The Joomla Community Newsletter 📰 is BACK! 🚀

The Joomla Community Newsletter 📰 is BACK! 🚀

January 2025 edition

Section Image Joomla! 5.2.3 announcement.

 

A word about...

🚀  the Joomla! Community Newsletter is BACK!  🚀


It will be composed of up to 4 sections each month:

‍Latest Joomla! News

A glimpse of a Joomler

Highlight of a Joomla! Extension

Community Announcements

&

1 rotating section:

Showcase of a Joomla website

Tips & Tricks

Dev Corner

Highlight of a Joomla Team

and if needed, closing with a Call to Volunteer
for specific roles / Joomla Team...

Sincerely,,

Emmanuel for the Joomla! Community Newsletter

 

‍Latest Joomla! News

Section Image Joomla! 5.2.3 announcement.

Joomla 5.2.3 (currently in the Release Candidate testing stages) is coming out on January 7th, 2025 and will include among other things: several bugfixes for the MFA feature, the tags router being better at detecting 404 URLs, etc ...

and

Joomla 5.3.0 Alpha 2 came out Dec. 24th, 2024, and the Public Release will be April 15th, 2025.

 

A glimpse of a Joomler 
Joe Sonne a.k.a JoeJoomla

Section Image for A Glimpse of a Joomler with a picture of JoeJoomla on a grey-blue background.

What inspired you to get involved with Joomla?

A chance encounter with a developer who said that if he was rebuilding his site, he would do it with Joomla. I setup an account on the forums and JoeJoomla was born... 

What has stayed the most consistent and changed the most for you in the last almost 20 years of using Joomla?

Consistent: being able to create great looking sites quickly...

Changed: the ability of Joomla Core which have greatly improved...

What have you used Joomla for over the years?

I have used Joomla from early versions to create micro-sites as intranets all of the way up to creating enterprise solutions around Joomla and along the way, I was able to start making a living with Joomla.

What advice would you have for someone coming into or wanting to learn more about Joomla today?

Participate in JoomlaDay Events (preferably in-person) among others... 



and  connect with the very helpful      

(This is a very abridged interview: you can read the full version in the Joomla Magazine - January)

 

Highlight of a Joomla! Extension
Events Booking component

Announcement banner image for Events Booking component by JoomDonation on a lighter blue background.

Why did you start the Events Booking extension?

In my early days of freelancing, I came across quite a few projects, requests to work on existing events, event registration extensions and I saw a real need for a complete solution. This is what led me to start Events Booking. It is now, a very complete events extension, you can even us QR Codes to check-in your customers, provide completion certificates and so much more...

What percentage of your time is spent on this extension?

As Events Booking is my biggest extension, I spend about 40% of my time on it between improving it, maintaining it and supporting customers. When Joomla deprecates something in the API, I update the extension to use the recommended alternative(s). This proactive approach ensures my extensions remain compatible with future Joomla versions while significantly reducing the time and effort required to maintain them.

Where do you see Event Booking going in the next 12 months?

After a few years of avid development, Events Booking does almost everything you need, in the coming year, we will be working on:

- giving it a more modern frontend and backend layout,
- integrate with Joomla core features such as tags, custom fields, web-services, and version history...
- add some advanced features such as Named Badges, and integrate with Google Wallet and Apple Pay for e-tickets.

What do you like best about Joomla?

As a developer, I like Joomla for its clean codebase, well-structured architecture, and highly extensible system... and more but what I really like most is the people, the friendly community! Many dedicated volunteers contribute countless hours... and, believe or not, many of them have their paid job being completely unrelated to Joomla!.

What advice do you have for someone starting out in Joomla Extensions development?

Develop using a modern IDE such as PHPStorm,
Use core Joomla features vs building your own,
Regularly monitor the Joomla CMS Repository,
Contribute to the Joomla Codebase - it's a great way to learn and give back!

Any last words?

Psst... for those who read all of the way until now, use the discount code: JOOMDONATION-HPNY and you will receive 10% discount off of Events Booking.

(This is an abridged version: read the full version in an upcoming Joomla Magazine article)

 

Community Announcements
JoomlaDAY™️ USA 2025

Announcement banner image for JoomlaDAY USA 2025 with a mostly purple background.

 

The JoomlaDAY™️ USA event is a hybrid (in-person & online) technology event around the Joomla CMS.

The team behind the event has considerable experience hosting high-quality, educational, community-focused, inspiring content around the Joomla CMS.

For 2025, in its 5th year, the event will be held:

Date:April 23rd - 26th, 2025.
Location:Washington, D.C.

 
There are still sponsor and speaker slots available and tickets will go on sale in January. 


For more information, visit their website:

 

Tips & Tricks
a couple of optimization tips...

‍Optimization Tip #1

You can optimize your font files by removing unnecessary ones as well as its glyphs, including icon fonts. This often-overlooked step can reduce your page load by up to 200 KB! You can use FontLab 8 for this.

Optimization Tip #2

Don't forget that Heading structure (H1, H2, etc.) is important (H2 not before H1, no duplicate H1s etc), make sure they match or partially match your SEO titles to help improve content organization and searchability.

 

Call for Volunteers:
Social Media Team

Announcement banner image for JoomlaDAY USA 2025 with a mostly purple background.

‍Social Media Team Lead

Someone to manage and grow Joomla's online presence across social platforms. You will help guide the creation of engaging content, drive community engagement while representing Joomla's brand and mission. Strong communication skills, social media expertise, and a collaborative spirit are ideal.

‍Short Video Creator

Someone to develop engaging short-form video content for social media platforms. You will craft compelling videos for Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, etc that tell our organization's story, highlight key initiatives, and connect with our audience. 

For more information, visit their website:

 

This newsletter would not have been possible without the help of: 

Philip W., George W., Carlos C., Benjamin T., Tuan P.,
Joe S., Laura G., Hannes P., Adam M., Tom L, and Asad M.

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