Have you heard … Joomla has just released their latest CMS version; with several security patches and updates. The developers at Joomla are continuing to fortify this robust content management system. Is this a quick process to update or install the new version of Joomla?

In short, the answer is no, it is not a quick process. Joomla contains thousands of files and if you are upgrading, you should set up a test server that is configured as closely as possible to your live Joomla site and then set up the test site. It can be fairly risky trying to update your live site; and bypass this step. It will take time of course. But, it is better than losing all of your work and countless hours invested.

If you are planning on a fresh install of Joomla, it is best if you have shell access. If you do not, trying to upload the files via ftp is a bit tricky. In fact, I have read that you cannot set it up via ftp. However, that is not entirely true. You can use Dreamweaver or other similar IDE to upload your Joomla files via ftp. However, you will need to open each folder and each sub-folder or sub-directory, and each of the sub-directories below and then only select part of the files to upload at one time. You will need to repeat this process as many times as necessary to upload all of the files. If you simply try to upload all of the files at one time, it may appear that the task completed okay; and you may even get a report that all files were uploaded. The fact is, not all of the files were actually uploaded. This can cause a lot of frustration trying to setup Joomla, if you think all the files are there; when in actuality they are not. So use SSH if you can.