On 17 August 2021, the Joomla open source software project released a brand new version - Joomla 4.
Joomla 4 is a major version of the software. Currently, all Joomla websites developed and managed by WebSolutionZ are running version 3.10x. Joomla 3 was first released in 2012, so it's been with us for quite a while!
This new release means that, with some possible minor exceptions, there will be no new features added to Joomla 3 from now on. Security updates for Joomla 3 will continue to be released for another 2 years, until 17 August 2023.
Moving a Joomla 3 website to Joomla 4 requires some work, because the code base has been rewritten to make websites faster, as well as introducing new features like workflows and accessibility enhancements. This means any software that has been installed to customise your website must also be rewritten.
In many cases, these rewrites are already underway, or complete. However, in some cases there may not be a Joomla 4 version planned so new options must be sourced. This means each custom Joomla 3 site must be assessed individually to determine what is required to migrate to Joomla 4.
What does this mean for me?
Current Joomla website owners have a decision to make!
Once Joomla 3 reaches End Of Life (EOL) on 17 August 2023, it becomes a security risk because security patches are no longer released. WebSolutionZ pride ourselves on our CMS Maintenance plan which was introduced in 2017, but maintaining EOL software past its use-by date is not currently part of that plan.
There's still plenty of time, but we encourage clients to take this opportunity to assess their current website. Perhaps your business has changed, or perhaps your client base has changed, or you want it to. Ours certainly has!
Your choices will be:
- Migrate your website to Joomla 4.
- Rebuild your website on a different platform.
- Do nothing.
1. Migrate your website to Joomla 4
Once all the extensions we use are available for Joomla 4, we will run a few test migrations and then will be in a position to advise each client of an approximate cost to migrate.
If all of the software in your site has a Joomla 4 version, and you want your website to continue on similar to how it currently is, we anticipate the migration will be relatively simple. Of course, if your site requires software changes, or if you want to add/change/remove things, it will take a bit more thought and planning.
If you are actively managing content on your website (adding, changing, using it to direct end users through your website), or if you have an organisation with requirements such as customer interaction for memberships, events, ecommerce, forms, a downloads area, forums, or a custom solution, then a CMS is still a great option for you.
Contact us to discuss your options.
2. Rebuild your website on a different platform
Today, there's a wide variety of different platforms to choose from and the industry is constantly evolving. There are some new options available now which weren't available when your website was built, and in some cases it may be more cost-effective/user-friendly for you to switch to something else.
We've updated our FAQ with the following articles which we recommend:
If your site hasn't changed much since the day it was launched, if it's fairly standard words and images but doesn't require a lot of customer interaction, if you need to make changes so infrequently you can never remember what to do, if you don't need content management functionality and find it confusing, or if you only need a website to be the equivalent of a Yellow Pages listing, then a different platform may be worth considering.
Contact us to discuss your options.
3. Do nothing
You may wish to keep your existing website as-is. If this is your preference, please let us know. While we can't force anybody to upgrade their website, we will need to make some adjustments regarding hosting and maintenance.
