For a very long time, people have been asking me when the next iteration of JoomlaDate, the Joomla! dating and social networking solution will be coming out. While I was very happy with the simplicity and functionality in JoomlaDate for Joomla! 1.0, there are many reasons I did not do a direct port or try to make it run in Legacy Mode. I wanted to make a much more flexible system. Customers gave me all sorts of whacky requests and wanted me to craft some very interesting customizations. The framework for JoomlaDate only really worked for dating. For well over a year I was planning out the theory behind the next iteration of JoomlaDate. To build a more flexible system required developing new techniques and algorithms to improve searching, profile generation, and many other features that would create a next generation framework instead of just a new component. This past summer I had some free time to play around and implement these new ideas.

Unfortunately, these ideas turned out to be way too complex to implement, which means trouble for you the site administrator and your users. I have begun efforts to simplify the new framework while delivering a unique and easy-to-adapt component. I really hope to get more free time to work on this and test out the new ideas.

I would however like to give you a quick overview of things you can expect in this new framwork.

• The new component will be released under the GPLv2 license. This is in order to comply with the wishes of the core Joomla! team so the software can be included on the JED. I will also likely offer additional licensing for those who cannot or choose not to use GPL-compatible licensing.
• I still plan to offer JoomlaDate as a Suite of mini-applications that work together; however, the sub-components will exist as separate components. I will also make an effort to provide easy mechanisms for integrating third party components. This new extension will focus heavily on the profile element and then integrating other components to provide a unified system.
• More granular permissions. I have developed an interesting group-based permission system that will integrate with profiles and memberships. However, at the same time the official Joomla group structure is being reworked, so I do not want to duplicate and segment similar functionality. We will have to see how this plays out, as this software will likely be released after Joomla! 1.6 is stable.
• Better internationalization. I am working on changing the way the code works in order to increase the ability to internationalize your profiles and other features. I will hopefully be using the internal Joomla language system. However, at this time it seems they are complicating it and I may bring in the successful and easy to manage language system that was used in YouTube Gallery.
• A better framework for memberships. I plan on developing the membership framework in a more generic matter which will allow for payment systems beyond PayPal. If a better system exist at the time of development, it may be incorporated.
• Multiple profiles, with easy to customize display and input templates. All the components I develop for Joomla! 1.5 and higher are MVC-compliant. This will enable you to define profile-specific templates where you can present data in new and unique ways.
• I am working on developing the backend using a more familiar and standard Joomla representation where applicable.