Joomla in Faces. Llewellyn van der Merwe (developer)

I first encountered Joomla in 2008 at a time when I had no technical background at all. I wasn't a developer; I was simply someone who needed to build real things and found Joomla approachable enough to learn through hands-on experience. Joomla became my classroom - the place where I taught myself how systems work from the inside out.

In 2014, I released Joomla Component Builder (JCB) to the public. It began as an internal tool for my company, Vast Development Method, based in Namibia. At that point, we had reached a ceiling where traditional Joomla development workflows were no longer sustainable at scale. JCB was built to introduce stability, automation, and repeatability into our development process.

Over time, JCB evolved far beyond its original scope. What started as an internal productivity tool grew into a full compiler-based development engine, now used by developers and businesses around the world to build and maintain complex Joomla applications.

Today, I am the founder and owner of Vast Development Method, an application development firm focused on building enterprise-grade systems using Joomla and JCB. Alongside my commercial work, I remain an active volunteer within the Joomla project. I currently maintain the official Joomla Docker images and contribute to several Joomla teams.

I consider myself an engineer in the practical sense - someone focused on building systems that work in the real world and continue working years later, long after the initial excitement has faded.

My first encounter with Joomla happened in 2008 when I wanted to build a website for our church.
At the time, I had no development background and very little technical confidence. While visiting the United States, I met Greg Gordon from SermonIndex.net. During one of our conversations, he told me: "Joomla is the best open-source CMS in the world. If I could, I would move SermonIndex onto it."

For many years, I was simply a user. I built dozens - probably hundreds - of websites. I was, by my own admission, a determined "script-kiddy," learning by experimentation and persistence. Joomla allowed me to keep moving forward instead of getting stuck.

I was quickly catapulted into the world of software development, facing the same problems every developer encounters along the journey - and some that many never do. It was challenging, chaotic, and incredibly exciting.

Eventually, something clicked:
I had received enormous value from this project - and had given nothing back.
That realization motivated me to start contributing.

At first, I helped where I could. Then I took on more responsibility. Over time, I became involved in teams, infrastructure, and long-term initiatives. Contribution became part of how I expressed gratitude for what Joomla had given me.

Today, my work has shifted from small websites to enterprise applications and infrastructure systems, but Joomla still remains part of everything we do. It has grown alongside my business.

We didn't move on from Joomla - we moved forward with it.

The hardest work I did in Joomla was never technical - it was relational.

One of the most difficult periods was during my time in the Joomla Extension Directory (JED). Towards the end of my term as team leader, I proposed a major modernization strategy: moving the directory toward a repository-driven model with transparent workflows, issue-based support, automated updates, and decentralized maintenance.

The intention was simple: make the JED more fair, more scalable, and more modern.

Unfortunately, the proposal became contentious, and the experience ended in conflict rather than collaboration. It was deeply discouraging and nearly led me to step away from Joomla entirely. Eventually, I chose to step away from the JED itself - not from the project as a whole.

In contrast, the most rewarding work I've done has been in areas where ideas turn into systems:

These are environments where progress is measured in outcomes rather than opinions - and that is where I find the most fulfillment.

Joomla's challenge in Southern Africa is not technical - it is perception.
Laravel, Symfony, and WordPress dominate training programs and public awareness. Joomla is often dismissed before it is properly understood.

As a result, much of my work here is educational. I spend a great deal of time explaining that Joomla is not "just a CMS," but rather a framework with a CMS as a demonstration of its power. Once clients understand this, the conversation changes completely. They save money, build faster, and gain systems with real longevity.

There is enormous untapped potential in the region, but realizing it requires:

This is an awareness problem - not a capability problem.

I don't balance - I prioritise. Family comes first. Always.
I have ten children, aged six to twenty-eight, and an incredible wife who is my glory. Several of my older children work in our business, and some even contribute to Joomla.

We build together, learn together, and grow together.

What makes everything sustainable is not time management - it is alignment.
My family is not competing with my work. They are part of it.

Today, my focus includes:

We work on proprietary, enterprise-grade projects across multiple industries. Joomla and JCB are not side projects for us - they form the foundation of our business.

What excites us most is seeing Joomla confidently step into environments that many never expected it to serve: large organisations, critical systems, and long-term platforms.

I don't have accurate usage numbers - and that is intentional. We removed all telemetry. Privacy matters more than metrics.

What I do know is this:

Many don't publicly acknowledge they are using it - because it gives them a competitive advantage.

JCB has grown into a development engine with:

It was originally built to protect our own clients from instability - and today it quietly protects thousands of projects.

Using a formal development valuation model that accounts for real engineering time, professional tooling, market demand, and long-term reuse, JCB represents a multi-million-dollar engineering effort.

While the compiled software is freely distributed under the GPL, the real value lies in its blueprint architecture - a reusable, scalable design system whose replication potential places it firmly in the realm of large commercial platforms rather than typical open-source tools.

By design, we do not actively promote JCB. The real value lies not in the tool itself, but in the bespoke extensions and systems it enables us to build - and to maintain - for our clients.

More than ever - and arguably more now than at any other point in Joomla's history.

Language is not just a usability feature; it directly determines adoption. People engage more deeply with software when it speaks their language, both literally and culturally. When a platform is localized properly, it stops feeling foreign and starts feeling like it belongs. That sense of ownership is often the deciding factor between casual experimentation and long-term commitment.

Historically, translation - especially for third-party extensions - has been expensive, slow, and difficult to maintain. Many excellent extensions never reached wider audiences simply because the cost of localization outweighed the perceived benefit. As a result, entire regions were effectively excluded from full participation in the ecosystem.

That reality has changed.

AI has fundamentally altered the economics of translation. What was once a major operational burden is now a strategic advantage. Translation can be faster, more consistent, and easier to maintain than ever before - especially when it is integrated directly into the development workflow rather than treated as an afterthought.

This is precisely where Joomla Component Builder comes into play. JCB already integrates AI-assisted workflows directly into extension development, including localization.

That means third-party developers can design multilingual support into their extensions from the outset, rather than bolting it on later. Languages that were previously considered "too small" or "too expensive" to support are now viable.

In this context, localization is no longer merely about accessibility. It becomes a growth strategy - one that allows Joomla to strengthen its presence globally without sacrificing quality or sustainability.

The most important advice is this: start small, and start somewhere.

Joomla is a trust-based community. Responsibility, influence, and decision-making authority are not granted immediately - they are earned over time through consistency, reliability, and presence. This can be unfamiliar or even frustrating to newcomers, especially those who arrive with strong skills and good intentions, but it is essential to the project's long-term stability.

Many new volunteers feel pressure to begin in their ideal role - core development, leadership, or architecture. In reality, most meaningful journeys in Joomla begin elsewhere: documentation, testing, support, translation, or simply showing up consistently in conversations and helping where help is needed.

Joomla should not try to win by being louder, trendier, or more fashionable than other platforms.

It should win by being unapologetically technical.

Joomla's real audience has never been casual trend-followers. Its strength lies in serving people who build systems that must not fail - systems where security, auditability, stability, and long-term maintainability matter more than quick wins or visual novelty.

Rather than chasing mass appeal, Joomla should communicate its strengths clearly and honestly: that it is a serious platform for serious work. That it enables developers to build complex, reliable systems efficiently. That it rewards architectural thinking rather than shortcuts.

When Joomla presents itself this way, it naturally attracts the right users - developers, teams, and organizations who value substance over spectacle and longevity over hype.

Joomla does not need everyone. It needs those who understand why it exists.

Joomla's greatest strengths are not superficial features - they are structural qualities that reveal themselves over time.

At its core, Joomla offers a clean, extensible architecture that scales across a wide range of use cases. Security is not an afterthought but a foundational concern. Developers retain freedom to design solutions without being locked into rigid paradigms, while still benefiting from consistent conventions and a robust API.

Economically, Joomla excels in long-term efficiency. The total cost of ownership remains predictable and sustainable, especially for organizations that value maintainability and lifecycle stability. Projects built on Joomla can evolve for years without requiring complete rewrites, which is a rare quality in today's fast-moving software landscape, that because of JCB.

Most importantly, Joomla is built for longevity.

It is best understood as a framework with a CMS attached - not the other way around. The CMS demonstrates what the framework can do, but the true power lies beneath the surface, where multiple independent teams can collaborate on the same foundation.

Combined with a license that guarantees freedom and continuity, Joomla enables cooperation across companies, continents, and industries. That balance of technical depth and open collaboration is rare - and extremely valuable.

First and foremost, Joomla needs to be understood for what it truly is: a community project. That is not a weakness - it is one of its greatest strengths.

Joomla does not have a single corporate owner or an overlord dictating direction. Everyone participates on equal footing. Anyone can contribute, improve the system, and benefit from it.

This openness is embedded in Joomla's DNA and reinforced by its license. It is precisely what has allowed Joomla to survive for so long, even through difficult seasons.

That said, community-driven projects come with challenges.

Over the years, there have been moments where governance, decision-making, and communication slowed progress or caused frustration. Joomla has experienced internal friction, competing visions, and periods of uncertainty that understandably pushed some developers and businesses away. Ignoring that reality does not help anyone - it needs to be acknowledged honestly.

This is where projects like Joomla Component Builder fit naturally into the picture. Joomla's restraint at the core level made it possible for tools like JCB to exist - tools that dramatically lower the barrier to building and maintaining complex extensions while still respecting Joomla's architectural principles. Joomla's evolution, therefore, does not depend solely on core changes, but on empowering the ecosystem to solve problems creatively and sustainably. Ultimately, Joomla does not need to reinvent itself.

It needs to lean into its identity:

If Joomla can communicate that truth more clearly, support those who are building real systems on top of it, and foster a culture where good ideas are championed rather than resisted, it will not only survive - it will remain deeply relevant in a landscape that increasingly values stability, security, and long-term thinking.

Joomla's future does not depend on being louder than others. It depends on being honest about what it already does exceptionally well - and allowing the community to build boldly on that foundation.