JoomShaper's 2019 Wrapped: Highlights that Made the Entire Year Memorable

The year 2019 is about to be over. It’s time we reviewed what we have achieved and what we brought for you. If we look back and go through the promises we made at the very beginning of 2019, we can evaluate and understand how many of those promises we fulfilled.

Every year, we bring new templates, extensions, and update the existing ones with new technologies, features, and functionalities. All of our efforts would be meaningless if these don’t help our customers.

Having our valuable customers at the center, we also pledge to serve them with the best of us. This is what we have been doing since the very start of our journey. In 2019, we ran some extra miles to give what our customers need.

We will let you know all these lovely stories here today. The year 2 019 has been remarkable in several ways. It is leaving us with a lot of blissful memories that we will carry in the coming days. 

Flashback at JoomShaper’s 2019

The year 2019 has been so eventful for JoomShaper. Besides all the releases and updates, we have also arranged a lot of refreshing events to cheer our team members up. From releasing awe-striking Joomla templates to updating our robust Joomla extensions, there are so many wonderful things that we did to feel proud of.

16 Brand New Joomla Templates

Unlike every other year in the past, 2019 has been an extraordinary one for Joomla template lovers. This is where we ran some extra miles. Previously, we promised to release more templates. This year, we released 4 more templates than that of any regular year before. Besides publishing these templates, we also introduced the One-Click Installer which can be used instead of a QuickStart pack.

Joomla Templates

Our Joomla templates come in different categories to meet the needs of a wide variety of people. Let’s have a look at the Joomla templates we released this year.

1. Restora - Restaurant template for cafe, bakery, seafood, and vegetarian sites
2. Language School - Language institute, club, and coaching Joomla template
3. Travus - Hotels booking, vacation rentals & car reservation Joomla template
4. Konstra - Construction website template for any kind of construction company
5. Giver - Donation & non-profit charity website template for Joomla
6. Yamas - Yoga and wellness Joomla template
7. Decora - Architecture & interior design Joomla template
8. Mega Inc - Corporate agency & business Joomla template
9. Indigo - Multipurpose business & corporate agency Joomla template
10. Dentro - Dental Joomla template for dentists and dental clinics
11. Arino - Joomla eCommerce template for online stores & shops
12. Finion - Finance, accounting & consulting firm Joomla template
13. Themis - Complete law firm template for lawyers and attorneys
14. Barber - Hairdresser and beauty salon Joomla template
15. Folium - Complete Joomla portfolio template
16. Newsberg - Best Joomla template For news, magazine & sports

One-Click Installer

One-Click Installer is a collection of template, installer script, and the template data. It does not have the Joomla CMS inside thus making it a very lightweight installation package. We introduced the One-Click Installer with our bonus templates. The community welcomed the One-Click Installer warmly.

This is actually great - should help with delivering more light-weight websites! - Mohammed Ahmed

One-Click Installer is made for several bonus templates only at this stage. Our users are requesting this for all of our templates. We will think about it in the future.

Joomla 4: Taking Joomla to a New Height

Joomla has been one of the leading CMSs since 2005. However, recently, it’s popularity has been decreasing. Newcomers are not choosing Joomla as their primary platform. Developers are finding comfort on other CMSs. This gives us an alarming concern towards the future of our beloved Joomla CMS. 

With the Joomla 4 stable version coming next year (2020), we dared to rethink the future of Joomla by incorporating design thinking. We aim to make Joomla better for users, developers, and everyone blessed with it. That’s how the Joomla 4 Admin UI redesign has come to birth.

Key objectives behind the redesign

• Attract new users
• Reduce user friction
• Bring simplicity
• Increase findability
• Reduce function complexity
• Minimize workflow
• Reduce interaction cost
• Reduce page density
• Reduce cognitive load and working memory
• Improve usability
• Enrich icon library
• Supporting memory retrieval
• Implement affordances and signifiers
• Maintain usability heuristics

We have introduced draggable cards with contrast/expand functionality, giving you the liberty to re-decorate the Dashboard (which is the Control Panel in the current Joomla 3 template) as you like. We have added affordance (visual cue) for making it convenient for users to navigate easily. We have introduced a fluent modular design to increase findability, discoverability, proper information architecture, and overall usability improvement.

Following is the 10 principle areas we radically improved in the Joomla 4 Admin UI

• Data-Driven Dashboard 
• Priority Driven Navigation Panel
• Tab-less Inner navigation
• Robust Listing Page
• Accessibility Level AA (WCAG 2.1)
• Tailor-made Icon Collection 
• Easier Menu & Module Creation
• Highly Organized Media Library
• Redefined Template System
• Simplified Extension Management

Refer to this article if you are interested in how we introduced design thinking in Joomla 4 Admin Template. 

Joomla Components

Alongside releasing a brand new Joomla component, we also updated our popular Joomla extensions with new features, functionalities, and fixes. 

SP Booking

SP Booking is a complete and robust travel booking solution for Joomla. With a rich presentation of the facilities utilizing multimedia contents, SP Booking is a full-fledged travel booking system for any travel agency, tour operator, car hire, hotel booking, villa rental, and flight booking websites. It's a really big component with lots of modern booking functionalities. Explore more of SP Booking here.

Joomla Extension Updates

Your favorite Joomla extensions got new features, functionalities, and improvements. Below is the list of the most popular extensions that received major renovations.

• SP Easy Image Gallery
• SP Kindergarten
• SP Simple Portfolio
• SP Weather

SP Page Builder and Helix Ultimate Beefed Up

SP Page Builder and Helix Ultimate get updated with new features and functionalities on a regular basis. We want our users to experience new technologies, enjoy new features, and build sites flexibly. Let’s see what 2 of these great Joomla tools got in 2019.

SP Page Builder

SP Page Builder got many new addons, new features and plenty of other functionalities in 2019. One of the most notable features was Interaction. It feels great when users give their feedback after releasing each of the updates. The new stuff in SP Page Builder are:

Interactions

SP Page Builder brings Interactions - a set of lively motion effects to your web page elements. With interactions in SP Page Builder, you have a whole new way to create live motion effects on your site. It has powerful controls that let you add attractive transitions and beautiful animations on the fly.

Simply awesome! Love it when I can make my clients sites stand out and also wow them. Thanks to the team! - Tom Fullen

You can bring different motion effects by controlling Move, Scale, Rotate, Skew, Opacity, Blur, and 3D Tilt options in SP Page Builder interactions. Explore the SP Page Builder Interaction here.

Brand New Addons

SP Page Builder brought 6 brand new addons in different updates in 2019. The new addons are:

1. Testimonial Carousel
2. Image Carousel
3. Table Addon
4. Form Builder
5. Image Layout
6. Slideshow addon

Context Menu

There are functions in SP Page Builder that let you edit, copy, modify, delete, or make any other changes to the content you are working on. The Context Menu hosts them all to save your time and effort for better. 

The SP Page Builder Context Menu brings the most commonly used page building functions in one place. Just right click on any content of your webpage while in the editing mode, the menu is there.

Layout Bundles

With SP Page Builder layout bundles, you can easily create a complete website just by importing ready pages. In 2019, we added a wide variety of layout bundles with all required pages inside each one of them. This year, we added the following layout bundles. 

1. Agency
2. Interior
3. Food Truck
4. Hotel & Resort
5. Cargo
6. Furniture
7. Organic
8. Photography Studio

 Apart from these, SP Page Builder also brought webP support, slideshow video background, blend mode, Joomla caching support and plenty of ready blocks.

Helix Ultimate

Helix Ultimate took its experience to a whole new level and rewrote its history. The secret behind this tremendous success is we care to provide everything that the users need. Some of the new things in Helix Ultimate are:

• Progress bar to indicate the reading timeline
• Purge button added to remove CSS cache and Sass files from the system
• Show/hide related articles, manage the number of posts and view types
• Enable/disable body modules on the article details page
• Controls for social share icons added
• Responsive options added to typography for font size
• Show/hide tags on blog listing page

Pumped Up with Bigger Team

Each year we recruit new employees and strengthen the team. This year, the number of new recruits is far higher than ever before. Almost every department got new members on their teams. In 2019, we recruited 16 new full-time employees and 7 interns. 3 of these interns made it to full-time positions.

In 2019, JoomShaper got bigger in team size and worked continuously for the betterment of Joomla website-building. Plus, we arranged plenty of refreshment parties, family days, tours, and other related events for the team members.

Revamped Support with Faster Response

Throughout 2019, our support has been faster than ever before. Despite having a substantial number of support engineers to take care of customers’ issues, we extended the support team to solve your queries faster.

With the new and extended number of support engineers, we are trying to address your issues round the clock. Alongside that, we also imparted several training sessions and workshops for the support team to understand your problem better and fix them accordingly. 

Sponsoring Joomla Events and Giveaways

Supporting local and global Joomla events is JoomShaper’s long-time tradition. Like all other years before, we also sponsored several Joomla events around the world in 2019. Below is a list of some Joomla events we sponsored this year.

• JoomlaDay Chicago
• JoomlaDay Australia
• JoomlaDay Germany
• JoomlaDay Florida

Apart from sponsoring these events, we also distributed swags among the attendees in those events and beyond. We will continue doing so in the future as well.

Started Constructing JoomShaper Campus

You already know that we bought a large piece of land to build a 75,000 square feet campus. We started our construction work in 2019. Hopefully it will not take much longer to get the campus ready. We will get into the campus and start working with more energy and enthusiasm as soon as it is ready. 

JoomShaper’s Plan For 2020

Sneak Peek: Helix Ultimate 2.0

• Helix Ultimate: The Helix Ultimate framework has been the most popular Joomla template framework from the very beginning. Every year we make several changes to this widely loved Joomla template framework. In 2020, the changes are going to be monumental. Several game-changing features are coming to Helix Ultimate.

• Brand New SP Page Builder 4: The SP Page Builder 4 is on its way to revolutionize the entire site-building system. Apart from introducing new addons, blocks, and layout bundles, the brand new SP Page Builder 4 will bring a completely new structure, user-experience, and site-building capabilities for the users. It’s going to be something you never experienced before. We are planning on releasing this revolutionary SP Page Builder 4 in the 2nd quarter of 2020. Be prepared to be amazed.
• 24/7 Support With VIP Support Ticket System: At JoomShaper, our goal is to help you create websites and continue using them without facing any hassle. We provide priority support for issues you face. In 2020, we will take a long step forward by introducing a VIP support ticket system to accelerate the support process. Most importantly, with our expert support teams and new recruits, we will provide 24/7 support to your queries. Any support request you make will be addressed in 4 hours. 
• Team Expansion: Hiring new employees is a never-ending process. We will also recruit people for the role of developers, designers, support engineers, and more in 2020.
• Shifting to New Campus: JoomShaper’s 75,000 square feet campus is under construction. Our office will be shifted to the campus from the current location as soon as the campus is ready. We are continuously observing the construction work and super excited to see it ready.
• Several Groundbreaking Joomla Products (Be Prepared to be Surprised): We better not be saying everything we will do in 2020 rather we are keeping some secrets to give you some surprises in 2020. You all are going to love these surprises. 

The year 2019 has been fantastic for JoomShaper. We have grown phenomenally from the previous year. It’s lovely to have new users onboard, help them solve their issues, and work behind their business successes. We are what our products and customers made us today. We owe a great deal to our customers for their trust and we will continue serving them even better than before. We had a lot of goals to achieve in 2019. We achieved most of them and will do the rest in the coming days. We are looking forward to a wonderful year ahead. Stay with us!