You have probably already seen in your Joomla 3+ installations that there is a new major version of Joomla available. Joomla 3.4 is the next major Joomla release and it contains a selection of improvements and feature additions - so should you click the update button?

Our friends over at OS Training have just posted a run down of the new features in Joomla 3.4 so check out the list of improvements they detail which include more secure uploads, front end module editing, updated admin and more.

So should you update?

The answer to that question is overwhelmingly yes.

Should you update your installation now?

The answer to that question is - 'depends'.

It's always good to check to see if the developer of any extra extensions or themes you use on your site are compatible with a newly released version of Joomla. It's better to wait for confirmation or updates before proceeding with an update if you are unsure.

Zen Grid Framework v4 themes are Joomla 3.4 compatible

Any joomla update can potentially cause problems however all of our Zen Grid Framework v4 themes have just received an update which makes them compatible with the changes to the Joomla 3.4 administrator. There were no updates required for the front end functionality. Updates for Joomla 3.4 compatible are available for Xero, Rasa2, Focus2 and Venture.

How to update to Joomla 3.4.

To avoid any potential errors during the update process it's advised to follow this order:

1. Backup, backup, backup.

First of all - and this should be your mantra - backup your site with Akeeba backup to make sure you can roll back if something goes awry.

1. Fix any database errors on your site.

We have spoken in the past about using the database tab to fix errors in your installation and I recommend that any update to Joomla be preceded by fixing any database errors.

Please note that after updating a few Joomla 3.3 installations to Joomla 3.4 without fixing the database first, I received a non-fatal error related to a duplicate id in the database. Fixing the database first will prevent this from happening.

a. Navigate to the extensions > extensions manager > database panel.

b. If your database scheme is not up to date click the fix button.

c. You will then receive the success message that your database table structure was updated.

1. Install the update to your template.

The issues fixed in the Zen Grid Framework template updates really only affected the display of elements in the administrator however it's better to install updates before you update your Joomla installation. This is good practice for when there may be some fixes that are required to fix more fatal errors.

1. Update your Joomla installation.

This is a simple one button process.

After clicking the "Install the update" button you should see a success screen. In the tests I ran I received a message regarding the refresh manifest cache failed. This is a non-fatal error and just means that the extension isn't currently installed.

1. Visit your template administrator and site's front end to check that your site is functioning as per usual. There is no need to clear your browser cache in this instance as the framework automatically loads the newly updated js and css assets for you.

Enjoy!

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