions and features, Joomla beats down its rivals like Drupal and Wordpress. Almost all the Joomla extensions are free of cost and some are available with very minimal cost. You can also find a variety of Joomla extensions on the official website.

If compared the capabilities of Drupal and Wordpress are much lesser than the features available in Joomla, which makes them second in line of popularity. Even the administration and the stability attribute of Joomla surpass its rivals. Installing, managing and enhancing Joomla is simple and easy. It has built-in user management, template administration, polls and integrated guidance, and research functionalities. In addition to it, you can also enhance the Joomla websites by reconfiguring using extensions to make it more unique and attractive. As these extensions are pre-packaged solutions, it does not need additional programming.

Joomla and its extension are the best choice for online progress in the World Wide Web with improved languages and framework in almost no cost. With the latest functionalities available in the vast Joomla libraries, business owners will be able to not only create unique and sophisticated websites, but also highlight their products and services. The extensions have been designed and developed to easily integrate with other devices and platforms. It is highly beneficially for the corporate and business owners as these extensions are strong, qualitative and effective. With the increasing number of extensions, Joomla functionalities are available in small packages!

As Joomla is an open source platform, it can be customized as per your requirements. Certain features like ‘Template overrides’ allows you to customize the program which overrides the Joomla programs. The customization is done using the Joomla core programs and it does not change anything in the Joomla core files. Joomla has been designed to be extended and customized as per the requirements. Most of the business owners take the help of the Joomla development experts to install or develop the extension for their website. So, if you have any query regarding customized extension or development, then you can get in touch with our Joomla expert team at NCode Technologies, Inc. With more than a decade years of experience in catering various clients from all over the globe, NCode’s Joomla development team has the right skills and knowledge to understand your requirements.  

Why Should You Hire a Magento Development Company?

Magento is one of the widely used e-commerce platforms all over the globe. From small to large retailers use Magento for offering the products online and building online stores because it offers rich features and best in class functionalities. With Magento you can find various display options for products, mobile templates, and flexibility to win your business goals. With the several extensions available in Magento, it is also one of the highly secured and safe platforms to build your online store.

There are more than a dozen e-commerce platforms using which you can build your online stores. But, most people use Magento to develop their online stores is because it offers more flexibility, ease of use and scalability. There are frequent updates from Magento which can be incorporated in the existing sites. For any e-commerce website, the products are on the top most priority. Using Magento will enable you to categorize the products more accurately and appropriately by which users can easily filter the required products. Sites which are developed in Magento also have the advantage for getting easily recognized by the search engines because Magento is more SEO friendly compared to other platforms. Visitors from all over the world can easily browse your website, as it offers the facilities of multiple stores, multiple countries and multi-lingual support. There are several options to define the rules and conditions for discount and promotions. Even the shipment of the products to various countries can be done easily by allowing multiple payment gateway facilities to the customers. You can get all the amazing features of Magento within your budget.

The only drawback of the Magento is that it needs an expert team to make optimum use of its features and functionality. Beginners or start up level companies will not be able to optimize the features in it without proper knowledge and experience. Expert Magento development companies can provide you with the right suggestions and updates to make the right decision at the right time. With experience teams, you can avail the latest designs, functionalities and features to enhance your customer experience and ultimately win the customer satisfaction. Most of the beginner teams are unable to properly understand your requirements, and deliver a sub-standard online store which adds additional cost to get it rebuilt. Instead, with knowledgeable and professional teams, you have the benefit of getting the latest market trends and features updates from them. They analyze the market before starting the project, define the project timelines and phases of delivery to get the best results. The reason behind most of the companies hiring professional Magento development companies is because they get complete end-to-end support from designing, training, coding, SEO support to ensuring customer satisfaction.

If you are planning to build your online store on the Magento platform then ensure that you hire a professional and experienced Magento development company like Ncode Technologies, Inc. We, at ncode technologies, strive to provide qualitative services at the competitive rates ensuring the quality on top of our charts. We have a strong team of Magento developers who are experienced in desgining and developing several Magento solutions for national and international clients. The best thing about hiring an offshoreMangento development company is the cost-effective rates that we can offer. We believe in long term relationship and ensure that we deliver what we promise. With more than a decade years of experience in the field of web development and Magento development, we have catered approx 1000 clients from all over the globe.

Basic But Essential PHP Tools to Simplify the Tasks of PHP Professionals

PHP is one of the most widely used client side script language which has been designed for using in web development, but most people use it for general programming also. As per the recent study in January, 2013, PHP has been installed and used in more than 240 million websites and around 2.1 million web servers. There are several types of PHP tools released every month, but if you are planning to use some of the latest tools to simplify your development tasks, then you can choose from the below list and get the desired results.

The Testing PHP Tool

One of the crucial tools that is used for the testing of websites or web applications is the testing tool. With the help of the testing tool, you can identify if there is any error in the website or application. If any error is detected, then it can be corrected and resolved before delivering the application or website. One of the important tasks before delivery is the unit testing part which enables you to remove minor or major errors in the functionality. Every professional developer has to ensure that he/she uses the testing tool to deliver a fully functional website or web application.

The Debugging PHP Tool

The other essential tool that most PHP developers use is the debugging tool which analyses your PHP coding. There are different types of debugging tools like xdebug, Zend_Debug and .dbg. You can use the tool to debug the code at any point of the PHP development process. Utilizing the debugger tools is one of the best way to ensure there is no error in the website coding and prevent the run time issues.

The Version Control System PHP Tool

In order to identify the changes made on any specific file over the period, use the version control system tool. It maintains complete index of the files, version wise and other details, so whenever you wish to recall any specific file from any version, you can get the required details from it. Most PHP developers consider it as a boon for development process. With the help of this tool, developers are able to easily take the reference of the coding from the previous versions. Apart from the coding, you can also maintain the track of the images and files in the Version Control System PHP Tool.

ERD PHP Tool

Most of the developers find difficulty in handling the big data and complex relationship between them. To simplify the task of designing the database relationship, take help of the Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD) PHP Tool. While the PHP tools are obviously useful, you can also take help of other tools like MySQL workbench or similar tools as an option, which are also effective in making the relationship diagram. The other tools also have several options to synchronize with the actual data.

Frameworks PHP Tool

One of the essential requirements of every PHP developer is the framework. There are two types of major frameworks for PHP like the CMS and the programming framework. It is necessary for all the PHP developers to have thorough knowledge about the framework before making its use in any development process. The full form of CMS is a content management system. It has many extensions and knowledge of all the extensions is essential to make the optimum use of it. The programming framework needs strong technical knowledge and expertise to use it. All the professional web developers are recommended to understand the two tools before initiating.

If you are looking for PHP developers or PHP development company for any website or web application development then hire professional and experienced PHP development company like Ncode Technologies, Inc. We are a team of strong website developers and SEO executives with more than a decade years of experience in developing and optimizing different types of website for varied client base from all over the world. Our strong team of PHP developers has skills and expertise in building different types of websites for national and international clients. Offering qualitative service in the reasonable price range is the simple mantra of our company leading in the current competitive market.