2017 went by very fast for us and we would like to summarize the highlights and also put forward our plan for 2018.

Joomlart 2017 Review

1. Acquisitions & Mergers :

Joomlart Acquisitions & Mergers

In May 2017, JoomlArt successfully acquired 2 of the biggest Joomla extension clubs: JomSocial.com and iJoomla.com. In October 2017, Gavick.com, one of the leading Joomla template and WordPress theme club, was also acquired by JoomlArt.

These acquisitions lead to major restructure in terms of products with direct benefits to our members. Team is now more stronger and working hard to enhance and upgrade products on all brands.

We felt honoured when we were approached by fellow Joomla developers for the acquisition of their Joomla business and we not only acquired 3 of them but also put the product development, upgrades and support on fast track.

JomSocial and iJoomla products in the last 7 months have seen major multiple version releases focused on improvements, bug fixes and member feedback. JomSocial even got 4 bonus fresh social themes apart from some major feature additions. iSeo, Guru, AdAgency and Publisher also saw improvement, features and bug fixes releases in 2017.

Gavick in the last 2 months hass witnessed supercharged updates for all products and subjected to stringent testing and upgrades for latest Joomla /WordPress and PHP 7. This was very essential as they products had not had major releases for quite a few years.

These acquisitions makes JoomlArt the biggest Joomla company, with varied Joomla products : 150+ templates, 40+ Joomla extensions and a unique Joomla page builder.

2. Releases : 8 New Joomla templates

8 New Joomla templates released in 2017

It should have been 12 templates but team resources were utilized to create extensive blocks library (120+) and ready to use pages (40+) for JA Joomla Page Builder extension, which was then released for free for all our club members and we are glad everyone appreciates our unique page builder extension.

In 2017, our team have released 8 new Joomla templates for different topics to meet user’s needs.

• JA Allure - The Creative and Modern Fashion Magazine Joomla Template
• JA Focus - The Premium and Powerful News and Magazine Joomla Template
• JA Law Firm - The Best Lawyer and Business websites Joomla template
• JA Small Biz - The State-of-the-art Business Joomla Template
• JA Mood - The Stunning Community and Social Joomla Template
• JA Company - The Responsive Corporate and Business Joomla Template
• JA Alumni - The Modern MultiPurpose Alumni & University Joomla Template
• JA Oslo - The Creative News and Magazine Joomla Template

3. 150+ templates & 40+ extensions updated & released

Our dedicated QA team make sure that all reported bugs are fixed and all our products work out of the box for everyone. It was a busy year for them too and as you can see from our blog posts that we have been regularly releasing updates for our products apart from bulk updates that are necessitated with every Joomla version release.

150+ templates & 40+ extensions updated & released

4. New product : JA Joomla page Builder

JA Joomla Page Builder Got major feature releases along with premium blocks and page library. If you want to build your websites with easy drag-and-drop blocks, definitely you can't miss our incredible Builder with:

• 120+ Content Blocks
• 40+ ready-to-use page library
• 6500+ Installations
• 17000+ Pages Built

JA Joomla Page Builder

5. Releases : 4 new Social Themes for JomSocial

If you ever wanted to create a social network on your Joomla site, you should have heard about our amazing JomSocial - the most complete, easy-to-use, addon that turns Joomla CMS into a full-fledged, social networking site. In 2017, we have launched 4 new themes as below to give you more chances to find your most suitable social style:

• JS Shadow theme
• JS Flat theme
• JS Column theme
• JS Kikiriki theme

Jomsocial New Themes

5. Updates : JomSocial main releases

Beside new templates, we also have some other vital updates on JomSocial products:

• JomSocial 4.4 released with Live Chat, Access Control List, Migrators and hundred other improvements
• JomSocial 4.5.1 Beta 1 With Chat Bar Plugin
• JomSocial 5.x (unreleased) is Joomla 4 ready.

6. Upgrades : Joomla 4 Ready

Since the Joomla 4 alpha version first released, our team have already been working on testing and upgrading our frameworks, templates and extensions to be Joomla 4 ready. It would not take us long to roll out Joomla 4 updates for our products as the Joomla 4 stable is rolled out.

Current status (as on 31st Dec 2017)

• T3 Framework is now compatible with Joomla 4 alpha 2
• 5 JoomlArt extensions are compatible with Joomla 4 alpha 2
• Gavick Gavern Framework is compatible with Joomla 4 alpha 2
• 4 Gavick templates are compatible with Joomla 4 alpha 2
• 5 Gavick extensions are compatible with Joomla 4 alpha 2
• JomSocial is compatible with Joomla 4 alpha 2
• iJoomla Guru is compatible with Joomla 4 alpha 2

PLAN FOR 2018

2018 is set to see tons of releases, updates and features for our members. Just go through some of the items we have already started working on :

Joomlart plan for 2018

1. Joomla 4 Ready

Joomla 4 is coming and we are preparing well for it :

• All supported Joomla templates will be compatible with Joomla 4 (WIP)
• T3 Framework for Joomla 4 (ready)
• All supported extensions will be compatible with Joomla 4 (WIP)
• Release new Joomla templates for Joomla 4 on JoomlArt.com and Gavick.com
• Update JomSocial to be ready for Joomla 4 (Ready)
• Upgrade all iJoomla products to be ready for Joomla 4. (WIP)

2. Scheduled Releases : 18 Joomla Templates for 2018 :

18 New Joomla Templates will be released in 2018. Yes, 18 of them with most of them running on our New Template framework.

Normally, a new template is released every month. However, in 2018, we aim to create 12 + 1 new Joomla templates for JoomlArt and 5 new Joomla templates for GavickPro.

3. WCAG 2.0 Support (Work in Progress)

We are in advanced stage of standardizing development approach to make our product WCAG 2.0 ready. More info as we release demo for user feedback soon.

4. "T4" Framework (Work in Progress)

To be frank, we had been waiting for Joomla 4 as we unveil our latest all new Framework for Joomla Templates. For now we are calling it “T4”. T3 framework worked well for all our members and would still be actively supported.

The T4 (WIP) features the following :

• Amazingly fast
• Layout builder
• Page builder
• User-friendly
• Ease of customization
• Tons of ready to use pages, blocks, modules
• Integrated 3rd party support for popular extensions.
• Much much more...

5. JA Page Builder - Major improvement release

Joomla 4 ready as well as we have big plans to improve the Page Builder. We have tons of good feedback from our members and we are going to deliver all new requested features.

6. Code refactoring

This is a priority for us as we focus on the performance of our products across JoomlArt, Gavick, iJoomla and JomSocial brands.

7. Unified Forums & Subscription handler

Integrating the support and members across our 4 Joomla Brands (JoomlArt, Jomsocial, iJoomla and Gavick) is essential to provide best of the service and also easy access to products. The unified systems would provide enhanced user experience and a single login for all our services. It is scheduled to be activated in the next 1-2 weeks.

More is scheduled for 2018

There is more to look forward to this year as new products, templates and performance upgrades are getting lined up and we look forward to your feedback, let us know what you expect from us and we will refine our deliveries to suit your requirements.