SmartSite is a new approach to module management in Joomla!. If you're familiar with Pageflakes or Netvibes, you may have noticed those little widges* that you can rearrange around the page, as if it was a desktop of your favorite operating system. In fact, those widgets look much like app windows (with minimize and close buttons on the top). Can we turn regular Joomla modules into widgets? The answer is YES - with SmartSite!  |
 drag'n'drop modules between different module positions
let your users clone and customize any of the existing modules
have multiple copies of the same module on a page
set at what module positions display non-draggable modules
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Installation
You'll be surprised how quick and easy SmartSite installs! Just click "Upload and Install" button, and check the frontpage of your website - you should see something like this (here I installed SmartSite on a fresh Joomla 1.5 website): 
 The component has not only installed itself, but it had also installed SmartSite template (and made it a default one) along with Smartsite system plugin. Try to play with draging-and-dropping, minimizing/maximizing to make sure it all work. Please note that if you're not logged in, SmartSite will not save new positions of modules.
Cloning and customization
The unique feature of SmartSite is that each user can now customize modules and these changes will not be visible to other users. That can add to your website a personalized workplace, where users would rearrange and manage Joomla modules as if they were widgets. If you're logged in, click  button on the top of any module, and you'll see a menu with two items: "Edit Settings" and "Clone Module". Click "Edit Settings" and a lightbox window will appear, with all the settings of a module:
If you change User Menu's name to, say, User Widget and click Save, that module will appear with a new name. But it's only for you. Other users will still see it as User Menu.
Now, if you click "Clone Module", its copy will appear on the same module position and you'll have two identical modules.
How to recover deleted modules
In case you want to recover all the deleted modules, you can use "Restore Defaults" feature. You'll need to add a new menu item called "Restore Defaults" to any menue of your website. I added the one to Top Menu as shown on the picture:
I set Access Level to "Registered" as "Restore Defaults" feature works only when user is logged in. Now if you swtich to the frontend and click this menu item, all previously deleted modules should show up again.
How to uninstall
While uninstalling the component, don't forget to unpublish SmartSite template and SmartSite system plugin.
* Widget is a piece of content from one website that can be embedded in other sites on the internet.
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