New York, NY, - September 30, 2014 - Joomla, one of the world’s most popular open source content management systems (CMS) used for everything from websites and blogs to custom apps and Intranets, today launched a new and improved Joomla Demo service in partnership with SiteGround web hosting company.

The Joomla demo became first available in 2010 and for the last 4 years it has been provided with the help of CloudAccess.net. The change in the official Joomla Demo partner comes after a public RFP by Open Source Matters, Inc. (OSM). Several hosting companies have submitted their proposals in response to the request and the SiteGround offer was chosen as the best fit for the objectives set by OSM for the future of the demo service.

The main objective of Joomla Demo is to allow anyone to test freely and easily the full capabilities of Joomla CMS. Through the demo service the user receives access to a free hosting account with a pre-installed Joomla. This saves not only any initial hosting costs, but also all the setup time and effort otherwise needed. Since its launch in 2010 the demo has been very successful and more than 450.000 accounts have been created.

With the new version of the demo launched, Joomla aims to further improve these results by increasing the number of new initial signups and at the same time increasing the percentage of demo accounts that remain active once the demo period is over.

The key improvements in the new Joomla Demo are:

• The sign up process is faster and easier with fewer fields required and less confusion over versions available.
• The demo.joomla.com page is responsive, so users on any devices will easily sign up and get started.
• The duration of the demo is increased from 30 to 90 days, which will allow people more time to play freely with Joomla and will increase the number of sites built during the demo period.
• The immediate options to continue with a hosted site with the new hosting partner is more affordable than what was previously available, which should also result in less abandonment once the demo is over.

The President of Open Source Matters Inc. Sarah Watz says: “First, I would like to thank our long-term partner CloudAccess.net for being with us through these years and helping us launch the demo initially. And today we are super excited to be able to develop this service further together with SiteGround. Offering the extended demo is great, because with all the neat features in Joomla it takes some time to discover them all and try them out. My hope is that more and more people will fall in love with Joomla when they experience the ease of use and the power of the extendability Joomla offers with the large number of extensions available today.“

Lilyana Yakimova, who is the Marketing Director of SiteGround, says: “The ease of use on each step has been the main guiding principle for us when designing the new demo process. It starts with an easy sign up and immediate access to the Joomla admin. We provide ongoing help with a detailed Joomla video guide and 24/7 support. At the end, we offer the user an affordable and seamless option to keep and further develop the Joomla website built during the demo period. We are looking forward to welcoming the first Joomla Demo users to be hosted by SiteGround!”

About SiteGround

SiteGround is a leading web hosting company with a special focus on Joomla CMS. Its hosting platform is optimized for additional Joomla security with the help of specific account isolation and in-house developed Joomla security plugin and proactive Joomla security monitoring. The performance of Joomla CMS and its loading speed is also enhanced on SiteGround servers with the help of a special caching solution, developed by the company. SiteGround has also been an active sponsor of multiple Joomla events, including the Joomla! World Conference 2012, 2013, and 2014, JAB 2012, 2013 and 2014 and more than 40 other local Joomla! Days for the last 3 years.

About Joomla!

Joomla is one of the world's most popular software packages used to build, organize, manage and publish content for websites, blogs, Intranets and mobile applications. With more than 3 percent of the Web running on Joomla and a CMS market share of more than 9 percent, the free open source software powers the web presence of hundreds of thousands of small businesses, governments, non-profits and large organizations worldwide like Citibank, eBay, General Electric, Harvard University, Ikea, McDonald's and Sony. The award-winning CMS is led by an international community of active contributors, helping the most inexperienced user to seasoned web developer make their digital visions a reality. Joomla's power and extensibility has resulted in its software being downloaded more than 60 million times.

About Open Source Matters, Inc.

Open Source Matters, Inc. (OSM) is the not for profit organization, created to provide organization, legal and financial support to the Joomla project.

Editorial Contact:

Sarah Watz for Joomla
+46708755115
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.