Joomla in Faces. Johan van der Velde (JoomlaDay Netherlands co-organiser)

Hello everyone, first of all, thank you for allowing me to participate in this interview series.

My name is Johan van der Velde. I live in South Limburg, one of the provinces of the Netherlands, and I am an enthusiastic Joomla user. As a hobbyist, I have been working with Joomla since version 1.0. After taking a basic course in Joomla 1.5, I really started to understand the CMS, and since Joomla 2.5 I have created all my websites exclusively with Joomla.

Joomla has become a hobby for me, which arose after I was diagnosed with rheumatism and I was looking for an alternative occupation during a retraining process. One of the first websites I made was for an association “Voor Jongeren met Reuma Limburg” (For Youth with Rheumatism Limburg).

I really enjoy enthusing others about Joomla by helping them with questions they encounter. In the past, I have twice taught a Website Making Course with Joomla , where the participants learned to build a fictitious website for a Sushi restaurant with Joomla and various Joomla extensions. This course was based on a YouTube video by iLoveWebDev. I developed this into presentations, teaching materials and a zip file with all the necessary files, so that students could immediately start rebuilding the website.

From June 2015 to 2017 I contributed as a Volunteer to the Joomla Certification Program for the Joomla 3 Administrator certification program.

Since 2024 I have been co-organizer of the JoomlaDays Netherlands where I have also been able to give some presentations as a guest speaker.

On my website VanderVelde-web.nl I write Dutch manuals on various Joomla related topics, but also extension, template and book reviews. You will also find reports of my visits to the JoomlaDays Netherlands and my presentation as well.

Professionally, I work as an Information Risk & Security Officer, where I am mainly concerned with governance, risk and compliance.

Since 2013 I have been going to the Joomla Days Netherlands and since that visit I have met many people from the national but also international Joomla Community. I like the fact that several of our own JUG members also go to the JoomlaDays Netherlands and that they also get to know new Joomlers.

The organization of the JoomlaDays Netherlands takes place with a fun and enthusiastic team in which everyone contributes his or her own knowledge and experience. Think of creating the website, the program, taking care of housing or arranging sponsors and everything that comes with it. I contributed with Rene Schouten for the sponsorship of the JoomlaDagen.

During the JoomlaDagen Nederland 2025, I gave a presentation together with a former colleague Luca (ethical hacker) with the subject How Secure Is Your Joomla Website? A Hacker's Perspective! During the presentation with a demo, it was shown that a hacker can get started quickly and easily. We have given tips and advice on how to outsmart a hacker. In addition, I gave a presentation about Akeeba Admin Tools, a management and security extension for Joomla.

What strikes me is that the younger generations do not participate so actively in both the JoomlaDays and visiting JUG meetings. That's a shame, since they are the future of Joomla. It is important to identify the cause of this and respond to their needs. In addition, many educational institutions choose WordPress as their teaching methodology, just as many marketing companies use WordPress as their default product.

I think it would help if a good curriculum was drawn up that schools can use, where teachers can download a complete teaching package including instructions for lesson preparation. This entire package would contain Joomla and associated teaching materials, so that they can offer a basic Joomla course. For example, they could launch.joomla.org use the platform. If you also point them to the various JUGs where they can collaborate with other Joomlers and show them the benefits of this, then you think you have been able to make a lot of profit in attracting new users to the Joomla Community.

Students are the next generation Joomlers and potential Joomla Community Members!

I really enjoyed being able to contribute to the JCP together with various national but also international Joomlers. The program has certainly been a success in the Netherlands, but also outside the Netherlands. The exam was available in English, Dutch, French, German, Italian and Spanish! There are 238 people worldwide certified as Joomla 3 administrators, 42 of whom are from the Netherlands!

One of our first JUG members, Tom van der Laan is currently active in the International Joomla Community and recently attended the Joomla 8 sprint. At first, Tom was skeptical of the Joomla Community. I then pointed out to him the possibilities of contributing to the Joomla Community and at some point, he joined GLIP. Tom is very helpful and since the first day he has been sponsoring our JUG with his company TLWebdesign, for which we are very grateful! In addition, everyone at our JUG can give a presentation on an interesting Joomla subject.

In the Netherlands, it is 13 JUGs were active up to and including the COVID-19 lockdown. Unfortunately, the Covid Pandemic has caused the number of JUGs to drop to 5 active JUGs. We continued as JUG online and later started organizing physical meetings again. Nevertheless, the Netherlands has a very active group of Joomlers that you will encounter again during the JoomlaDays. In Mattermost, there is also a group of Dutch and Belgian Joomlers who help each other with questions or problems they encounter in relation to Joomla, Joomla Extensions and Templates. Various Joomlers are guest speakers at the various JUGs to share knowledge.

There is also a Dutch website for the Joomla Community in the Netherlands with a forum and more information about Joomla, the JUG’s, and activities in the Netherlands about Joomla.

Joomla is a powerful Content Management System that is versatile and can be used for simple, small, as well as large and complex organizations. With its multilingual support, Mobile Friendly, ACL, SEO and WACG support, and a wide availability of extensions and templates, Joomla is a real powerhouse. I especially like the calm and thoughtful design of the back end and pleasant to find your way around quickly.

Joomla is supported by a great active community of volunteers not only in the Netherlands but also abroad. In my opinion, Joomla is getting better and better, the arrival of Joomla 4, later 5 and now version 6 is being worked hard to further optimize the CMS so that the product can continue to be used in the future. Joomla has shown through a fixed patch and update cadence that it has become a reliable CMS that also values security and ease of use! For this, it is an Open-Source CMS in the business market that you can build on.

In the years that I have used Joomla I have seen the CMS becoming increasingly mature and user-friendly. There was a dip in the development of Joomla during Joomla 3, but with the arrival of Joomla 4 and now 6, a solid foundation has been laid for a future-proof, accessible, reliable, secure and versatile open-source CMS!