Joomla 1.6 Released

 
Joomla! 1.6 is already here! It is the newer version of Joomla which includes more power, more control and more new options.

“With new features and capabilities such as the hierarchical design of the access control system, semantic XHTML layouts, one-click extension updates and multi-language functionality, Joomla 1.6 has evolved to become the most user-friendly and powerful tool yet for developing a web presence,” said Ryan Ozimek, president of Open Source Matters, a not-for-profit created to provide organization, legal, and financial support to the Joomla project. “This has been accomplished through the tireless feedback and work on 1.6 by the thousands of members of the Joomla community over the past year.”

Joomla 1.6 delivers new features to end-users and site administrators including:
• Finer access controls for viewing and editing content with configurable user groups and viewing levels
• A user-defined category structure, from simple one-level to complex multi-level categories
• Installation improvements allowing for multiple extension installations in one package, updatable with a single click
• Expanded language support for easy production of multi-lingual sites
• Start and end publishing times for modules with more control over where they display,
• Fresh new templates and semantic markup to please the eye as well as the search engines
• More creative control through template styles
• Hundreds of additional features, streamlining workflow and productivity

A special Joomla 1.6 launch page has been made over at joomla.org. The page has links to other resources for more information on the release. And it highlights 40 compelling reasons to use Joomla 1.6. These are divided into 10 for each of the four user groups most common for Joomla:
• Administrators
• Designers
• Developers
• Webmasters

“The current Joomla Platform provides developers with the tools they need to rapidly build the Web of the future,” said Ron Severdia, a member of the Joomla production leadership team. “Although 1.6 is being released today, the Joomla production team is not resting on its laurels. We’re hard at work developing even more powerful Joomla features for the future, such as new search capabilities and new ways to leverage website content.”