What is Joomla 5?
Joomla 5 is a major version. We’re bringing plenty of new features, security and code improvements and increased speed with those improvements. Everything under the hood has been redesigned, rethought and refactored to make use of the latest server languages.
Most importantly, Joomla 5.0 is built for you to grow with you and your business. One of the most significant changes you may notice is that we are not calling Joomla 4.4.x to Joomla 5.x a migration but an Upgrade.
Whether you’re an individual, blogger, charity, web agency or multinational, Joomla is a great choice for you!
Want to know how Joomla 5 will benefit you? Visit joomla.org/5
What new features are in Joomla 5?
- Dark Mode in Administrator: Joomla 5 boasts a more refined dark mode, not just for users but also for administrators.
- Web Assets and Caching: Many improvements to the web asset caching
- Schema.org Integration: Automatic activation of Schema.org data for organisation and site names enhances search engine optimisation.
- Code Optimisation: Speed advancements are noticed due to automatic source code optimisation through the phpcs fixer.
- PHP & Bootstrap Updates: Improved compatibility with PHP 8+ and an update to Bootstrap 5.3.2 ensures that the platform remains contemporary.
- User Interface: Enhancements in dark mode for the Atum administrator template and the new Joomla modal window for select buttons promise a smoother user experience.
- Tools & Plugins: The TinyMCE editor gets an update to 6.7 with added image alignment features. Several scheduled tasks have been moved to scheduler plugins, enhancing system performance.
- Media Management: AVIF support in the media manager and the ability to exclude archived content from smart search indexing improve media handling capabilities.
- Menu sorting: Allowing you to sort the menu in the way you want it.
- Enhanced Security: Events have been migrated to their classes, and the removal of no longer functional Recaptcha plugins boosts security.
- Modern Technologies: Internal code restructuring focuses on utilising more modern APIs. There's added JS Import map support for Web Asset Manager and deprecated fixes for php 8.2.
- Extensions & Compatibility: Joomla 5 introduces Fontawesome 6.4, Codemirror 6, and has updated its Webauthn Library. Notably, Joomla now requires PHP 8.2, MySQL 8.0.13+, MariaDB 10.4+, and PostgreSQL 12+ for optimal performance.
- Cleaner Code Base: Joomla 5 places a strong emphasis on code cleanliness. The transition from older APIs, removal of es5 support, and other heavily coded cleanups ensure the CMS runs efficiently.
New Installations
New installation instructions and technical requirements
How can I upgrade my site to Joomla 5?
Good news for Joomla 4.4.x to 5.x, it’s an upgrade, not a migration. Why? Two main reasons:
- Joomla 4 (J4) extensions that have removed all deprecations of code and are using up-to date Joomla code, will work in Joomla 5 (J5)
- Most others will work with the new Behaviour - Backward Compatibility Plugin enabled
Note: we advise you to first test the upgrade on a copy of your production site.
You may also wonder if you have to migrate ASAP. You can take your time; we’ll support 4.4 for 2 more years. So your site is not at risk if you don’t upgrade now. And don’t forget that some of your extensions may not be yet ready for Joomla 5 (even though most developers have done a great job offering a Joomla 5 test version for a while. You can filter by version in the Joomla Extensions Directory so you can see which are ready for J5 and which are J5 ready with the b/c plugin enabled.
Where can I download Joomla 5?
Full announcement + download links: https://www.joomla.org/announcements/re ... -here.html
Discussion Forum: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1004729