Chicago: Joomla, one of the world's most accepted open source content management systems (CMS) employed for everything from websites to blogs to Intranets, declared its first ever in-person code sprints. The initial code sprints will be employed to assist build the latest version of Joomla, which more than 3 percent of websites now use for their CMS. Joomla 3.2 is anticipated to be released this September ’2013.

“With half a million volunteer contributors to the Joomla core spread around the world, traditionally we have held structured code sprints virtually because logistically that's what worked best,” said Paul Orwig, President, Open Source Matters, a non-profit created to provide organization, legal and financial support to the Joomla project. “However, there's no substitute to face-to-face collaboration and that's why we are launching these in-person sprints.”

The prime goals that coders partaking in the sprints are being tasked with is making development to the user interface (UI) for developers creating Joomla sites and simplifying how developers build Joomla extensions. Joomla extensions let users to add nearly any feature to their website that are not incorporated in the core Joomla CMS (such as a photo gallery). Presently, there are thousands of Joomla extensions.

“The Joomla UI is good and our extension catalog is robust, but we are not resting on our laurels,” said Michael Babker of the Joomla Production Leadership Team (PLT). “These code sprints are an essential step to making UI improvements and allowing developers to create new extensions more quickly a reality.”

Earlier, Joomla community members usually worked together to help build code for the Joomla core either remotely or in small, informal in-person groups. These new in-person sprints will also let people to participate virtually.

Read more: Joomla Web Development