Brian Teeman

Welcome to the "Joomla Developers Showdown".

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, involves the creation of a Joomla 1.5 component called "Company Directory". You may develop this extension on your own or as part of a team select, but it is essential that component is delivered to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it before 09:00 GMT on 6 July.

This component should satisfy the needs of "Impossible Missions Force (IMF)".

A new version of the Joomla 1.5 series was released today, which is possibly the last release before 1.6. This release contains a number of bug fixes and three moderate-level security fixes and some library upgrades.

NOTE please check the FAQ of known issues with 1.5.12 before upgrading

Are you a "supporter/fan" of Joomla?

Would you like a simple and easy way to show your support?

How about joining a "Joomla Supporters Club".

That might sound like a silly question as we all know that Joomla cost zero pounds, zero dollars, zero euros, zero yen, zero yuan etc. But it is not as simple as that.

Earlier today I twittered

Trying to write new blog post "how much does #joomla cost" not easy. struggling with some of the math.

Joomla does not cost nothing.

Very, very soon.

This is a very important opportunity for all Joomla users and developers to download, test and provide feedback.

If you don't take up this opportunity then you don't have the right to moan later.

You can provide feedback via forums, google groups and of course now via twitter. (But I don't think the latter is particularly beneficial for the developers to keep track of potential issues.)

Please don't forget that this is an Alpha release. That means it is definitely NOT suitable for a live site and might not be a definitive base to build extensions upon.

Last weekend, June 12-14, I had the pleasure and honour to speak and present at Joomla!Days in the Netherlands.

Over large amounts of coffee, and some beer, I spoke to friends, old and new, and with (only a) little exception the topic of conversation was the same.

"I'm going to stick my head above the parapets now and say aloud what so many are thinking and saying in private."

Where is joomla going? What is the future of joomla?

Last weekend I was fortunate to have been invited to present at Joomladays.nl in the Netherlands.

"Remember my name you will be screaming it later"

WOW - I'm really impressed with the feedback received on the blog, twitter, skype and via e-mail to my little idea.

I can now confirm that the "Joomla Developers Showdown" will begin at 09:00 GMT on 2 July and last 96 hours (4 days.)

In the last few months there has been quite a lot of activity across the globe at various CMS showdowns. At these events teams of designers have competed against the clock to create a website using their chosen CMS.

But these have all really been design related and I think it would be great to have a similar competition amongst developers to create a specified Joomla extension.

A new version of the Joomla 1.5 series was released today, which is possibly the last release before 1.6. This is a minor security and bug fix release and you should ensure that you upgrade all your installations.

NOTE please check the FAQ of known issues with 1.5.11 before upgrading