Using Joomla

Building a Community: Extend User Profiles and Functions with Community Builder

• Extension: Community Builder

• Website: http://www.joomlapolis.com

• Cost: Free

• License: GNU/GPL

• Minimum requirements: Joomla 1.5, PHP 5+

It should be no surprise how important a website’s community is and how it makes a site flourish. Community enriches a site and engages its users. The oldest and most well-known community tool for Joomla is Community Builder.

Community Builder enables users to build their own user profiles and has a plug-in architecture for third-party add-ons. It also integrates with other third-party Joomla components like JReviews Express or JCal. It also has its own login module with a login redirect and customized registration pages.

Upon installing Community Builder, you’ll notice there are seven main sections, as shown in Figure 18-40.

Figure 18-40. Community Builder: Main menu

User Management

This is where users are managed. It works basically like the User Manager in Joomla, but shows you the extra fields and information Community Builder adds.

Tab Management

Tabs are sections of each user profile page. They can work like actual tabs or can be just parts of the profile. Tabs contain the fields you assign to them.

Field Management

Fields are what extend user profiles. A field can be a text field, an image, a checkbox, drop-down menu, or a variety of other options. Each field must reside ...