Joomla! 5 was released a few days ago with a lot of enhanced and advanced features to help Joomla users build up and manage their Joomla websites more effectively. So, if you are using our Joomla! 4 templates, should you upgrade Joomla! 4 to Joomla! 5 right now? In this blog, we will give you a detailed answer about that. Let’s get started now!
What is new in Joomla! 5?
It has been 2 years since Joomla released Joomla 4 version. In order to provide a better experience for website developers on the Joomla platform, Joomla 5 was released on 17th October 2023 with the promise of bringing many improvements in security, loading speed, code optimization, and website management. For more information about new features in Joomla! 5, please visit here.
If Joomla! 3 to Joomla! 4 is a big and important migration that comes with clear changes to the administrator interface, Joomla! 4 to Joomla! 5 is just an upgrade, which means there is no big difference in the admin interface.
Specifically, if you are planning to update Joomla! 4 to Joomla 5 and you are using a Joomla version lower than Joomla 4.4.0, it’s necessary for you to upgrade to Joomla 4.4.0 and then proceed to bring Joomla! 4.4.0 to Joomla! 5.0.
Although Joomla has sent a notification to all Joomla users about updating to Joomla! 5.0, in some situations, you will not receive a notification to upgrade to Joomla! 5.0 when you access the Home Dashboard of your admin panel. Don’t worry, you can follow the steps below to see the Joomla! 5 update notification:
- Log in to your Joomla admin dashboard -> System -> Global Configuration.
- On the left of the screen, simply click Joomla Update -> Update Source -> Change the Update Channel from the default setting to Joomla Next -> Save.
After saving your changes, you will be redirected to
https://YOUR_DOMAIN/administrator/index.php?option=com_joomlaupdate.
How to upgrade Joomla! 4 to Joomla! 5 now if you are using our Joomla! templates?
Since our Joomla! templates currently run on Joomla! 4.2.8, there will be 2 main steps for you to upgrade Joomla! 4 to Joomla! 5 when you are using any of our Joomla! templates.
- Upgrade Joomla! 4.2.8 to Joomla! 4.4.
- Upgrade Joomla! 4.4 to Joomla! 5.
Updating Joomla! 4.2.8 to Joomla! 4.4.
The process will work smoothly. All you need to do is go to the admin dashboard, then visit System. In the Update section, click on the Joomla 4.4.0.
After that, the system will show you the pre-update check for Joomla 4.4.0. If everything is good, you just need to tick the box before the line “Acknowledge the warnings about potentially incompatible extensions and proceed with the update.“, and then press the Update button.
After testing a series of our Joomla! templates, we found that the update process from Joomla! 4.2.8 to Joomla! 4.4 is extremely smooth and does not cause any errors or problems. Therefore, you can easily perform this process without fear of losing data or running into unexpected problems.
Updating from Joomla! 4.4 to Joomla! 5.0
However, upgrading Joomla 4.4 to Joomla 5.0 is a different story. So, should you upgrade Joomla! 4 to Joomla! 5 now if you are using our Joomla! templates?
First of all, if you want to update to Joomla! 5.0, you need to ensure that your site meets all the following technical requirements:
- PHP: 8.1
- MySQL: 8.0.13+
- MariaDB: 10.4+
- PostgreSQL: 12+
As you know, Joomla 5 introduced Font Awesome 6.4 and CodeMirror 6 and updated its WebAuthn library, so you need to meet the technical requirements above to get optimal performance and limit the chance of errors.
Next, there are 3 cases to consider when deciding whether to upgrade Joomla! 4 to Joomla! 5 now:
- If you are using normal Joomla! templates from LTHEME, which means templates that don’t use eCommerce or booking third-party extensions, you can easily and smoothly upgrade Joomla! 4 to Joomla! 5 now. All LTHEME Joomla! templates are built with the Helix Ultimate Framework, which provides the latest version which is compatible with Joomla! 5. The Helix Ultimate framework can be updated using the Joomla update system. Whenever a new version of Helix Ultimate is available, you will receive a notification in the Joomla control panel. Then update Joomla! 4.4 to Joomla! 5.0. Please check the technical requirements we showed you above to ensure everything is OK.
- If you are utilizing eCommerce Joomla templates from LTHEME, which means templates integrated with eCommerce extensions (Hikashop is compatible with Joomla! 5 currently, Virtuemart, and J2Store), you must ask the eCommerce extension authors whether they have a version compatible with Joomla 5. If there is a version compatible with Joomla! 5, update those eCommerce extensions first and then upgrade from Joomla! 4.4 to Joomla! 5.0. If the eCommerce extensions are not yet compatible with Joomla! 5, please keep using Joomla! 4.4 and wait for the version that is compatible with Joomla! 5.
- In case you are using our Joomla! templates with third-party functional extensions such as booking extension – Solidres for LT Hotel Booking, you need to ask the functional extension authors for a version that is compatible with Joomla! 5. After ensuring that the extension comes with a Joomla! 5 compatible version, feel free to update the extension first, and then update Joomla! 4 to Joomla! 5.
How to fix Helix Ultimate and Pagebuilder Font Awesome 6 issues
After you upgrade Joomla! 4 to Joomla! 5, you may face some issues with Helix Ultimate and Pagebuilder Font Awesome 6. Don’t worry about that. We will show you fast and effective solutions below.
Fix menu arrow icons and rating star icons in a single post by using code
There will be an issue with menu arrow icons. The following image is an example of this issue.
Option 1
To fix this issue, you need to log in to your admin dashboard -> Click on System -> Templates-> Site Templates -> [template-name] Details and Files -> Open index.php file, at line 129, please add font-awesome.min.css. See the image below.
Option 2
In order to fix this issue, you need to log in to your admin dashboard -> Click on System -> Templates -> Site Template Styles.
Now, it’s time for you to select your active template and then click on the Template Options.
In the Custom Code tab, you just need to add the following code to the Custom CSS section and then save it.
.offcanvas-menu .offcanvas-inner ul.menu>li.menu-parent>.nav-header>.menu-toggler:after,
.offcanvas-menu .offcanvas-inner ul.menu>li.menu-parent.menu-parent-open>.nav-header>.menu-toggler:after,
.offcanvas-menu .offcanvas-inner ul.menu>li.menu-parent.menu-parent-open>a>.menu-toggler:after,
.offcanvas-menu .offcanvas-inner ul.menu>li.menu-parent.menu-parent-open>.menu-separator>.menu-toggler:after,
.offcanvas-menu .offcanvas-inner ul.menu>li.menu-parent li.menu-parent .menu-toggler:after,
.offcanvas-menu .offcanvas-inner ul.menu>li.menu-parent>a>.menu-toggler:after,
.offcanvas-menu .offcanvas-inner ul.menu>li.menu-parent>.menu-separator>.menu-toggler:after,
body.ltr .sp-megamenu-parent .sp-dropdown .sp-dropdown-items .sp-has-child>a:after,
body.ltr .sp-megamenu-parent>li.sp-has-child>a:after,
body.ltr .sp-megamenu-parent>li.sp-has-child>span:after,
.chzn-container.chzn-container-single .chzn-single div>b:after,
.article-ratings .rating-symbol span.rating-star,
#modal-menu ul.sp-megamenu-parent li.sp-has-child>a:after,
#modal-menu ul.sp-megamenu-parent li.sp-has-child>span:after,
.header-modules .search form:after {
font-family: "Font Awesome 6 Free";
}
Another issue that may occur is with the rating star icons in a single post. You can see an example in the image below.
As in the step above, log in to the admin dashboard -> System -> Templates -> Site Template Styles -> Template you are using -> Template Options.
After that, go to Custom Code -> Custom CSS -> add the following code -> Save.
.article-ratings .rating-symbol span.rating-star
{ font-family: "Font Awesome 6 Free";}
Fix menu arrow icons and rating star icons in a single post by updating the font folder
With this method, you need to download the Fonts File package and unzip it first.
After unzipping it, upload the Fonts File via File Manager (for VPS or Hosting with FTP/SFTP support).
If you want to upload the Fonts File via FTP, access your hosting cPanel, create an FTP account, and link to your website folder (normally it’s the “public_html” folder). Once you connect, simply browse your local drive to upload from the Local Site window on the left. Drag the files to the appropriate folder in the Remote Site on the right,
/var/www/html/[site-name]/templates/[template-name]/fonts
If your hosting supports cPanel, you can go to cPanel > File Manager, access your website folder, and upload the Fonts File with the folder path we showed you above.
How to fix icons and background images not showing in SP Page Builder 5
The following image is an example of this issue.
To fix this issue, you need to log in to your admin dashboard -> Click on Components > SP Page Builder > Pages > the page whose icon needs to be edited
Go to Section > click to edit the Features box. Then set the size for the icon and Save.
For the background image problems, if you don’t see the same display as the sample Demo, please go to Section > Tab Style > Background and choose the Image tab.
Final words
All in all, Joomla! 5 was released only a few days ago, and it will take time for other third-party extensions to be enhanced and updated to be compatible with Joomla! 5. This means that our Joomla! templates need to wait for the newest versions from third-party extensions.
So, should you upgrade Joomla! 4 to Joomla! 5 now? The answer depends on the type of Joomla! templates you are using. The key thing is that you need to check and ensure that all third-party extensions are compatible with Joomla! 5 so that you can update Joomla! 4 to Joomla! 5 without any errors or unexpected issues.
