2025 is behind us, and 2026 has peeked through with its brisk air, hopeful tone and snow covered roads or gorgeous weeks of sunshine depending from where you hail...

As we step firmly into 2026 (as if we had much of a choice 😉), the Joomla community does so with renewed energy and confidence. 2025 was not an easy year in a couple of areas, yet it was a year in which the project itself achieved substantial milestones, once again, showing how resilient and creative this beautiful community can be.  Sites were built, extensions were released, the Joomla! core continued its steady movement forward and Joomla 5 which led to Joomla 6 continued to mature into a fast, secure, modern platform ready for the next decade of the web.

Here are some of the milestones or significant areas worth mentioning (and 👏 to the long list of the others that couldn't be mentioned here):

1. JoomlaDay events worldwide (2025) 🌎🌍
   5 JoomlaDays took place globally, bringing together volunteers, developers, designers, agencies, and site owners for training, networking, camaraderie and community building: JoomlaDay USA, JoomlaDays Netherlands, JoomlaDay France, JoomlaDay Spain, JoomlaDay D-A-CH!
   
   
2. Joomla 20th Anniversary celebrations (2005 - 2025)
   In August 2025, the community celebrated 20 years of Joomla! with retrospectives, special magazine issues, and community events, reinforcing Joomla’s history and resilience.​ Nostalgia set in for a few days (for me at least) but it also gave me a sense that anything is possible - and how exciting is THAT!
   
   
3. Focus on where is Joomla! is headed (Long-term planning)
   The Production Team had quite a productive 'let's plan the future' strategy sprint entitled Joomla 8 Sprint in southern Germany to look on what future versions of Joomla! should be working toward, focusing on - there was a considerable community involvement beyond those people who participated in person during the 3 day event. ​Truly inspiring seeing all of the ideas, work and future possibilities!

4. Joomla 6.0 “Kuimarisha” released (October 14, 2025)
   The next major version, Joomla 6, went live, bringing an ever modernized codebase, improved developer experience, and a clear path forward for the next decade of Joomla sites.

5. Joomla 5.4 “Kutegemea” released (October 14, 2025)
   Released at the same time Joomla 5.4, the latest long-term support (LTS) version in the 5.x line, giving site owners a stable, secure, and feature-rich option for years to come.

6. Automatic core updates introduced (Joomla 5.4 / 6.0)
   A major usability and security win: Joomla now supports automatic minor version core updates, making it much easier for site owners to stay current and secure without manual intervention. For those that turn on that feature, gone are the days of logging into the backend and having to press the update button, checking checkboxes, waiting for the process to finish etc.... to update Joomla 6.0.1 to 6.0.2 to 6.0.3 (when it comes out). 🥰

7. Significant improvements in Joomla 6 core features

   • Cassiopeia child template with extended customization (colors, fonts) out of the box.
   • Advanced versioning and workflow enhancements for content management.
   • Media manager thumbnails for any file type and better TinyMCE integration.
   • and many more smaller updates, improvements, fixes...
     
     
8. Joomla 6.1 Alpha 1 & Alpha 2 (November–December 2025)
   The first preview releases of Joomla 6.1 showed the direction for the next minor version, with early testing of new developer tools, accessibility improvements, and performance enhancements.

9. Community awards and recognitions
   2025 20i FOSS Awards with over 75% of the votes showing the strong support and engagement of its global community. Joomla was once again named the Best Open Source CMS by the CMS Critic Awards.

Looking ahead and seeing how 2026 is shaping up - it feels in part like a year of focus, building or rebuilding... and this started in the mid-to-late second half of 2025, I see more people involved wanting to make things happen and doing great things! Renewed interest in projects, initiatives that were considered or started previously as well as entirely new ones!  I'm sure much of this will not be easy - what in life is and when are things truly worth it: when they take effort, compromise, coming together and achieving a common goal!!!

The undeniable reality is that NONE of this can happen without you!

We, at OSM, just like you - are all volunteers and we are all super appreciative of all of the hours, days, weeks, months and years that you give to this common goal and of the support that you give us as your humbly appointed board. 

Whether you are a long-time contributor, an extension developer, an agency building client sites, or a site owner who discovered Joomla yesterday or have been here in those early wild days of 2005, your voice matters in shaping what comes next.

In 2026, now more than ever, you are invited to join a team, share feedback, mentor a newcomer, organize a local meetup or JUG, write documentation, or simply tell the world why Joomla is fundamentally important in an increasingly commercial, centralized web. It's all about coming together in a respectful, kind, productive, understanding way. Every contribution, large or small, helps sustain the project’s independence and spirit.

On behalf of OSM, thank you for everything you have done and will do for Joomla, and warmest wishes for a healthy, inspiring, and successful new year!

For my part, I am moved by the gargantuan commitments and results of open-source projects like Joomla!

May 2026 be a year of healing where needed, of courage where change is required, and of pride in what this community has and continues to achieve together.