Get Notified when the Software is Updated
Joomla is an award-winning Content Management System (CMS) used to create both dynamic websites and powerful online applications. Its incredible ease of use and vast extensibility have quickly made it one of the most popular web solutions available. Best of all, it is a completely open-source solution, freely offered to individuals and organizations requiring a dependable content management system.
Joomla’s foundation on PHP and MySQL allows developers to build advanced applications on an open-source platform available to all. As a Content Management System (CMS), it works as essential software that manages all content on your website and streamlines your digital presence.
It functions much like your local public library—it keeps track of and stores all your digital assets. This content can be anything you can imagine: simple text, photos, music, videos, documents, or nearly any file type, making it a powerful system for tracking and storing digital content.
A key benefit of using a CMS is that it requires minimal technical expertise for daily administration. The CMS is built to handle the complexities of content management for you, so you don’t have to worry about the technical heavy lifting, making it a great solution for easy content management with minimal technical skill.
As a project with an international reach, Joomla! Draws value from users and contributors everywhere. This open-source CMS is easy to install and set up, even for first-time users, ensuring a smooth start. Many web hosting services even offer single-click installation, allowing you to get your new site up and running in just a few minutes. For web designers or developers, building professional client sites is quick, and with a little guidance, clients can manage their own content for a smooth handoff.
Joomla is used everywhere in the world to power websites of all sizes and shapes:
- Corporate websites or portals
- Corporate intranets and extranets
- Online magazines, newspapers, and publications
- E-commerce and online reservations
- Government functions
- Small business websites
- Non-profit and organizational websites
- Community-based portals
- School and church websites
- Personal or household homepages
When basic functionality is not enough and organizations require advanced features, Joomla delivers a powerful solution. Its robust application framework is specifically designed to allow developers to build advanced add-ons and custom extensions, expanding its core capabilities in countless innovative ways for developing custom Joomla applications.
The core framework enables developers to quickly and easily build:
- Inventory management systems
- Data reporting tools
- Application bridges
- Custom product catalogs
- Integrated e-commerce systems
- Complex business directories
- Reservation systems
- Communication tools
Joomla – Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| ✓ Open-source and freely available, making Joomla accessible for individuals, organizations, and developers without a software license fee. | ✗ Joomla requires a compatible PHP, database, and web-server environment, including specific PHP modules, so hosting must meet its technical requirements. |
| ✓ Supports a wide range of website types, including corporate portals, publications, e-commerce sites, government projects, community portals, and small-business websites. | ✗ Advanced applications can require developer-created extensions or custom development rather than being provided entirely as ready-to-use core features. |
| ✓ Daily content administration requires relatively little technical expertise, while many hosting providers offer one-click installation for a quicker setup. | ✗ Major upgrades can require compatibility preparation for third-party extensions, including the use of backward-compatibility mechanisms during migrations. |
| ✓ Its extensible framework lets developers create custom tools such as inventory systems, reporting applications, product catalogs, reservation systems, and business directories. | ✗ Changes between major releases can require extensions or custom scripts to be updated when they rely on APIs or behavior that has been removed or changed. |
| ✓ Includes built-in improvements such as automatic core updates, expanded custom-field support, enhanced versioning, and faster language-file loading. | ✗ Joomla does not support downgrading after an upgrade, so recovering from an unsuccessful migration may require restoring a backup rather than simply reverting the installation. |
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Joomla used for?
Joomla is a free, open-source content management system (CMS) for creating and managing websites and web applications. It supports corporate websites, blogs, online publications, business portals, community websites, and e-commerce projects.
Can Joomla be used to create an online store or booking website?
Yes. It supports e-commerce websites and online reservations, and its extensible framework allows developers to build product catalogs, inventory systems, business directories, and reservation tools.
Does Joomla support multilingual websites?
Yes. It includes built-in multilingual functionality, allowing administrators to configure multiple languages and associate translated articles, menus, and other content with their corresponding language versions.
Can you manage website users and permissions in Joomla?
Yes. Its Access Control List (ACL) system lets administrators assign user groups and control who can view, edit, publish, or manage particular website content and functions.
What is the difference between Joomla and WordPress?
Both are free, open-source content management systems. Joomla provides built-in multilingual content management and granular user-permission controls. WordPress emphasizes a block-based editing experience, themes, and a large plugin library for extending website functionality. The better choice depends on your site’s requirements and preferred workflow.
What’s New in Joomla 6.2.0 and 5.4.10
What’s new in Joomla 6?
Automatic updates
With 5.1, we introduced TUF secure Joomla updates. With 5.4 and 6.0, we are now introducing automatic Joomla core updates! Now you can keep your website up to date automatically and securely!
Cassiopeia child template with extended customization options
Joomla 6 introduces a Cassiopeia child template that provides more color and font options, allowing you to adjust styles without creating a custom CSS file.
Advanced versioning
Versioning has always been database-table-based. This meant that data from custom fields was previously excluded from versioning. Versioning has been expanded to include data from custom fields.
New custom fields
We have 2 new custom fields available in Joomla 6. There is a new “notes” field that lets you add “notes” in between your custom fields or in your article. This can be very useful for adding extra instructions between your custom fields to help guide your users. We now also have a “numbers” custom field that lets you display a number with optional currency formatting options.
Backward Compatibility 6 plugin
New in 5.4 is the ‘Behavior – Backward Compatibility 6’ plugin. In 5.4, the plugin remains active but performs no functions beyond being enabled. This ensures that when the Joomla instance is updated to 6, it can run immediately with the updated code, and third-party extensions that require the plugin to be enabled in 6 will not cause the update to fail. Consequently, the Behavior – Backward Compatibility 6 plugin facilitates smoother migration from 5.
CSS transitions in Atum & Cassiopeia
Both the default frontend template (Cassiopeia) and the backend template (Atum) now use CSS transitions. This makes navigation between pages feel much more seamless.
Developer features and optimizations
New Date and Datetime fields
There are two new fields have been added. The date and datetime-local inputs.
TinyMCE 8.0.1
TinyMCE has been updated from 6 to 8. This release introduces several bug fixes along with accessibility improvements.
Cache language files
In 6, we introduced a caching layer for the languageHelper::parseIniFile method. This greatly improves the loading of the language strings.
