What's new in Joomla 3.5?

On March 21, 2016, we can expect the first stable version of Joomla 3.5. There are again a number of improvements and new features added to the system. You can read the most important changes here, of course. A fun fact is that several Dutch developers have again been involved in this release.

Support for PHP 7

From now Joomla will also support PHP 7. The main advantage of this PHP version is: Higher speed compared to PHP 5.x by many optimizations and improvements in the PHP code handles PHP 7 requests much faster than previous versions. If an upgrade to PHP 7 is not possible with your hosting provider, you can always consider moving your website to my own Joomla hosting!

Hiding menu items

In Joomla 3.5 it has become easier to hide menu items without having to create a separate "Hidden menu" for this. How it works I explain in the article: Hide menu item in Joomla 3.5

Improvements in the TinyMCE editor

One of the new features in the TinyMCE editor. You have to disable your JCE Editor for this :).

It is possible from Joomla 3.5 to drag images directly into the TinyMCE editor.

• Images added via drag & drop are automatically uploaded to the root folder images in the Joomla installation directory, but it is possible to specify a subfolder in the TinyMCE options. You can find it by clicking on Extensions → Plugins in the main menu of the Joomla backend and then clicking on Editor - TinyMCE in the list of plugins.
• The image will be placed at the position where the text cursor is located. Thus, it is not necessary to drag the image to the correct position, but to set the text cursor to the correct position before dragging the image.
• When the image is not found on the server, a green progress bar appears at the top of the editor to let you know that the file is being uploaded. When the bar turns red, it means the image cannot be loaded or the process failed for some other reason.
• If an image with the same file name already exists, the upload will be canceled and the existing file will never be overwritten. The idea is there to show a popup in the future that allows you to rename the file before it is uploaded.
• When a file name contains spaces they will be replaced with underscores.

How easy the drag and drop system works can be seen here:

What is also new in this editor is the easy insertion of modules and direct links to articles using a button at the top.

I think the TinyMCE is catching up nicely here compared to its big brothers like JCE editor and it offers enough features for the basic user.

Protostar template

If you use the standard supplied protostar template, it is now possible to add a custom.css file and save your changes here, without them being undone with every update.

Joomla update notification

Often users/administrators do not notice when a new Joomla version is released. With the Joomla update notification plugin you will receive an email when a new Joomla version is released. You can find this plugin through Extensions → Plugins in the main menu of the Joomla backend and then search for System - Joomla Update Notification. This plugin was developed by Nicholas Dionysopoulos, known from Akeeba.

Through the language files you can customize the title and body text of the email. The email sent contains a link to your administrator so you can start updating right away.

This way fewer Joomla sites will be "forgotten" and remain secure so hackers have less chance.

Multilingualism

The language management menu has been extended with a submenu, so now you can install languages or create overrides even faster.

Another small change is that by using colors you can now immediately see if your language file is still up to date.

Download system information

In the screen system --> system information there is a button at the top to download the system and environment information. This information can be useful when e.g. asking an extension developer for support. The information can be downloaded as text or as JSON file.

View website / View admin links

In the backend you see a bar at the bottom with the number of users and administrators present. In front you see "view website", which takes you directly to the frontend of your website. There is also an option to open a new administrator window with the "view admin" link. You can turn these links on and off via module manager --> administrator modules and then search for User Status. This enhancement has been developed by Rick Spaan of R2H.nl

Number of items per category

In the category overview 4 useful columns have been added. Now you can see at a glance how many items are published/depublished, archived or in the trash by clicking on the number to go directly to the right overview. Read more about this feature in the Joomla Community Magazine written by the creator of this feature, Peter Martin from db8.com

Anonymous data collection

Like many companies, facebook, google, etc. Joomla also collects data to better respond to the needs and the market. For example, when adding new features, it is useful to know which PHP version the system is installed on by most users. This is information that cannot be traced from which website it comes from and it is completely optional. In the administrator screen you will be asked at the top if you want to participate in this and you will see what data will be sent. The options are Yes, No or Send once.

The data that will be sent are:

• A unique ID
• PHP version
• Database type
• Database version
• CMS version
• Server OS

You can reset the ID in the plugin settings later. You can find this plugin via: Plugins > System - Joomla Statistics

Improved display on mobile devices

The offline view (login screen when the website is in maintenance mode) is now mobile-friendly.

menu item type "Logout"

Besides the well-known "login" as a menu item type, there is now also a type called "logout".

Sending test emails

The e-mail configuration in the system settings can now be tested. For this purpose a button is "Test Mail" installed. Clicking this button sends a test e-mail and thus it checks if the current e-mail configuration settings are correct.

backend Language temporary change

In the backend, you can now temporarily change its backend. There are backend under "Languages"> "Administration area" a new button called "Change language".
The language is then changed to your chosen language for the rest of the session. When you login again later, the language will be back to your default language.

There would also be New URL routing coming in Joomla 3.5, right?

That's right, but this is not quite ready and will be moved to the release of Joomla 3.6

Backwards Compatibility Break

Normaal gesproken kun je gewoon updaten van Joomla 3.4 naar Joomla 3.5. Maar om ervoor te zorgen dat Joomla is compatibel met PHP 7 was er een kleine verandering nodig ; de klasse String is hernoemd naar StringHelper. Dit kan in een enkel geval tot problemen leiden. Probeer de update altijd eerst uit op een testomgeving en maak vooraf een backup met Akeebabackup.

Ondervind je problemen, neem dan contact op en wellicht kan ik je helpen bij deze update.