As we reported earlier this month, a new version of Joomla! is near completion. The development team has released Joomla! 1.5 beta to allow for testing, identify bugs, and offer feedback to the developers. The following is an excerpt from an official announcement at joomla.org:

Exactly one year ago, Joomla! 1.0 was released. Today, Joomla! releases the next generation framework built from the ground up. Joomla! 1.5 beta delivers more simplicity for the user and much more power for developers. The innovation and skill of our development team is clearly setting higher and higher standards...

...Joomla! 1.5 beta marks the most significant watershed in Joomla's history. This effort represents a complete refactoring of the Joomla! codebase and leverages a new API that allows developers to deliver more robust and innovative applications than ever before. Joomla! 1.5 means freedom of choice: you choose how it operates, you choose how it integrates, you choose what the output is ... you choose how users are authenticated. For both the user and the developer, Joomla! 1.5 beta is a simplified yet more powerful system, and from the developer's perspective, provides them with the freedom and flexibility to build anything they want. Read Details...

Also, Wilco Jansen on the Joomla! Developer's Blog has recently posted a very good and detailed summary of the features you can expect in Joomla 1.5. If you're interested in Joomla, it's a must read! Check out: A short overview on the goodies in the 1.5 beta.

Revised Octover 14, 2006