Joomla 1.5 was released yesterday. I don't usually like to blog about software releases but this release is a really big deal that's not only long awaited but is a significant jump for the Joomla project. Let's walk though some of what makes this Joomla release so incredible to both designers and developers. Once you see all of this you'll understand why this release had such a long wait.
For Developers
Joomla changed under the hood in this release. I'm not sure why they call this Joomla 1.5 and not Joomla 2.0. There is a significant update in the codebase. Joomla is now supposed to be much better for extension writers. Basically, the underlying code for Joomla was rewritten to for a much better software architecture. This step took a long time.
Joomla developers now have an Object Oriented API they can use for their extensions. This is built with a framework and incorporates MVC principles all over the place. These are some of the great buzz words developers are looking for. I'd expect this alone will attract a lot more people to the Joomla project and help what is there achieve a new level of quality.
For Designers
Designers are going to be much happier working with this new version of Joomla. Joomla is now using the layered separation approach to separate the presentation and program logic. The table heavy output of the core Joomla install has been cleaned up. Designers no longer have to fight the tables.
There are even new template overrides so designers can move to much more custom layouts.
For more details on the new features check out their features pages. If you're an old Joomla user or someone who doesn't intend to use Joomla for your sites it's worth installing and taking for a spin. Even if just to see the possibilities.
Overall, I'm impressed with this new release. I think it's leaps and bounds better than the last one. Just changing to a new framework alone is going to open up more future possibilities. The future is bright for Joomla with the release of 1.5.
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