A component is a Joomla extension type responsible for a functional area of a site. It can provide public pages, administrator tools or both.
How components work
The selected component normally produces a page’s main output, such as com_content for articles. A Joomla menu item chooses a component view and supplies display options. A backup component, however, may operate mainly in the administrator interface without a public page.
Components and other extensions
Modules display additional blocks, plugins respond to events, and templates control presentation. A Joomla product can bundle a component, modules and plugins into one installation package. Product names therefore do not always correspond to a single extension type.
Before installing a Joomla component, check compatibility, dependencies, updates and the removal procedure.