Joomla 2.5 Released

Well the title says it all. The good folks at Joomla.org have relesed their next Long Term Support (LTS) version of their ever popular CMS with added features, functionality, improved language support and enhanced security features. Click on the post for a rundown of the main points.

Joomla 2.5 Long Term Support (LTS)

The numbering may be confusing for those who haven’t been following the project but this is the 3rd major release in the 1.6+ series. Up to recently 2.5 was designated as Joomla 1.8. The reason for the odd number is that each new major long term support version will be a .5 series, e.g. 2.5, 3.5, 4.5, etc. This means that they will be supported with bug fixes and security patches for at least 18 months.

New Features in Joomla 2.5

So here we get to the juicy part that you’ve all been waiting for; the new features in Joomla 2.5. The main areas of improvement are:

• Better search engine with auto-completion
• Multi database support – a massive plus for scalability
• Extension update notifications – no need to check these manually using the Find Updates feature any more
• Captcha in core — begone you 3rd party Captcha extensions!
• Link to module — the new menu system will allow linking to modules (whereas before only components could be linked). A long standing feature request comes good.

And don’t forget all of the new features you get when you are migrating from Joomla 1.5, those added in Joomla 1.6 and 1.7, e.g.

• Joomla 2.5 has much improved access control list (ACL) for fine tune multi-level permissions
• Much improved native multilingual support
• Download and apply security patches from within the Joomla administrator
• Much improved template management and template features
• Scrapping of the old Section | Category paradigm. You can now have multiple nested categories
• One click extension updates via Extension Manager | Update | Find Updates. This was a glaring flaw in Joomla 1.5. One of the main reasons for Joomla websites being hacked is the use of out of date extensions. The old system required site administrators to constantly monitor what versions of what extensions were used on each of their websites and keep them updated manually by downloading installers and uploading them via the administrator. The new Joomla follows in WordPress’s footsteps and allows one to query for updates and install via the extension manager’s Find Updates feature (note that with 2.5 notifications will be automatic).
• More secure installer, e.g. change your admin username during install and use of a random db table prefix
• Better core SEO / SEF support
• A much better Media Manager
• Access to improved / updated 3rd party extensions, e.g. I much prefer the new JCE to the one I used on Joomla 2.5. Complete with drag and drop image uploading!
• Built in redirect handler

So what does this mean for me?

Well it depends on what you use Joomla for, but for me it means:

• More control over my websites
• Streamlined security workflow (due to the core and extension update features)
• Better search engine visibility
• Improved administrator user experience for my clients
• A more flexible development platform due to the ACL improvements
• Revived excitement for the Joomla project!

Do I need to migrate / upgrade to Joomla 2.5 from Joomla 1.5?

Well that’s a matter for you but it is highly recommended. The Joomla 1.5 series will be officially decommissioned in April 2012. That means no more security patches from that point on which will be a concern for most of you. Your current website will continue to work, however I would urge anyone who runs a Joomla 1.5 website dealing with eCommerce, forums or any sensitive information to take the plunge and migrate their websites to Joomla 2.5. It’s a it of work but it’s worth it for the peace of mind and there is nothing more time consuming than trying to clean a hacked Joomla installation (except maybe for a hacked WordPress installation!!!)

How can I upgrade to Joomla 2.5?

This post is getting a bit long to please see my follow up post here for more information 😉 But as a summary I use either the free JUpgrade component by Mattias Aguirre or SP Upgrade, a commercial component that provides a similar feature set.

By the way, if you have any questions, comments, corrections, etc, do feel free to comment.

Well there we have it. Joomla 2.5 has finally been released and with a bunch of new features too. Well done team Joomla and thanks for a great CMS!