The Joomlashack Blog - Joomla Tutorials and News

The 4th Joomla Development Class is Here

Steve Burge11 July 2017Joomlashack

How to Develop Joomla Components. Part 2

We are delighted to publish the 4th major class in our Joomla development series. These 4 classes now cover all the key areas of building Joomla extensions.

We've worked with Cory Webb, a Joomla developer since 2005, to create this series of 70 videos.

This 4th class is called "How to Develop Joomla Components. Part 2: the Frontend".

In these videos, you'll finish building the todo list component that was started in Part 1.

Join Joomlashack University for access to all these videos

Cory shows you how Joomla uses the MVC pattern for component development. You'll learn how to build Models, Views and Controllers in the recommended Joomla way. You'll also see how to create router files and language files, plus how to package your work for distribution.

Here's Why We Use Recurring Subscriptions at Joomlashack

Steve Burge12 April 2017Joomlashack

Recurring Subscriptions are Key for Sustainable Joomla Businesses

It's not easy to build a strong and sustainable business.

That's true whether your business is in construction, retail, food, farming, or any other industry.

It's definitely not easy to build a strong and sustainable business in Joomla. The platform is over 10 years old and the user-base is active, but not growing quickly.

However, over the last two years, we've managed to grow Joomlashack. Our revenues have doubled every six months. This enables us to add more developers and support staff, plus push out frequent product updates. 94% of Joomlashack tickets get a reply inside 3 hours, and 90% of users say the support is "great".

Yes, we have some good extensions and templates, but one thing has made that growth possible: recurring subscriptions.

Some customers are upset about this, so I want to talk through the reasons behind this decision.

A New Version of Joomla 3 Explained is Coming

Steve Burge28 March 2017Joomlashack

The team behind Joomlashack wrote the most popular Joomla books.

Joomla Explained was published in 2011 and focused on Joomla 2.5.
Joomla 3 Explained was published in 2013 and focused on Joomla 3.

These books sold well over 10,000 copies each. However, we haven't been able to release an update in recent years. Finally, that's going to change.

Why release a Joomla 3 Explained update?

There are several good reasons to release a new version now:

Joomla 3.7 will bring major changes with fields, multi-lingual changes.
After 4 years, the book badly needs an update. The book is actually being used in classrooms around the world. I'm embarrassed to even think about what the students must think.
The Joomla certification project is underway, and there needs to be affordable, high-quality study materials.

New Class: How to Build Joomla Components

Steve Burge22 February 2017Joomlashack

Joomla development has been the most requested topic by Joomlashack University members.

So, I'm delighted to release another in a series of several Joomla development classes. We've worked with Cory Webb, a Joomla developer since 2005, to produce a series of classes on building extensions.

This new class is called "How to Develop Joomla Components. Part 1: the Administrator".

This class follows on from "How to Develop Joomla Modules" and "How to Develop Joomla Plugins".

Do you want to learn Joomla extension development? Click here to join Joomlashack University.

Joomlashack Clubs Now Have More Affordable Options

Valentín García20 February 2017Joomlashack

For the last year, Joomlashack clubs were sold only as 6 or 12 month plans, and they were a wonderful value for the money.

For example, you could get our Extension Club for as little as $129 for a 6 month plan. You could also get all our templates for $79 on a 6 month subscription.

Today, we're introducing a more affordable 3 month options for all Joomlashack clubs.

We Are Willing to Adopt Joomla Extensions

Steve Burge23 January 2017Joomlashack

Over the last few days, we've been contacted by several Joomla users. These users were customers of a particular Joomla extension developer. The developer seems to have vanished overnight, shutting down their website.

This is not the first time we've seen a situation like this. Life happens. People get busy, create new extensions and services, change jobs, or may need to stop development for 1,001 other reasons.

But, if you don't want to disappoint your existing customers, let me offer an option: Joomlashack is willing to adopt your extensions.

Important: Please Check Your Joomlashack Extension Versions

Anderson Grüdtner15 January 2017Joomlashack

Joomla has recently announced a new rule for extensions published on the Joomla Extensions Directory (JED).

Extensions on the JED must now support the Joomla Update System. This means that you can easily apply updates via your site's administrator area.

We're 110% behind this new rule. It will make your Joomla site safer and easier to maintain. The JED team wrote a great explanation of the benefits to website builders and extension developers.

Some of our extensions, especially the original extensions from Joomlashack, were still missing that feature. We've have been working hard over the last few weeks to make sure all Joomlashack extensions support the Joomla Update System.