Joomla CMS is a versatile platform, has been a long-time favourite for its flexibility, strong features and ease of use, adopted by many well-known businesses across the globe.
After years of brainstorming and buzz sessions, the ever best version Joomla 4 was released. However, there were some detectable glitches which needed an eye on. Thus, catering to these errors, Joomla announced its power packed version with added facilities Joomla 5 on the 17th of October, 2023.
With the release of Joomla 5, the platform introduced several innovative features and functionalities for improvised performance as compared to the previous versions (especially Joomla 4.x).
So, Joomla 5 now is a bearer of integrated services, robust functionalities and exciting new enhancements to boost your website’s performance and embellish user experience.
In this blog post, we’ll learn about Joomla 5 and highlight the key updates and alterations. We’ll understand the points that make it a must-have version for administrators and developers alike.
Hence, whether you are looking for an upgrade from the older versions or want to start with your brand-new website on Joomla 5, let us explore what capabilities, tools and features this version has in its bucket for you.
Let us delve into understanding “What’s new in Joomla 5?”
What’s New in Joomla 5?
Among the standout updates is introducing an improved Dark Mode for the administrator interface, designed to reduce eye strain and provide a sleek, modernised look.
The new release also boasts enhanced performance, thanks to the optimised code and faster load times. Improved security measures, including better password hashing, and more robust encryption, ensure that sites are more secure than ever.
Additionally, Joomla 5 introduces more powerful content management tools, refined workflow processes, and provides greater flexibility with new template and extension capabilities.
These advancements make Joomla 5 a compelling upgrade for developers and site administrators looking to leverage the latest web technologies and maintain a competitive edge.
Joomla 5 New Features
Joomla 5 comprises an array of amazing features that provides a powerful tool to developers to create design marvels for enhancing user experience and improving web performance. Here's a detailed look at the new features in Joomla 5:
1. Revamped Admin Dashboard
Managing and navigating the website becomes way easier for site admins with the revamped admin dashboard of Joomla 5. The new dashboard comprises the features like intuitive interface and modern menus that prioritise ease of use and website efficiency.
Key functions and frequently used tools are now more accessible, reducing the time needed to perform routine tasks. The update introduces a new modal window for selecting buttons to streamline workflows and provide administrators with a more intuitive user experience.
2. Improved Dark Mode
Joomla 5's Improved Dark Mode transforms the administrator interface into a sleek, modern workspace optimised for aesthetics and functionality. This feature introduces a carefully curated colour palette that minimises eye strain, making prolonged work sessions more comfortable.
Beyond a simple colour inversion, the new Dark Mode meticulously designs every element, from icons to typography, to maintain clarity and contrast. This mode adapts dynamically to different screen environments, providing an intuitive and visually pleasing experience whether you're working late at night or in low-light conditions.
3. Schema.org Integration
Joomla 5 takes a giant leap forward in search engine optimization (SEO) with its built-in Schema.org integration. Previously, implementing Schema.org markup required manual configuration or extensions.
A standard vocabulary is provided by Schema.org that can be used by webmasters to structure data on their sites enabling search engines to interpret and display rich snippets in search results more effectively.
Joomla 5 automatically generates Schema.org data for your organisation and website name. This rich data structure enhances how search engines understand your website's content. It also improves overall SEO performance, visibility and click-through rates of your web pages.
4. Workflow Management
The "Workflow Management" feature was actually introduced in Joomla 4. However, Joomla 5 improved the existing workflow management system with enhanced capabilities, providing administrators with powerful tools to streamline and automate content creation and publication processes.
This system allows you to create custom workflows for managing your content, particularly within specific categories or content types. For example, you could establish a workflow for articles that involves stages like "Draft," "In Review," "Published," and "Archived."
Each stage can have assigned users or user groups, ensuring content goes through the proper approval process before publication. This not only improves collaboration but also maintains content quality and consistency.
5. Advanced Caching Mechanism
Joomla 5 uses a smarter approach to caching website assets like images, scripts, and stylesheets. It optimises how content is stored and retrieved, reducing server load and improving site visitors' response times.
This means these elements are stored temporarily after the first-page load, significantly reducing the amount of data that needs to be retrieved on subsequent visits. It includes multiple caching layers, such as page caching, view caching, and module caching, each working together to ensure that frequently accessed data is served quickly.
The result? A noticeable speed boost for your website visitors. This advanced caching mechanism and code optimisation features in Joomla 5 contribute to a smoother and more responsive user experience, which keeps visitors engaged and happy.
6. Improved Media Manager
Joomla 5 did a lot of improvements in the media manager by bringing exciting new enhancements. It helps in streamlining content creation and improving user experience.
The updated Media Manager features several benefits by offering facilities such as a modern interface with drag-and-drop functionality. This helps in making it easier to upload, organise, and manipulate media files such as images, videos, and documents. Thus, the new Multi-Media Manager in Joomla 5 provides:
- AVIF Support: For superior compression and faster loading times.
- Streamlined Uploads: Quicker and more efficient upload process.
- Enhanced Organisation: Filtering options for locating your media assets more efficiently.
Integration with cloud storage services and external media sources is streamlined, providing more flexibility in managing and sourcing media assets.
7. Two-Factor Authentication
Joomla 5 version took security as the paramount feature in its new version. To mitigate the risk of unauthorised access to the user’s account, this new version offers an additional protection layer in the form of Two-Factor Authentication (2FA).
Thus, users now need to verify their identity before entering their account. The verification process requires you to confirm your identity through two distinct methods:
- Your usual password, and
- A temporary code sent via SMS or generated by an authentication app.
With the implementation of 2FA, Joomla 5 manages to reduce the risks associated with the website security and mitigates the attacks to a larger extent, as attackers must now have to pass both the authentication factors to gain entry.
8. Modernised Template System
Joomla 5 introduces the modern template system to bring ease of use, simplified customisation, and enhanced performance. Using contemporary web technologies like Bootstrap 5 and CSS Grid ensures that templates are responsive, visually appealing and adaptable to various devices and screen sizes.
The drag-and-drop functionality and real-time preview option allows designers and developers to create and modify templates more intuitively. Additionally, this new feature provides more granular control over the layouts and individual components.
9. Enhanced SEO Tools
Joomla 5 takes significant strides towards simplifying and improving your website's search engine optimisation (SEO) with its enhanced SEO tools.
These tools include more intuitive meta tag management, allowing users to easily add and customise meta titles, descriptions, and keywords for individual pages and posts.
The updated SEO suite also offers improved URL handling with the automatic generation of SEO-friendly URLs that helps in reducing the manual adjustment needs. This ensures consistency across the site.
10. User-Friendly Content Editing
To offer a smoother and intuitive content creation experience to users of all backgrounds, Joomla 5 offers focused solutions to the content editing feature. Let us see how user-friendly content editing gets a boost:
- Updated Content Editors: Joomla 5 implements CodeMirror 6 and TinyMCE Editor 6.7. These updated editors offer a more modern interface featuring new functionalities and improved responsiveness.
- Enhanced Formatting Options: The advanced formatting options enables users to do additional formatting in their content. Now, they have easier access to features like tables, headings, or image insertion, streamlining the content creation process.
- WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) Editing: Joomla 5's WYSIWYG editing experience allows users to see their content formatted as it will appear on the live website.
These new updates eliminate the need for extensive coding knowledge, simplify content creation, and translate to a more enjoyable writing experience for content creators.
11. New API Integrations
Joomla 5 offers significant enhancements and changes to its API. The new update is more focused on the features such as user-friendliness, security and site performance.
With this new API integration, Joomla made it easier for developers to sync the platform with the external systems such as third-party applications, services and data sources.
The new API introduces features like:
- RESTful API: Facilitating the seamless data exchange between the third-party apps and Joomla site by offering CRUD operations (Create, Read, Update, Delete).
- Enhanced Architecture: Offering standardised endpoints and authentication methods, ensuring secure and efficient communication between Joomla and external platforms.
- Security: Security is the first-call for Joomla 5. With its advanced security protocols, it reduces the risks associated with cyber attacks.
Developers can build more robust and scalable applications by leveraging Joomla's API capabilities to programmatically fetch, create, update, and delete content.
12. Accessibility Improvements
Accessibility is a key focus in Joomla 5, and several enhancements aim to make websites more usable for people with disabilities.
The new updates focus on enhancing keyboard navigation, ensuring all interactive elements and controls are operable via keyboard alone. Improved semantic HTML5 markup and ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) roles and attributes are implemented to provide clearer structure and context to assistive technologies.
Visual enhancements include increased colour contrast and text readability options, improving content visibility for users with visual impairments. With its emphasis on responsive design principles, Joomla 5 ensures websites are accessible and usable across various devices and screen sizes.
13. Modernised Codebase
Joomla 5 introduces a modernised codebase that enhances developers' and site administrators' performance, security, and flexibility. The updated codebase adopts the latest PHP standards and practices, ensuring compatibility with PHP 7.x and higher versions.
This refactorisation improves code efficiency and readability, making maintaining and extending Joomla's core functionalities easier.
Additionally, the modernised codebase incorporates best practices in software development, such as dependency management and modular architecture, allowing for more modular and scalable application development.
14. Enhanced Extension Management
Extension management is far more simpler with the new Joomla 5 version. By introducing a more intuitive interface, Joomla has managed to improvise the navigation and categorization. This enhancement makes it easier for the developers to find and install extensions while crafting the website.
With this new extension management, you can use the advanced filtering and sorting options to manage the extensions. This facilitates you to locate the installed extensions and review the status within a blink of an eye.
Alongside, Joomla 5 also introduces enhanced compatibility checks and version management, ensuring that extensions are compatible with the latest Joomla release and updates can be applied seamlessly.
15. Built-in Privacy Tools
User’s privacy is the prime concern for any platform. In accordance with the same, Joomla 5 responsibly includes the built-in privacy tools that helps website administrators to enhance user privacy and comply with the data protection regulations like GDPR.
This feature includes robust privacy settings that allow administrators to configure cookie consent notices, manage user consent preferences, and provide transparent privacy policies.
The updated platform offers tools for data anonymisation and user data export, enabling compliance with GDPR and other privacy laws. Joomla 5 also includes enhanced user access controls and permissions, ensuring that sensitive data is accessed only by authorised personnel.
What are the Technical Requirements for Joomla 5?
What Should You Take Care of While Upgrading to Joomla 5?
Upgrading to Joomla 5 could be a tedious task for some as it requires a cautious approach to ensure a smooth transition. Let us see what you need to ensure during the entire migration process:
- Firstly, you must take a detailed review of your Joomla site and then prepare for backup. While backing up, make sure that you took the current copy of your site. Create a copy of all the files and databases to safeguard against data loss or corruption during the upgrade process.
- Secondly, check the compatibility of all the installed extensions and templates with Joomla 5. You can ask your extension developers about the compatibility information or current updates to prevent functionality issues after the upgrade. To avoid conflicts, it's also advisable to disable any non-essential plugins or extensions before initiating the upgrade.
- Thirdly, testing is crucial to ensure that the transition process is running smoothly. Therefore, test the process in the staging environment and try to identify and resolve the compatibility or functionality issues before applying changes to your live site.
Minimising the issues and mitigating risk factors while migrating from Joomla older versions to the latest is possible by carefully preparing and testing the upgrade process.
How do you upgrade from Joomla 4 to Joomla 5?
Is your Joomla website running on the 4.x version? It is high time to upgrade!
Upgrading from Joomla 4 to Joomla 5 involves several steps to ensure a smooth transition. Let us walk you through the step-by-step guide for the smooth transitioning process:
- Backup Your Website
The first and the most important step is backing up or taking a copy of your older site. It is because backing up allows you to revert to your Joomla 4 installation at any point wherever any issues arise. Before running the migration process, clone every page of your website, including database and files. Use any trusted backup extension or backup tool provided by your hosting provider for this step.
- System Requirements Check
Ensure your server meets all the required and minimum requirements for Joomla 5 (refer to the table in the previous response). If it doesn't, you must upgrade your hosting plan or make necessary adjustments before proceeding.
- Upgrade via Joomla Extension Manager
The recommended method is to upgrade through the Joomla Extension Manager. Go to System > Update and click the Options button in the top toolbar. Change the Update Channel to Joomla Next and save the changes. Then, click the Discover Updates button and follow the on-screen instructions to initiate the upgrade.
- Test Functionality
Thoroughly test your website's core functionalities, menus, modules, and extensions to ensure everything works as expected after the upgrade.
How Can I Build My New Site on Joomla 5?
With the introduction of the latest Joomla version, the older versions are seemingly the second choice for developers. Thus, if you want to build a brand-new site for your business, there’s nothing better than picking up Joomla 5.
Building a new website on Joomla involves a series of steps. Here, we are providing you a step-by-step guide to explain the process and making your site development journey with Joomla simpler. Let us explain you the process below:
Step 1: Install Joomla 5
As a first step, you are required to download the latest Joomla 5 package from the Joomla website. Once downloaded, start with the installation process. Upload the package to your web hosting server using FTP or a web-based file manager provided by your hosting provider.
Follow the instructions showing on-screen to complete the installation process. This includes setting up database details, site configurations, and creating an administrative account.
Step 2: Select and Customise Template
Choose a Joomla 5 template that suits your website’s design and functionality needs. Templates can be found on the Joomla Extensions Directory (JED) or from third-party template providers.
Install the template through the Joomla administrator backend by navigating Extensions > Manage > Install.
Step 3: Install Essential Extensions
Identify and install essential Joomla 5 extensions that add functionality to your site. This may include SEO tools, security extensions, backup solutions, and content management tools. Install extensions from the Joomla Extensions Directory or reputable third-party developers.
Step 4: Create Content
Start creating content for your site, including pages, articles, categories, and menus. Use Joomla's built-in content management features to effectively organise and structure your content. Utilise Joomla's WYSIWYG editor to format text, add images, embed media, and create engaging content.
Step 5: Optimise SEO Settings
Configure Joomla's SEO settings to optimise your site for search engines. This includes setting up metadata, URL structures, and managing canonical URLs. Install and configure SEO extensions if additional features are required for advanced SEO management.
Step 6: Enhance Security
Implement security best practices to protect your Joomla 5 site. This includes using strong passwords, enabling two-factor authentication (2FA), and keeping Joomla and its extensions up to date. Configure Joomla’s security settings and consider using security extensions for added protection against threats.
Step 7: Test and Launch
Thoroughly test your Joomla 5 site for important features and functionalities. Check for site responsiveness, performance across browsers and devices. Identify the bugs or issues during testing and make necessary adjustments. Launch it to the public once you are satisfied with the site's performance and appearance.
What are the Potential Issues for Users with Joomla 5?
While Joomla 5 brings numerous enhancements, users may encounter potential issues during the transition or upon upgrading. Compatibility with existing extensions and templates could pose challenges, as not all third-party developers may have updated their products for Joomla 5 compatibility.
This may lead to functionality gaps or incompatibilities until updates are available. Additionally, if you are accustomed with the older versions, transitioning to the newer version may be stressful for you to some extent. It is because of the incorporation of modern technologies such as updated PHP versions and advanced code structures.
Furthermore, users may potentially have to spend a lot of time reviewing their site’s customisation and configurations to seamlessly align with the architecture and features of Joomla 5 version.
Nevertheless, these are just the potential concerns based on user reviews and experts’ observations. However, if you still have issues, Joomla community is always available to help you tackle it. Based on the reviews and potential concerns, they are continuously updating and upgrading to improvising this new version.
By following recommended upgrade procedures and staying updated on compatibility information, users can minimise these issues and take advantage of the many benefits Joomla 5 offers.
Conclusion
With the introduction of Joomla 5, the platform provided a great tool to the developers for building a website that isn’t just contemporary, but also equipped with feature rich capabilities and future-proofing.
So, whether you are a site owner or a developer, Joomla 5 definitely has something extraordinary to offer. With this latest version, you can expect better control, powerful security and astonishing performance, all packed in one.
However, if you want to incorporate the enhanced usability and flashy functionalities in your site or build an entirely new website, you will need technical and coding know-how. And your experience with developing a website with Joomla will add a cherry on top.
Therefore to reduce your stress, consider hiring a professional Joomla development company for explicit services and assistance. Partnering with an experienced Joomla agency ensures businesses leverage these new features effectively, optimising their online presence and enhancing user engagement.