Unless you've been on a media lockdown in the past few weeks, no doubt you'll be aware that a major new release of Joomla! (6.0 to be specific as well as an updated 5.4) has been released. And as with all new software products, we're promised a faster, sleeker and all-round sexier experience.

Of course all those promises are in fact true, but let's dig down into the new features and explore what they really mean as benefits to you.

Automatic Joomla updates

With Joomla 5.1 we introduced TUF (The Update Framework) secure Joomla updates. With Joomla 5.4 and 6.0 we are now introducing automatic Joomla core updates! Now you can keep your website up to date automatically and securely.

What does this mean?

Joomla core will automatically update to the latest version without you having to do anything.

Cassiopeia child template with extended customisation options

Joomla 6 comes with a new Cassiopeia child template that has extended colour and font options allowing you to define more colours and font-sizes without having to create a custom css file.

What does this mean?

You now have additional tools to customise Joomla's default theme, Cassiopeia, without the need to create an additional CSS file. So right out of the box, you can make Joomla look how you want it to, and being a child theme it will not be overwritten when Joomla updates.

Advanced versioning

The versioning has always been database table based. This meant data like custom fields were not included in the versioning. The versioning has now been extended to also include custom fields data in the versioning.

What does this mean?

When you (or another content editor) make changes to content such as an article, Joomla remembers all the previous saves but now with advanced versioning this also applies to any custom fields you may have.

New custom fields

We have 2 new custom fields available in Joomla 6. There is a new "notes" field that lets you add "notes" in between your custom fields or in your article. This can be very useful to add extra instructions between your custom fields to help guide your users. We now also have a "numbers" custom field that lets you display a number with optional currency formatting options.

What does this mean?

If you've ever been unlucky enough to make amendments to a website with custom fields and the creator has used a naming system that only they understand then you will appreciate what a godsend it is to have notes fields added as a core component. 

Backward Compatibility 6 plugin

New in Joomla 5.4 is the 'Behaviour - Backward Compatibility 6' plugin. In Joomla 5.4, the plugin does not perform any actions other than existing and being enabled. This ensures that when the Joomla instance is updated for Joomla 6, it can run immediately with the updated code, and third-party extensions that require the plugin to be enabled in Joomla 6 will not cause the update to fail. Therefore the 'Behaviour - Backward Compatibility 6' plugin makes upgrades from Joomla 5 smoother.

What does this mean?

Those clever sausages at Joomla have added a plugin to Joomla 5.4 that does nothing until you upgrade to Joomla 6.0 at which point it wakes up and acts as a compatibility layer for any extension or component with outdated code. This gives you time to safely update those extensions without breaking your website.

CSS transitions in Atum & Cassiopeia

Both the default frontend template (Cassiopeia) and the backend template (Atum) now are using CSS transitions. This makes navigation between pages feel much more seamless.

What does this mean?

Altogether sexier!! Try it.

What else?

These are just some of the headline new features and benefits you'll see as you explore your new Joomla! 6.0 but added to that are literally dozens of updates and improvements that won't be so apparent. To see the full rundown on what's new and better still to download your copy of Joomla! 6.0, visit https://6.joomla.org