joomla tutorial: joomla 2.5 a first look
DESCRIPTION
This presentation gives an overview of what new features have been added to Joomla 2.5, how to upgrade, and potential problems to avoid. It was presented by Tim Plummer to the Sydney Joomla User Group on 14th February 2012. If you like this presentation, please share it with your friends and colleagues. Follow Tim Plummer on twitter @bfsurvey.TRANSCRIPT
Sydney JUG 14/02/2012Presented by Tim Plummer – Tweet @bfsurvey
Joomla Release Dates
Joomla Version Release Type Release Date End of Life
Joomla 1.0 Long Term Sep-05 Jul-09
Joomla 1.5 Long Term Jan-08 Apr-12
Joomla 1.6 Short Term Jan-11 Aug-11
Joomla 1.7 Short Term Jul-11 Feb-12
Joomla 2.5 Long Term Jan-12 Aug-13
Joomla 3.0 Short Term Jul-12 Feb-13
Joomla 3.1 Short Term Jan-13 Aug-13
Joomla 3.5 Long Term Jul-13 Feb-15
Let’s take a look at what’s new
• The base of the CMS is the Joomla Platform has been updated to version 11.3
• New image manipulation class JImage• Generation of HTML tables with the JGrid class• New version of MooTools (1.4)
Multi Database support
SQL Server
• Load driver in php.ini – actual dll will depend on php version and whether your server supports non-thread-safe
or thread-safe
• extension=php_sqlsrv_53_ts_vc9.dll• Need to restart PHP for change to take effect• phpinfo should show sqlsrv section
Step 2 shows which databases are available on your server
Database Type
Set Site Offline during install
Set Site Offline Image
Smart Search (finder)
• Smart Search is destined to be the replacement for com_search
• Disabled by default• Extensions->plugin manager– Enable Conent - Smart Search plugin
Smart Search (cont.)
• Assign a module position to your smart search module (extensions->module manager)
• And choose which pages it should appear on
Smart Search (cont.)
• It does smart things like suggest what you should be searching for if you do a typo
Joomla Update Notification
CAPTCHA in core
• Choose ReCaptcha in your global config
Setting up ReCAPTCHA
• Sign up (free) for your public and private key
Setting up ReCAPTCHA
• Extensions->plug-in manager• Enter your public and private key in the
Captcha – ReCaptcha plugin
Setting up ReCAPTCHA
• CAPTCHA will now appear on your contact forms
Add notes to menu item
• Allows you to write a short note to describe what this menu is for
Filter who’s online module
• Extensions->module manager– Who's Online
Subcategory filtering
Language overrides manager
Images and URL fields to create simple standardized layouts
Images and URL fields in articles
Intro image
Full article image
Native ZIP support checked during install
New user notification email sent to admin
• Users->user manager
User status module improved
User Notes
• Can now add notes to each user account
Example of using User Notes
User Notes
Custom Blacklist text filter
Text filters has moved from article options to global config
Database version check
• Check that your database schema version is up to date
Debug Plugin reloaded
Menu manager linked to module manager
• When you create a new menu, if there is no module to display it yet, there is now a link to create one.
New language code plugin to improve SEO
• Allows search engines to see the language and country code they expect in cases where the Joomla language pack uses a different code.
Where’s my version number?
Joomla Version shown in System Information
Joomla version module
Other improvements
• Beez core template comes with mobile enhancements
• Ability to indicate a default language for News Feeds
• Right to Left language direction setting for New Feeds
• Improvements for batch processing
Should I upgrade to 2.5?
• http://magazine.joomla.org/issues/issue-feb-2012/item/676-Help-With-1-7-Out-and-2-5-Just-In,-What-Should-I-Do-Upgrade-or-Upgrade-me-not
• http://magazine.joomla.org/issues/Issue-Aug-2011/item/530-Nine-Questions-When-Preparing-Clients-for-Joomla-1-8
Should I upgrade to 2.5?
I’m currently using
Should I upgrade
Joomla 1.6 YES
Joomla 1.7 YES
Joomla 1.5 Eventually YES, but no rush
Joomla 1.0 LOL, why bother?
• I’ll make it easy, here is my 2 cents
So how do I upgrade?
Do a full site backup first!
• www.akeebabackup.com
How to upgrade from J1.7
Alternate upgrade method using Admin Tools
• Use Admin Tools instead– http://www.akeebabackup.com/
How do I upgrade from Joomla 1.5?
• Get new versions of all your extensions• Get a new site template• Take a full backup• Use either JUpgrade (free) or SP Upgrade
(commercial) or J2XML Importer (free)
How do I upgrade from Joomla 1.5?
• Tutorials– http://
www.jomsocial.com/blog/migrating-joomla-15-to-joomla-25-a-guided-tutorial.html
– http://www.ostraining.com/blog/joomla/upgrade-joomla-16-to-25/
Upgrade Problems
Upgrade problems – Admin icons
Clear your browser cache to fix
I’m missing the new modules and plugins
• Extensions->extension manager->discover
I’m missing new database tables
• Extensions->extension manager->database
Article into image not showing
• You probably have a template overrides that needs to be updated
• /templates/yourtemplate/html/com_content/article/default.php
• Compare to /components/com_content/views/article/tmpl/default.php
and see what is missing• Another one
/templates/yourtemplate/html/com_content/category/blog_item.php
Disappearing articles after 2.5 upgrade
• articles that a specific user wrote are not being published. They still show up in the backend but not in the frontend.
• Cause: If you have a user linked to a contact that is unpublished, the articles written by this user don't show up in the front.
• The solution would be to publish the contact or to completely remove them, including empty the trash.
Questions?
• Follow Tim on twitter @bfsurvey
References
• http://www.joomla.org/announcements/release-news/5403-joomla-250-released.html
• http://www.joomla.org/announcements/release-news/5410-joomla-251-released.html
• http://www.joomla.org/announcements/release-news/5406-joomla-25-released.html
• http://magazine.joomla.org/issues/Issue-Jan-2012/item/654-What-s-new-in-Joomla-2-5
• http://www.ostraining.com/blog/joomla/joomla25/• http://docs.joomla.org/Category:Version_2.5.0_FAQ• http://
brian.teeman.net/joomla-1.7/upgrading-to-joomla-2.5-some-warnings.html