Joomla evangelism

A while ago, the Joomla Production Leadership Team decided to split the Joomla project into two parts. One part is the CMS we all know and love. The actual system we're using every day. The other part is the layer behind the CMS, the inner workings of Joomla. Simply put, it can be defined as the contents of the /libraries/ folder in Joomla. This is now called the J!Platform.

If you're an end-user of Joomla, you probably don't care too much about this. As long as it works, it's all good, right? Still, I believe you should know why the J!Platform can be part of what will ensure the solid future of the Joomla project.

As a PHP developer, you should really take a look at the J!Platform and what it can do.

Most people don't make a concious choice to use open source software. They choose the software by looking at its functionality. Or perhaps a friend recommended that they try it. Price is also a factor, of course, and that's where open source software really shines.

Choosing to use open source software might not seem like a big thing at first - but it is!

Open source software is changing the world, and the way people interact and communicate. And you are a part of that!

The guys over at JoomStew have started an initative to help Matias Aguirre. He's the developer of the jUpgrade migration tool for Joomla 1.5 to 1.6.

He will benefit greatly if he's able to attend the J and Beyond event in The Netherlands this May. And so will you - as it will improve the way his migration component works and what it supports.

Unfortunately, he doesn't have the $2500 required for attendance and accomodation.

That's why the JoomStew people have started a fundraising initative to help him go to the event.

When Joomla 1.6 was released, one of the first questions people had was if current Joomla extensions would be compatible. It's been known for a long time that the changes in Joomla 1.6 mean that every single extension used needs an update.

For some developers, this is an easy task. For others, it's something compared to a nightmare.

I asked a group of developers to share their opinions on the Joomla 1.6 release, and what it will mean for their companies.

As I wrote in my post on the Joomla 1.6 launch - much of the success of version 1.6 will depend on the availability of extensions and templates.

To prepare for the launch of Joomla! 1.6, a group of 27 people from all over the world came together in a Skype group.

For five days, there was a constant discussion on things related to the launch. People were signing in and out depending on their schedule and time-zone. The discussion was lively, but extremely productive.

Using Google documents, people were working though the weekend to get everything in place. It was incredible to see the community come together like this to produce something for the common good.

The Joomla Bug Squad has been instrumental in getting to where we are today. These people have relentlessly hunted for and squashed bugs in the software.

Without them, no-one knows when we would have seen the current version.

Although there are still many bugs in the software, they will be squashed in the weeks and months ahead. Again, the Bug Squad will be an important part of this process.

And so will you and I - we all need to chip in and report bugs, test the software and make sure 1.6 evolves into something as stable as the Joomla 1.5 we already know.

Great video by Jen Kramer and friends:

Original post

Joomla rocks!!

As you might know, Joomla 1.6 beta 10 was released on Tuesday. Some people wonder why it takes that many beta versions to finish Joomla 1.6.

There is a lot of activity in the project. Nonetheless, here has been some disagreements and people have left the Joomla 1.6 Bug Squad. Others have since joined, and I hope we will see more activity in the coming weeks and months towards a Release Candidate for Joomla 1.6.

In this post, I look at some of the factors involved in the bug fixing of Joomla 1.6.

This infographic shows the history of Joomla from its inception in 2005 until today and is the Spanish version of the original one I did for Joomla's fifth birthday on September 1st 2010.

The graphic also shows key figures for the project as of today.

I hope you enjoy the infographic and share with everyone you know :)

Thanks to Steve Burge, Brian Teeman and Peter van Westen for help with this project, and to Isidro Baquero from www.gnumla.com for the Spanish translation.

Esta infografía muestra la historia de Joomla! desde su concepción en 2005 hasta nuestros días, y es la versión en español de la original que creé para el 5º cumpleaños de Joomla! el 1 de Septiembre de 2010.

Además, el gráfico muestra algunos datos clave del proyecto a día de hoy.

Espero que disfrutéis de la infografía y la compartáis con todos vuestros conocidos ;).

Gracias a Seteve Burge, Brian Teeman y Peter Van Westen por su ayuda con este proyecto, y a Isidro Baquero de www.gnumla.com por la traducción al español.

This infographic shows the top 10 features which sets Joomla 1.6 apart from the current 1.5 version.

The infographic was originally created in English, and with the help of some Spanish speaking friends it's now available in Spanish as well. Thanks a lot to Anneliese Woodberry and Adrian Prado for the translation, as well as www.webempresa.com for the translation of Joomla 1.6 into Spanish. Enjoy!

Esta infografía muestra las 10 características que diferencian a Joomla 1.6 de la versión actual 1.5.

La infografía se creo originalmente en idioma inglés y con la ayuda de amigos hispanoparlantes ahora también está disponible en español. Muchísimas gracias a Anneliese Woodberry y Adrian Prado por la traducción del contenido de la infografía e igualmente a www.webempresa.com por la traducción al español de Joomla 1.6. ¡Que lo disfruten!

As you know, all 5-year olds love gifts (and cake) - I know mine did :) So, I made a birthday gift to the Joomla Community. It's an infographic showing the history of Joomla from the start in 2005 until today.

The graphic also shows key figures for the project as of today.

I hope you enjoy the infographic and share with everyone you know :)

Thanks to Steve Burge, Brian Teeman and Peter van Westen for help with this project.

There are a lot of posts on this blog now, and many of them are hidden in the depths of the archives.

In this post, I'll highlight seven posts from this blog (and some others) that you might have missed.

The Joomla! project launched the official 'Joomla Community Magazine' today.

I must say, the magazine looks amazing. The content is really well written, and the design is very slick. As far as I know, the community magazine is based on K2 by JoomlaWorks. And it's designed by Komrade.

The magazine is planned as a monthly publication. It's organized almost like an offline magazine, with editions, editorials etc. Of course, all the content will be available in the future, so this will be a great resource for Joomla information.

There has been many efforts going lately to encourage people to contribute to the Joomla! project in various ways.

From the Joomla! Forward initiative and the alltogetherasawhole.org website, to lots of blog posts both on the joomla.org site and elsewhere.

Jeremy Wilken of Gnomeoftherun.com is one person with a strong opinion in this matter. I met up with him during the J and Beyond conference to hear what he had to say about contributing to the Joomla! project.

In this video interview Jeremy shares his thoughts on how you can contribute to Joomla! for our common benefit.

There is a lot of talk about how you can contribute to the Joomla! CMS project. Joomla! is an Open Source Project, and it needs every one of us to grow and expand.

On this page, I have collected and will continue to add ways for you to contribute to the Joomla! project. If you have anything to share, please email me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or comment below.

First, read my article on this subject: Joomla! user? Contribute to the project! I wrote the post in June 2009. Most of this still holds true, so start there.

A while ago, I announced my 'Joomla Greatest Challenge' Contest.

The contest involved writing about what you think is the greatest challenge in using Joomla.

The winner has been now been chosen.

Many readers of JoomlaBlogger are already following my Twitter account (around 1,200 followers at this time). At the same time, I believe many of you would probably also like to connect with other readers of this blog.

To facilitate this, please use the comments function in this post to share your Twitter username. Make sure to leave a link to make it easier for us to quickly follow as many of you as possible.

Amy Stephen has done a remarkable job evaluating the upcoming ACL system for Joomla 1.6.

She has shared her thoughts and suggestions for improvement of the ACL system in a video.

I was surfing Twitter and the Joomla Forums today and noticed people complaining about a lot of issues. Many of them were 'victims' of one or more of the following reasons people fail at using Joomla:

1. Not taking the time to learn the basics
2. Using a bad template
3. Not having a backup plan
4. Installing a new version without doing a backup
5. Not bothering to read and understand the security checklist
6. Not learning even a tiny bit of CSS
7. Installing new extensions on a production site without testing them
8. Ranting and shouting in the forums, thereby losing out on the help you would get if your were thinking before shouting
9. Oops, I guess I couldn't think of anything more - how about you?
10. ?

Brian Teeman wrote a blog post not long ago, where he suggested several ways that Joomla could do more than it currently does, but that they all required extra funding.

Now, he suggest a solution to the funding challenges of the Joomla project.