The Joomla project proudly released Joomla 3.4 on 24 February 2015. The 3.4 release introduces new features into the CMS such as improved front end module editing, decoupling of weblinks, composer integration, Google new reCaptcha and security improvements by implementing UploadShield code which can detect most malicious uploads by examining their filenames and file contents.

We have some marketing materials ready for you to share the exciting new features of Joomla 3.4.

We currently have several students who are participating in the GSoC Mailing List discussions and deciding on which project they want to tackle this year from the Joomla 2014 GSoC Project Ideas list. But we would really like to see as many students as possible take advantage of this great opportunity.
A few short weeks ago, Joomla was accepted into the 2014 Google Summer of Code! That makes 8 years that the Joomla project has participated as a Mentor Organization and we’re excited to take part again this year.

Deadline for 2014 Google Summer of Code Student Applications March 21, 2014 19:00 UTC

https://www.timeanddate.com/countdown/generic?p0=1440&iso=20140321T19&msg=GSoC%20Student%20Application%20Deadline

What is Google Summer of Code?

Google Summer of Code is a program designed to encourage university student participation in open source software development.

Some quick facts about the Google Summer of Code program.

• GSoC gives students an opportunity to work on real-world software development projects.
• Encourages students to get involved in Open Source projects, bringing new developers into our ecosystem.
• Students gain new skills and make new contacts in the Open Source community.
• Allows students to work with mentors that can share experience and knowledge with them.
• Students who pass their midterm and final evaluations will be paid a stipend by Google for their work in Joomla. This year, the stipend has increased to $5500 USD for students.

Joomla and the Google Summer of Code 2014

We have set up a Google Mailing List that is open to the public, as well as a new section outlining this year’s Joomla GSoC and a Project Ideas List on the Joomla Documentation website. Here’s some links for you to find out more.

Joomla GSoC 2014 Student Signup Information
https://docs.joomla.org/GSOC_2014

Joomla GSoC 2014 Project Ideas List
https://docs.joomla.org/GSOC_2014_Project_Ideas

Joomla GSoC 2014 Mailing List
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/joomla-gsoc-2014

You can find out all the information you need and more on those pages. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask a question on the Mailing List and someone will be happy to help.

Don’t Forget! Student Application deadline is: March 21, 2014 19:00 UTC

Thanks to all the great mentors for participating in this year’s Joomla GSoC project. We’re already seeing a lot of support from this group of great volunteers and looking forward to see the progress they make with their students through the summer!

Thanks to Chad Windnagle for putting this year’s project together. The man is a machine when it comes to project management and organization. I’m happy to be under his tutelage as a co-admin for this year’s project.
- Robert Vining and the Joomla GSoC Team!

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The Joomla Events Team held a meeting on December 15, 2013. At this meeting the team discussed the goals for 2014 and also identified several areas that could be improved and potential solutions.

Attendees at this meeting were: Radek Suski, Mike Carson, Dianne Henning, Sigrid Suski, and Saurabh Shah

The new goals identified for 2014 are as follows:

1. Event organizer downloadable resource area on events website
2. Provide print ready documents, images, and banners for promoting Joomla at events
3. Increase Joomla promotion at non-Joomla 3rd party events
4. Increase number of Joomla!Day events in 2014
5. Increase the financial support for JoomlaDay™ events
6. Official Joomla Developer ConferencEvents.joomla.org website improvements

One important area identified to improve is the event submission process to make it easier for JoomlaDay organisers to get their events approved. The process itself should also be more automated to relieve the work of the volunteers approving those events. We identified that the current process is not ideal and needs to be updated. Vic Drover and his team have provided some updates on a development server for testing that is being reviewed. Radek Suski has submitted an alternative solution that uses SobiPro. Mike Carson and Saurabh Shah are going to evaluate the updated version of JCal Pro, and as an alternative, SobiPro. We would also like to upgrade the current Joomla! version to 3.2 and update the template to a more responsive and mobile friendly version.

We realise that it is extremely important to document the submission and approval process. Saurabh Shah is going to document the current process so new team members can use it to learn how to correctly execute this process.

It has been decided to review and update all articles on the Events site.

• The JoomlaDay™ logo usage guideline has to be revised and more clearly explained on the site.
• We plan to create a directory of potential Joomla! evangelists to help JoomlaDay organisers get in touch with good, international speakers.
• We would like to create a resources directory which would include different materials like flyer designs, banners, marketing materials and many other helpful items.

Another goal is to increase Joomla promotion at non-Joomla 3rd party events. It would include the implementation of a form for submission of attendance/representing of non-Joomla events.

 We also discussed the possibility of increasing the financial support for JoomlaDay events. Follow up with the OSM Board for budget approval is our next step.

 An official Joomla Developer Conference is being planned for the spring of 2014 (venue and dates to be announced). The developer conference will be a hands on workshop style learning event that will focus on the areas of design/template development, Joomla extension development, and the Joomla framework. We are working with members of the Joomla Production Leadership Team to plan a very successful event that could be easily duplicated around the world in the future. More information on this event will be announced soon.

We would like to thank all present members of the team for their efforts, input, and their ideas.

The current Joomla Event Team is comprised of the following members:

• Radek Suski
• Mike Carson
• Saurabh Shah
• Victor Drover
• Dianne Henning
• TJ Baker
• Sigrid Suski