Joomla!® User Guides 

Joomla! 3.0 is very NEW and will inevitably undergo quite a few changes before the release of Joomla! 3.5.

Customers are therefore advised to hold off upgrading their Joomla! 2.5 websites to the latest version of Joomla! until shortly after the Long term Release of Joomla! 3.5 in July 2013.

For the record, Joomla! Developer Community support for Joomla! 1.5 has now ended, meaning that sites built on the old deprecated version of Joomla! will become increasingly vulnerable to hacker attack.

Users of websites built on the Joomla! 1.5 platform should therefore upgrade to Joomla! 2.5 without further delay.

Joomla! 3.0 was launched in 2012 and Joomla! 4.0 will be launched in 2014. Joomla! 3.x will be supported by the Joomla! Developer Community until a year after the launch of Joomla! 4.0 (making the supported life of a Joomla! Version some 3 years in total).

The next Long Term Release (LTR) of Joomla! will be Joomla! 3.5, scheduled for release in July 2013.

Customers who are using websites built on the Joomla! 2.5 platform may safely continue to use their websites until shortly after the above date, assuming of course that they keep abreast of Joomla! Security Releases as and when they are announced.

Customers who are using websites built on earlier versions of the Joomla! platform should upgrade to Joomla! 2.5 without further delay because websites built on older versions of Joomla! are:

• increasingly less secure,
• defintely less search engine friendly, and
• certainly less mobile friendly!

Please note:

The release dates listed below are subject to change.

The Present and Beyond

Joomla! 3.0 - STR - Released in September 2012 (Developer Community support ends March 2013).

Joomla! 3.1 - STR - Planned Release March 2013 (Developer Community support ends September 2013).

Joomla! 3.5 - LTR - Planned Release July 2013 (Developer Community support ends January 2015).

Joomla! 4.0 - STR - Planned Release 2014.

Previous Versions of Joomla!

Joomla! 1.0 - LTR - Developer Community support ended in July 2009.

Joomla! 1.5 - LTR - Developer Community support ended in April 2012.

Joomla! 1.6 - STR - Developer Community support ended in August 2011.

Joomla! 1.7 -STR - Developer Community support ended in February 2012.

Joomla! 2.5 - LTR - Developer Community long term support ends Spring 2014.

Source: Joomla! Developer Network.

The development pattern for Joomla! is now two STRs (example, 3.0 and 3.1) followed by one LTR (example, 3.5).

Short Term Releases are so-called because the period of Developer Community support is for a shorter period than the LTRs.

Long Term Release support periods will not only be longer but also cut across the period of support offered to STRs.

Following the release of Joomla! 1.6 the Joomla! Development Cycle has been time-based, whereas before Joomla! 1.6 it had been a feature-based Development Cycle.

There will be a new Long Term Release (LTR) made available every 18 months, the next one being 3.5 in July 2013.

A Long Term Release will always be labelled as a .5 release (for example, 2.5, 3.5 and so on).

Each major release of Joomla is therefore supported by the Joomla! Developer Community for about 3 years.

Users of Joomla! 1.0, Joomla! 1.5 and Joomla! 1.7 Websites

Users of websites built on these versions of the Joomla! platform are running websites no longer supported by the Developer Community and should therefore upgrade to Joomla! 2.5 without further delay.

Joomla! 3.0 was recently launched but we do not recommend that existing customers instantly upgrade. we advise waiting for the release of Joomla! 3.5 (Long Term Release) in July 2013. You will be able to update from Joomla! 2.5 to Joomla! 3.5 using the Joomla! Update Component.

New Joomla! Website Users

New users of Joomla! should avoid any version of Joomla! which preceded the latest release of Joomla! 2.5.

If you are a new Joomla! user then you could start using Joomla! 3.0 right now but should be aware that there is only a limited number of 3rd Party Extensions currently available for use with Joomla! 3.0.

A version is a significant redesign of the underlying code and resulting improvement in efficiency over a previous version.

Example: Joomla! 2.5

A release is the most up to date code for a particular version of Joomla!

Example: Joomla! 2.5.9

New releases occur as the need arises, whether to improve efficiency following discovery of a 'bug' in the existing code, or to 'patch' the code to increase your website's security.

You should keep your website as up to date as possible to maintain its security and performance.

You should also ensure you are using the latest version of any third party extensions being used by your Joomla! website.

Joomla! Maintenance is GOOD HOUSEKEEPING!

Wynchcote's Joomla! Maintenance Solutions are designed to help keep your Joomla! website up to date.

Users of Joomla! 2.5

You can upgrade to Joomla! 3.0 from within your website's Control Panel using the Joomla! Upgrade component.

Users of Joomla! 1.6 and Joomla! 1.7

You can upgrade to Joomla! 2.5 from within your website's Control Panel using the Joomla! Upgrade component.

Users of Joomla! 1.5 

You can migrate your website directly to Joomla! 2.5.

This is however unfortunately not a straightforward process for a complex website. Call us if you require assistance.

We do not advise upgrading a Joomla! 1.5 website directly to Joomla! 3.0.

Users of Joomla! 1.0

It is recommended that you commission a totally new website built on the Joomla! 2.5 or Joomla! 3.0 platform.

Please note that a total website rebuild could harm your search engine ranking. If search engine ranking is important, give us a call.

Important: always perform a Full Backup of your website before upgrading to a new Release or Version of Joomla!

Joomla! Upgrade Solutions

Wynchcote can help you upgrade your website.