Seamless Joomla 3 to Joomla 5 Migration for Wendel Arbeitsbühnen
Client Overview
Platform: Joomla (Migration from Joomla 3 to Joomla 5)
Industry: Industrial Equipment / Access Platform Rental
Project Overview
Wendel Arbeitsbühnen is a specialized provider of access platform rental and industrial lifting solutions. With their existing website running on an outdated Joomla 3 system, the company faced increasing security risks, extension compatibility issues, and long-term sustainability concerns common to Joomla 3 end-of-life websites. These risks made a professional Joomla migration service essential.
To modernize the platform and ensure future scalability, performance, and security, the company initiated a structured Joomla 3 to Joomla 5 migration project. This Joomla upgrade was necessary to maintain security compliance, ensure extension compatibility, and support modern PHP versions.
The objective was to deliver a secure, high-performance, and SEO-preserving Joomla migration while maintaining the existing content structure, service pages, metadata integrity, and search engine rankings. A key requirement was preserving SEO value during the Joomla upgrade to avoid traffic loss.
The upgraded Joomla 5 platform needed to offer improved system stability, faster performance, mobile responsiveness, and easier long-term maintenance while ensuring full compatibility with modern Joomla standards.
Technology Stack
- Joomla 5 – Modernized Content Management System with enhanced security and performance
- PHP 8.3 – Optimized backend environment fully compatible with Joomla 5
- MySQL – Reliable database management system
- Sphene Pro Template – Built on the Helix Ultimate framework for responsive and flexible Joomla 5 design
Key Challenges & Solutions
1. Template Compatibility Issue (Sphene Pro)
Challenge:
The existing website was built using the Sphene Pro template based on the Helix3 framework for Joomla 3. This framework is outdated and not compatible with modern Joomla versions.
Since Helix3 is not compatible with Joomla 4 or Joomla 5, frontend rendering errors and template compatibility issues occurred after the Joomla migration.
This is a common problem during Joomla template migration and Joomla version upgrades.
Solution:
As part of our professional Joomla migration service, we purchased and implemented the updated Sphene Pro template built on the Helix Ultimate framework, which fully supports Joomla 5.
- Full compatibility with Joomla 5 standards
- Stable and future-proof Joomla framework architecture
- Preserved website design consistency during migration
- Improved frontend responsiveness, performance, and mobile compatibility
2. Page Builder Migration (Quix)
Challenge:
The Joomla 3 website was created using Quix 2.7.7 (Classic Builder). After upgrading Joomla to version 5 and installing Quix 5.x, the following migration error appeared:
“Quix Classic Renderer not found. Please install Classic Renderer.”
This issue occurred because the Classic Builder is deprecated and no longer supported in Joomla 5-compatible versions of Quix.
This type of page builder compatibility issue is common during Joomla 3 to Joomla 5 migration projects.
Solution:
Third-Party Extension Compatibility
Challenge:
Extension compatibility analysis is a critical step in any professional Joomla migration service.
Solution:
Extension Resolution
- K2 – Migrated content to Joomla native articles to improve performance and maintainability
- RokCommon – Removed (not required for Sphene template and not Joomla 5 compatible)
- Poptin – Replaced with modern Joomla 5 compatible popup solution
- Regular Labs Extensions – Updated to Joomla 5 compatible versions
- JCE Editor – Updated to latest Joomla 5 compatible version
- JCE Mediabox – Updated
- CookieHint – Updated
- Helix3 – Replaced with Helix Ultimate (modern Joomla template framework)
- SEO Plugin – Replaced with Joomla 5 native SEO features to preserve search rankings
- Akeeba Backup – Updated to Joomla 5 compatible version
- Simple Image Gallery – Updated
- AllVideos – Updated
- Unite Slider – Replaced with Joomla 5 compatible alternative
The only data that required manual rebuilding came from Quix Classic Builder pages and the Sphene Pro (Helix3) template, which is typical in complex Joomla migration projects involving outdated frameworks.
Results
- Fully compatible with Joomla 5 standards and modern hosting environments
- Optimized performance under PHP 8.3 for faster execution
- Cleaned legacy code and removed outdated Joomla extensions
- Improved Joomla website security and long-term maintainability
- Faster page load times after Joomla upgrade
- Reduced server errors and framework compatibility conflicts
- Modernized Joomla template structure using Helix Ultimate framework
- Stable Joomla backend environment for ongoing maintenance and updates
- Zero data loss during Joomla migration
- Preserved URL structure, metadata, and Joomla SEO rankings
- Maintained search visibility and Google indexing
- Rebuilt complex Joomla pages without affecting SEO integrity
Why Choose Soft Solutions4U for Joomla Projects?
Our Joomla migration service focuses on security, performance, SEO preservation, and long-term stability — not just completing a Joomla version upgrade.
Our Capabilities
- Joomla 3 → Joomla 5 structured migration planning and execution
- Full Joomla technical audit (Joomla version, PHP compatibility, extensions, templates)
- Joomla template migration (Helix3 → Helix Ultimate framework)
- Joomla extension compatibility analysis, update, replacement, or removal
- Joomla page builder migration and professional content rebuilding
- PHP 8.x environment optimization for Joomla performance
- Joomla SEO preservation including URL structure, redirects, and metadata protection
- Joomla performance optimization and caching configuration
- Joomla security hardening, backup setup, and risk mitigation
- Ongoing Joomla maintenance, support, and upgrade strategy
Ready for your online success?
The cooperation with SS4U is extraordinary. I want to emphasize the constant communication, fast response times and adequate implementation of the project briefings.
We have been working with SS4U for several years now. We are very enthusiastic about the collaboration. Thank you very much!
