Joomla Version Compatibility
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- Justin Seliga
- Rocketeer
- Posts: 58
- Thanks: 0
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I can't seem to find what I thought I read about the future of the Gantry framework, so I'm hoping I can get clarification here.
I realized an area for huge improvement in customer service. Though I'm not entirely sure it's possible at the technical level.
It has always been a point of concern for me leveraging any pre-built templates for Content Management Systems, especially considering the turnover in Joomla versions. Joomla 2.5 was released at the end of January 2012, and will reach end of life in Q2 of 2014.
This creates a huge dilemma for RocketTheme customers, as I would assume many of them leverage these templates because of the cost/time savings, or they simply don't have the technical skills to build templates. They don't have the resources to build such a full-featured system.
However, if I happened to implement Joomla 2.5 with the Clarion template, I only have 2 years of support for that version of Joomla until it's end of life is reached. Customers on limited budgets or who lack technical skills to update the template are then required to pick a new RocketTheme template when Joomla 3.5 is released.
I know the team is going back through and updating all of the 2012 templates so they are compatible with Joomla 3.0, but what happens when Joomla 4.0/4.5 is released in 2 years, 5.0/5.5 in 4 years, 6.0/6.5 in 6 years? Is it realistic that the primary RocketTheme customer base has the means to either convert the template themselves or pay someone to do so every 2 years? Aren't they coming to RocketTheme to alleviate that burden in the first place? Because that is what is required if they wish to stay within a support cycle (security releases) of Joomla. Unless the RocketTheme team is prepared to start converting all templates after 2.5, to each new major release.
I say all of that to propose the idea, that the gantry framework be the translator. So that the code of each template does need to change. But Gantry does the translating between the template and the new version of Joomla. This would allow all the templates to be compatible for each new iteration of Joomla, without someone going back through and converting each template.
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- Anthony
- Sr. Rocketeer
- Posts: 107
- Thanks: 1
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Sounds like a great idea... I have similar concerns with transitioning all of the V1.5.x sites I have built to date (to 2.5 or 3.1..???). Having to customise all new templates to keep brand/design theme continuity is daunting. This is a very real down side of Joomla's rapid evolution of releases, database and environment specs. I expect the RT devs have the same problems maintaining the RT template base over all the Joomla releases too!.
I suspect that components inside and outside of the Rockettheme walled garden, and the styling of their output would be a practical limitation to having Gantry as some kind of Template/presentation abstraction layer over core Joomla CMS though....more trade offs on feature, function and flexibility...? - More opportunities have been lost from indecision, rather than making a wrong decision...
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- Brian Shea
- Sr. Rocketeer
- Posts: 176
- Thanks: 18
- Web Management, Server Admin, Google Apps Service Provider
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The problem is not really with Joomla, RT, or Gantry. It is technology.
Technology is changing rapidly, endlessly. And what worked 3 years ago will not work now, usually due to security or performance changes.
What has to change is our attitudes about web design. And we have to educate clients on the Need for constant upgrades.
It has nothing to do with designers just wanting to keep busy working, or looking for a new look, or staying fresh. The underlying foundation (PHP, mySQL, security, firewalls) is a moving target.
The only websites that don't need to update are the plain, flat, html sites. No scripts. They are holding up well. Very well.
But remember, we have people that are still wondering why they can't use FrontPage extensions.
Think (and sell) web design like a smartphone... every 2 years you need to start looking at upgrading. Period. -
Website Hosting and Management
for the non-technical, non-geeks
G+ Page for Seven Sages , a Google Apps Authorized Reseller
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- Anthony
- Sr. Rocketeer
- Posts: 107
- Thanks: 1
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Fair call, but my community services and small business sites want fresh content, not fresh layout. To them, it's the content that has value, not the framework... Still using their 5 year old Nokia non-smartphone quite happily.....
- More opportunities have been lost from indecision, rather than making a wrong decision...
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- Justin Seliga
- Rocketeer
- Posts: 58
- Thanks: 0
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For the most part, the HTML tags and their CSS styling remain the same as any template gets upgraded to the newer Joomla versions. For any foreseeable future, <div></div>, etc, will always be interpreted the same by the browser. There is no technology change happening there. Deprecated calls (or just the PHP in general) is the technology that changes (because Joomla is forcing it). At least in theory, it shouldn't be an extraordinary challenge to devise a system that will allow the template code to remain the same, as the Gantry framework inherits the responsibility of adapting to the changes in the CMS.
The goal here is not to make sure that every single template has every latest feature. It is simply to ensure that a template outlives the new 21 month support cycle for the LTS x.5 Joomla releases. It's unreasonable to expect RocketTheme to make every template made since 2005 bootstrap/responsive. I also think however, that asking their customers to change templates every 2 years is also unreasonable, just to make sure they will continue to be in line with the Joomla support cycle (security/path cycle). Not to mention the look of a website often ties into a larger marketing/branding scheme, it's not always as simple as just changing the website.
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- Laker Sharville
- Newbie
- Posts: 10
- Thanks: 0
- Given the above discussion, and given that Joomla and Gantry are always kept up to date, is it best practice to regularly download the latest version of a template and install it? Will this not keep everything compatible?
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- Anthony
- Sr. Rocketeer
- Posts: 107
- Thanks: 1
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I'm impressed with RT's mission to make templates back to 2008 (Media Mogul) Joomla 3.X compatible - a big task, and greatly appreciated for those lightly customised older sites to move to J3 without a full redesign and template style change.
- More opportunities have been lost from indecision, rather than making a wrong decision...
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