Joomla 4.3 Alpha 3 - Catch the bugs now, help make it stable

Details: Published: 24 January 2023

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 4.3

For a complete list of known backward compatibility issues for version 4.3, please see Potential backward compatibility issues in Joomla 4 on the documentation site.

What is this release NOT for?

This alpha version of Joomla 4.3 is not suitable for production sites. It is for testing only.

Where to get it?

Download Joomla 4.3.0 Alpha 3

To always use the latest build of Joomla 4, we invite you to use the nightly build packages (updated every night).

To make it easier for newcomers, you can launch a free Joomla 4 website for testing at launch.joomla.org.

When is the final release due?

Joomla! 4.3 (general availability) is due to be released on or about 18th April 2023. The planned milestones are:

Alpha releases

Where new features are added and many changes are made.

Alpha 1: 29th November 2022 - Done
Alpha 2: 27th December 2022 - Done
Alpha 3: 24th January 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: 7th February 2023
Beta 2: 21st February 2023
Beta 3: 5th March 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 1: 21st March 2023
Final release: 18th April 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 4.3 alpha 3?

Smart search frontend dropdown filter > See here => Merged and available
Filter menu items by component > See here => Merged and available
Conditional fields for custom fields > See here => Merged and available
SVG file previews > See here => Merged and available
media manager image thumbnails > See here => Merged and available
Bootstrap 5.2 support => Merged and available
PHP 8.2 improved support => Merged and available

And many more!

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 4.3. We expect to commit other features for the coming beta releases.

What are the plans for Joomla 4.3?

Currently, we’re at the start of the journey of Joomla! 4.3. There are several projects which, with your help, could become part of Joomla! 4.3, if they are release-ready by Joomla 4.3 Beta:

Cookie Manager: out-of-the-box cookie management to comply with privacy regulations
Guided Tours: a way to help new users get to know Joomla
Accessibility: improved assistive technology tools
Many small improvements throughout.

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

How can you help Joomla 4.3 to develop?

To help ensure the 4.3 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 4.3 and communicate their experience.

Where can I find documentation about Joomla 4?

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!_4.x

We encourage developers to help write the documentation about Joomla 4 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).

Should I plan to upgrade to Joomla 4.x?

Joomla 4.x is Joomla’s latest major version.

Joomla 3.10 was released alongside Joomla 4 as the last minor release of Joomla 3 (see this article).

Joomla 3.10 will continue to be supported until August 2023 although as its now over 17 months since the release of Joomla 3.10 and 4.0 Joomla 3 will only get security releases.

You should be planning or in the process of migrating to the latest version of Joomla.

We provide resources to help with the migration on the documentation site.

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.

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