Greater command and design flexibility with JOOMLA! 1.5 CMS

The Joomla 1.5 Administrator’s user interface improvements are more refined with the main menu simplified. The global configuration was substantially reworked for simpler presentation and greater control – including an important improvement: making Joomla's entire Administrator available in one’s own language with language packs available at joomlacode.org.

Joomla administrators will find improvements with this version’s easier site management: a single installer available for all extension types and languages, a visually and functionally improved media manager, multi-delete capability, batch file uploads, and the ability to view media in icon and list formats. Images, documents, presentations, and more can now be stored. 

The simpler core article manager has a single editor with a “Read More” button for separating the introduction from the full article, supporting a more natural writing process. A very popular improvement is the new image manager that makes it easier to browse media folders to select and insert images into your article as you write. There is greater article pagination control than before.

Simple and elegant choices are available in the redesigned menu manager. Usability improvements, such as changing the menu type, make altering your site easier. Any menu item can now be used to designate the default page. Selecting menu types is now an elegant drill down process supported by a new navigation tree; collapsible parameter sections simplify choices and increase productivity. Other interface improvements contain contextual tool tips and menu manager column sorting ability.

Among the significant functional improvements include search engine friendly URLs, easily implemented within the global configuration. With SEF URLs in place, system generated duplicate content is eliminated, greatly improving site search engine optimization. 

Designer Freedom and Imagination

Joomla 1.5’s code base is better organized with the separation of program logic from presentation logic that gives designers 100% control on how content is presented.  Now, template designers can use custom layouts (template overrides) instead of the typical table-heavy output. The designer’s imagination is the only limit and implementation becomes easier since simply placing a layout file into a designated place makes this possible. This model is being adopted by third party developers who want to offer the same flexibility for their extensions.

Template designers can now create custom module chrome. Module chrome is how module output is wrapped in a template. Joomla 1.5 gives the designer ultimate freedom in the ability to create whatever chrome is appropriate.

Manually editing variables and settings in template files is replace by the new template parameters feature that allows designers to construct templates in such a way that users can change settings from within the template manager interface.  The template manager has added features such as CSS file editing ability for the template. 

Joomla 1.5’s design and code base architecture has been planned and executed using current development methods and design patterns.  This Joomla version has been separated into a three-tiered stack to keep the internal structure clean to allow developers to leverage the different layers as necessary.  The first and most interesting layer for developers is the new framework.  With Joomla 1.5, developers get object-oriented, pattern-based API that follows best practices and is organized into well structured and logical framework packages.

Rapid Development and Logical Structure

The Joomla 1.5 frameworks support backwards compatibility to PHP 4.3 and the most current versions of PHP 5.  Developers leveraging the framework will have easier transitions with newer versions of Joomla since underlying classes have forward compatibility design.  This ensures a solid foundation for future development while taking advantage of as much code reuse as possible. 

The new framework includes the document package that gives extension developers control over the entire document rendered on any given page load.  The parameters system gives developers a simple, yet extensible way of generating XML-based HTML forms for display.  The extensibility of the parameters system allows the creation of control objects and leveraging the many core control objects such as date selection calendar widgets, menu item selection boxes and standard text input fields. 

The framework’s new MVC-based component objects is a powerful feature that gives developers a platform for rapid application development and prototyping.  The clear separation between logic and presentation helps ensure code reusability and maintainability.  Developers can hook into nearly any part of the application stack using Joomla's newly reworked events system, implemented according to the observer design pattern.