5 Extensions to Boost Your Joomla 6 Administration Workflow

07 July 2025

Manage a Joomla website more efficiently and faster. We'll go through five helpful administration extensions - plugins and modules - that can make working in the Joomla admin area easier and more pleasant.

Phoca Top Menu Module

Let’s start with the Phoca Top Menu module. This module adds a top menu bar for desktop users, where an alternative Joomla menu can be displayed. For many users, this can offer a clearer and more structured navigation. Besides better structure, it also speeds up work on desktop, since the menu items are much easier to access.

See: Phoca Top Menu module

Phoca Filter Options Plugin

Next, let’s take a look at the Phoca Filter Options plugin. When working with long lists of settings in Joomla, finding a specific option can sometimes take a lot of time. This plugin makes that easier. It adds a filter that helps quickly locate parameters within larger configuration panels. This makes extension setup faster, as it’s possible to jump straight to the needed setting.

See: Phoca Filter Options plugin

Phoca Collapse Plugin

Then, there’s the Phoca Collapse plugin. It’s especially useful when working with settings that use subforms containing many fields. In such cases, it can be difficult to organize or reorder individual subform sections. This plugin allows less important details to be hidden, so the item becomes easier to manage. It makes it much simpler to sort or rearrange parts of the subform without being distracted by too much information.

See: Phoca Collapse plugin

Phoca Desktop Plugin

Now, let’s move on to the Phoca Desktop plugin. This plugin makes it possible to create custom shortcuts right on the Joomla administration dashboard. These shortcuts can point not only to main sections, but also to specific actions - for example, 'Add New Article' or 'Add New Menu Item'. It’s a great way to speed up access to frequently used tasks. This can be helpful for administrators, and also for clients, who can get direct access to the actions they use most, without needing to go through the full menu structure.

See: Phoca Desktop plugin

Phoca Redirects Dashboard Module

Finally, there’s the Phoca Redirects Dashboard module - a useful tool for situations where automatic features run in the background and are easy to forget. For example, Joomla’s Redirect plugin can be used to track 404 error URLs, but if it’s left active for a long time, it may collect large amounts of data - often from bots. This module adds a warning to the admin dashboard when the number of saved URLs reaches a set limit. It serves as a reminder that the Redirect plugin is active, and helps prevent the database from becoming overloaded, which could affect site performance.

See: Phoca Redirects Dashboard module

Be sure to try some of these extensions to make managing the Joomla administration easier, more efficient, and faster.

Joomla - Feedback and Ideas For Improving The Work in the Administration In Future Versions For a More Efficient Experience

27 June 2025

Recently, Joomla! 8 - The future is planned now article was published in the Joomla Community Magazine.
It talked about Joomla 8 and the planning process behind its future development.
The article also invited community members to share their feedback and ideas for the upcoming version.

As a developer, I work with Joomla every day.
I hear a lot of feedback from users - what helps them, what slows them down, and what they wish was better.

In this video, I’ll share a few ideas based on real user feedback - simple ways to make the Joomla admin faster and easier to use.

1) Ajax Save → Save Instantly with Ajax

Let’s start with saving items - and we’ll use file editing as an example. Imagine you're editing a file and working on a specific line. You click Save and then switch to the frontend to see how the change looks. But after saving, the editor scrolls back to the top. You lose your place - and you have to scroll back down every single time. It’s a small thing, but it quickly becomes annoying and breaks your focus.

With Ajax saving, that doesn’t happen. The page stays where it is, the save is faster, and you can stay focused on what you’re actually doing. And it’s not just about editing files - the same applies when you're adjusting article settings, editing module parameters, or working with any other content.

2) Ajax Actions → Quick Actions via Ajax

The same thing happens with almost any other action. Every time the page reloads, we lose our focus - and it takes a moment to figure out where we were. With Ajax-based actions, that’s no longer an issue. Everything feels faster and simpler - but more importantly, we stay in control. There’s no interruption, no need to refocus. We can just keep working.

3) Edit in Place → Edit Content Inline

Just like Ajax saving, inline editing can make a big difference. Let’s say we want to quickly change the position of a module. Right now, we have to open the module list, click into the specific module, and change the position manually. If you need to update several modules, it becomes time-consuming and repetitive.

With edit in place, you could simply change the position directly from the module list - no need to open each item. And of course, this applies to many other items that often need quick edits. It’s a small change, but it saves a lot of time and makes the whole process much smoother.

4) Faster Access to Some Sections → Speedier Navigation to Key Sections

Another area that could be improved is faster and clearer access to certain sections. Let’s take the extension installation as an example. Right now, it takes two clicks instead of one - which isn’t a huge issue by itself. But the real challenge is for new users. When they click on the System menu, they see a long list of links to different sections all on one page. This can be overwhelming and confusing for beginners.

It takes them a while to find their way around, simply because there are too many options displayed at once. So this is definitely something to think about - maybe there’s a simpler, more user-friendly way.

5) Unobtrusive, but Still Accessible Help → Subtle, Accessible Help When You Need It

Inline help is another place where small changes could make a big difference. Imagine you find a setting you need to adjust, but there’s no simple explanation nearby. You click the inline help button, but instead of getting a quick description, you lose your focus completely. That breaks your concentration and interrupts your workflow.

This can be solved easily - for example, by showing help text in tooltips. If you’re an experienced administrator, the help won’t get in your way or clutter the form fields. But if you really need guidance, just hover over the setting and the explanation will appear right there. The key is that you don’t lose focus - nothing interrupts your concentration.

Conclusion

These are some really interesting insights that show us how to work more comfortably and efficiently in the Joomla administration - without anything getting in the way or interrupting our flow.

Updated by users

6) Displaying tags in article list

Displaying tags or other relevant information associated with an article in the article list is also an important feature. When browsing through the list of articles, it allows users to quickly get an overview of which articles are linked to specific topics, keywords, or other relevant data. This feature enhances navigation and helps users identify connections between different pieces of content at a glance.

Inkscape - Place Text Behind Object

12 November 2024

This article is a continuation of the previous article: Inkscape - Remove Image Background (AI) Extension.

If we already have a background removal environment for images (rembg library and Inkscape plugin Phoca - Remove Image Background (AI)), then we can simply create other different effects in Inkscape.

One such effect might be to insert text behind an object in a raster image. All can be seen in this video:

The principle is very simple. We make a copy of the main image. On the copy, remove the background according to this tutorial: Phoca - Remove Image Background (AI) and add text. So we will have three layers:

- the main image
- a copy of the image without the background
- text

Now we just need to move the text layer between the main image layer and the copy image layer.

Inkscape - Remove Image Background (AI) Extension

04 November 2024

Phoca - Remove Image Background (AI) extension is an Inkscape extension to help you easily remove backgrounds from raster images (JPG, PNG, WEBP, ...) using AI and the Rembg library.

With Phoca - Inkscape Remove Image Background extension you can remove image background with help of different AI models. There are following options:

• Model - select model
• Post Process Mask - Yes | No
• Alpha Matting - Yes | No
• Alpha Matting Foreground Threshold - set value for Alpha matting foreground threshold (0 - 255)
• Alpha Matting Background Threshold - set value for Alpha matting foreground threshold (0 - 255)
• Alpha Matting Erode Size - set value for Alpha matting erode size (0 - 40)
• Debug

Usage

• Make sure you have your Rembg library environment set up correctly on your computer, see Be aware section below.
• Select raster image, click on Raster - Remove Image Background. Set options and click on Apply button.
• Then the selected image should have its background removed using AI.

Be aware

• This extensions requires Rembg and PIL libraries (and their dependencies) installed on your system, see: https://github.com/danielgatis/rembg
• This extension is for experienced users who have set up and tested the Rembg - a Python library on their computer.
• Removing image backgrounds using AI models can be a very challenging process. Therefore, it is a good idea to have your environment set up correctly and try first to remove the background of an image using the Rembg library directly in the console

How to install this extension

Just follow Inkscape guides for installing Inkscape extensions (download the ZIP package and unzip it to Inkscape extension folder and restart Inkscape)

This extension needs the Python libraries Rembg and PIL and many of their other dependencies to run properly. So before using this extension, you need to install this complete environment using Python.