The latest version of Joomla - 3.7.3 is out. Is it too soon to talk about Joomla 4 (aka Joomla X )?
No, I don't think so. You've probably already heard of Joomla 4 - what's called main line of Joomla development for this year, although there is no official release time yet. Parallel to the development of Joomla 3.x, Joomla 4 is on its way out as a result of the hard work of the Joomla 4 working group .
Now let's take a look at what should be in this Joomla update, and why we should pay more attention to it.
* Please note that the features are not yet official and may be changed later.
Why is transformation needed in Joomla 4?
Although Joomla has improved over time, the system is based on 10-year-old technologies. So, it cannot meet the requirements of many of today's technologies. This makes Joomla old-fashioned compared to some of its main competitors. In its defense, we can say that a lot of people still use it, but it should be kept in mind that its market share has not increased in recent years as a whole - on the contrary.
Outdated technologies prevent developers from doing a lot of things to build really great projects with them. So, Joomla needs to transform to catch up with modern technology and better respond to the needs of its users.
Changes in Joomla 4 that affect developers
Here's what Mike Wakemans wrote about Joomla 4:
"This will be an evolution of Joomla! A whole new version with the goal of improving both the user experience and the quality of the code. Joomla 4 will not be a massive major replicator of the codebase. The goal is to introduce major functionality improvements to Joomla with limited breaks for backwards compatibility. "
Basically, Joomla 4 is about new things that break existing negative trends to have a completely new version.
As stated in the development roadmap, Joomla 4 will continue the evolution of Joomla itself to become a more powerful, yet easy to use CMS platform. The changes will also improve the unique symbols that set Joomla apart from other CMSs.
The priority in Joomla 4 development is to have a one-time upgrade for basic settings and modules and minimal breaks for backward compatibility with current extensions. However, it is expected to create new ways to do other things for developers who want to try.
Major improvements to the admin workflow in Joomla.
The development team is working on a new and more useful Joomla administrative dashboard. This is the first thing users see after logging into the admin, so they are trying to make it more intuitive for users with useful and relevant information right in the dashboard.
There will also be a new process to help new Joomla users get familiar with Joomla much easier. Plus, revising the default parameters will also be on the development team's agenda.
Evolution in Joomla code
Coding Joomla 4 enhancements will make you dance - say fellow developers! The code in Joomla Core will be more polished (so there are fewer bugs, of course) and easier to maintain.
I can outline some coding improvements you can expect in this awesome release: a new rewritten plugin system, dependency injection containers to replace JFactory, Joomla Framework to be used in more components (to use less custom code later), code memory and deprecation.
Orthogonal structure of components
Ortho ... what?! What is behind this strange and mysterious term?! Let's explain it this way:
The structure of Joomla 4 is a combination of vertical components like content or users and horizontal components like workflow, markup, version editing. This means that while we have development in Joomla core, at the same time all new features in terms of functionality like publishing, tagging and versioning etc will be added automatically in Joomla and all are configurable.
You can learn more about this new structure here .
Modern CSS Framework
Escaping from the Bootstrap 2 cage that Joomla stuck with for too long, Joomla 4 and its newer versions will be up to date with the latest version of Bootstrap. (Bootstrap 4). I'm sure all designers will love this!
Along with that comes something called JLayout to develop a generic JavaScript library to proxy Bootstrap. This will help reduce the work that a developer has to do to get Joomla extensions to render correctly in all Joomla templates. Designers will also benefit from JLayouts as this helps to render the perfect HTML - so designers will now have more options to fully customize a website developed with Joomla.
Implementation of MVC
„For Joomla 4, we limit the duties of a component. So, a component is only required to perform its own core functionality. Everything else is pulled into the system "- said Marco Densi at JWC 2015. So, there will be a lot less code for extension developers to write! Internally, they will use a "command bus" to simplify extension functionality where there will be the same multiprocessor controller.
The way it is implemented in Joomla 4, the MVC will define the structure of the orthogonal component and how it works.
Why Joomla users, especially Developers, should pay attention to Joomla 4?
Joomla 4 will be a giant step forward compared to previous versions of Joomla.
You need to update and modify your Joomla 3.x extensions to make them compatible with Joomla 4.
However, on the other hand, Joomla 4 makes it easy for developers to create extension with free tags, versions, etc. Plus, the burden of tasks for developers is eased as there are many improvements to reduce unnecessary common tasks for them.
For end users, Joomla 4 will certainly be a breath of fresh air - there will be simplified installation, easier and more integrated admin configuration, easier module configuration, better version launcher, better media manager and much more. Since it is heavily focused on user experience, Joomla 4 will be a real CMS star for end users.
What do you think? Join the team to make it really great!
Joomla 4 won't just be "a slightly improved version of Joomla 3.x". It will be a leap in Joomla development. Want to contribute to the development of Joomla 4? Join the Joomla 4 volunteer team now!
Author: Dragomir Kuprindzhiyski