We are excited to announce the beta release of Elgg 5, the latest version of our open-source social networking platform. This new version comes with a host of exciting new features and improvements that will make creating and managing your own social network easier and more engaging than ever before. You can find the v5.0.0-beta.1 download in the download section.

Please keep in mind this is a beta release, it's not yet ready for production without extensive testing.

We would also like to extend a special thanks to Jeroen Dalsem (108 commits) and Jerôme Bakker (62 commits), two key members of our development team who worked tirelessly to bring Elgg 5 to life. Their dedication and expertise were essential to the success of this release, and we're grateful for all of their hard work.

Major changes

Listing the complete changelog here wouldn't make for a readable blog post, if you're interested in the changelog check it out on GitHub. Another great resource to read before upgrading to the new version are the upgrade notes.

CKEditor
One of the most notable updates is the editor, which has been upgraded to version 5. This brings several new features, such as mentions and images in content. However, it also impacts existing plugins. The Wire, for example, now has mention support, while the Embed plugin has been removed. The related ‘longtext’ menu is no longer available.

Header images
Various content plugins (such as blog) now have support for uploading header images. These images will be shown as a header image on the content page. Users can upload their own images and crop them to their liking.

​Site admin page layout
The page layout for site admins have been changed. The sidebar menu has been moved to a topbar menu to have easier access to all menu items. This backend layout is now similar to the frontend layout.

PHP 8 only
Elgg no longer supports PHP 7. This allows us to make more use of PHP 8 features. PHP v7.4 is also end of life, so it would be wise to upgrade as soon as possible.

• easier form value preparation
• auto sticky value support for form fields
• registering webservices in plugin configuration
• additional middleware for your plugin routes
• private settings are now merged into regular metadata
• events and hook are now all called events

Take a look at the upgrade notes if you are upgrading your plugins for information about important changes.

The new version of Elgg has a lot of exciting changes and improvements, but to make sure it's ready for prime time, we need your help! We're currently looking for testers who can help us identify any issues that may have slipped through the cracks during development. If you're interested in testing the new version and providing feedback, we'd love to hear from you! If you find any bugs please report them on GitHub.

In addition to testers, we're also looking for volunteers to help us with translations (take a look at this guide). Elgg is used all over the world, and we want to make sure that the new version is accessible to as many people as possible. If you're fluent in a language other than English, we'd love your help translating the new version of Elgg.

By contributing your time and expertise as a tester or translator, you'll be making an important contribution to the Elgg community and helping to ensure that the new version is as stable and usable as possible. If you're interested in getting involved, please don't hesitate to reach out to us.