Joomla community introduced and developed Joomla 4 in 2017 which is still in the Alpha stage but now we can install it on our localhost and check all the major differences between Joomla 4 vs Joomla 3. And it has some Joomla 4 new features.
Joomla 4 vs Joomla 3: Joomla 4 new features
This article will show here 10 important differences between Joomla 4 and Joomla 3. Where you can that which version is the best for you and then you can decide whether you should use the updated version or not.
1. Bootstrap 3 vs Bootstrap 4
Bootstrap is the most popular framework for building responsive, mobile-friendly sites, with BootstrapCDN and a template starter page. And Bootstrap is the front-end framework that is free to use and helps the web development process much faster and easier.
The latest version – Bootstrap 4 is integrated with Joomla 4 while Bootstrap 3 is integrated with Joomla 3. You can see the latest version has a new front-end template’s user interface is much improved.
Joomla 4 uses Bootstrap 4 for a better user-friendly and mobile-friendly interface.
2. Design Framework LESS vs SASS
Joomla has powerful CSS extensions in programming languages that make the code clean and the development process faster and better organized.
Joomla 3 integrated Bootstrap 2, so it has developed with LESS (Leaner Style Sheets) which is a major improvement from a few years ago. LESS is developed on Javascript.
Joomla 4 integrated into Bootstrap 4, which uses SASS ( Syntactically Awesome Style Sheets) based on Ruby.
Finally, both versions can do a great job as CSS extensions. However, SASS is much more popular than LESS nowadays, and it is more powerful according to many experienced developers Joomla 4 seems to be in good hands.
3. Better Responsiveness Layouts
Designing websites with a responsive layout is a must contemporary when mobile devices take up more than half of total web traffic. In Joomla 4, the responsive layout is developed with the latest technology.
Joomla 3 has a responsive grid system, but normally users are not happy with it. Developers have some difficulties in implementing the designs as well as not clearly understanding how to set the width of the columns in the grid.
Joomla 4 includes the CSS Grid to replace the 12-column layout system. The change not only makes the development process easier while it improves the responsiveness of your site.
4. Comparison with default front-end templates
Comparison between Joomla 4 and Joomla 3 front-end templates can easily find out to see below pictures and then you might agree that the Joomla 4 front-end design is cleaner and more elegant look than the Joomla 3 version.
Joomla 3 included 2 front-end templates which are Beez3 and Protostar.
Joomla 4 has only one front-end template that Cassiopeia. In which the user interface is developed based on Bootstrap 4 and the layout is implemented based on CSS Grid.
5. Comparison with default back-end templates
Joomla 4 has updated the interface of the backend template. There are so many changes that have done, actually, the back-end changed completely and the big change is the position of the menu.
Joomla 3 was keeping the menu horizontal but Joomla 4 has switched the menu vertically.
Joomla 3 – has 2 backend templates which are Hathor and Isis
Joomla 4 – has a new backend template that is Atum, which included great improvements in the user interface and some amazing features like the new publishing workflow.
6. Simplified Installation process
The latest Joomla (Joomla 4)’s installation process is more simplified than Joomla 3. x’s
Joomla 3 – follow 3 steps – main configuration, configure database, and overview.
Joomla 4 – Whereas this version still has 3 steps as before, this improvement will help to go back on previous information without interrupting the installation process and having to submit again if they want to change anything.
As you can see from the GitHub process, the Joomla team members plan to add features that let you install the extensions ( at minimum core support extensions) along with the installation of Joomla 4.
7. Smart Media Manager with editing feature
The Joomla team has identified the problem of users in the old version of Joomla when it comes to the media manager. The feature had not any option to edit the function at all.
Finally, Joomla 4 now has “smart innovation” in the media manager. That is, providing integrated editing features that will be more useful for you to upload pictures, while you can read the properties of each photo by clicking on the picture.
Joomla 3 – has limited functions such as no editing feature included in the media management so the user needs to edit the photo before uploading.
Joomla 4 – added many new features in the media manager
- Supporting multiple file upload and drop & drag uploading
- Editing pictures: crop, resize, rotate, rename
8. PHP version required for J4 & J3
Joomla is developed in PHP programming language, So Joomla 4 is integrated with the latest PHP version that is especially developing web. It has faster performance and more security with lots of improved features.
Joomla 3 requires a minimum PHP version of 5.3+.
Joomla 4 requires the latest PHP version 7+. Because PHP 7 uses a new model of engine called PHP NG which increases the performance two times as much.
And with the additional features, for example, Abstract Syntax Tree and Null Coalesce Operator make easier parsing of PHP code.
9. Mootools and JQuery for J4 & J3
Joomla 3 supports Mootools and jQuery libraries. But these are very slow and not frequently updated whereas they’re still active.
Joomla 4 removed Mootools to increase the performance overall. The Joomla team had to rewrite all jQuery in vanilla JS and ensure that jQuery will not be loaded with core files. But we still will be able to use it if we want. While, they are moving to custom elements, which will be much faster, framework agnostic, and will also be fully accessible.
10. Optimization –
Joomla 4 is implemented as the best version of Joomla. Joomla 4 integrated the latest technologies such as Bootstrap 4, JQuery 3, PHPMailer 6.0, and Vuejs for Media Managers in order to build a stronger base of core codebase. Therefore, Joomla 4 is well-optimized and becomes friendly for users.
Joomla 3 has an outdated coding quality which should be optimized better.
Joomla 4 has a more optimized and cleaner codebase.
11. Security –
Security is the most common factor that every kind of CMS should focus on. So, Joomla 4 has ensured security at higher levels.
Joomla 3 – still has many defects in the security and continually updates to fix problems.
Joomla 4 – added more security features such as supporting the prepared SQL statements, and increasing the minimum supported software stack. Of course, with the latest technology, our site is more secure.
Demo Joomla 4 website –
If you want to check out the demo of the Joomla 4 website just download it from Joomla’s official website
Click here to download Joomla 4 Alpha 12
And if you want to free create a website online free domain Joomla provides that as well.
Click here to Launch the Joomla website
Conclusion :
Comparing the difference between Joomla 4 and Joomla 3, it can be found that Joomla 4 has more advantages than Joomla 3 for example Smart Interface, Better responsiveness, better security, and x2 faster performance.