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Home / Blog / Joomla 1.6 / Joomla 1.6 Usability Improvements

Nov

2009

Joomla 1.6 Usability Improvements

Joomla 1.6

Written by Steve Burge

I had time to take a good look at the Alpha version of Joomla 1.6 this weekend. The Art of Joomla is doing a great job of explaining new features. I'll also blog later about the new SEO features ... they've taken on board of a lot our recommendations including the ability to control the metadata for each page!

However, today thought I'd hightlight some nice usability improvements. Several common frustrations that beginners had with 1.5 seem to have been resolved:

1) The "Menu Manager" Has a Purpose

In 1.5 beginners always expect the Menu Manager to do much more ... such as actually manage something. In 1.6 the Menu Manager is much more closely integrated with the display of menu links. Oh, and you no longer get those four confusing boxes when making a new menu:

2) The "Tools" Menu Has Gone

I hate explaining to beginners what the "Tools" Menu is and why its there: "well, its a bunch of not very useful stuff they had left over ..."

Joomla 1.5		Joomla 1.6

3) The "Media Manager" Options Are Clearer

In 1.5 you could use the Media Manager to do 2 things: make new folders and upload images. Why then were the two tasks placed in opposite corners of the screen? That's fixed in 1.6:

4) The Install / Uninstall Screen Links Are Much Clearer

In 1.5 many people were confused because the links inside the Install / Uninstall screen looked they it should take them to the Module Manager, Template Manager and so on. Click on "Templates" to get to the "Template Manager", for example:

5) The Word "Parameters" Has Gone

Doesn't "Options" sound so much less geeky and make so much more sense?

Over to You ...

Have you had the chance to look at the new version of Joomla 1.6? What do you think?

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Your Comments (12)

buildbuyer

November 02, 2009

i don't know about you but i like the dropdown for global check in and clean cache - where is that going to be in 1.6?

Did tags functionality get into the core for 1.6?

Amanda McNeill

November 02, 2009

I have several clients running on Joomla so this is good to hear. I had not seen the new version. Basically, when I train business users I just have them ignore 90% of the features.

On a usability note, you may like this article from Website Mag http://bit.ly/32mqlQ.

I am affiliated with usertesting.com but the article covers several front-end usability tools.

Amanda

Steve Burge

November 03, 2009

Hi buildbuyer - the checkin and cache have been moved under the "Site" tab to a new dropdown called "Site Maintenance"

Amanada - absolutely a good idea to take the 90% strategy. I think that helps a lot of beginners relax, when they know they only have to learn a small set of options.

Soumendra Jena

November 03, 2009

Hey Steve,
That is a nice article.
I must say, Joomla 1.6 has been a next generation for Joomla , but a real steep curve for clients and beginners, as it has got a lot of options now and with new terms.
Im sure, now companies are going to make a lot of money, as normal people cant work on Joomla that easily lol.
Overall, I must give it 5 stars/5 stars, as it has been light weight this time.

Let see, when the stable release comes out.

And I hope,this time, Joomla team doesnt release security releases each month , which makes Drupal more famous..
We need to have a STABLE JOOMLA for like 1 year this time..
Need to win Open Source Awards for next 10 years man..

Mike Feng

November 03, 2009

Is that Digitarald's Fancy Uploader I see in the Media Manager? smilies/wink.gif

Wayne Kraska

November 03, 2009

"less geeky"? that is your attempt at humor surely Steve?

I heard, just heard, that 1.6 brings change to the ACL? who cares about new releases each month, just give me that!!

Cheers..

Consultor SEO

November 03, 2009

Some changes were necessary, recently I just had to explain so much stuff which the guy won't use ever ever...
These changes will make Joomla easier for the user - that's a good improvement. Hope they keep on developing to make it stronger and stronger

Sierra Nevada

November 04, 2009

That could be the necessary step to make joomla the strogest cms. That very importante together the 3rd party development.

This is a good new for all of us

Jesse Dundon

November 05, 2009

Great post! I am particularly fond of the backend admin improvements. I have built almost a hundred joomla sites and know how much time could be saved when adding menu items, modules, setting permissions, etc. The coolest feature I found in my own preview of the latest alpha was the ability to edit modules right on the menu item page. That will have some pretty earth-shattering effects on how joomla sites are managed and bring the learning curve down. Check out this post on my blog where I discuss 1.6:

http://jomdoc.com/joomla-admin...provements

Thanks for the preview!

Sean Cook

November 10, 2009

Thanks Steve for the post! My concerns now is migration from 1.5 or 1.0 sites. Anything on that yet?

Jesse Dundon

November 10, 2009

Who is still using 1.0? smilies/wink.gif

Eken

December 21, 2009

Though I'm late on this field, I'm going to try beta version of Joomla 1.6 now.

Read enough above now time to test and find what are the best performance for me.

Thank you guys.