Creating a component, we should always start by asking questions such as the following:
What is the purpose for our component?
What unique characteristics does our content possess that call for a special component?
Is a component available (http://extensions.joomla.org) that would satisfy most, if not all, of our requirements?
Consider the core components that are included with every Joomla! release: banners, contact, content, media, newsfeeds, poll, search, user, weblinks, and wrapper. Each core component has been designed to handle a specific set of data and to present that data in a unique yet understandable fashion. If you visit extensions.joomla.org, you will find literally thousands of examples of third-party components that have been designed and created. Each and every component created for Joomla! began through a discovery process—discovering a need to present some content in a certain way or responding to a request to make a difficult or complex task simpler and...