FLEXIcontent Is Not Dead: Joomla 6 Compatibility Is Here!

There has been some discussion around the future of FLEXIcontent, especially as Joomla continues to evolve. So let’s make one thing clear:

FLEXIcontent is not dead. It is alive, actively evolving, and now has a Joomla 6-compatible beta version.

The transition to Joomla 6 is a major technical undertaking, particularly for a mature and feature-rich extension such as FLEXIcontent. Our goal is not simply to make FLEXIcontent work on Joomla 6, but to do so while preserving compatibility with Joomla 4 and maintaining the stability of existing websites.

Joomla 6: a major compatibility challenge

Moving an extension from one major Joomla version to another is rarely just a matter of changing a few deprecated methods.

FLEXIcontent is a complex Content Construction Kit (CCK). Over the years, it has accumulated a large codebase covering content management, custom fields, categories, templates, search, multilingual content, media management, administration interfaces, imports, and many other features. Joomla 6 introduces changes that require parts of this code to be reviewed and adapted.

The challenge becomes even greater because we do not want to abandon Joomla 4 compatibility.

Supporting Joomla 4 and Joomla 6 at the same time means that many changes have to be designed carefully. Some Joomla APIs have evolved, some older methods are deprecated or removed, and several parts of the administration and frontend interfaces have changed.

The objective is therefore not:

"Make it work on Joomla 6 and forget about older versions."

The objective is:

"Make FLEXIcontent compatible with Joomla 6 while continuing to support existing Joomla 4 installations."

That requires considerably more work, testing and code review.

A Joomla 6-compatible beta is now available

The good news is that this work has reached an important milestone.

FLEXIcontent 5 beta 2 is now available and includes a substantial amount of work dedicated to Joomla 5 and Joomla 6 compatibility. The release is explicitly marked as a pre-release, which means that it should be considered a testing version rather than a final production release.

Among the changes included in this development are:

  • Joomla 6 compatibility fixes

  • Joomla 5.x and Joomla 6.1 compatibility

  • PHP 8.1 to PHP 8.4 compatibility improvements

  • Fixes related to Joomla 6 namespaces

  • Updates to Joomla's jQuery handling

  • Fixes to category management

  • Improvements to the backend interface

  • Fixes to fields and field rendering

  • Improvements to batch operations and imports

  • Fixes to multilingual content handling

  • Improvements to media management

  • Updates to JavaScript libraries

  • Various PHP 8.x deprecation fixes

This is not simply a version number change. The changelog shows a substantial series of compatibility fixes and improvements made throughout the codebase.

What has changed under the hood?

One of the most important parts of this work is dealing with the evolution of Joomla's APIs.

For example, the beta includes fixes for Joomla 6 namespace issues and updates to the way jQuery is handled. It also contains specific changes for PHP 8.1–8.4, including fixes for deprecated behaviour that can generate warnings or errors on newer PHP versions.

Other changes concern the FLEXIcontent administration interface and its many components.

The beta includes improvements to:

Importants Features

Improvements to the geolocation system: removal of Algolia and integration of the open-source Nominatim geocoding service. There is no longer any need for a paid API in the backend.

Another major improvement is the ability to customize the information displayed in map popups using FLEXIcontent fields.

Templates: All templates have been updated to make them easier to manage and customize. The HTML5 versions have been discontinued, and the code has been modernized to make greater use of CSS Flexbox and CSS Grid, while reducing the dependency on Bootstrap.

We are also using new responsive approaches, such as CSS Grid with minmax(), to achieve better layouts with less code.

Filtering: A modern AJAX-based filtering system has been added, allowing content to be filtered without reloading the page while remaining SEO-friendly. This makes it possible to update results much faster and is fully compatible with the map module. A new filter badge system has also been added, displaying a summary of the currently selected filter values.

Pagination: A new infinite scrolling mode has been added, allowing content to be loaded continuously without numbered pagination.

Images: FLEXIcontent can now automatically generate WEBP images when uploading files. We have also updated the way responsive images are handled to provide better rendering across different screen sizes and devices.

Performance Optimization: We have updated the LESS compression library and added a new minification option to further reduce file sizes and improve overall performance.

Backend interface

The administration interface has received several updates, including toolbar icons, Font Awesome integration, tooltips, accordion icons, Bootstrap classes and various display improvements.

These changes may appear relatively minor to users, but they are important for keeping the administration interface consistent with modern Joomla versions.

Fields

FLEXIcontent's fields are at the heart of the CCK. They have therefore required particular attention.

Several field-related files have been updated, including fixes for PHP compatibility, value handling, radio fields, inline boxes and field display.

The beta also introduces improvements to the formatting of additional field values.

Categories and content management

Category handling has also been updated for Joomla 6.

Several fixes address category management, aliases, batch operations and the way content is handled when items belong to multiple categories.

These are particularly important because FLEXIcontent relies heavily on Joomla's content and category infrastructure.

Multilingual content

The new beta also contains work on multilingual content, including support for multi-item, multi-language translations.

This is an important area for FLEXIcontent websites that use Joomla's multilingual capabilities.

Import and batch operations

The batch import system has received several fixes and improvements.

For example, issues where an import could remain stuck at 0% have been addressed, along with several other problems discovered while testing and correcting the batch import tools.

Media management

The media field has also been updated, including an upgrade to wavesurfer.js 7.

There are also fixes concerning file sizes, file management and filenames generated during uploads.

These changes are particularly relevant to sites using FLEXIcontent as a complete editorial and media-management solution.

But this is a beta — and we need you!

This is probably the most important message of this article.

FLEXIcontent 5 beta 2 is not yet a final release.

The Joomla 6 compatibility work has progressed significantly, but a project as complex as FLEXIcontent needs testing on real-world websites.

We need developers, integrators and FLEXIcontent users to test the beta and report problems.

The more different configurations we can test, the better the final release will be.

For example, useful testing includes:

  • Joomla 4 websites

  • Joomla 5 websites

  • Joomla 6 websites

  • Multilingual websites

  • Websites using many different FLEXIcontent field types

  • Custom FLEXIcontent templates

  • Sites with large amounts of content

  • Batch imports

  • Search and filtering

  • Media management

  • Frontend editing

  • Backend content management

  • Third-party extensions interacting with FLEXIcontent

If something doesn't work, please report it.

A compatibility project of this size cannot be tested by a single developer on a single website.

Joomla 4 compatibility still matters

One of the reasons this migration takes time is precisely because we want to avoid forcing existing FLEXIcontent users to migrate immediately.

There are still many websites running Joomla 4, and they should not be forgotten.

Maintaining compatibility across Joomla versions requires careful coding because we sometimes have to support different APIs or behaviours depending on the Joomla version.

This is more work than developing exclusively for the latest Joomla release, but it is important for the many existing FLEXIcontent installations that have been running reliably for years.

FLEXIcontent is moving forward

FLEXIcontent has been around for a long time, and that can sometimes create the impression that a project is no longer active when development is happening behind the scenes.

The Joomla 6 work demonstrates the opposite.

The latest beta contains a significant number of changes, including contributions from several developers and contributors. The release history documents the ongoing work, including Joomla 6 compatibility, PHP compatibility, field improvements, multilingual support, batch processing and numerous fixes.

So, to answer the question directly:

No, FLEXIcontent is not dead.

It is being adapted for the next generation of Joomla.

Help us make FLEXIcontent 5 better

If you are a FLEXIcontent user or developer, now is the perfect time to get involved.

Install the beta on a development or staging website, test your usual workflows, and let us know what works — and, more importantly, what doesn't.

Every bug report, compatibility issue and improvement suggestion helps make the final release more reliable.

You can find the complete release history and changelog on GitHub:

FLEXIcontent releases and full changelog

FLEXIcontent is not dead. It is getting ready for Joomla 6.

And we need the community to help us take the next step.