The migration from Joomla 3 to Joomla 4 can be quite complicated, depending on the installed plugins, components and settings within. The result can be Error 500, and you cannot access the administrator backend anymore. For free advice on the migration see the end of this article.

We migrated the majority of our clients from Joomla3 to Joomla4 last month, many with different components like Acymailing, RS Forms, Akeeba, Seblod, RO Payments, Email authentication plugin by Michael Ritchey and ofcourse our Component My Member Software. Some of the plugins in your installation might have been abandoned; and are not Joomla4 compatible.

Based on our experience we created a step-by-step list, which generally works well:

1. Create a full backup, for example with Akeebabackup
2. Extensions -> Manage -> Update sites : Rebuild
3. Update all components, also JCE editor
4. Select frontend template Protostar and backend Isis
5. Extensions -> Manage -> Filter for templates. Uninstall all templates except for protostar and isis. If this is the last style, remove at least template related system plugins such as system/plugins/rsmelia).
6. Uninstall plugin “mms export”, “AkeebaStrapper”
7. Extensies -> Manage ->Database : Check for errors in
8. Install latest version MMS 8.0.9_J3
9. Acymailing check configuratie, disable “AcyMailing : (auto)Subscribe during Joomla registration”
10. Create a full backup, for example with Akeebabackup
11. Components -> Joomla update options (Next Joomla) : migrate to Joomla 4
12. Update all components (don't forget MMS 8.1.21_J4), and check if NL language and weblinks are updated
13. Select Cassiopia style as default and choose positions for the enabled modules
14. Delete files from folder /tmp with FTP

Free advice from our team

If you are about to do the migration and don't feel comfortable even with the above step-by-step list, you can fill in our contact form and ask for a free consult based on your configuration. We will host an interactive session and will look at your Joomla 3 backend. At the end we will give you 1 free tip on how to have a smooth migration from J3 to J4.

Last month a Wordpress webmaster contacted us and wanted to benefit from all the features that a member portal can offer. We made a calculation to rebuild the complete Wordpress website to Joomla. The prospect thinks 3 weeks and decides this step takes too much resources: both time and costs. The Wordpress website does its job in offering a user friendly method to publish articles in an attractive lay out. The prospect decided to continue using excel as their "member administration" without realtime interface to their accounting program, document management and CRM.

This example does not stand alone; almost 80% of the organizations hesitate to throw away a functioning website and start with a brand new complete member portal, but on the other hand they are aware they are missing lots of online functionality on the existing website.

For this group of organizations we created an intermediate solution; combining the strengths of the two content management systems. Keep the current website as-it-is and adding a dedicated member portal in 10 minutes, built together using a bridge.

The bridge does 2 things:

1. Show the member portal to members as if it is integrated in the existing www website (technical details here)
2. Syncing the member data to the existing website so that the CRM can be carried out. Newsletters can be send with content from the Wordpress website, to the up to date member list from the member portal (technical details here).

You can decide to build the bridge yourself, or outsource the work to one of our Certified Partners. Contact us for more information and costings.

More and more organizations offer their clients and members digital services. Well known services are newsletters, articles for members, handbooks, subscribing to events, and so on. The access to those services is limited to the members who have an active subscription in the member administration. Permissions are set by using the intranet function: which group can access what function. This used to be expensive and tailor made. But not anymore: by using open source software the organization can offer their own set of digital services with the intranet function.

Choose first what functions your organization wants to offer: there are lots of functions available that will make the website attractive with dynamic content.

By using the My Member Software plug and play version, your intranet is up and running in 10 minutes: With 5 layers of permissions (guest, applicant, member, administrator and board) you can start the administration in no time, and use the intranet for your members.