Wednesday, 22 September 2010
Joomla 1.6 is Almost Here!
If you are a follower of Activate Media you are probably aware we have a long history in developing websites on the Joomla CMS system. Over the years it has had many revisions, and it only gets better! The next major release of Joomla, version 1.6, has almost completed it's beta testing phase meaning it will soon be ready for production deployment, and with this release come some very exciting new additions to the framework.
My personal view; this version should probably be called Joomla 3.0, because as with the previous major update 1.5 it requires a complete paradigm shift in the way extensions are built. It adds a number of significant improvements to the core system, which in the past required substantial bespoke programming to achieve anything close to similar functionality. Some of the noteworthy additions are:
- Access Control Levels- this part of the CMS has been completely redesigned and rewritten. You now can have granular controls on an unlimited number of access levels, both for the back end and the front end. This is a huge change from previous versions of Joomla and will allow us to create infinite different access levels within a site- with each level being able to see and administer different parts of a site.
- Styles- you will be able to apply multiple styles within a single template. This will allow changes between different pages in a site utilising the same template.
- Consistent functionality and UI throughout the administration interface. While the Joomla admin interface is largely consistent in the current version, the new version ensures consistency through the entire system
- Nested category support- while this sounds like overkill for most websites, it will allow for a much more logical organisation of information within larger sites.
We have now put some research time into the new version and we have been very impressed with what we have seen. The new framework will allow us the flexibility to develop some very innovative sites. We are especially keen on the new access control system, which would allow you to theoretically deliver a fully customised site to each user based on their preferences or your business rules.
We have also evaluated upgrading current Joomla based sites. For sites that have been developed using version 1.5, the upgrade looks very manageable with only custom modules requiring much if any reprogramming. On the other hand, older Joomla sites running on 1.0 versions of Joomla, will now need to be upgraded as there will not be any further support for this system.
But- we are not there yet- Joomla 1.6 has now had 10 Beta releases, with a release candidate due out any time. We would expect to see a stable version of 1.6 before the end of the year and that is the time we will shift our development to the new system. That being said, we are doing everything in our power in our current development to allow for seamless upgrades once the new version becomes available.
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