Datasheet

❑ Navigate the structure of the Joomla framework so that modifications to the system are possible.

❑ Use and modify existing extensions to add any functionality to your Joomla site that is missing

in the default installation.

❑ Adapt a PHP development environment to Joomla code development for proper coding and

documentation capabilities.

❑ Implement source code control through Subversion (SVN) to allow team development of a

Joomla template, plug-in, component, or module.

❑ Manage a professional deployment from staging server to deployment server.

Developers will find Joomla a fertile platform for both personal and professional satisfaction. Many have

already taken the plunge yet have had to sort through sometimes arcane instruction to master even the

fundamentals. This book will give you a clear roadmap to attaining the skills you need, with a minimum

of confusion or extra work.

Joomla Version 1.0 and Mambo Users

For readers new to the CMS world, Joomla was born in 2005 when the development team left the Mambo

community en masse and took the Mambo foundation source code with them. The initial release of Joomla

showed little difference from Mambo version 4.5.2.3 under the hood. Even the extensions were interopera-

ble between the Mambo and Joomla.

It was with Joomla 1.5 that the great departure from previous versions began. The entire architecture had

been rebuilt as an object-oriented PHP framework. The changes were fundamental enough that neither

1.0 extensions nor templates operate in the newer versions (except in legacy mode). This upgrade pro-

vides many opportunities for increased capabilities and the refining of previous template/plug-in/com-

ponents/modules. It can also produce a great deal of distress because items that worked perfectly in the

old system will no longer function in the new.

As a Web master, developer, or designer, it is important for you to understand the implications of this

fork from the Mambo system. To meet your own needs or those of your clients, you may be forced to run

the new Joomla server in legacy mode if the items that you need have yet to be upgraded to the new sys-

tem. However, if you run the Joomla server in legacy mode, you will be sacrificing the capabilities and

performance gains provided by the new system (and they are substantial).

With past Joomla versions, deploying a high-traffic site was problematic because

Joomla had a tendency to slow down significantly during peak access. The original

Joomla application processed one monolithic PHP code block for each page access —

whether the page used all of the features it contained or not.

In Version 1.5, the Joomla team addressed this problem and practically eliminated

it. The code was refactored so that only those features and modules used by the

requested Web page are actually loaded and executed. This new method provides

tremendous performance increases on high-volume sites.

Chapter 1: Introducing Joomla!

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