Now presenting…Joomla! 2.5.    

Well... almost.

Joomla! announced many months back that it would produce the newest upgrade later this year, and that time has finally arrived.  Joomla! 2.5 in beta version will be released next week and the final version will be live in January 2012. 

One of the principle updates is that it will spearhead a two-pronged approach to web management.  Instead of merely being a CMS which allows users to develop polls and manage archives, it will also be a PHP application framework to create web applications and plug-ins.

Though it has been in the development stages for the past few releases, 2.5 is the first time that the CMS-Framework split will be fully integrated throughout the site.

What’s the big deal?

The most current stable release is Joomla! 1.5, meaning that today your website can safely be operating on either 1.5 or 1.7. 

However, after April 2012, Joomla! 1.5 will no longer be supported and 3^rd party extensions will pose the biggest threat for a security breach.  

What does this mean for you?

One of two things: if your website uses Joomla! as its CMS, you’ll need to migrate to the latest version when it is available or risk a security threat.  If you do not currently use Joomla! for your website and are interesting in a change, it means that you have an opportunity to migrate your old site directly to the newest and most secure version. 

What’s the next step?

Famous brands and labels already call Joomla! “home” for their CMS site, including McDonalds, eBay, and Barnes & Noble, just to name a few.

If you’d like to join the ranks of these mega-enterprises and prevent your site from potential disaster, contact your web developer to find out what steps you’ll need to take to begin the makeover.

To learn more about Joomla! and its latest updates, check out the Community Blog or the Joomla! YouTube Channel.