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Kathy Bates says she decided against reconstruction surgery after breast cancer: 'I kind of enjoy not having breasts'

"This is really weird, maybe, but I had really heavy breasts. They were like 10 pounds when they removed them," Kathy Bates said on a podcast.




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SoftBank is Nvidia's first Blackwell chips customer. Here's what they're going to be used for.

The collaboration comes amid skyrocketing demand for Nvidia chips, as companies scramble to secure supplies.




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Ford is slashing hours for some German factory employees amid lower EV demand

The carmaker has more than 4,000 employees at its Cologne plant. It also has another plant in Saarlouis, in southwestern Germany.




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China's renaming of its regional jet is another clear sign its homegrown planemaker is coming for Boeing and Airbus

The ARJ21 is now to be known as the C909. The renaming plays into COMAC's ambition to enter the global market.




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Russia's lucrative oil and oil industry is an easy target for Europe after Trump's election victory

The European Commission's president said the European Union could boost US liquified natural gas purchases in a deal with Trump.




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27 SaaS & Subscription Influencers and Experts to Follow into 2019

If you’re an entrepreneur nurturing your own company to a full-blown success, you are always looking for insights and ideas to take your business to the next level, right? But you’re probably super busy as well, and don’t always have the time to figure out where you should be looking for those insights.




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Three Benefits of Promoting Digital Goods and Software Products

Are you dreaming of being your own boss someday, or would you like to bring in extra income? Starting an online business is one of the easiest ways to accomplish this. The biggest challenge of starting an online business can be developing your business plan. If you are struggling to come up with that brilliant […]




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Why You Should Use Power Words and CTAs

Do you want to sell more? Who doesn’t? But you might be missing out on some key conversions because you’re not using the right words to promote your products or services.   Take a new approach to writing with some proven “power” words that increase conversions because they deliver reasons to buy, appeal to our […]




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10 Ways to Build Customer Loyalty and Increase Retention

Selling your services and wares online can be challenging, as today’s digital shoppers are smart and demanding. You need a customer-focused approach right from the start. The customer is the most significant pillar of modern businesses, so you need to build a genuine relationship with them if you want your online store to survive. Read […]




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2019 Must-Know Trends for Online Business – Live Panel Wrap-up

We recently hosted an engaging live discussion with industry experts from G2Crowd, Instapage and Subscription Insider, covering trends and growth tips for online businesses. Check out what these leaders had to say about what they learned last year in the software industry, where people are missing opportunities and what’s coming next.




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SaaStr Annual 2019 – Key Takeaways and Highlights

The 2Checkout team kicked off Feb 2019 by joining over 12,000 participants in San Jose for SaaStr Annual 2019, the largest conference in the world for B2B software. The general consensus of 2Checkout team members at the end of the conference was simple and to the point: “It. Was. Amazing.”




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24 Best eCommerce News Websites You Should Follow

Modern commerce is a highly complex global business that is always evolving – and the pace of change is only accelerating. If you work in digital commerce, it’s crucial to stay up-to-date with the latest developments in technology, business, shopper behavior and trends, laws and regulations, payments, logistics and more. How can you stay on […]




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Industry Buzz – February 2019

Hi, sellers! In this Industry Buzz, we’re focusing on finding those strategies that will help your digital business achieve long-term growth. To that end, we’ve put together quite a list of resources on conversion rate optimization, pricing, retention, lead nurturing and growth tips and frameworks.




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Why and How to Effectively Use Webinars in Your Content Strategy

You’ve probably attended a webinar or two (or more), but are you using them effectively as part of your overall content plan? In this blog post, we teach you the basics of hosting a webinar and how to use them effectively as you build out your content strategy and grow your business.




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PSP or MoR? How to choose the right commerce provider for your business

Today’s buyers are getting more demanding and selling online is getting more and more complex. Both B2B and B2C customers expect a seamless purchase experience and easy access to all the information, products and services they want, on any device and in any country.




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Tips for Getting Started with a Business Growth Framework

Growth is top of mind for most companies, but it can be tricky to get started with developing a growth framework. For one thing, most companies aren’t organized around growth, so thinking about growth requires a lot of collaboration between teams. Additionally, companies often don’t have easy access to all of the data they need to understand growth.




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Cool Start-up Interview Series – Mondly Languages

We’ve recently had the pleasure to chat with Andrei Nastasie, the affiliate program manager at Mondly Languages, an innovative language learning app that incorporates native language recordings, augmented reality and virtual reality to help people learn new languages. In this interview, he shares how Mondly started out, what it has been up to and what’s next for this creative company.




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News24 | Mozambique deploys soldiers ahead of planned protests

Soldiers and police were patrolling Mozambique's capital Maputo early on Thursday ahead of a planned protest against election results seen by the opposition as fraudulent.




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News24 | WATCH | SA closes Lebombo border port of entry as Mozambique violence escalates

South Africa has closed the Lebombo port of entry to and from Mozambique after 15 officials from the Ressano Garcia border fled to SA on Thursday morning for protection.




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News24 | Teargas, smoke in Maputo as police crack down on demonstrations

In some parts of the capital, protesters negotiated with police. In other parts there was no talking.




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News24 | Young opposition Mozambicans give Frelimo ultimatum to step down or face more violent protests

Young Mozambicans from opposition parties have given Frelimo until midday to relinquish power or face more unrest, after days of violence and looting in the country.




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News24 | Mozambique on the brink: Violence escalates as youth protests extend beyond Maputo

Mozambique is on a knife's edge as young people continue to protest against the outcome of the October elections that extended 49 years of Frelimo rule.




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News24 | Maputo is almost under siege, says SA High Commissioner, as post-election unrest escalates

Amid calls for ongoing protests after violent clashes on Thursday, South Africa's High Commissioner to Mozambique Siphiwe Nyanda has declared "Maputo is almost under siege".




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News24 | Lesotho to ban importation of bottled water

Lesotho's national assembly has passed a motion to ban the importation of bottled water into the country as part of measures to promote the local industry.




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News24 | Botswana's new president hails 'new dawn' as sworn in

Botswana swore in new president Duma Boko on Friday, cementing a whirlwind change of government after his landslide election victory last week kicked out the party in power for nearly 60 years.




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News24 | At least 30 killed in Mozambique since start of election violence: HRW

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Friday that at least 30 people have been killed in Mozambique in almost three weeks of crackdowns on protests over a disputed presidential election.




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News24 | 'Together we usher a new political dawn,' says Botswana president Duma Boko in inauguration speech

Botswana's new president Duma Boko used his inauguration on Friday to tell the world that he and his government were ushering in a "new political dawn".




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News24 | Business as usual at Lebombo border post with traffic flowing between SA and Mozambique after unrest

It was business as usual at the Lebombo border post between SA and Mozambique on Saturday morning, with vehicles moving freely between both countries after a shutdown earlier this week.




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News24 | Africa has other friends if Trump won't work with it - Kenya's AU candidate

Kenya's candidate for the top job at the African Union said on Saturday that if US president-elect Donald Trump does not want to work with Africa, the continent has "other friends".




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News24 | UPDATE 1-Mauritius holds election with cost of living on everyone's minds

PORT LOUIS, Nov 10 - Mauritius was holding a parliamentary election on Sunday with Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth and his main rivals all promising to tackle a cost of living crisis in the Indian Ocean archipelago.




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News24 | Former president Mahama projected to unseat Ghana's ruling party in December election

Ghana's main opposition leader John Dramani Mahama looks set to win December's presidential election, an opinion poll showed on Monday.




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News24 | Mauritius' prime minister concedes election defeat

Mauritius' incumbent Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth said on Monday his political alliance was headed for a major defeat to a rival coalition led by a three-time former premier following Sunday's parliamentary election.




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News24 | Mozambique opposition's Mondlane calls for protests at border posts, ports

Mozambican opposition presidential candidate Venancio Mondlane has called for gatherings at ports and borders, and in major cities from Wednesday for what he describes as a fourth round of demonstrations against a stolen election.




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News24 | SA sold Côte d'Ivoire R3.2m worth of wine last year. Now the US wants a piece of that action

Côte d'Ivoire is sub Sahara Africa's biggest importer of wine, says the US department of agriculture, and it is time American companies take advantage of the market.




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Ready for Reading Adventures

We want readers to make connections between books and their own lives and the world around them. Connecting real experiences for kids with literary ones is something that I’ve found also helps readers value books and knowledge. And it is so much fun to extend the pages of a story into a real-world activity!




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Preparing Young Children for School

See the full guide Preparing Young Children for School Practice Guide › Recent research has identified practices that have the potential to prepare young children to benefit from the learning opportunities they will encounter in school.




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Meet Ali Kamanda and Jorge Redmond, authors of Black Boy, Black Boy: Celebrating the Power of You

I met two debut authors at a summer conference and was taken with their warmth and earnestness. Their book, Black Boy, Black Boy, is an affirmation that celebrates both past accomplishments by Black men and the limitless possibilities for a child’s future. Their book is sure to encourage discussion with children and families, whether they are Black or not. Both authors graciously agreed to a blog interview.




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The Efficacy of Digital Media Resources in Improving Children’s Ability to Use Informational Text: An Evaluation of Molly of Denali From PBS KIDS

Informational text — resources whose purpose is to inform — is essential to daily life and fundamental to literacy. Unfortunately, young children typically have limited exposure to informational text. Two 9-week randomized controlled trials with 263 first-grade children from low-income communities examined whether free educational videos and digital games from the PBS KIDS show “Molly of Denali” supported children’s ability to use informational text to answer real-world questions. Study 1 found significant positive intervention impacts on child outcomes; Study 2 replicated these findings.




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Getting Your First Grader Off to a Good Start: Tips for Families

First grade can bring a lot of changes! Even if your child had a great kindergarten year, there can be lots of new routines and expectations for first graders that can feel really different for students (and families). Here’s what you need to know.




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Current State of the Evidence: Examining the Effects of Orton-Gillingham Reading Interventions for Students With or at Risk for Word-Level Reading Disabilities

Over the past decade, parent advocacy groups led a grassroots movement resulting in most states adopting dyslexia-specific legislation, with many states mandating the use of the Orton-Gillingham (OG) approach to reading instruction. Orton-Gillingham is a direct, explicit, multisensory, structured, sequential, diagnostic, and prescriptive approach to reading for students with or at risk for word-level reading disabilities (WLRD). Evidence from a prior synthesis and What Works Clearinghouse reports yielded findings lacking support for the effectiveness of OG interventions.




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Engaging, Explicit, and Elaborated: An Initial Trial of Media-Enhanced Preschool Vocabulary Instruction

Children from backgrounds of poverty often lag behind more advantaged peers in early language skills, including breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge. We report the results of a pilot study of an explicit and elaborated vocabulary intervention in preschool classrooms serving children from lower-income backgrounds. The intervention used multimodal instruction, including segments from public television children's programs and interactive games, to build children's knowledge of and semantic connections for 128 words across 18 weeks of daily lessons.




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Simple Image Gallery Pro v3.8.0 released

Simple Image Gallery Pro v3.8.0 is now available to download for subscribers. This new release improves upon existing features, extends Flickr support to galleries (beyond albums/sets) and adds PHP 7.4 & Postgres compatibility.

Here's what's been added or changed in Simple Image Gallery Pro with the release of v3.8.0:

  • Added support for Flickr "galleries", beyond the already supported "albums/sets". Additionally, you can now fetch all images at once from some Flickr gallery/album/set by setting the relevant limit in SIGPro's settings to 0.
  • Added the option to override the default gallery layout in the SIGPro gallery insertion modal (frontend & backend).
  • Improved support for PHP 7.4 (mainly notices in the settings).
  • Fixed an issue where the gallery layout selector did not work with a Postgres database.
  • Added an option in SIGPro's settings (under "Advanced") to disable the WYSIWYG editor button in one or more components.
  • Properly filter multiline pasted text in the "description" field (in the captions). Previously, such pasted content would appear cut-off in the SIGPro modal/popup in the frontend.
  • File uploads now use built-in Joomla libraries which should resolve any upload issues with servers running "Windows Server".

 

DEMO

The JoomlaWorks demo site has been updated to the latest Simple Image Gallery Pro release. See here https://demo.joomlaworks.net/simple-image-gallery-pro.

 

DOWNLOAD

If you have an active Simple Image Gallery Pro membership, just head over to the Member Dashboard at https://www.joomlaworks.net/members and grab your copy from your "Subscriptions" page.

Or purchase this latest release from just 19.90 EUR. More info at: https://www.joomlaworks.net/extensions/commercial/simple-image-gallery-pro

 

UPGRADING

Just upload the new version and it will overwrite the old one.

For more help, please visit the updated documentation page for the extension at: https://www.joomlaworks.net/support/docs/simple-image-gallery-pro

For support questions please use our Ticket Support System inside the Member Dashboard at https://www.joomlaworks.net/dashboard (active product membership required).




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K2 Plugin for sh404SEF version 1.6.0 released

The K2 Plugin for sh404SEF version 1.6.0 is now available to download for subscribers. This is a bug fix release that addresses compatibility with K2 v2.10.3+ and improves support for PHP 7.x in general.

Here's what's been added or changed in the K2 Plugin for sh404SEF with the release of v1.6.0:

  • Resolve a function clash bug when using the plugin with K2 v2.10.3 and the "Advanced SEF" settings is enabled. Please keep in mind that if you use sh404SEF, you should not have the "Advanced SEF" settings enabled.
  • Improved support for PHP up to 7.4 (mainly notices).
  • Various others cleanups in the plugin's code.

 

DOWNLOAD

If you have an active "K2 Plugin for sh404SEF" membership, just head over to the Member Dashboard at https://www.joomlaworks.net/members and grab your copy from your "Subscriptions" page.

Or purchase this latest release from just 19.90 EUR. More info at: https://www.joomlaworks.net/extensions/commercial/k2-plugin-for-sh404sef

 

UPGRADING

Just upload the new version and it will overwrite any previous one.

For support questions please use our Ticket Support System inside the Member Dashboard at https://www.joomlaworks.net/dashboard (active product membership required).




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Simple RSS Feed Reader v3.8.0 released

Today we're releasing version 3.8.0 of the Simple RSS Feed Reader module. This new release brings back Joomla 1.5 support (by popular request), it introduces a new sub-template & changes the remote image resizing service from Mobify to Images.weserv.nl.

Here's what's been added or changed (in more detail) with the release of v3.8.0:

  • Re-instated Joomla 1.5 support.
  • Added new sub-template for rendering YouTube Playlist feeds as a list of videos. This sub-template requires the use of our free plugin AllVideos to render the videos in a responsive format.
  • Swapped Mobify with Images.weserv.nl (powered by CloudFlare) since the former was bought out by Salesforce and subsequently dropped.
  • Improved compatibility with PHP 7.4.

The next update will offer compatibility with the upcoming Joomla 4 release (currently in "beta") and will also be tested against PHP 8.

Simple RSS Feed Reader is fully compatible with Joomla 1.5 to 3.x & PHP versions up to 7.4.

DOWNLOAD

You can download this version by visiting the product's page at: https://www.joomlaworks.net/extensions/free/simple-rss-feed-reader

UPGRADING

Simply install on top of any other 3.x release. The update will also appear in the Joomla extension updater (for Joomla v2.5 or newer).

DEMO

You can see a demo of the extension at: https://demo.joomlaworks.net and https://demo2.joomlaworks.net (right column on both sites)




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Simple RSS Feed Reader v3.9.0 released

Today we're releasing version 3.9.0 of the Simple RSS Feed Reader module. This is a bugfix release.

Here's what's been added or changed (in more detail) with the release of v3.9.0:

  • Fix the installer for Joomla 3.x on new installations. The introduction of support for Joomla 1.5 all the way up to 3.x unfortunately broke the installer for 3.x (oh, the irony) for new installations. Upgrades from previous versions to 3.8.0 had no issues for any Joomla release.
  • Improved the image parser/extractor. Removed support for .bmp type images.
  • Fixed various warnings/notices.

The next major update (v4) will offer compatibility with the upcoming Joomla 4 release (currently in "beta" and soon going into "RC" status) as well as entirely new layouts. ranging from simple lists to more complex grid layouts utilizing CSS grid properties.

Simple RSS Feed Reader is fully compatible with Joomla 1.5 to 3.x & PHP versions up to 8.0.

DOWNLOAD

You can download this version by visiting the product's page at: https://www.joomlaworks.net/extensions/free/simple-rss-feed-reader

UPGRADING

Simply install on top of any other 3.x release. The update will also appear in the Joomla extension updater (for Joomla v2.5 or newer).

DEMO

You can see a demo of the extension at: https://demo.joomlaworks.net and https://demo2.joomlaworks.net (right column on both sites)




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Simple Image Gallery Pro v3.9.0 released

Simple Image Gallery Pro v3.9.0 is now available to download for subscribers. It's both a bug-fix and new feature release.

Here's what's been added or changed in Simple Image Gallery Pro with the release of v3.9.0:

  • SIGPro will now read EXIF metadata from images that contain orientation details and properly rotate or flip images before creating thumbnails.. This means you won't need to process images using desktop software to correct their orientation before uploading them on your server. A handy feature especially for those who work with images coming from pro DSLR cameras.
  • Replaced the Mobify image CDN with Weserv's, which is powered by CloudFlare. This will restore the option to resize the source image, as the Mobify CDN unexpectedly shut down a few months ago. Weserv's processing & delivery is also much faster.
  • Updated Lightbox2 to version 2.11.3.
  • Updated elFinder (used in the SIGPro Media Manager in the backend) to version 2.1.59.
  • Fancybox can now be translated through the Joomla language manager (language overrides) or via custom language packs (a much requested feature from users).
  • Gallery layout CSS files are now linked in the document <head> with an appended timestamp. This will allow you to perform live changes to a gallery layout's CSS even when your site is behind a CDN like CloudFlare's (so you don't have to purge the CDN's cache for that file everytime you do a change in it) or behind a server-side caching proxy (e.g. Nginx or Varnish).

SIGPro has also been tested to work on up to PHP 8 without any issues. If you have any custom gallery layouts though, you may have to slightly modify them to play nice with PHP 8. As always, send a ticket in our helpdesk system for assistance with such matters...

 

WHAT'S COMING NEXT

You may be wondering what coming next for SIGPro. Well, a lot for sure!

The next version of SIGPro is already being worked on and eventually it will have the following features:

  • Custom ordering for images using drag and drop
  • All-new gallery layouts using CSS Grid properties, with distinct options for responsive designs
  • More slideshow-like (carousel) gallery layouts
  • Updated backend UI that is fully responsive on mobile devices for gallery management on the go
  • WebP support
  • Dynamic image filters
  • Support for AMP pages
  • New JSON based format for captions
  • More ordering options
  • Less jQuery-dependant modals and layouts, which will also translate to improved Core Web Vitals scores for your pages with image galleries on
  • Support for improved image conversion using Image Magick (when available on your server)
  • Improved overall performance
  • Joomla 4 compatibility when it's f-i-n-a-l-l-y released :)

Not all the features above will be available when SIGPro v4 is released, but they will be gradually included as updates come in.

 

DEMO

The JoomlaWorks demo site has been updated to the latest Simple Image Gallery Pro release. Have a look here: https://demo.joomlaworks.net/simple-image-gallery-pro

 

DOWNLOAD

If you have an active Simple Image Gallery Pro membership, just head over to the Member Dashboard at https://www.joomlaworks.net/members and grab your copy from your "Subscriptions" page.

Or purchase this latest release from just 19.90 EUR. More info at: https://www.joomlaworks.net/extensions/commercial/simple-image-gallery-pro

 

UPGRADING

Just upload the new version and it will overwrite the old one.

For more help, please visit the updated documentation page for the extension at: https://www.joomlaworks.net/support/docs/simple-image-gallery-pro

For support questions please use our Helpdesk system included in your Member Dashboard at https://www.joomlaworks.net/dashboard (active product membership required).




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Simple Image Gallery Pro v3.9.1 released (bug-fix release)

Simple Image Gallery Pro v3.9.1 is now available to download for subscribers. This is a minor bug-fix release following the release of version 3.9.0 a couple weeks ago.

For a detailed look on the new features and changes in v3.9.0, please have a look here: https://www.joomlaworks.net/blog/item/309-simple-image-gallery-pro-v3-9-0-released

SIGPro v3.9.1 released today adds a check if support of EXIF related functions is already built into your server's PHP setup. If not, any new features related to EXIF metadata which were introduced in v3.9.0 will simply be ignored.

For the record, affected users account to less than 0.2% in total of those upgraded to v3.9.0.

 

DEMO

The JoomlaWorks demo site has been updated to the latest Simple Image Gallery Pro release. Have a look here: https://demo.joomlaworks.net/simple-image-gallery-pro

 

DOWNLOAD

If you have an active Simple Image Gallery Pro membership, just head over to the Member Dashboard at https://www.joomlaworks.net/members and grab your copy from your "Subscriptions" page.

Or purchase this latest release from just 19.90 EUR. More info at: https://www.joomlaworks.net/extensions/commercial/simple-image-gallery-pro

 

UPGRADING

Just upload the new version and it will overwrite the old one.

For more help, please visit the updated documentation page for the extension at: https://www.joomlaworks.net/support/docs/simple-image-gallery-pro

For support questions please use our Helpdesk system included in your Member Dashboard at https://www.joomlaworks.net/dashboard (active product membership required).




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Simple Image Gallery (free) v4.2 released

Simple Image Gallery (free) version 4.2 is now available to download. This is a maintenance release.

Here's what's been added or changed in Simple Image Gallery (free) with the release of v4.2:

  • Resolves fatal PHP error in Joomla 4 caused when a notice is raised, for example if a wrong gallery folder path was provided in the plugin's "gallery" tags. This was caused by the removal of the JError class in Joomla 4.

Simple Image Gallery is fully compatible with Joomla versions 1.5, 2.5, 3.x and 4.x.

DEMO

The JoomlaWorks demo site has been updated to use the latest Simple Image Gallery (free) release. See here: https://demo.joomlaworks.net/simple-image-gallery

DOWNLOAD

You can download this version by visiting the extension's page at: https://www.joomlaworks.net/extensions/free/simple-image-gallery

UPGRADING

If you use Joomla 2.5, 3.x & 4.x (beta) releases, this new update will appear in the Joomla extension updater. If you're using Joomla 1.5 you can simply upload the new version and it will overwrite the old one. After that step, visit the plugin's parameters page, check if everything is OK or adjust as needed and save the parameters.

 




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K2 will not be made available for Joomla 4/5 - change of course

The writing's on the wall. Joomla 4 and 5 are failed CMS releases.

They account for around 0.3% of ALL Joomla sites according to W3Techs (https://w3techs.com/technologies/details/cm-joomla).

Joomla's official stats (which were introduced near the end of life of Joomla 3 - https://developer.joomla.org/about/stats.html) are far less accurate obviously (e.g. they don't account for Joomla 1.5 > 2.5 sites or older Joomla 3 releases) but still show around 10% of sites use Joomla 4/5, after 3 years of their release. And these stats can be disabled by users of Joomla sites (most do).

This means adoption for these versions is close to non-existent. A sad reality, but an understandable one (read my posts on May 30th at https://x.com/joomlaworks for additional context).

There is literally nothing to say about how things have evolved for Joomla.

At this rate, it will probably be a dead software project within the next couple of years.

It's not just the users that are de-motivated, it's the developers too (the Joomla core developers). Few people will enjoy working on Joomla if no one uses it. It just makes sense.

As such, and given that we're strongly invested in Joomla 3 (in some of the largest news/media site implementations worldwide with Joomla), we don't plan on giving up on K2 (or Joomla 3). In fact, our goal is to pivot and work on a possible fork, unless a miracle happens and the Joomla core team gets their shit together and works on a true/seamless Joomla 3 to Joomla 5 (or 6?) upgrade.

The fork is a reasonable path for us for many reasons but I'd list the following ones here (for now):

  • It'll be exciting to go from K2 (a "half" CMS so to speak) to a full CMS. Any crap that didn't work or half-worked on J3 will be fixed.
  • Sky's the limit. Really. No stupid politics, irrelevant conventions, idiotic patterns to follow. We have a clear goal for K2 (and Joomla) and that's what we're gonna work on. That goal is a fast, reliable. modern CMS that leaves people asking "why WordPress?"
  • Some will nag Joomla 3 uses old code. No it doesn't. It uses a certain design that was popular at the time it was introduced. The only change that is required is for it to be updated so it catches up with PHP's latest versions (for the record, we actively run sites with Joomla 3 / K2 on PHP 8.2). It's a mature code base that can be gradually improved.
  • The fork could be introduced in 2 phases. Phase 1: A re-branding for existing sites to move over their content from com_content to K2 (far less work than switching to Joomla 4/5) and existing Joomla/K2 sites to freshen up their backend. Phase 2: This would be the part we lighten up the core. This means com_content & components like banners, newsfeeds, messages etc., their respective modules and plugins and generally other accumulated crap (like User Notes) that literally noone ever used will be stripped off Joomla. Either way K2 can reproduce most of these stuff far better.
  • Any design changes will be subtle and NOT affect existing Joomla extensions that respected the Joomla UI design. It will also certainly NOT affect extensions that brought in their own design/MVC and so on (think AcyMailing, page builders etc. etc.).
  • If our friend Ryan provides his blessing, we would also love to swap the current Joomla WYSIWYG editor with JCE Core. If not, it's always available either way. We will just upgrade TinyMCE and still install our beloved JCE. This would also be a good time to standardize things like "editor xtd" buttons in a way that they better integrate with the WYSIWYG editor...
  • Features and custom extensions we've used for large scale projects could be integrated in the new CMS, if it makes sense for most users to have. E.g. fast search powered by Elasticsearch is a no-brainer (and we can throw that Smart Search crap out for good).

The point is to do something that's fun, while professional at the same time.

Backward compatibility will be our holy grail. Anyone that tells it can't are either lazy or just plain bad programmers (hell, we've maintained K2 for Joomla 1.5 to 3 for 15 damn years).

We're already in touch with partners to finance this move. On the long term, all we need is a couple of devs, working full time.

The next big phase will be infrastructure as required for any modern CMS. That means rebuilding something like the JED, working on documenting use and code etc. At the same time, it's practical to keep everything to a minimum. E.g. there is no reason to use our own forum, but probably go for something like GitHub so we can have everything in a single place: code and discussion, coupled with solid anti-spam (cause let's face it, that's what forums suffer from these days).

By keeping things lean and simple, we will work less on infrastructure and more on the CMS's code and features.

If you ask "why now", I can respond with 2 things:

1) There's been plenty of time for people to switch to Joomla 4/5. Very few did.

2) It's MUCH worse waiting things out to chart their predefined course than actually fucking doing something about it, even if it fails or doesn't work out.

Follow up blog posts will provide more insight into how things will play out in the coming months and how others can join this effort.

 

P.S.

If you have any questions, please use Twitter/X to communicate these to us (@joomlaworks).