What's new in Joomla 3.5?

On 21 March 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 about 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 on, Joomla will also support PHP 7. The main advantage of this PHP version is: Higher speed compared to PHP 5.x Due to many optimisations and improvements in the PHP code, PHP 7 handles requests much faster than previous versions. If an upgrade to PHP 7 is not possible at 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 it. I explain how it works in the article: Hide menu item in Joomla 3.5

Improvements in the TinyMCE editor

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

From Joomla 3.5 onwards, it is possible to drag and drop images directly into the TinyMCE editor.

• Images added via drag & drop are automatically uploaded to the main images folder in the Joomla installation folder, but it is possible to specify a subfolder in the TinyMCE options. You can find these by clicking Extensions → Plugins in the main menu of the Joomla backend and then clicking Editor - TinyMCE in the list of plugins.
• The image will be placed at the position where the text cursor is located. So 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 cancelled and the existing file will never be overwritten. The idea is 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 are replaced by underscores.

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

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

Protostar template

If you use the standard 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 realise when a new Joomla version is released. With the Joomla update notification plugin you will receive an e-mail when a new Joomla version is released. You can find this plugin via 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.

Via the language files, you can customise the title and body text of the email yourself. The email that is sent contains a link to your administrator so you can start updating immediately.

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 you can now install languages or create overrides even faster.

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

Downloading system information

In the system --> system information screen, there is a button at the top to download system and environment information. This information can be useful when asking an extension developer for support, for instance. The information can be downloaded as text or as a 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 screen with the "view admin" link. You can turn these links on and off via module management --> 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 have been published/depublished, archived or in the trash by clicking on the number to go directly to the appropriate overview. You can read more about this feature in the Joomla Community Magazine written by the creator/creator of this feature, Peter Martin of db8.co.uk

Anonymous data collection

Like many companies, facebook, google, etc., Joomla also starts collecting data to better respond to the needs and the market. For example, when you start 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 are asked at the top if you want to participate in this and you see what data will be sent. As options it you 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 view 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".

Send test e-mails

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 checks whether the current e-mail configuration settings are correct.

Change backend language temporarily

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 log back in later, the language is back to your default language.

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

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

Backwards Compatibility Break

Normally, you can just update from Joomla 3.4 to Joomla 3.5. But to ensure Joomla is compatible with PHP 7, a small change was needed; the String class has been renamed to StringHelper. This may cause problems in some cases. Always try the update on a test environment first and make a backup with Akeebabackup beforehand.