In Joomla! everything you install is an extension, including templates. But that’s discussed here. Joomla! does go one step further than WordPress and breaks it down into different pieces.
Plugins
These are smaller snippets of codes that can modify something such as an article when it’s shown. A common example is a short code to embed a map, but when a plugin runs it takes the easier to read code and converts it to an actual map. Other times a plugin might load a component such as a Form at that exact location. Plugins are also used at a lower level, such as sending a special email when a user registers or blocking requests in a firewall type plugin.
We’ve done plugins ranging from adding a footer to all articles, to that example of sending emails out on registering, and modifying other plugins as needed.
Modules
A module is more of a template spot, so when a module is made it’s designed to go in a template provided spot of one’s choosing. An example from what we’ve done would be a module on certain pages of a website that shows random articles from a certain category. Another one would be one for the homepage of another site that turns the intro image of articles from a certain category into a slideshow, with one big image (newest article) and two smaller images down one side.
Components
This is the big one, and can range from something as simple as a form to the administration panel of a firewall to add exemptions to even a whole system such as a customer management system. By the same thing, a component is typically the most expensive extension to create. Here it’s just about anything one can image, within reason, can be a component, and using plugins and modules, they can call on features as needed.
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