Hello everyone. I wish you all a Happy and Prosperous New Year 2025! (I would also like to add Creative.) I have always been a great fan of creative people.

Art, in all its forms, can give us a glimpse of how spectacular the human mind can be. I will never forget the stunning paintings of El Greco (Domenikos Theotokopoulos) in Museo Del Prado in Madrid. Of course, I had seen pictures of El Greco’s paintings beforehand. But no picture could prepare me, the viewer, for a miracle of that magnitude. I felt a lightning strike directly into my soul. I was stunned and speechless-who knows for how long, in front of something created back in 1597. I assume that THIS is called art!

In today’s world, everything has changed. Technology evolved and art became digital. Nowadays artists are not only required to contribute their aesthetic flare in their creations. They also need to use other skills. As an example, in web design, one needs to write (at least)  some lines of code to create beautiful and aesthetically unique websites.

We are lucky to have such an amazing lady in the Joomla community and I am particularly happy to present her to you. Her name is Angie Radtke, and she is an expert in web development and design. Please find our interesting discussion below.

Hello Angie, could you please introduce yourself? 

My name is Angie Radtke. Since 1996, I have been passionately designing, developing, and creating websites with a strong drive for knowledge. I have closely witnessed the evolution of the digital world, including its technologies (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, etc.) and design trends, from the very beginning and have built up solid expertise. This extensive experience now flows into all my projects. For me, technology and design are never isolated focal points — my goal is always to make content accessible to everyone and functions intuitively usable. An accessible experience is essential to me on content, design, and technical levels. To meet this standard, I combine my expertise in marketing and content strategies, visual design (UI), user experience (UX), typography, and branding with an in-depth knowledge of frontend and backend technologies as well as project management. For many years, I have relied on Joomla to implement my projects professionally and efficiently.

I noticed you pay very much attention to accessibility, why? 

It has always been my goal to develop robust solutions that are not only accessible and understandable but also efficient and sustainable. This approach stems from my fundamental view of humanity: I firmly believe that the internet — like our society — should connect people and therefore must be usable for everyone.

As a web designer, I bear responsibility for shaping this digital community. Accessibility has never been a “nice to have” for me but an essential foundation of my work.

How did you get involved in the Joomla project?

At the beginning of my career, I developed static websites. As my projects grew in scale, it quickly became clear that a content management system was necessary. I chose Mambo, the predecessor of Joomla— a small but well-structured and easily understandable system for me at the time. Even before the Joomla era, II was actively involved in the Mambo project (2002/2003), advocating for accessibility and the use of web standards. There were no template overrides yet, and if you wanted to optimize the output, you had to hack the core.

Even back then, my focus was on adhering to web standards and ensuring accessible content output. When I later started using Joomla for my projects, I knew I could make a difference not only for myself but for many people. To firmly establish accessibility within the system, it was essential to convince other developers and the community that accessible output benefits everyone.

Working on and with Joomla has given me the opportunity to actively contribute to improving the web. Looking at Joomla’s accessible backend today, I can see that this dedication and persistence have paid off. I'm truly pleased that the Accessibility Team, we developers, and the community have achieved great things together.

What does Joomla mean to you?

For me, Joomla is a central and extremely powerful tool for implementing my often large and complex projects. Over the years, the Joomla community has created a fantastic and truly professional system capable of handling virtually any project.

Unfortunately, this potential is less recognized outside the community. One standout feature is the accessible backend, which makes Joomla an excellent choice for public administrations. In my view, Joomla is often underestimated because many systems today are designed for maximum simplicity—making it difficult to properly execute complex projects.

When you install Joomla, it’s not immediately obvious how everything works. While Joomla does require some learning, those who invest the time quickly discover how much is possible “out of the box” — features that often need to be laboriously added to other systems. Joomla is a tool for professional developers, supported by a fantastic community that actively helps newcomers and less experienced users.

In the future, I hope we can work together to better showcase to the world outside the community just how powerful our system is. This will first require greater self-confidence—the clear understanding that Joomla is no longer a small, simple CMS but a professional, versatile tool at the highest level.

Do you think being a woman in the Joomla community makes a difference and how?

Traditional gender roles and stereotypes are still present in the IT industry and remain persistent. However, I experience these much less frequently within the Joomla community, which speaks to the openness and respectful interactions in this space.

Still, there have been situations where I wished my gender didn’t matter — so that I could be evaluated solely on my skills.

Women often sense biases subtly and have learned to navigate them. What makes me especially happy is the continuously growing number of women in the Joomla community, showing that we are on the right path.

However, I still notice that women in IT — and in the open-source world — tend to approach projects with less confidence than their male colleagues. Their more reserved choice of words is often mistakenly interpreted as insecurity or a lack of expertise.

That’s why I hope we all make a more conscious effort to truly listen — not just to tone but to content. I recently wrote about the value of intergenerational dialogue and the importance of taking diverse perspectives seriously in the December 2024 issue of the Joomla Magazine titled: "Open Source: An Intergenerational Dialogue." 

What does your role as a Joomla volunteer entail?

Joomla has been a part of my life for many, many years and has truly grown close to my heart.

For many years, I have been deeply involved in the Joomla community, actively shaping the system in various areas. Depending on my life situation, my involvement has been more intense at times and more reserved at others.

A milestone in my work was the development of the accessible Beez template, through which I demonstrated early on how essential it is to design websites that are accessible to everyone — including people with disabilities.

Through lectures, workshops, and professional publications, I have repeatedly brought the topic of accessibility to the forefront, strengthening Joomla as a CMS that meets the modern demands of web development. As the author of several technical books, I have shared my knowledge and provided targeted support to both beginners and experienced users.

This commitment remains as strong as ever, and it motivates me to see the Accessibility Team and developers consistently advancing these principles, delivering outstanding work, and how we are continuously creating better solutions for all users together.

(You can find more at the JCM magazine, in my article article titled "How the accessibility team works.")

Would you advise the younger generation to volunteer for the Joomla project, and why?

Joomla is a powerful CMS that is not driven by a company or paid developers but by the strength and dedication of its global community. Without volunteer contributions, this success would not be possible. That's why it’s even more important to get involved — you don't have to be an expert in every field to make a valuable contribution. There are countless tasks that require a wide variety of skills.

My personal goal has always been not only to support Joomla’s technical development but also to make a social impact. Raising awareness for accessible, inclusive, and sustainable web design is especially close to my heart because it ensures that digital content is accessible to everyone.

When I look back on Joomla’s development today, I feel proud. What started as a simple CMS has evolved into a highly professional and versatile system. The community has accomplished amazing things and I'm grateful to have contributed to that success. Along the way, I have not only learned a lot but also met inspiring people. This shared growth and the strong sense of community are what make Joomla so special.

You'll see getting involved is worth it. For you. And for everyone. Your contribution makes THE difference.

Where can we find you? 

My website, BlueSky, LinkedIn, and Mastodon.

I would like to thank Angie, for sharing her experience, her thoughts and views with us and especially for her love of Joomla and her willingness to inspire others to become volunteers.

Thank you also everyone for reading this article and stay tuned for more amazing Joomla women and who knows? Maybe not only Joomla volunteers and not only women.