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What is your favourite Joomla 2.5 feature?

I predicted that the release of Joomla 2.5 would be a smooth process that was unlikely to cause any major problems for sites that were already running Joomla 1.7. Wrong! Many of you reported difficulties with extensions and even the update process caused some confusion (see How to avoid the Joomla 2.5 upgrade blues). We were even caught by surprise when our membership software failed and we had to restore a backup. But several weeks have now passed and if you haven't already upgraded from 1.7, it's time to make the test and make the change.

I need your feedback about this latest release so please provide some feedback in the comments section below. If you haven't caught up with the latest features, see my What's new in Joomla 2.5 video. Here are some questions you might like to answer:

What is your favourite Joomla 2.5 feature? How has this made your life easier?

What feature do you think is missing?

Was the upgrade process easy?

Is your site still running on Joomla 1.5? Are you planning to migrate to 2.5?

I'll comment on your comments in a post next week.

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Comments 14

Richard Pearce on Thursday, 15 March 2012 10:39

I'll start things off. The most useful feature to me is the upgrade function. This is such an important requirement that it is amazing that it has taken this long to implement correctly.

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I'll start things off. The most useful feature to me is the upgrade function. This is such an important requirement that it is amazing that it has taken this long to implement correctly.
Ian Hayward on Thursday, 15 March 2012 11:31

I've scratched my head over this and thought long and hard. Yes, the upgrade function is great and so too extension upgrade warning is good but after that I struggle.

What I DON'T like is the new Contact form - in whichever of the offered layouts you choose. It's a dog's breakfast from a design point of view, repetitive and over complicated with everything scrunched up on the left hand side of the page. You used to be able to balance that with the image over on the right but even that is pushed over to the left now. Bet the form extension developers are happy!

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I've scratched my head over this and thought long and hard. Yes, the upgrade function is great and so too extension upgrade warning is good but after that I struggle. What I DON'T like is the new Contact form - in whichever of the offered layouts you choose. It's a dog's breakfast from a design point of view, repetitive and over complicated with everything scrunched up on the left hand side of the page. You used to be able to balance that with the image over on the right but even that is pushed over to the left now. Bet the form extension developers are happy!
Kevin Morrison on Thursday, 15 March 2012 12:06

What is your favourite Joomla 2.5 feature? I would have to say it is a toss up between the powerful ACL and the nested categories.

How has this made your life easier? The addition of the above mentioned features have went a long way to making my life easier. Although I would not say that it is so much that it is easier but I am able to offer so much more control and features.

What feature do you think is missing? Smoother integration for system wide updates (templates and extensions).

Was the upgrade process easy? On sites that did not have many third party elements yes for the most part. For sites that were heavily customized, not a chance!

Is your site still running on Joomla 1.5? Are you planning to migrate to 2.5? I have several sites still on 1.5 and with the issues that are still apparent with 2.5 and some extensions I will not move forward with them if ever.

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[b]What is your favourite Joomla 2.5 feature?[/b] I would have to say it is a toss up between the powerful ACL and the nested categories. [b]How has this made your life easier?[/b] The addition of the above mentioned features have went a long way to making my life easier. Although I would not say that it is so much that it is easier but I am able to offer so much more control and features. [b]What feature do you think is missing?[/b] Smoother integration for system wide updates (templates and extensions). [b]Was the upgrade process easy?[/b] On sites that did not have many third party elements yes for the most part. For sites that were heavily customized, not a chance! [b]Is your site still running on Joomla 1.5? Are you planning to migrate to 2.5?[/b] I have several sites still on 1.5 and with the issues that are still apparent with 2.5 and some extensions I will not move forward with them if ever.
Geoff Cole on Thursday, 15 March 2012 14:06

I'm still using Joomla 1.5 and am intimidated by twhat I read about the difficulties in upgrading. Is there a simple way to do this?

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I'm still using Joomla 1.5 and am intimidated by twhat I read about the difficulties in upgrading. Is there a simple way to do this?
Richard Pearce on Thursday, 15 March 2012 17:58

Simple? No. The template needs to be updated and you need to update all extensions. If you happen to be using a commercial template then you might find that the developer now has a 2.5 equivalent version. When this has been ascertained, you will need to setup a test environment, either locally or with a temporary hosting account. There is some documentation, but this is not for beginners: http://docs.joomla.org/Migrating_from_Joomla_1.5_to_Joomla_2.5

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Simple? No. The template needs to be updated and you need to update all extensions. If you happen to be using a commercial template then you might find that the developer now has a 2.5 equivalent version. When this has been ascertained, you will need to setup a test environment, either locally or with a temporary hosting account. There is some documentation, but this is not for beginners: http://docs.joomla.org/Migrating_from_Joomla_1.5_to_Joomla_2.5
Laurent on Thursday, 15 March 2012 18:41

Hallo
I would like to upgrade from 1.5... tot1.7...2.5
is that easy.. is there a tool...
Or shoud I just stay on 1.5
any help is welkom

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Hallo I would like to upgrade from 1.5... tot1.7...2.5 is that easy.. is there a tool... Or shoud I just stay on 1.5 any help is welkom
Guest - James Dekle on Thursday, 15 March 2012 23:27

What I like best: Comprehensive updating and ACL
What I like least: Many plugins not 2.5 ready, until essential ones are converted or some sharp group decides to release 2.5 updated versions, even if as commercial plugins, there are many sites that simply cannot be moved from 1.5.

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What I like best: Comprehensive updating and ACL What I like least: Many plugins not 2.5 ready, until essential ones are converted or some sharp group decides to release 2.5 updated versions, even if as commercial plugins, there are many sites that simply cannot be moved from 1.5.
Robert Wilson on Friday, 16 March 2012 04:23

James, you're jumping ahead of us a bit on what you like least...we might feature that question in coming weeks. And, I completely agree with you. Hopefully, as this new release schedule really gets settled and everyone including developers gets used to it, we will see a much more stable environment for the Joomla core and third party software.

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James, you're jumping ahead of us a bit on what you like least...we might feature that question in coming weeks. And, I completely agree with you. Hopefully, as this new release schedule really gets settled and everyone including developers gets used to it, we will see a much more stable environment for the Joomla core and third party software.
Guest - PJ Cruz on Friday, 16 March 2012 04:50

Is your site still running on Joomla 1.5? Are you planning to migrate to 2.5?:
I have one site at 2.5 and love the new gui interface and built in extensions (captcha). I have 4 other websites at 1.5 two that are purchased templates that I need to either purchase new 2.5 compatible templates or leave it at 1.5.

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Is your site still running on Joomla 1.5? Are you planning to migrate to 2.5?: I have one site at 2.5 and love the new gui interface and built in extensions (captcha). I have 4 other websites at 1.5 two that are purchased templates that I need to either purchase new 2.5 compatible templates or leave it at 1.5.
Robert Wilson on Friday, 16 March 2012 05:23

As the stability of Joomla 2.5 improves, the only reason to stay on 1.7 or below is an absolutely necessary extension that isn't being updated. Remember that 1.6 / 1.7 are no longer supported, and 1.5 will no longer be supported as of next month.

It's up to you as an administrator to decide how critical your site is and whether or not it's worth your time and effort to protect your work and your server.

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As the stability of Joomla 2.5 improves, the only reason to stay on 1.7 or below is an absolutely necessary extension that isn't being updated. Remember that 1.6 / 1.7 are no longer supported, and 1.5 will no longer be supported as of next month. It's up to you as an administrator to decide how critical your site is and whether or not it's worth your time and effort to protect your work and your server.
Guest - Komar on Friday, 16 March 2012 05:25

I'm still trying to migrate from 1.5 to 2.5. It hasn't got anything to do with a simple "upgrade". Joomla itself is more or less OK. But my customized templates are useless, and especially the forms I use with a 3rd party extension, have to be rebuilt from scratch. It's @#$% hell! Hopefully this painfull process is for the last time and the new upgrade features in Joomla will save me from doing this ever again.
Btw thanks for the usefull tips in the newsletters.

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I'm still trying to migrate from 1.5 to 2.5. It hasn't got anything to do with a simple "upgrade". Joomla itself is more or less OK. But my customized templates are useless, and especially the forms I use with a 3rd party extension, have to be rebuilt from scratch. It's @#$% hell! Hopefully this painfull process is for the last time and the new upgrade features in Joomla will save me from doing this ever again. Btw thanks for the usefull tips in the newsletters.
George on Monday, 19 March 2012 07:20

2.5 is great for a new site however upgrading with custom code on a site seemed to be a nightmare for us. Some scripts would not run or not be there. One site we had to revert back to 1.7 because the custom Java script would not display in 2.5

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2.5 is great for a new site however upgrading with custom code on a site seemed to be a nightmare for us. Some scripts would not run or not be there. One site we had to revert back to 1.7 because the custom Java script would not display in 2.5
George W. Tardy, Jr. on Wednesday, 21 March 2012 07:51

Frankly,

The developers of Joomla have been so busy stoking the engine (developing and spitting out revisions and updates) that they haven't noticed that the cars (extensions) have been left back at the station along with the people (clients, customers, enthusiasts) at various stages of trying to get aboard--all po'd because their efforts can hardly bear fruit before the orchard is plowed under.

My throat simply can't handle all the shoving going on.

1
Frankly, The developers of Joomla have been so busy stoking the engine (developing and spitting out revisions and updates) that they haven't noticed that the cars (extensions) have been left back at the station along with the people (clients, customers, enthusiasts) at various stages of trying to get aboard--all po'd because their efforts can hardly bear fruit before the orchard is plowed under. My throat simply can't handle all the shoving going on.
Karen Buerkle on Friday, 08 June 2012 07:12

The transformation from 1.5 --> 2.5 may be painful for a little while, but I'm SURE it will be worth it! :)

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The transformation from 1.5 --> 2.5 may be painful for a little while, but I'm SURE it will be worth it! :)

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