The August 2008 Joomla! Community Magazine (http://community.joomla.org/preview/issue/4-2008-08-joomla-community-magazine.html) is available now and it's loaded with cool stuff about the World's Greatest Open Source CMS. (Biased? pfff!) Month after month, you will find articles on Joomla! 1.5 Web sites, GPL-compatiable extensions, events, communities around the world, ways to get involved, learning resources for beginners, site integrators, and developers, and the latest buzz on what's happening in the Joomla! project.What kind of buzz, you ask? Well, this month, it's all about JoomlaConnect™ (http://community.joomla.org/magazine/article/535-introducing-joomlaconnect.html), a brand new service that aggregates Joomla! community news from all around the world. Joomla! Core Team...

The Joomla! community is pleased to announce the immediate availability of Joomla! 1.5.5 [Mamni]. This is a quick turnaround release to address the Duplicate Title error from 1.5.4 (http://developer.joomla.org/coordinator-blog/188-154-duplicate-titles.html) . This release also contains important SEF URL improvements and fixes for com_content in addition to a number of bug fixes and improvements. It has been nearly three weeks since Joomla! 1.5.4 was released (content/view/5180/1/) on July 8, 2008. The Development Working Group (http://community.joomla.org/contributors/developers.html) 's goal is to continue to provide regular, frequent updates to the Joomla! community. Instructions New installation (http://help.joomla.org/content/category/48/268/302/) Upgrade from an existing...

July 14, 2008 marks the beginning of year three of Packt's friendly competition between world class free software communities for who earns bragging rights to the much coveted 2008 Best Overall Open Source CMS (http://www.packtpub.com/award). Not only is this recognition a great way to encourage, support, and reward the incredible efforts of free software communities, but, there is also a nice cash award shared with those projects fortunate enough to win. The time for the Joomla! community to act is now! Head over to Packt and nominate Joomla! for the Best Overall Open Source CMS Award (http://www.packtpub.com/article/nominate-overall-open-source-cms-winner/system/Joomla) and for the Best PHP Open Source CMS (http://www.packtpub.com/article/nominate-open-source-php-cms/system/Joomla)....

The Joomla! community is pleased to announce the immediate availability of Joomla! 1.5.4 [Naiki]. This is a normal maintenance release which includes a few low to moderate security issues, many bug fixes, and several very nice improvements. It has been a little over ten weeks since Joomla! 1.5.3 was released (content/view/4852/74/) on April 24, 2008. The Development Working Group (http://community.joomla.org/contributors/developers.html)'s goal is to continue to provide regular, frequent updates to the Joomla! community containing the latest bug fixes and minor enhancements. Instructions New installation (http://help.joomla.org/content/category/48/268/302/) Upgrade from an existing Joomla! 1.5 version...

The Joomla! Community Portal (http://community.joomla.org) is a new web site for the Joomla! community. There you will find a constant source of information about the activities powering the Joomla! project, learn about Joomla! Events (http://community.joomla.org/events.html) worldwide, and see if there is a Joomla! User Group (http://community.joomla.org/joomla-user-groups.html) nearby. A new, monthly Joomla! Community Magazine (http://community.joomla.org/magazine.html) promises an interesting overview of project activities, community accomplishments, and learning material. Those who regularly contribute to Joomla! will tell you the best way to get more out of the project is to participate actively. In doing so, you learn. Your contributions help shape the project. You build a support...

Front row (left to right): Lorenzo Garcia and Andrew Eddie; Back row (left to right): Ryan Ozimek, Levis Bisson, Sam Moffatt, Wilco Jansen, Louis Landry, Elin Waring, Michelle Bisson, Rob Schley, Alex Kempkens, Dave Huelsmann, Chris Davenport, and facilitator Adrian Ganz; Not pictured: Joomla! Core Team members Brad Baker and Ole Ottosen and OSM Board Members Wendy Robinson and James Vasile who were unable to attend the summit. The Joomla! Core Team (content/blogcategory/13/29/) and Board of Directors of Open Source Matters, Inc. (http://www.opensourcematters.org/content/blogcategory/37/62/) held their annual summit last week in the beautiful area near Pfronten, Germany (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pfronten). Meeting as a group is obviously rare given the community's international...

The South African Joomla! community (http://www.joomla.org.za/) is pleased to invite you to the first Joomla! Day South Africa - Durban (http://www.joomladay.co.za/), an event to be held June 20 and 21, 2008, at the Varsity College, Durban North (http://www.varsitycollege.co.za/slideshow.aspx?Campus=durbannorth). Durban is the third largest city in South Africa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa), a popular destination for tourists, and considered to be the busiest port on the African continent (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africa). It is an ideal location for those interested in Joomla! to gather. Joomla! Days offer an excellent opportunity to learn, network with other Joomla! users and developers, and discover ways to contribute to the Joomla! Project. The South African...

The Joomla! Project is evolving. What started with a more closed, small organization is developing into the much larger and more open organization that produces, protects and supports the Joomla! Project today. This month is filled with events reflecting that evolution. This last December we had a Pizza, Bugs and Fun (content/view/4274/74/) event that was key to getting Joomla! 1.5 ready for its phenomenal release in January. It also provided an opportunity for us as a community to get to know each other a little better and build relationships that will continue to drive the Joomla! project into the future. If you can, you should consider participating in the second PBF (http://developer.joomla.org/home/26-coordinator-blog/112-pizzas-at-the-joomla-bazaar.html) coming up this month. It...

The Vancouver Joomla! community invites you to the first Joomla! Day Vancouver (http://www.vancouver.joomla.ca/). The event is scheduled for Saturday, June 14th, 2008, from 9 AM to 5:30 PM, and will be held at the Vancouver Public Library (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver_Public_Library) in downtown Vancouver (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver), beautiful British Columbia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia), Canada (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada) . Joomla! developers and enthusiasts from the greater Vancouver area and all over the world will attend this important community driven and inspired event. Many are flying in for Joomla! Day Vancouver (http://www.vancouver.joomla.ca/) and the Sites and Infrastructure Working Group...

The first Joomla! Day Philippines (http://www.joomla.org.ph/) is scheduled for Saturday, June 14, 2008, to be held at the Engineering Library and Computer Science Building on the Diliman (http://www.up.edu.ph/) campus of the University of the Philippines (http://www.upd.edu.ph/) in Quezon City (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quezon_City), Philippines (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippines). The morning event is offered at no charge and does not require registration. Those interested in attending the afternoon event are encouraged to register soon (http://www.joomla.org.ph/joomladayphilippinesregistration.html) before limited seats are sold out or the June 5 registration deadline passes. Since knowledge in technology helps ensure a competitive edge in the 21st century, Joomla! Day...

The developer.joomla.org (http://developer.joomla.org/) Web site has been re-launched using Joomla! 1.5. You are invited to frequently visit and enjoy a steady stream of information shared by approximately 50 bloggers, each of whom are actively involved with Joomla! development. Reading their blogs and providing your feedback is an excellent way to stay in touch with Joomla!. Keep up-to-date on what is new in Joomla! Development On developer.joomla.org (http://developer.joomla.org/), you will find posts from Joomla!'s Development Working Group Coordinators (http://developer.joomla.org/), Andrew Eddie and Wilco Jansen. Here, the coordinators share key development directions such as the decision to raise the Joomla! 1.6 minimum requirement to PHP 5.2...

The Joomla! Sites and Infrastructure Working Group (http://docs.joomla.org/Sites_and_Infrastructure_Working_Group) has scheduled their first general meeting for Friday, June 13, 2008, to be held in conjunction with Joomla! Day Vancouver (http://vancouver.joomla.ca/). The purpose of this meeting is to discuss issues, such as moderating practices and member involvement in the Joomla! forums, and to consider ways to continue to improve support for the Joomla! community. Joomla! Day Vancouver (http://vancouver.joomla.ca/) begins at 9:00 AM on Saturday, June 14, and is shaping up to be another great community event. Speakers include Chris Adams, Brad Baker, Levis Bisson, Michelle Bisson, Steve Burge, Louis Landry, Jennifer Marriott, and Toni Marie Swats. Joomla! Days offer excellent...