A Closer Look At Joomla Advanced Features

Joomla is a very powerful content management system used for website creation. It was developed in 2003. Now, it powers more than 2 million websites, holding the second position among content management systems, being second only to WordPress.

When you’re building an eCommerce website, Joomla should be the first solution that comes to mind. The CMS allows anyone to design a website. It’s no wonder many web design companies in New York and other tech-savvy areas praise Joomla for its ease of use, features and functionalities.
Joomla allows content translation to more than 70 languages. Many people use it because of the large community surrounding it. It’s fast, accessible and secure, which is why it has become a great choice for websites.
Joomla 4 is the latest update of the free, open-source content management system used for building and publishing websites and apps, including forums, galleries, e-commerce platforms, user communities and web-based applications.
The newest version includes updates and new features such as Bootstrap 5 integration, easy-to-install themes and extensive template libraries, improved command line interface and admin dashboard, the workflows feature, a new media manager, HTML email templates, smart search, better website security and website speed improvements.
Let’s find out more about what makes Joomla 4 tick, starting with the following features.

1. Support for Bootstrap 5 Integration

Bootstrap 5 is an extension framework for Joomla. It helps with the integration of HTML5 and CSS3 websites. If you’re a designer, you can customize it with your own animations and designs.
You can use Joomla to build blogs, e-commerce pages or sites with responsive features. All later versions will remain up-to-date with current Bootstrap versions. Now, Joomla prevents backward compatibility issues and conflicts with Bootstrap versions.
Bootstrap 5 has an improved grid system and an icon library, plus custom form controls for Joomla. It evolved past jQuery and Internet Explorer and adopted JavaScript standards.
Bootstrap’s usefulness for creating responsive and fast websites goes hand in hand with higher page ranking. Ever since Google announced that site loading speed matters for mobile indexing, it’s become an important metric to consider when creating websites.

2. Easy-to-install themes

Joomla has its own template library, and its themes are easy to use and install. All you have to do is find the template you want to use and download it. Then, you upload said template from the extension manager.
You can easily install Joomla to find some interesting options. Template examples include Splash, which suits e-commerce stores because of its interesting visuals, and Yummy, attractive for food-related sites. For fashion-related websites, you’ll find Trendz is a more useful template.
Every template you download has customizable elements. For example, menu templates, galleries or forms can be customized. You can navigate through menu options and a collection of layouts. And it’s easy for visitors to navigate through your website, too, because they can check out your products and services with ease.

3. A user-friendly admin dashboard

One of the perks of Joomla 4 is the new administrator dashboard created with site managers in mind. This tool helps administrators improve the site management experience without hassle.
In the Home Dashboard, you’ll find presets for admin modules. You can easily access the latest actions, you can see the logged-in users, and you can verify site information, notifications or system shortcuts.
You can also manage content on Joomla on user dashboards, components and menus. Each dashboard has a certain area you click on to customize the dashboard by adding modules.

4. The command line interface

With the newest update, Joomla expanded and improved the command line interface. There is now an easier way to update the CMS to integrate anything you need faster and to run tests without the need for a web dashboard.
You can use the commands to check for different feature updates. You can manage extensions, core updates, change your website from online to offline mode and vice versa or update the Joomla core, among other things.

5. The workflows feature

This new feature facilitates task management. It’s useful, especially for content writers. This feature allows you to set administrators and workflow stages for all CMS users.
Administrators can easily review content before it’s published. You can create groups and give them certain control levels. You can focus on giving someone approval rank for all content or certain content and you can choose who posts the blog.
The new permission system doesn’t require you to log in every time you want to access one form or another. You can access permissions with just a few clicks.

6. Email templates

A new feature Joomla added is the HTML mail template that you can customize. In previous CMS versions, you could only modify system emails by overriding custom language, and emails would send in plain text. Only when you used a third-party extension could you change the way your emails looked.
Now, you can modify emails straight from the Joomla core because the new templates allow you to change HTML formatting and text. These steps can help make your emails looks more professional.
You can also customize email templates in Joomla to look consistent with your website and brand.

7. New media manager

The Joomla 4 media manager includes a cleaner user interface and more editing features. The drag-and-drop and multi-files upload features allow you to upload more image files at once, making the entire process faster and easier.
You also have the option to edit images from the backend. The crop, rotate and resize options are basic but still an improvement.

8. Smart Search

Previous search features have been replaced by Joomla smart search, a feature that includes new options for the search index.
The active search index has a simple purpose. It automatically indexes content you add on the website, so you don’t need to index manually.
In addition, the smart search feature is able to filter searches and map content. It helps with publishing the search module on the website by using a module position, and it supports different filter selections.

9. Joomla 4 security

Thanks to the Joomla 4 update, your website can be more secure than ever. An efficiently-written code and features like support for SQL statements or security header management from within your website are indicatives of increased site protection.
There are also new tools for the core that help site integrators set headers. This feature allows more users to understand and set up basic defenses by default.

10. SEO and improved website speed

Joomla continues to accentuate and improve user experience on your Joomla-powered website.

With SEO implemented in the website architecture, you can correct page structure without using extensions. Joomla’s features and benefits can help your website rank higher if you make improvements in your codebase.
There’s a built-in plugin for Lazy Load that you can enable to improve image loading time and, by extension, provide a better user experience. It can also help facilitate better organic rankings.

11. Joomla extensions

Apart from the classic themes found in Joomla’s portfolio, you can choose extensions to apply to your website. They perform tasks relevant to your website’s purpose. Here are some of the most useful and popular extensions available:

PaGO commerce extension
This extension is useful for marketers and developers. It’s easy to deploy and manage and has a modular structure.
It includes features useful for selling to global markets or mobile buyers, such as currency converters, a built-in shipping table, coupons, social integration, and discounts.
PaGo Commerce’s platform is PCI compliant; it performs well and can provide strong and lucrative software for your brand.

EShop
This extension includes advanced search options for users, which allows their search queries to get as close to your offering as possible.
EShop also has user-friendly visuals and layouts. Your visitors are able to see what’s in their cart and they get alerts for the products or services they’re interested in.

DigiCom
DigiCom is a useful extension for selling digital products. You can choose which add-ons to use and avoid implementing code you don’t actually need.
The drag-and-drop feature is an extension highlight. The extension offers a wide range of payment options, including credit cards, PayPal and Bitcoin.

Final thoughts

Joomla has some powerful features and new functionalities useful for website creation and management. It’s no wonder it’s one of the most popular open-source CMS on the market.
With an intuitive interface, easy-to-use features and flexibility for your users, Joomla’s new improvements make your website run smoothly right from inception. You can configure your site easily and, because it’s an open-source system, you can run add-ons without worry.
Joomla users who are not yet experts can benefit from and contribute to the development of this CMS.
It’s easy to install and configure, and it has a variety of extensions that take care of your professional needs. Plus, it allows you to choose which functions and features you want based on your business and your offering.
Use Joomla to create a unique website to reach your target audience and increase conversions.