Development
You build websites. You pour hours into custom themes, tweak extensions, and optimize every line of code. But how do you prove it's yours? A footer credit? Too obvious. A hidden comment in the HTML? Clunky and easy to miss. Enter the generator meta tag. It's sitting there in the head of most Joomla pages, whispering the site's origin story to anyone who peeks at the source code. By default, it shouts "Joomla! 5.x.x" or whatever version you run. Useless for SEO, sure. But ripe for repurposing.
As a developer, I’ve heard the grumbling from some peers: bug reports are a hassle, a drain on time, or even a personal attack on their work. But I see them differently. Bug reports are a favor—a gift from users who care enough to help us improve our software. A recent experience with my Joomla plugin, Content - InterLinked, drove this home. A user’s informal comment, found by sheer luck, revealed a critical issue that could have lingered for months without a formal report. This article explores why clear, direct, and official bug reports are essential for developers and users alike, using this case as a vivid example.
Read more: Bug Reports: A Developer's Best Friend, Not a Burden
System - Link Canonical Version 5.3.0+ introduces support for adding canonical URLs to RSS feeds via HTTP Link headers, addressing Google Search Console's "Duplicate without user-selected canonical" errors for feed URLs (e.g., https://www.example.com/blog?format=feed&type=rss). Since RSS feeds lack an HTML <head> for traditional <link rel="canonical"> tags, the plugin now dynamically injects a Link header per RFC 5988 to specify the preferred canonical URL.
The player card option in X Autopost is relatively easy to use. For the most part, your article doesn't change in any way, though you are linking to it - and if you're setting up a player card, the video should probably also be displayed in your article.
Delivering GeoIP data for GDPR and EU e-Privacy Directive compliance without sacrificing website performance is a significant challenge. Server-side GeoIP lookups can disrupt caching systems like Varnish, while client-side solutions are slow or unreliable. This article introduces a groundbreaking discovery: using the Server-Timing header to deliver GeoIP data post-caching, enabling compliance and personalization while preserving speed. This server-side solution, implemented with nginx and Varnish, is the first step toward updating the System - EU e-Privacy Directive Joomla extension to display cookie consent banners only for EU visitors. Beyond GDPR, it supports broader GeoIP applications (e.g., city, state, continent) for content personalization, analytics, and more, all while maintaining cache performance.
Read more: Server-Timing for GeoIP Data Delivery to Achieve GDPR Compliance
I'm all about creating free Joomla extensions that make your life easier, and sometimes the best ideas come from the smallest frustrations. That’s exactly what happened with the latest update to our Content - Indexing API plugin, problems turned into features. Now available in version 5.2.0 and up.
As a Joomla extension developer, I’ve spent years building and sharing free extensions with the Joomla community. It’s a labor of love—crafting tools like my Contact - Valid Email and User - MX Filter plugins to help site admins fight spam and keep their forms secure. But every so often, the open-source world delivers a humbling reminder that no matter how carefully you code, there’s always a blind spot waiting to surprise you. Today was one of those days, and it’s a story worth sharing.
As a developer of free Joomla extensions, I’m incredibly grateful for the community that uses and supports my work. I strive to provide helpful extensions and, importantly, readily available support. It’s a rewarding cycle – users benefit, I gain valuable feedback, and the entire ecosystem thrives. A primary source of feedback comes from fair reviews.