Joomla 1.6 is here, but is it necessary, or even recommended to upgrade immediately?

Even though Joomla! 1.6 may sound close to 1.5 it contains major changes of the Joomla! core. That means extensions, modules and plugins must be adapted to work with Joomla! 1.6 natively. Today many of those are not adapted to Joomla! 1.6. Before upgrading from Joomla! 1.5 to 1.6 you must ensure every extension you use will work with Joomla! 1.6.

Joomla 1.5 is a very mature and stable product. It will be maintained for another year, so there is no rush to upgrade. In the spring of 2012 it is a good idea to start looking at it though.

However, it is important to keep your 1.5.x Joomla! installation updated to the latest version. The most recent version today is 1.5.23. If you are not running this, it is a recommendation that you upgrade as it contains security fixes.

HelTech offers Joomla! upgrade services at fixed prices. Read more about it here.