Joomla 5.0 Alpha 3 - New ideas added to Joomla 5!

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Grey marketing image for Joomla 5.0 Alpha3

The Joomla Project is pleased to announce the availability of Joomla 5.0 Alpha 3 for testing.

The first in the 5.x series of Joomla! Taking all that's good in Joomla 4.x and taking it to the next level. Making Joomla Fast, accessible, secure, extendable and Yours

What is this release for?

There are two main goals for Alpha releases:

Providing developers with the basis to test their extensions and reporting any issues well before the final release
Allowing users to discover the new features introduced to Joomla 5.0

For a complete list of known backward compatibility issues for version 5.0, please see Potential backward compatibility issues in Joomla 5 on the documentation site.

What is this release NOT for?

This alpha version of Joomla 5.0 is not suitable for production sites. It is for testing only.

Where to get it?

Download Joomla 5.0.0 Alpha 3

To always use the latest build of Joomla 5, we invite you to use the nightly build packages (updated every night).

When is the final release due?

Joomla! 5.0 (general availability) is due to be released on or about 17th October 2023. The planned milestones are:

Please note the release times have changed, and the updated details are in the article

Release timetable changes

Alpha releases

Where new features are added, and many changes are made.

Dates need to be changed

Alpha 1: 30th May 2023 - Done
Alpha 2: 27th June 2023 - Done
Alpha 3: 25th July 2023 - This release

Beta releases

In the Beta stage, we are making a freeze on what features can be added, but minor changes to what is already in can be made.

Beta 1: TBA August 2023
Beta 2: 22nd August 2023
Beta 3: 5th September 2023

Release candidates

When in the release candidate phase, no more can be added or changed. We are testing and bug fixing, making the product stable for launch day.

Release candidate: 19th September 2023
Final release: 17th October 2023

This whole process relies on people coming forward to help make it happen.

Please note that dates may be subject to change depending on the availability of volunteers and circumstances beyond our control.

What’s new in Joomla 5.0 Alpha 3?

Initial Schema.org Support #41151
Bootstrap 5.3
Codemirror 6 #41070
Backward Compatibility Plugin #40664
Allow to order the Backend Menu #38149
And many more!

Already included from Alpha 1 and 2?

All changes from 4.4
JS Import map Support for Web Asset Manager
Remove es5 support #39618
Add the possibility serving Joomla from a public folder #40509
Allow custom modules for error messages in cassiopeia and default template
Internal code restructure to use more modern APIs
Tinymce 6.1
Fontawesome 6.4
Webauthn Library has been updated
Many Smart Search improvements (Debugging, Additional Taxonomy options, Indexing custom fields)

We are firmly committed to making the next generation of Joomla the best. So far, these are the first features that have been committed to version 5.0. We expect to commit other features for the coming alpha releases.

What are the plans for Joomla 5.0?

Currently, we’re at the start of the journey of Joomla! 5.0. With Joomla! 5.0 as a new major version we plan to create a cleaned-up foundation for the future of Joomla!. There are several projects which, with your help, could become part of Joomla! 5.0, if they are release-ready by Joomla 5.0 Beta:

Update the system requirements to PHP 8.1 & MySQL 8.0.13+, MariaDB 10.4+ and PostgreSQL 12+
Bootstrap 5.3
Codemirror 6
B/C plugin for deprecations - #40664
Joomla! Cookie Manager - Project Repository
Different SEO improvements - Project Repository
Heavily code cleanups - Check PRs
(optional) Several Rector rules to support 3rd party developers (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

To learn more about our development strategy, please read this article.

How can you help Joomla 5.0 to develop?

To help ensure the 5.0 release and our major features are “production-ready”, we need your help testing releases and reporting any bugs you may find at issues.joomla.org.

Most of all, we encourage extension developers to roll up their sleeves, seek out bugs and test their extensions with Joomla 5.0 and communicate their experience.

Where can I find documentation about Joomla 5?

There are some tutorials to help you with Joomla 4. You can find the existing ones, like creating a Plugin or a Module for Joomla 4, namespaces conventions, prepared statements, using the new web asset classes and many more in https://docs.joomla.org/Category:Joomla!_5.x

We encourage developers to help write the documentation about Joomla 5 on docs.joomla.org to help and guide users and other extension developers.

A JDocs page will help developers to see the existing documentation, and the documentation still needed.

We invite you to check it regularly, update it and provide the missing content: https://docs.joomla.org/JDOC:Joomla_4_Tutorials_Project

Most of the feature documentation will be needed once we have reached Beta (feature freeze).

Related information

If you are an extension developer, please make sure you subscribe to the general developer mailing list, where you can discuss extension development. News that may affect custom development will also be posted there from time to time.