JOOMLA 2.5 Beta1 - finally available

The Joomla Project is proud to announce the immediate availability of Joomla 2.5 beta. This is a beta version and should not intended to run any type of production site. It is intended to be used for evaluation and review purposes only.

This is the second release made within the new six-month release cycle that started with the delivery of Joomla 1.6 in January 2011.

Joomla! 2.5 -> download link

Joomla 2.5.0  GA (general availability) is due to be released on or about 10 January 2012. The planned milestone after this date are:

• 10 February 2012 - Joomla 1.7 reaches end of life and is no longer supported
• April 2012 - Joomla 1.5 reaches end of life
• July 2012 - Next version of Joomla is released

Please note that dates may be subject to change depending on availability of volunteers and circumstances beyond our control.

How do I upgrade to Joomla 2.5?
Upgrading from Joomla 1.7 to Joomla 2.5.0 will be very easy. Most users can use the automatic update or install the update archive using the Extension Manager: Install option.

If you are using Joomla 1.5 then you will still be required to migrate your site using the jUpgrade component.

What’s new in this release?
Here is a list of new features (with authors):

• Menu item parameter "Note" (Marcell van Geest, Andrea Tarr)
• No "new user notification" email sent to admin (Kenny Wickstrom)
• Implementing default text per language in syndicate module (Jean-Marie Simonet)
• Implementing image option for the offline.php default page (Jean-Marie Simonet)
• Joomla! update notification button in the quickicons module (Nicholas Dionysopoulos)
• Debug Plugin Reloaded (Nikolai Plath)
• *Option to set Joomla to Site Offline (YES) during installation (fade2grey)
• Patch to enable change of newsfeed display direction (Mathieu Cattin)
• Add a true autoloader to the CMS (Rouven Weßling)
• Database Version Check (Mark Dexter)
• * "Select a Menu Item Type" in modal box in menu item edit page (Dennis Hermatski)
• *Improving SEO: New system plugin: languagecode (Jean-Marie Simonet)
• *Manager for Language Overrides (Patrick Alt)
• Easier workflow by linking Menu Manager: Add Menu to Module Manager: Module Menu (Andrew Eddie, Jacques Rentzke)
• Add an option to filter the mod_whosonline by groups of the connected user (Christophe Demko)
• Add a check for native ZIP support to the Installation (Rouven Weßling)
• Add ability to support other databases starting with Microsoft SQL Server (Hooduku Team)
• mod_status optimization (Kyle Ledbetter)
• Category filtering on content doesn't including sub-categories (Ofer Cohen)
• User Notes (Andrew Eddie)
• Use the images and urls fields to create simple standardized layouts (Elin Waring)
• Custom Black List in Text Filters - Ready to test - Makes it possible to overwrite default blacklist - Joomla 1.7 (Tore B. Krudtaa, Denise McLaurin)
• Captcha in the core (Jonnathan S. Lima, Rouven Weßling)
• Finder Integration (Rob Schley, Michael Babker, Elin Waring, Chris Davenport, Omar Ramos, Viet Hoang Vu, Jean Marie Simonet, Rouven Weßling, Louis Landry, Gabriele Pongelli)

Soon I will publish a decription of new features, together with screenshots.

Pawel Frankowski

Pawel Frankowski is an experienced books writer, blogger and Joomla! teacher. For over 7years, Paul has been developing numerous web sites, from corporate web sites to small personal sites – many of them using Joomla!

Website: blog.elimu.pl/ Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.