Joomla 1.0 vs. Joomla 1.5

Joomla 1.5, or Joomla 1.0? That’s the question many people are asking… There’s really no right or wrong version, but there’s certainly some pros and cons to each.

1.5 has some killer backend ui upgrades. At first glance, 1.0 users find the 1.5 admin area to be a bit difficult to navigate, but become quickly acclimated. As well, the code structure of 1.5 give designers and developers a better environment to practice their trade.

1.0 has 1.5 beaten when it comes to one important issue. Extendibility. Since Joomla! 1.5 has taken on an object-oriented code structure, it doesn’t natively support extensions built for 1.0. What does this mean? Well, to date, you can find more than 3k extensions on the joomla.org site. Most of these extensions work only with version 1.0. Developers are rushing to update their 1.0 versions, but it’s a clear draw-back of Joomla! 1.5.

When building new sites, I follow this simple rule of thumb. – If the site requires ANY extension that isn’t available NATIVELY for Joomla! 1.5, I will stick with version 1.0. Save yourself a headache… Joomla 1.5 is awesome, don’t get me wrong… just a bit infant for certain types of sites.