On April 15, a new version of Joomla 5.3 was released, which is the last minor version in the Joomla 5 line before the release of Joomla 6. The most significant in Joomla 5.3 are the improvements in URL routing, other innovations are not so significant, but they are definitely not superfluous.
Sending test mail from Global Configuration
Now the test mail is sent not to the Email specified in the Global Configuration, but to the Email of the user who is authorized in the admin panel and performs this action. Previously, the letter was sent to the Email specified in the Global Configuration.
New folder for files in the root of the site
The root folder now has a new folder called files, which can be used to upload any files. The idea is to logically separate image files and any other files, which may include PDF, TXT, XLSX, and any other non-graphic files. Previously, either everything was uploaded to the images folder, or you had to create a folder for other files manually.
After updating your site to Joomla 5.3, an empty files folder will appear in the root of your site. To start using it:
- go to Media: Options,
- in the Media tab find an option Path to Files Folder,
- change its value to files and save.
Now when you upload images or other files through the media manager, you will be able to select the source folder to upload the file to.
Execution history in the Scheduled Tasks
The scheduler now logs the execution history of automated tasks to simplify monitoring and troubleshooting.
"Read More link" option in the Articles module
Now in the Articles module settings you can choose what text should be displayed in the link to the article itself: just "Read more", or together with the name of the article.
It should be noted that such a setting has long been among the settings of the articles themselves, but since Joomla 5.3 it has been added to the module settings.
Improved accessibility of icons in the Contacts component
The icons in the Contacts component are now fully accessible through screen readers, improving the experience for users with disabilities.
Improved Routing
This is the most significant improvement in Joomla 5.3, which fixes errors in the routing of the Tags component, and also improves the processing of friendly URLs, which allows you to exclude even more possible page duplicates at the core level. For example, now if you disable the Remove ID from URL setting, all old URLs containing the IDs of materials and categories will be automatically redirected to new ones. Before Joomla 5.3, this required either using third-party extensions or manually registering redirects in the .htaccess file.
Improved compatibility with PHP 8.4
Joomla 5.3 includes important changes to ensure better compatibility with PHP 8.4.