Joomla! 5: What's new and why you should upgrade
Joomla! 5 is the logical continuation of Joomla! 4, which was released in August 2021. Joomla! 5 brings many exciting new features and improvements that will make your website faster, more secure and more attractive. In this blog post, I would like to introduce you to some of the most important advantages of Joomla! 5 compared to Joomla! 4.
Easier menu and media management
One of the most common tasks when creating and maintaining a website is the management of menus and media. Joomla! 5 makes this task even easier and more intuitive. You can now edit your menus directly in the frontend without having to switch to the backend. You can also sort your menus according to your own preferences by simply moving the menu items using drag-and-drop.
The media management has also been improved. You can now use the new file format AVIF, which offers high image quality with a small file size. You can also exclude archived content from intelligent search indexing to increase the relevance of your search results.
TinyMCE in version 6.7
The TinyMCE editor is the standard editor for creating and editing content in Joomla! With Joomla! 5 you get the latest version 6.7 of the editor, which offers you more functions and options. For example, you can now align images in your text without inserting additional code. You can also change the font size and colour directly in the editor without having to access the formatting options.
Fontawesome in version 6.4
Fontawesome is a collection of over 7,000 icons that you can use in your website to make it more visually appealing. With Joomla! 5 you get the latest version 6.4 of Fontawesome, which gives you even more icons to choose from. You can now also use the new Duotone icons, which consist of two colours and create an interesting contrast.
Updating the Webauthn library
Webauthn is a web standard that allows you to log in to your website using biometric data such as fingerprint or face recognition without having to enter a password. This increases security and convenience for you and your visitors. With Joomla! 5, you get an updated version of the web authoring library that supports more devices and browsers and improves usability.
Numerous improvements to the search
Search is an important feature for any website, allowing visitors to quickly and easily find the information they need. With Joomla! 5, the search is even better and more powerful. You can now filter the search results according to various criteria such as date, author or category. You can also customise the search results page by adjusting the number of hits per page, the display of the search form and the sorting of the results.
Code improvements under the hood
In addition to the visible changes, there are also many improvements in the code of Joomla! 5 that you may not notice directly, but that make a big difference. For example, the code has been optimised with the phpcs Fixer to increase the speed and quality of the code. Compatibility with PHP 8+ and Bootstrap 5.3.2 has also been ensured to utilise the latest server-side technologies. In addition, many outdated functions have been removed and replaced with more modern APIs to ensure the future-proofing of Joomla!
Conclusion
There are many more good reasons why you should upgrade your website to Joomla! 5. Joomla! 5 offers you more features, security and flexibility to take your website to the next level. The upgrade process from Joomla! 4 to Joomla! 5 requires a certain amount of preparation and planning, depending on the third-party extensions used.
If you need help upgrading your website to Joomla! 5 or would like to create a new website with Joomla! I have specialised in Joomla! in particular. I will be happy to advise you and support you with your web project. Contact me today and let's make your website a success together!
