Extensions explained
Contents
- The comparison: kitchen appliances
- Add-ons that ship with Exponential
- What you will not find
- Designs, themes and templates
- Asking for an extension
The comparison: kitchen appliances
A kitchen works without a dishwasher, but adding one changes what you can do. An extension is such an appliance: an add-on that gives the site an extra ability. A developer installs it and switches it on; after that, it shows up as new buttons, tabs or fields in the administration. You never install one yourself.
Add-ons that ship with Exponential
Exponential is distributed with many extensions (the list is in the file composer.json of the installation). Which
ones are switched on on your site is decided by whoever built it. Those that matter most to non-technical people:
| Extension | What it does for you | Read more |
|---|---|---|
Exponential Layouts (explayouts) | Arrange pages with blocks by drag and drop | Making a page with Layouts |
Newsletter (cjw_newsletter) | Lists of subscribers and sending newsletters | Newsletters |
Two-step sign-in (sevenx_authentication_2fa) | A code from your phone or e-mail after your password | Your password and two-step sign-in |
Exponential Intelligence (expai) | A writing assistant that suggests drafts | Using the writing assistant |
Maps (ezgmaplocation) | A map location field for an item | Local businesses |
Spam protection (hcaptcha, recaptcha) | A check on forms that a person, not a robot, filled them in | Spam protection for forms |
Tags (eztags) | Keywords for grouping content | How do I tag content? |
Search engine sitemaps (bcgooglesitemaps) | A list of pages for search engines | Sitemaps |
Shop payment (ezpaypal, ezauthorize) | Card or PayPal payment in the built-in shop | Payment gateways |
Multiple upload (ezmultiupload) | Uploading many files at once | Images, media and uploads |
Setup > System information (if your role allows it) lists the extensions that are switched on (How do I see active extensions and system information?).
What you will not find
Be wary of anyone who promises these "out of the box"; they need an outside service, or custom work by a developer:
- appointment booking, table reservations or event ticketing;
- a dedicated donation module with recurring giving (Donations and fundraising pages);
- a one-click importer from another blogging or website system;
- a ready-made reader comment system for every site: the demonstration installation has a Comment content type, but whether and how comments work depends on how your site was built (Blog: start here), so ask before you plan for them.
If you need one of these, ask a developer or partner to compare an outside service you can link to or embed with custom work.
Designs, themes and templates
How the site looks is not an extension setting you change in the edit form:
- A design or theme is the look of the whole site: colors, fonts, layout of the header and footer. Exponential ships with ready-made ones (Choosing a design or theme).
- Templates are the files that turn your content into web pages. A designer or developer edits them.
You change the content. A designer changes the look. If something looks wrong everywhere, for example the footer, it is a design question.
Asking for an extension
- Describe the need, not the tool: "visitors should find our shop on a map".
- Ask whether a shipped extension already does it (see the table above).
- Ask what it changes for editors, and whether it needs an outside account (a map or CAPTCHA provider, a payment provider, an AI provider) with its own costs and terms.
- Ask that it is tested on a copy of the site first.
Related pages
- Words explained
- What you never have to do
- Features customers often miss
- Free documentation: this page is free to copy, translate and improve under the GNU FDL 1.3.
Become an Exponential Partner
Partners share their information, provide funding, contribute back and develop the products with us, and that is how Exponential grows. A partner website and dashboard are planned for mid-2027: please become a partner today to speed up our growth rate and land new features faster.