Purchase? Are you kidding? Isn't JCE free?

Yes it is, well most of it anyway. Its all free as in freedom, but not all as in free beer.

The core of the JCE system, the Administration Component and the Editor Plugin, both required in any JCE installation, are a free download.

Additional plugins are available with the purchase of a subscription, developed exclusively for subscribers that extend the functionality and useabilty of the JCE.

You get to download them as many times as you like and use them on as many sites as you like, even after your subscription expires. You only need to re-subscribe to download them or their updated versions.

These plugin differ from the standard JCE plugins in a number of ways:

• Some of them are unique to members only, like the Caption Plugin, Media Manager, File manager and Template Manager
• Some extend the features and funtionality of the standard plugins, like the Image Manager Extended and the AdvLink Extended plugins
• All the the plugins are in a constant state of development and improvement. New features will be added and functionality improved with each new version. In contrast, the standard plugins will never do more than they do now, apart from inheriting functionality and code improvements made to the whole JCE system.

Please note that although JCE 1.5.0 is available for Joomla! 1.5.x, not all plugins have been released yet, and only the Media Manager, File Manager, Image Manager Extended, Template Manager and Captions are available to subscribers. Other plugins mentioned below, such as AdvLink Extended will be released soon.

Available Plugins

1.1.x - Image Manager Extended, File Manager, Media Manager, Template Manager, Captions

1.5.x - File Manager, Media Manager, Image Manager Extended, Template Manager, Captions

The Template Manager does not create or edit Joomla! templates. For a description of the Template Manager's functions, read this article.

What do these plugins do that the others don't?

Lets look at the Image Manager Extended as an example:

The picture to the left is a thumbnail image of a larger picture. This thumbnail was generated when the picture was uploaded, and stored in a 'thumbnails' folder. If you click on the image, the larger picture opens in a popup window, with a caption underneath it. (Requires JCE Utilities Mambot, or any other mambot/script that can create Lightbox or Thickbox popups). The older JCE 1.0.x popup method is also supported.

Placing your mouse cursor over the image reveals a tooltip, with a bit of information about the picture (Requires JCE Utilities Plugin).

On top of this, the Image Manager Extended can also resize images on upload, and thumbnails can be created from any existing image.

Strawberry

Here is another example, this time of the Caption plugin. Captions for images are really easy to make, with control over the border color, type and style (or none at all), background colour and text colour. The plugin dialog displays a relatime update of the changes you make to these values, so you know exactly how the caption will look in your article.

As for the AdvLink Extended, extra features include the ability to search your Joomla! site content for the right article to link to, as well as the ability to store links you use often as 'favourites', which you can then access easily using the dynamic drop down lists. The AdvLink Extended can also create popups and tooltips (JCE Utilities Mambot required).

Are there any licence restrictions? What if I want to use these plugins on multiple sites. Do I need multiple subscription?

No, there are no licence restrictions, except those imposed by the GNU/GPL licence. A subscription is not a licence purchase either, so you are free to use the plugins on as many Joomla! sites and on as many domains as you choose.

What happens when my subscription expires? Can I still use the plugins?

When your subscription expires, you lose access to the sections of the wesbite restricted to subscribers only, such as the downloads section that contains the subscriber plugins. You can still use the plugins you have downloaded and installed for an indefinate period, but you will need to renew your subscription to downlaod new plugins and updates.

What does a subscription cost?

Subscriptions start at US$20 offering different periods of access, depending on the plan purchased. The payment process is securely handled by 2Checkout.com, and once complete, you are re-directed back to this site, where your subscription is activated and can then download the available plugins right away!

What are you waiting for?