Joomla 1.7 has been released with focus on security improvements (over 300 bugs fixed).
For more information and how to install/upgrade, you can read the official release notes at joomla.org.
Besides security updates, this new release also bring some new enhancements, include :
- One Click Version Updating-Update a site to the latest stable Joomla release with just a click. The new built-in updater also handles updates for Joomla and Joomla extensions. This is a major enhancement improving upon the previous system of manually updating individual files on the server.
- Six-Month Release Cycle-A shorter development cycle that will enhance Joomla’s stability by providing more core feature development and adoption. Short-term releases will be in active development for six months, then reach the end-of-life one month after the next version’s release. Long-term support will be active for 15 months, starting with Joomla version 1.8. Version 1.7 will have a support cycle of seven months.
- Multilanguage Improvements-Multilanguage improvements allow you to associate menu items in different languages for faster navigation. Language packs can now also be built to automatically select the best font for that language for the administrative back end.
- Joomla Platform-Joomla package is separated into two parts, Joomla CMS (version 1.7) and Joomla Platform (version 11.2). With this separation, it will allow developers to use Joomla Platform independently of CMS ( choice to use different CMSs on top of the Joomla) and allow them to contribute/add features more quickly.
You can read the details on :
- http://magazine.joomla.org/issues/Issue-July-2011/item/507-Joomla-1-7-Division-or-Fission
- http://www.joomla.org/17
All Joomla 1.6 users are encouraged to upgrade to this release as soon as possible. This is because Joomla 1.6 will have no further security updates/support after 19 August 2011. Make sure you upgrade to 1.6.5 first to use the one-click version updating.
Joomla 1.5 will be supported through April 2012