Age Themes

When Joomla 4 was released two years ago, it significantly improved the user interface and added features over Joomla 3. Although these enhancements were advantageous, users encountered challenges when switching from Joomla 3 to Joomla 4. Also, a lot of website owners had to start from scratch when using Joomla 4 because of the major distinctions between the two versions.

Joomla 5 is anticipated to be released in 2023, roughly two years after Joomla 4, based on the typical release cycle. As anticipated, Joomla! 5 was just made available on October 17, 2023. However, given that they went through major modifications when switching from Joomla 3 to Joomla 4, it is understandable for users to be worried about the potential differences and difficulties that may arise with this new Joomla! 5.

How many differences does Joomla 5 actually have, as many users fear? All Joomla 5 new features will be covered in today’s blog, along with an examination of how they may impact your website. Now. Check out the following sections to see how Joomla 5 has improved and been improved.

What Joomla 5 new features does its new version have?

Backward Compatibility – Behavioral Plugin

This Behavioral plugin will assist you in automatically kicking extensions that don’t adhere to the most recent Joomla coding standard once you upgrade from Joomla 4 to 5. You can guarantee backward compatibility as a result. Additionally, you can totally experiment with it and turn off the plugin to see if your website still works flawlessly.

In conclusion, Joomla 5 has this practical tool that has been expertly built to ensure that your experience with Joomla 5 is trouble-free. Additionally, this tool will maintain your extensions and configurations throughout the switchover so you can continue to be fully immersed without any problems.

Dark Mode in Administrator

This Joomla 5 new feature is a good fit for you if you’re intrigued by working in dark mode. Developers have kept the dark mode for administrators and users in Joomla 5 intact. When compared to Joomla 4, there is a slight difference, though. Joomla 5 offers a visually appealing layout that may be easier on the eyes, particularly in dimly lit areas.

Additionally, Joomla’s refined dark mode feature contributes to an overall better user experience by lessening eye fatigue, providing a contemporary and comfortable workspace, and enhancing the administrator interface’s visual appeal.

Expanded Font Selection in Cassiopeia

When you employ the default Joomla template, Cassiopeia, after converting to Joomla 5, you are able to view the expanded typographic options. Numerous system fonts are readily available to users and conveniently included within the template. As a result, you are no longer required to rely on external resources like Google Fonts. With this independent method, you have complete control and can experiment with a variety of typefaces without being reliant on anyone else.

Installation Progress Bar

The installation progress bar in Joomla 5 is quite distinct from earlier versions of Joomla, which used indicators. You stop being curious about what goes on in the background. Users will have a thorough understanding of the installation process thanks to this innovation.

The new installation progress visualization tool in Joomla 5 also helps users understand how long or how far along the installation process is by letting them know how much time is still left.

Rich Snippets Improvements

The process of improving your website’s visibility in search engine results has been completely transformed by Joomla 5. Search engines like Google can now produce enticing rich snippets that improve the presentation of your content in search results thanks to the power of structured data.

Previously, Joomla had an extraordinary capacity to produce rich snippets. The fact that this functionality was so reliant on hard-coded inline microdata made it extremely difficult to customize from the backend.

Contrarily, the addition and configuration of structured data through the Joomla backend is now possible as a result of Joomla 5’s new features. This makes it more straightforward to optimize your website’s content for search engines and increases your site’s visibility in search results. A variety of schema.org fields will become available based on your selected options, enabling you to provide additional information such as preparation time, ingredients, and much more.

Let’s start by entering some general (company) information in the System plugin using Schema.org.

You are able to select from a variety of types in the Schema tab for articles, including BlogPosting, Book, Event, Vacancy, Organization, Person, or Recipe.

300 Characters for Meta Description

If the meta description in Joomla 4 can only be 160 characters long, it can now be up to 300 characters long in Joomla 5. Longer meta descriptions will help you improve the SEO of your website with this new Joomla 5 feature. Further, this amazing Joomla 5 new feature delivers more thorough information for your blog, giving you a chance to draw in more potential website visitors.

AVIF Support in Media Manager

You can fully utilize the AVIF image format in your media manager with the help of Joomla 5 new features. This revolutionary format not only improves image compression but also increases image quality. This implies that your website will load quicker than the previous version and provide the best browsing experience for your visitors.

Fontawesome 6 Integration

A helpful integration between Fontawesome 6.4 and Joomla 5 gives you access to a sizable library of attractive icons. As a result, Joomla 5 new feature will surprise you by giving you the option to use contemporary and visually arresting symbols to improve the aesthetics of your website.

Code Mirror 6 and TinyMCE Editor 6.7

The default TinyMCE text editor has been released to version 6.7, giving it a somewhat modern interface and some of the newest options. This is another wonderful new feature of Joomla 5. Content producers use a variety of features to make their work stand out more than ever.

Additionally, version 6.0.0 of the Code Mirror text editor was released, replacing 5.65.12.

Align Images in TinyMCE

Specifically, using the Image button in the TinyMCE editor allows you to align images to the Left, Right, and Center. As a result, you are no longer required to manually adjust your image.

Password Requirements Checklist

The procedure for updating your passwords through the profile page on your website has been optimized in Joomla 5. Furthermore, it gives you clear details regarding the minimal password requirements. This makes it simpler to make sure your password is reliable and complies with the necessary security requirements.

Joomla will assist you in creating strong passwords that are secure and adhere to best practices by displaying this information. Additionally, this great Joomla 5 new feature improves the security of your account and gives you peace of mind.

Menu Order Adjustment In The Sidebar

Contrary to before, you now have the ability to alter the menu items. Even the entire menu’s position can be changed by users. When your website has a variety of menus, this feature is absolutely essential.

User Action Logs Enhancements

With Joomla 5, User Action Logs have been greatly enhanced. It initially provides you with a remarkably detailed view of what your users are doing. The User Action Logs have also received a number of useful additions, including the ability for users to edit custom fields, block and unblock other users, create new custom fields, and search for users.

Smart Search

Smart search is the following fantastic new feature in Joomla 5. There are many search-related improvements in Joomla 5 new features.

• Search in Custom Fields

You can now use custom fields to filter and search content. You can now easily find exceptional information on your website thanks to this new change.

• Photos of Contacts in Search Results

The results for contacts’ photo searches have undergone a significant change. You have the option of viewing your contact’s photos directly in the search result in addition to the intro images for the article. You can furthermore give your website a personal touch.

• Hide/Show Archived Articles in Search Results

In addition, a new option to show or hide archives blogs in the search results is provided by the Smart Search – Content extension.

What are Joomla 5’s technical prerequisites?

Let’s make certain the following technical prerequisites are met before implementing the upgrade for your Joomla website:

PHP version: Joomla 5 requires PHP 8.1 or higher. It is recommended to use the latest stable version of PHP for better performance and security.

Database: Joomla 5 supports different database types, including MySQL (8.0.13 or higher), MariaDB (10.4.x or higher) and PostgreSQL (12.0 or higher).

Web server: This new version of Joomla can run on several web servers, such as Apache (2.4 or higher), Nginx ( 1.21 or higher) or Microsoft IIS (10 or higher).

What distinguishes Joomla 5 from Joomla 4? What are its key advantages?

• Ease of Use

Numerous website owners now prefer Joomla because of its famous for being incredibly simple to use. And Joomla continues to retain its strength today. The newest version of Joomla 5 makes it easy to manage the content of your website, especially with the administrator’s dark mode feature.

• Advanced Features and Functionalities

As we’ve already mentioned, Joomla 5’s official release gave users a ton of leading-edge new features. As a result, you can make managing your content more straightforward. With the limitless options that were added in their most recent major version, Joomla will not let you down if you plan to create a professional e-commerce site or a personal blog.

• Enhanced Security

Security is a top priority for Joomla 5. They’re all about preserving the security of your website. You can relax knowing your site is in good hands thanks to their frequent updates and prompt response to any security issues.

In addition, Joomla 5 has undergone a significant overhaul that takes advantage of the latest PHP best practices and cool new features. It’s like giving your website a new coat of paint with a lot more intelligence. Additionally, they have your back with valid HTML and CSS, ensuring the security and integrity of your website.

• Flexibility with Extensions

The support for more beneficial extensions and plugins that give you more functionality for your website is one of Joomla 5’s standout new features. As a result, you can take full advantage of these tools to expand and customize your website in accordance with your unique needs.

• Enhanced Extension Management

Managing third-party extensions has undoubtedly gotten a lot better for users with Joomla 5. Although updating the core of Joomla is simple, many users still have to deal with managing these third-party tools. Thankfully, Joomla 5 was developed and could handle all of these issues. This procedure has been made simpler with the new version of Joomla, which also ensures that those extensions are very manageable and super compatible.

• Fast performance

You can upgrade your website to Joomla 5 if you want to increase its functionality. You now have the ability to quickly and easily edit from both the front end and the back end using keyboard shortcuts thanks to Joomla 5’s new features. By enabling site and page caching, you can also speed up your website effectively.

Not least of all, Joomla 5’s default templates all receive a perfect score on one of the fundamental web metrics right out of the box. Thanks to the help of these improvements, you can guarantee a seamless user experience and fast, stable website performance right away.

Conclusion

Overall, the recent release of Joomla 5 has resulted in amazing advancements. According to the schedule, Joomla 5 introduced a significant number of excellent upgrades and features in terms of security, user interface, and performance. You can easily upgrade your website with the latest Joomla 5 new features so you can keep up with the ever-changing digital environment.

You can read about the suggestions we have for upgrading from Joomla 4 to Joomla 5 now, in case you’re using one of our Joomla 4 templates and planning to switch to this new version of Joomla. We hope that this blog has helped you learn more about Joomla 5 new features. Do not forget to post a comment below if you have any questions about this new Joomla version.