Joomla3-4

On 24 february is Joomla 3.4 was released. Lots of changes were made, these are the most interesting:

Component weblinks

With Joomla versie 3.4 the component Weblinks is removed from the Joomla core, but it is still possible to install this extension. The reason for removal from the core is that the Joomla team wants to make the core lighter andnon-essential components are to be removed. If you upgrade from an earlier version you can manually remove the extension.

I've read that it is important to have smaller image sizes. Of course this is logical, having larger images will result in a bigger data transfer wich is slowing down your website. Somewhere in 2014 I followed a webinar of Daniel Kanchev about speeding up your Joomla-website, and he also mentioned the optimalisation of images via smush.it of yahoo.

Since 20 january 2015 Joomla a new service. At joomla.com you can build a free Joomla website. This service is offered in collaboration with Siteground webhosting who builds the entire server structure where all Joomla websites will be hosted. Another possibility is to use demo.joomla.org where you can register a 90 day trail website, also hosted by Siteground.

The differences between these services are that you have control of your extensions & templates t the 90 days version while the joomla.com version you ahave a fixed subdomain with a selection of extensions & templates, updates are installed automatically. Both services offer the possibility to move to a private domain with your own hosting. 

Both possibilities have their own pros and cons What is the good thing is that starting with Joomla! is now a lot easier. If you want to read the official announcement, just click here.

We were waiting for it in september 2014 but there was a slight delay in the road map of Joomla 3.4. There was a message that the road map would get an update in january 2015 and here it is.

Updated roadmap

After all the feedback from the Joomla 3.4 alpha, it resulted into this:

  • January 20th 2015 - 3.4 Feature Freeze
  • January 27th 2015 - 3.4 Beta 1
  • February 3rd, 2015 - 3.4 Beta 2
  • February 10th, 2015- 3.4 Release Candidate
  • February 17th, 2015 - 3.4 Stable Release

Off course, these dates are not fixed, it's always possible there will be another change. 

There is a topic on the forum of joomlacommunity.eu about must have extensions. I'm always interested in finding and using extenions that make my life in Joomla easier so I decided to share these extensions, maybe you like them also. 

 

Forms

Fields Attach
 free 
With Fields Attach you can add fields to an article or category. Examples of these fileds are : Input / Textarea / Select / Image / Gallery Image / File / Checkbox / Date / Radio Button / Youtube Video.

 

My Content & WorkFlow 
 paid 
Your standard content in Joomla will be completed to real content management. You can edit, publish, unpublish and approve on the frontend of your website.

 

Content

Joomla Content Editor (JCE) 
 free 
A highly configurable WYSIWYG editor for Joomla based on TinyMCE. For lots of Joomla users it's a must have extension.

 

 

Menu's

NoNumber Add To Menu 
 free   paid 
With Add to Menu you can make a menu link to a page from the administrator (page article or category).

 

 

Modules

NoNumber Advanced Module Manager 
 free   paid 
With Advanced Module Manager you will get lots of configuration options for your modules. You can control publishing modules on date, user group, language, template, OS or browser.

 

 

Security

Akeeba backup 
 free   paid 
Create backups or move your Joomla! website and easy to use. You can include or exclude custom maps or database tables.

 

Admin tools 
 free   paid 
With the free version you van fix permissions, alter prefixes and protect your administrator directory with a password. But the real power is in the paid version which contains a powerfull web firewall. 

Alter Articles 
 paid 
Extend the standard functionality of articles with maps, gallery, attachments and related articles.

SilverAdmin 
 paid 
With SilverAdmin you can edit modules, menus en articles without login in the backend. It also ads a handy side menu in your website if your logged in.

Nonumber Cache Cleaner 
 free   paid 
When you edit an article you would like to see your changes on the frontpage without manual deleting cache files. With Cache Cleaner you get a quicklink to delete these cache files.

AutoArchive 
 free 
You can remove, depublicise, archive or move content to a different category after a set date.