Modules help to make up what we like to call "secondary content." This is information or media that often surrounds the main body of the page and provides added functionality, such as RSS feeds and login modules.

The red boxes in the picture above are all modules. You can see the different menus, article listings and even breadcrumbs available.

There are several module types included in the core of Joomla, such as the previously mentioned Banners and Menus; however, there are thousands of third party modules available on the Joomla Extensions Directory as well. These modules control many aspects of content layout and display as well as giving web administrators functional connections to the information in their database.

Joomla Modules are explained in lesson 9 of our free Joomla tutorial course - The Basics.