With Joomla 1.6 rapidly approaching the Joomlasphere is buzzing about the cool new changes that are going into version 1.6. Joomla developers have listened to what people want to see changed in Joomla, and this is proof. A few months back in July we talked about some of the changes that were coming in 1.6 in this post. It is now February and at Joomla Day in Melbourne, Australia on the 13th, Andrew Eddie, a lead developer on the Joomla project, talked in depth about some of the changes coming and how they might affect you.
Here are some of the high points you should be aware of. They are slightly revised from our previous post, as the update for 1.6 is still under development.
- Joomla has new hosting requirements
You must have at least PHP 5.2.4+ as well as MySQL 5.0.4+. If your webhost is still running PHP4, it is time to contact them and see when they plan on upgrading, or start to shop for a better equipped host.
- No more Legacy mode
If you have any older extensions that ran only on Joomla 1.0 or Joomla 1.5 in Legacy mode, you need to reach out to the developer to see if they have a Joomla 1.5 native solution.
- Sections will be replaced with nested categories
Users have asked for this for years, and it is finally come to fruition. No more confusing sections, simply nested categories with tagging. This will provide less confusion to new users, as well as present articles in a fashion that is more intuitive. How to keep existing URLs intact is still under construction.
- More consistent user interface
New icons for Apply, Save and New, Save as Copy will allow you to create and manage your content much faster, with a more straightforward and consistent look.
- Integrated Trash
You will no longer have to empty multiple trash cans, or search around for lost articles. The trash can is now integrated into one. And it will allow you to retrieve items from the trash in case you made a mistake.
- Template styles for template system
You will easily be able to slightly modify a style or tweak a templates look per page. In the past you had to copy the entire template, and assign it to one page do do this. This will allow you to make subtle tweaks very easily.
Module manager tweaks
They have added great new features to modules to allow you to publish/unpublish based on the date, as well as enhanced how you show what module, on what page.
- Three new templates will be included
There will be a blogger style template, a corporate style template, as well as a plain jane template that will help you learn to make your own.
- Built in redirection feature
You will no longer have to install a plugin to handle automatic redirects of old (or dead) links. 1.6 has it included.
- Access Control Levels (ACL)
This is the big one. You can now have multiple levels of access control over your users. Historically Joomla gives you guest, registered, special and admin. With the new ACL you can create different groups, with different permissions to be able to use different areas of the site. This is a big improvement for Joomla and people are excited.
Where Does Joomla 1.6 Stands Today
Currently the upgrade path for Joomla 1.5 to Joomla 1.6 is not clear. Andrew pointed out that because Joomla is dropping sections and using only categories it will have an affect on your existing articles on the web. The worst case scenerio will rely heavily on the new built in redirection feature they touted. When a user comes to your site and cannot find the page they are looking for, the redirect tool will kick in and find the most appropriate article to send them to. In addition to that you should look over your logs and see if there are a high amount of errors or 404's.
If you are worried about errors (or at a later stage: upgrading) or need help or advice, keep in mind we can help you with all of those concerns.
Are You Interested In Playing With Joomla 1.6 Now?
You can always download the Alpha2 release he is referring to for free from JoomlaCode. Make sure to not install use this on a live site as it is Alpha code and is not stabilized yet.
UPDATE March 10, 2010: Please read our free Tutorial: How To Setup a Joomla 1.6 Website With Free Hosting
Why wait? 
