Joomla 6.2 Release Managers - Part 2: Martin Kopp

Last month we met Charvi Mehra, the first of two release managers steering Joomla 6.2 towards its October 2026 release. Now we turn to Martin Kopp, a 30-year IT veteran from Switzerland who leads the Bug Squad, mentors GSoC students, and was part of the MCP server discovery sprint that explored AI-powered Joomla administration. Martin co-managed Joomla 4.4 alongside Allon Moritz and returns for 6.2 with experience and, as you will discover, a sideline in DJing.

Lessons learned from being a release manager

Joomla 6.0 shipped on the 14th of October 2025, the culmination of about a year's work by Gary Barclay and me as its release managers. We then carried on as caretakers of the 6.0 line for another six months, until Harald Leithner and Stefan Wendhausen shipped Joomla 6.1 on the 14th of April 2026. That was the moment our term came to its natural close.

Joomla 6.2 Release Managers - Part 1: Charvi Mehra

With Joomla 6.1 now available, attention turns to what comes next. Joomla 6.2 is scheduled for release on 13 October 2026, and at the helm are two release managers who bring very different backgrounds to the role. This month we meet Charvi Mehra, whose journey into Joomla began not through code but through a university semester project in Delhi.

Joomla 6.1 Release Managers, part 2: Stefan Wendhausen

While the 6.0 downloads growing, we look to the new release managers for Joomla 6.1. Last month we featured  Harald Leithner and now we turn our focus on Stefan Wendhausen.

Joomla 6.1 Release Managers, part 1: Harald Leithner

With Joomla 6 in the downloads portal: people updating their sites and building new sites on a fresh Joomla 6 install, attention now turns to Joomla 6.1. Now we turn to interview its release managers Harald Leithner and Stefan Wendhausen. 

Making Your Joomla Event Welcoming for All

There's a famous story about Harald MacMillan, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1957 to 1963. When asked by a journalist, "What do you fear the most in politics or what could most easily derail your government's agenda?" He supposedly replied:

"Events, dear boy, events."

Indeed, events can be fraught with unseen dangers when planning. Let's explore the key considerations to make your Joomla event truly welcoming for all.

Joomla 6, what's in it for you?

14th October 2025 feels like a lifetime away at the moment, but it's all the time we have left to get Joomla 6 planned, built and released.
I'm in my 50s - just - and the planets have aligned to have a little joke. Gary Barclay and I will be releasing the first Alpha on Joomla 6 on Tuesday the 15th of April 2025… Not my planning, but it happens to be Joomla London User Group that night as it's the third Tuesday of the month, and my 60th Birthday! 

So yes: dates do have some meaning, some very personal.

I've a secret to share, but dont tell anyone

Are you a developer who needs to know when you can expect deprecated old functions, an administrator who may have new features to gem up on, or perhaps just nosy and wants to know when the next release is due? Then read on and get the inside knowledge.

They Cannot Be Talking About Me, Can They? Learn from Martha and Her Friends

In a world where digital landscapes are ever-evolving, it's easy to take the thriving communities within them for granted. But what happens when we neglect the very foundations that sustain us? Just as the once-abundant passenger pigeons vanished from our skies, the vibrant Joomla community risks fading into obscurity without our collective vigilance and support. As I shared at JoomlaDays NL 2024, the story of Martha, the last passenger pigeon, is a powerful reminder of our shared responsibility. Every one of us can play a crucial role in ensuring Joomla’s enduring success.

Smooth operators. A thank you to the Release Managers of 5.0

Stability and reliability are keywords when it comes to any software release. Only hindsight shows whether such was achieved. Yet Joomla 5.0 hit these two requirements and many more, nailing that many have said is the best release of a major to date. Yes, we need to celebrate the features, but often all the hard work can be eclipsed by the issues that follow. 

Green websites help to keep your feet dry

Being green to try and lessen global warming has become part of everyday life for some; for others, it's something that doesn't affect them, or so they think. If we are serious about looking after the environment, we should see some serious changes in how we do things. Because it's exactly the way we have gone about our lives that has caused this crisis, it makes sense that to mitigate it our lives must change to a new, more sustainable way of living.

Getting to know the team behind Joomla 5.2

This month we are thrilled to include a double interview with the new Joomla 5.2 release team: Marc Dechèvre and Peter Martin. The aim of these interviews is to let the Community know a bit more about the release leads and their plans for the future of Joomla 5.2.

You can't fool me when it comes to SPF, DKIM, and DMARC!

Every day, we send and receive emails, and often, these contain important information that we want delivered securely and for the intended recipient's eyes only. When important things end up in the spam folder, it is a pain… but this is an inconvenience that you can address with a degree of success.Since we are bombarded with fake emails, spam and spoofs trying to trick and do us harm, fighting spam is necessary. If you send emails, there’s a number of tools you can (or should) use to not be classified as spam and show you’re legit: SPF, DKIM and DMARC. 

CSS is evolving, evolve your code with this simple guide

I love the way some technologies are aware of what is going on around them and then pivot to make their own technology all the better by seeing if they can do the same as the bright young techs around them, bringing a new lease of life.

Local Community liaisons, what are they and do you have what it takes to join them?

What is a Community Liaison, what do they do and do you have what it takes to become one? All good questions that this article is intended to answer. And in answering we deal with the beating heart of volunteer Open Source community-driven projects just like Joomla!

Your Guide to the Joomla Year

Every year, I promise myself I will see more national events, then promptly forget to book them. I think I’m not the only one. So, for all of us: here is your guide to what is happening in Joomla and how you can become more active.

The Vice President of Joomla is helping the Police with their enquiries

Here in the UK, the phrase “helping the police with their enquiries" is synonymous with other phrases, such as “Assisting law enforcement with their investigation” and often ends with having “your collar felt.” 

Luckily, I even get paid to help them, which is not the usual turn of events when dealing with the Law, but in my case, it is because I build websites for several different Police groups in the UK.

Seasons of Coding and Documentation, our own program of excellence - The Joomla Academy

Joomla has been fortunate to benefit from the Google Summer of Code (GSoC) and other events over the past few years. Often, from these projects Joomla's core features are improved, and the members of the teams that work on these features go on to become pillars of the community. But is it now time for us to think about launching our own program alongside these and bring stability to the cycle of development?

Making a safe space for all in Joomla

To misquote Jack Swigert, “Okay, Joomla... we've had a problem here.”

We have tried to address this problem over the years, and it continues to be a problem in our community.
Making Joomla a safe space for all has proved challenging; we still have members making others feel threatened and intimidated.
But we must not give up; all together, we will make Joomla a safe space for all.

Embracing the Future: Exploring the Features of Joomla 5

The advent of Joomla 5 heralds a new era for web developers and site managers, as it promises a suite of enhancements, optimisations, and fixes that streamline website creation and management. As we delve into the new features and improvements, it's pivotal to appreciate the developmental strides and transformations from Joomla 4 to Joomla 5.

These are more than just code!

What is it like to be a Joomla release manager? Why not become one and find out!

The point of this intro is to stop you from running scared. If you think this is way out of your reach, then think again. Seriously, we have had many release managers over the last few years, and several have NOT been coders. The job has changed for good reasons, and the outcome has been better: more stable releases with a growing support network of past managers who can help with the process.
Read on, and you may be pleasantly surprised.

Guided Tours, the Comeback Tour

One of the main features of Joomla 4.3 was Guided Tours. When you install or update to Joomla 4.3 and log into the administrator area, you are greeted with the ability to “Take a Tour” in the top menu. This has helped many to learn how to use Joomla and understand the functionality of Joomla, but now Guided Tours has had a makeover. Here, we take a deep dive into all that Guided Tours in Joomla 5 has to offer.

Chat GPT extensions to aid web development

AI is becoming part of Joomla with extensions and plugins, but it should also become part of your workforce, becoming your assistant, allowing you to be more productive and taking away some of the day-to-day chores.

The challenge of updating the look and feel of Joomlas websites

You may have seen the two previous articles Joomla 5 is coming, time for a new look for all our sites? Join the challenge and have a say and Joomla 5 challenge, the responses and the winners, well since then we have set up a test site and people are working on various design elements. This is a quick update of where we are at and what we are aiming for.

Joomla 5 challenge, the responses and the winners

Remember last month’s challenge to propose a design for our ‘own’ Joomla website? The challenge idea was born out of the marketing team's desire to bring a more harmonious look and feel to Joomla's websites. And to bring us into this decade, as the core sites were all made in the 2010’s and to take the different looks and feel and coordinate across the brand.

Let’s dive in to see who had a say and what their contribution was. 

Joomla wins multiple CMS awards (and a Server!), thanks to its community

Last year was arguably the best year ever for Joomla to win awards.
This year has been off to a good start, let us look at why this 17-year-old is still a winning CMS.

AI extensions you can use with Joomla

Artificial intelligence (AI) is on the march, coming to the fore in many different industries and work spaces. Its impact is already felt online, with more content and images being artificially generated. What can we do with AI right now in conjunction with Joomla? This article explores what's already out there and what could be around the corner for joomla and AI.

Joomla 5 is coming, time for a new look for all our sites? Join the challenge and have a say.

Wouldn't it be great if Joomla had a coherent look and feel to its real estate, all those sites that are under the Joomla banner, as well as feeding into the Joomla template that people use?
Well now is your chance to have your say in how they will all come together!

Artificial Intelligence, is it natural to use it with Joomla?

I remember when the internet was first popularised and the words “world wide web” and “internet” became essential for any headline writer. Soon after the point that the average person in the street would rant “If I hear one more mention of this wibbly wobbly web thingy Im going to” and you can use your own imagination to end that sentence.

Joomla 5, find out who is in the driving seat

Wait, what? Joomla 5? Surely that’s a typo?
It is not. You read correctly: Joomla 5 is on the horizon and due to land in October 2023. JCM has the pleasure to meet with Release Manager Harald Leithner, who is excited about all the improvements coming our way!

Getting to know the team behind Joomla 4.4

What’s in store for Joomla 4.4? JCM meets the Release Managers, Allon Moritz and Martin Kopp. Let’s find out who they are and what they like most about Joomla 4!

Guiding you through Guided Tours

Whenever Joomla gets picked as a Google Summer of Code (GSoC) candidate there is a flurry of activity around several projects. In 2022 one of the projects put forward was Guided Tours. This is a project that has been tackled by several students over several years and each one has nudged closer to the finishing line, but never quite got there. That's why it's especially gratifying to see Guided Tours as the main feature of the Joomla 4.3 release. It's the culmination of a lot of teamwork and a great example of what can be achieved if you just keep at it.

Matomo, Cloud or Self Hosting?

In the previous article, I looked at Matomo, what it is and what it does.
https://magazine.joomla.org/all-issues/february-2023/web-analytics-alternative-to-google-analytics-matomo

There were several pros and cons that we went through and the costs were made clear. In this follow up I will go through the resources that are available to use Matomo as either a self-hosting package or a cloud package.

Examining the case for Joomla 4 certificates

So what's certification all about and why does it matter?

Is it worth creating a Joomla 4 certification and would those who did the Joomla 3 certification want to become retested against Joomla 4?

What does a Joomla 4 certificate bring to Joomla and more important, who is going to make it happen?

Who to blame when a Joomla release has a bug

I was privileged - and I mean privileged - to watch the release of Joomla 4.2.7.

It went wrong, there was a bug, and according to some on social media the sky was about to fall in, but what unfolded was impressive and makes me feel that Joomla is in good hands.

Web Analytics: Alternative to Google Analytics? Matomo

Are you looking for a secure, private way to analyse your visitors and check what they are doing on your site? Then Matomo might just be the product for you. In this article, I will explore this analytics tool and discuss what it is good at and why you would want to use it.

What did 2022 bring for Joomla?

What did 2022 bring for Joomla? 

More awards than ever before followed by growth after many years of decline. 

Holopin and Joomla, a partnership worth celebrating with a badge!

Gamification of testing is something often discussed in the threads of Joomla discussions.

Wouldn't it be a great idea if we could reward those volunteers who are doing the work hard and putting in the time with something fun and creative? Well, now we can!

Joomla rising - how hard work and a good attitude can make all the difference

Joomla had not shown growth since 2016 - 2017 and that was just 0.1%. Over 60 months of the line going down or remaining level. So in early June when the w3tech graph showed a small uptick which wiggled back and forth between a tiny up and baseline flat there was some hope for change.

At the time of going to print Joomla has grown 0.2% in both usage of CMS and usage of the entire web in 6 weeks. Let us explore why

Transition your Joomla 4 website from Search to Smart Search

The 'Search' and 'Smart Search' components have coexisted since Joomla 2.5.

Search (or com_search) would provide a straightforward search feature while Smart Search would offer indexing and more advanced search capabilities with filtering.

Mattermost - Tips, Tricks and Playbooks

In this article, we'll discover Playbooks and other interesting tips to get the most out of Mattermost.

Getting the most out of Mattermost

With the Joomla community moving from Glip (RingCentral) to Mattermost it's worth getting to know this chat tool and exploring how to make the best use of it with Joomla and the community in mind.

Document Buddies - making Joomla better without writing a line of code

Many things are attributed to Albert Einstein which probably never left his mouth, but one that seems to stick is:

If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.

New to Joomla 4.2, Multi-factor Authentication (MFA)

With 4.2, we now have a new way to authenticate our sites. Two-factor Authentication has grown outdated with many new authentication methods arriving, so along comes Multi-factor Authentication (MFA).

Joomla 4.2 - Keyboard Shortcuts, User-defined columns, fuzzy word matching and more

Keyboard Shortcuts is a great new addition to Joomla 4.2.

The Shortcuts are a productivity feature many will find useful, plus a few hidden gems.

Production Team Goals - 2022/Q4

Last quarter the Production department published the teams goals for the next quarter.

The plans they wished to achieve, hoping to inspire them to succeed but also, by sharing, to encourage others outside of production to also get involved and come on board to make it all happen.

So take a look at what is planned for the next quarter and see if there is anything you can put your weight behind.

But I really do need Google Analytics 4, show me how to add it.

In my previous article: “As Googles Universal Analytics comes to a close, what alternatives if any do you need?” we explored Google Analytics' origin story. Took a look at whether Analytics is even right for all sites, and the impact just adding Analytics defacto can have.

And we touched on one of the alternatives out there.

Join me now in a deep dive into the setup of GA4

Getting to know the team behind Joomla 4.3

This month we are thrilled to include a double interview with the new Joomla 4.3 release team: SD Williams and Olivier Buisard. The aim of these interviews is to let the Community know a bit more about the release leads and their plans for the future of Joomla 4.3.

Report from the Engine Room - What happens behind the scenes

Today I'd like to share with you what has happened in the last few months, actually years, behind the scenes of the Joomla project. I'm not talking about the politics or big decisions on the direction of the Content Management System (CMS), but about some of the work done to our infrastructure which is tucked away and nobody gets to see apart from special tours like today's article.

As Googles Universal Analytics comes to a close, what alternatives if any do you need?

Google's Universal Analytics (UA) has been about since 2006 but with it retiring next year it is a good time to look at alternatives and what might best suit your needs.

Code and the art of bicycle maintenance

The idea was Benjamin Trenkle’s during the early covid lockdowns of Spring 2020: a cycle tour of Germany running from south to north. Him with, at the time, a dodgy knee and me having no bike!

How to Write a Blog Post. Start blogging and become a blogger!

The topic of how to write a blog is a big one as it encompasses many aspects: the niche, planning, where to write it and how, and once you have your blog growing, how to promote yourself as a blogger.

Docusaurus to the rescue for developers

In a hotel conference room in Darmstadt, Germany, a small team of Joomla enthusiasts got to grips with Docusaurus, taming the beast to the advantage of the Joomla developer community. This neat package of software is probably the most important change in Joomla documentation for a long time, and with the added bonus of slaying the dreaded MediaWiki captcha once and for all!

Do we have the Authority to make Joomla grow?

Dear reader, I am going to make a prediction: I feel I know you. I can tell that you are someone who is interested in Joomla, that you are familiar with the Joomla magazine and many of the people involved in this CMS. Am I right?

Our intent to use "Search intent"

Google has a major influence on search. About 78% of all searches on desktop and mobile are using Google. Bing has the second spot with 10.5% and Baidu the third place with 4.25%

Around 93% of all web traffic is via search, so if you want your articles read, then you need to get them into a search engine and in front of the relevant audience, but how? 

Who uses Joomla?

"Who uses Joomla?" has, for many years, been a regular topic of conversation among the Joomla! Community.

It has been the stuff of talks at World Conferences, working groups and come and gone while trying to answer that seemingly simple question. Who is this Joomla user? Where do they live? Do they use social media? How would they describe themselves? The good news is: we’re finally going to find out - that is, if you help us!

Sweet child o' mine... A deep dive into Joomla Child Templates

Did you ever make changes to your template file(s), only to discover that everything you changed was gone with the next update? Then we have good news for you: starting with Joomla 4.1, this has become history! With the option to create child templates added to the core, you can make changes that last. This article explains how it works.

Joomla 3.10 enters the Security Support Phase

Joomla 3 has been around for a long time. It is easy to forget how successful the series has become and how much it has evolved over the course of the minor versions.

As it approaches its final year as a mature, stable version of Joomla, it is about to enter its security support phase.

Winning times for Joomla!

It's always good to be on the winning side. The reward after the weeks, months or years of hard work. It takes dedication and focus to win, if it’s a team game then it's also about cohesion and communication, support and solidarity.

Do you have what it takes to work in the Social Media team?

If you follow Joomla on one of our social media channels, you’ve probably seen them in action: the people of the social media team. And maybe you sometimes wish you could be one of them. You may even have helped them spread the Joomla love by sharing Joomla’s posts on your own timeline (good! You’re already halfway there!). If you love social media and have what it takes to be(come) a genuine Joomfluencer, then read further, because now is your chance to take the stage and make Joomla shine.

What will Joomla 4.2 bring in August 2022?

As we celebrate the launch of Joomla 4.1.0 and enjoy the new features and functionality that it has brought to Joomla there are a few who have been working away on the next iteration of this rejuvenated CMS.

New image convention to help developers

All developers love to know the right way to achieve something. Often it's through trial and error but in this article Dimitris Grammatiko shares his insights and presents the definitive way to add images in Joomla 4 as well as how you can backport these advantages into older Joomla versions. Dimitris explains the history and usage of native support for lazy loading images and also with a new concept of adapters for storing images, both of which shipped in Joomla 4.0.5.

Joomla 5 is in the planning, meet the release leads

Harald Leithner and Niels Braczek are the joint release leads for Joomla 5, now in the planning stage. I managed to ask them both for their ideas and views on the project at the end of a Production meeting. This joint venture is being undertaken by two very experienced developers. 

Suit Up, Joomla needs YOU to join its Marketing Team

Those familiar with Superhero movies and comics will know the world is divided into two camps: Marvel and DC. The Marvel superheroes such as Iron man and Captain America, and the DC ones such as my own favourite, Batman.

Work4Joomla. Apply Within!

Many companies use Joomla as the basis for their business. It's in everyone's interest to make Joomla work well. So Work4Joomla, allowing staff to work on Joomla and improve Joomla while at work is an initiative to do just that.

Help4Joomla needs you!

So many people in the Joomla community have hidden talents. They have the skills, software or resources that someone else needs to get something done, but they may not want to go steady and join a team or commit to lots of hours. Likewise, people need a little help but don’t know who to turn to finish a task for Joomla. So how can we bring the talent and the need together?  Here is how you can be part of Help4Joomla. 

The plans for Joomla 4.1

After the release of Joomla 4.0, I met online with Sigrid Gramlinger-Moser and Benjamin Trenkle to discuss the process and people behind the testing and production of Joomla 4.1, the next Joomla minor version.

Design becomes reality. J4 landing page, part 2

For those just joining the story so far here is the first instalment where I discover that there is such a thing called the Joomla 3 landing page, stumble across the designs for the new Joomla 4 landing page and realise there is a lot more to this than meets the eye.

In this episode, we unpack the wonderful work that Chiara Aliotta put into the landing page before the Joomla World Conference in Rome. Get to find out what the webmasters' team do and experience the synergy that goes into making the page happen.

Celebrating Joomla 4

In September 2012, Barack Obama had just accepted the second Democratic nomination for US President and his second campaign and election was still to come. In sport, tennis had a new name: Andy Murray, who won his first Grand slam event that month. The world was gripped by the Olympics that summer, the London Olympics.

I was still to become a Grandad. And on the 27th of September 2012, Joomla 3 was released.

Designing the Joomla 4 landing page - part 1

On becoming Media and Communications Director I worked through the jobs that were on the to-do lists. One looked so simple - Joomla 4 landing page.

GSoC 2021 - Candidates announced

GSoC 2021 Candidates were announced by Google on Monday 17th May 2021.

Searching for a GSoC Student

The mission: Recruit about 20 mentors to help guide four students through four projects that will ideally be integrated into future releases of Joomla 4.

Tooling up to write good software. We had it so easy in the early days!

When we come to writing software and contributing to a major Open Source project there is much to consider. And that's often the problem.