14 DAY TRIAL // Joomla 1.7 is here. The latest version of the popular CMS software comes shortly after the previous major version and is the first to come in the new six months release cycle. From now on, new versions should be coming at a much faster rate, about the same as WordPress.
Joomla 1.7 also introduces a new simplified update method for the software and plugins, to make it easier for users to stay up to date, useful especially now that the team plans to publish new releases faster.
"With Joomla 1.7 the user community placed a large emphasis on making the CMS installation process as simple as possible and new versions more frequent," the team wrote.
"This will allow users to more easily and frequently migrate to the latest version of Joomla, and take advantage of all the security benefits associated with running the newest code. We think Joomla users around the world will really embrace this new process," it explained.
The new update system is a major step forward and should make the life of website admins a lot easier. Previously, they had to manually update after each new version, by uploading the files to the servers.
Now, all that's needed is one click, Joomla takes care of everything else. WordPress has had this feature for a while now, it's a main selling point if you're looking for easy management.
In fact, WordPress 3.2 added the ability to download and replace only the files that have changed from one version to another, making for faster updates.
The automated update system was necessary if Joomla hoped to convince its users to install a new major version once every six months. Joomla 1.6 took three years to build, but Joomla 1.7 came six months after. Joomla 1.8 will come six months after this.
Of course, there are several other new features in Joomla 1.7 as well as some security fixes. You can check out this page for an overview of what's new or you can look over the full change log here.
Joomla 1.7 is available for download here.