Today I’d like to announce a new project by the Joomla! team called ‘Joopal’. Joopal is a new CMS featuring the power of objects offered to you by Joomla! with the immense hook system delivered to you by Drupal. Joopal is based on Joomla! 1.5 and features Drupal 6 the way PHP5 meant it to be done: with objects instead of globals and incredibly long function names. Joopal is compatible with the Drupal 6 functions and maintains all of those globals for backwards compatibility whilst providing a new object orientated approach to the functions you know and love.

The power of Joomla! with Drupal configurability

Joopal permits you to use your traditional Drupal blocks anywhere a Joomla! module can do and also allows you to integrate Drupal’s modules as if they were a normal Joomla! component. This permits your Joomla! site to pick and choose the features and functionality you need against two of the world’s most popular content management systems!

Development Evolved

Joopal provides developers with the power of the Joomla! Web Application Framework as well as Drupal 6’s many interfaces. Joopal allows Joomla! developers to leverage features found in Drupal and allows Drupal developers to discover the joys of objects. For Drupal developers, objects are a recently added to PHP in version 3 that permit encapsulation of your data and providing tools to permit the removal of globals from your code.

But it doesn’t stop there! In addition to creating object orientated versions of the Drupal Core in addition to the function/global system, you can seemlessly use Joomla!’s Framework complete with on demand autoloading objects.  With two popular frameworks behind you, there is no way you can go wrong!

Getting Involved

Like Joomla!, Joopal is a community driven project and we need you to help us out! Joopal needs Drupal testers to help port their components and reveal issues with the system. Joopal also welcomes any developers wanting to fix issues and improve Joopal by submitting patches or even working in a more dedicated role. With Joopal and your involvement, anything is possible! So what are you waiting for, sign up the the Joomla! Development General mailing list and start working on Joopal today!

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Registering your Joomla! User Group gives your JUG some special privileges such as:

• Using the “Joomla” name in your JUG
• Being listed on our Registered Joomla! User Groups page on the Joomla Community site.
• Announcing your meetings on our Joomla! User Groups Calendar.
• Networking with other Registered JUG Contacts on our JUG Contact mailing list

If you are interested in registering your Joomla! User Group, here are a few items that you can do to prepare yourself as it will help us with processing your JUG once you apply.

1. Read our FAQ as it answers the common questions about registering your JUG.

2. Register your domain name with OSM if it has the name “joomla” in it.

3. Verify if all the Joomla! logos that you currently have published on your site are compliant with our Trademarks. Please read our Logo Usage and Brand Guide

4.  Verify that your JUG follows the standard naming policy. Please take note of, “Is there a special naming structure for Joomla! User Groups?“.

Please welcome with me all the new Joomla! User Groups that been registered the last few months.  You can find a link to their web Site and contact information on our Registered Joomla! User Group Listing page.

Joomla! User Association Deutschland
Joomla! User Association Finland
Joomla! User Association Norway (Foreningen Joomla! i Norge)
Joomla! User Group Albuquerque, NM
Joomla! User Group Austin
Joomla! User Group Bay Area
Joomla! User Group Central Coast
Joomla! User Group East Africa
Joomla! User Group Greater Los Angeles
Joomla! User Group Greater Seattle
Joomla! User Group Humboldt
Joomla! User Group Indonesia
Joomla! User Group Italy
Joomla! User Group LA Westside-Santa Monica
Joomla! User Group Lithuania
Joomla! User Group London
Joomla! User Group Milwaukee II
Joomla! User Group Mongolia
Joomla! User Group MPPRE Venezuela
Joomla! User Group New York City
Joomla! User Group Nicaragua
Joomla! User Group Norwich
Joomla! User Group Puerto Rico
Joomla! User Group Pune
Joomla! User Group Senegal
Joomla! User Group Southeastern Michigan
Joomla! User Group South Florida
Joomla! User Group Sri Lanka
Joomla! User Group Upper Midwest

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