Trying to keep up with technology is not easy these days, with nearly daily announcements of lots of different things. Some are just passing distractions, but some are likely to stick with us long term. I think most agree Large Language Models, often just called "AI", are one of these technologies that are going to stay and will change many things.
This is why a few months ago, looking at the API becoming available from different providers, I decided to start developing a new Joomla extension to bring AI-powered assistance to Joomla website owners: 4AI.
Why an extension when I can just use ChatGPT?
I believe chat-like interfaces such as ChatGPT are a good fit for many use cases but not the best for all - and I'm not the only one to think that by the way.
There are drawbacks to using chat-based tools, for instance:
you need to write your question, and to get a good result, it may take multiple attempts. Writing the right questions is not for everyone.
Being a Joomla extension, 4AI knows how to provide the prompt context the ChatGPT AI needs to do a proper job
Using the output is not always easy, for instance performing changes to existing content while respecting existing design, or just injecting the response into your Joomla site
In other words, ChatGPT is great for "open" discussions but using it directly inside of Joomla may not be as easy as it seems at first.
There have already been a few plugins to use the ChatGPT API from inside Joomla, but they are mostly just an input field that's passed to the API, therefore not providing that much assistance.
Just a(nother) quick post to announce a(nother) JoomlaDay. This time is it's JoomlaDagen, in Tillburg, Netherland and it's happening on May 12-13.
I'll be speaking on the first day and as JoomlaDagen 2023 is a live-only event, I'll be thrilled to meet you there if you have a chance to attend.
New and old speakers, many topics
There's a wonderful program and a big speaker line-up so make sure you go there, tickets are on sale and there's still some time left.
A new Joomla 3&4 extension is coming
I'll be speaking on Friday May 12 to present our latest extension. Yes, it's AI-based It'll be released as a public beta version on that same day. AI is coming to the world and while it raises many questions for the future, it's can already also be a useful tool today for our Joomla websites.
So please come and discover our take on how we can use AI-powered tools inside of Joomla.
In other news
Development continues for our other extensions, with both 4SEF and 4SEO having new releases this week. Aside from a few bug fixes and smaller improvements, these new versions expand vastly the number of languages 4SEF and 4SEO are available in:
4SEO: added new full Czech and Portuguese translations
4SEF: added new full Czech, German, Italian, Lithuanian, Polish, Portuguese and Spanish versions
While we always focus on actual extensions user experience and speed, I try to remember that the first and more important factor deciding whether a piece of software is easy to use or not is that it speaks your language. Which is why 4SEO and 4SEO are now available in 14 languages.
Today I want to talk about a really pressing issue for many of you: if you have a Joomla 3 website using either the JoomSEF (from Artio) or MijoSEF SEF URLs extensions, you have've been waiting a couple of years already now for these developers to provide a Joomla 4 equivalent. And you're still waiting.
JoomSEF and MijoSEF were extensions that competed with sh404SEF for a long time. But while I very early on developed a Joomla 4 transition plan for sh404SEF, a plan that included creating 4SEO and 4SEF, there's no such thing in sight for JoomSEF and MijoSEF users. So how can you still move to Joomla 4 without these extensions being available? let's talk about that:
Considering how many I follow, I'll be starting today with just SEO podcasts, and will get back soon with a similar post for tech and web development podcasts.
What's the problem with SEO?
We all hear that SEO is constantly changing, that we need to adjust to all these changes, always. But in fact, many things also stay exactly the same. New things appear everyday, and very often they just don't matter that much, if at all.
What's true is that figuring out where to best put our efforts to improve our website rankings requires a lot of - constant - learning. I have found 3 ways to do that compatible with how I work and live:
following blogs - through RSS feeds
following people on Twitter
listening to podcasts
Blogs and Twitter are also a topic for another day, but let's see why I found podcasts so useful.
Podcasts are an easy and efficient way to improve your Joomla SEO
Podcasts have really upped my game in recent years because:
they are easy to consume: no need to look at a screen, you can listen on many different occasions, you just need your phone basically.
there are many high-quality podcasts to learn from, including SEO podcasts
the right podcasts distill in 20 to 40mn actual SEO actionable items, or deeper, more general topics
What are my top SEO podcasts to listen to?
While none are Joomla-specific - except one! - the podcasts listed here explore topics that most Joomla website developers and owners should benefit from. Yes, you'll hear the WordPress name quite often but please don't be detracted, SEO is SEO.
What's that you may ask? it only means that after 3 years of pandemic, and 2 purely online editions, Joomlers from around the USA - and elsewhere - will physically travel to Austin, Texas to attend in person.
BUT some talks will also be given remotely AND you'll be able to attend online as well.
Please go
Not sure there will be that many in-person Joomla events this year, so if you can, take this chance to travel to Austin and meet fellow Joomlers.
You can sign-up on this page, and the cost of attending in-person or online is the same. But in-person attendees get swag and free food, so that counts!
