Early Access Features

Test new JReviews features before they become the default

#Overview

Early Access in JReviews 6 allow us to take an incremental approach towards modernization. As we continue to re-write other areas of the JReviews frontend, these will also be included in Early Access. The features are opt-in, so you can easily upgrade from JReviews 5 without having to make any changes.

#How to Enable Features

Early Access features can be enabled in the JReviews administration. Many features can be enabled independently, allowing you to test specific improvements without affecting other parts of your site. Installed add-ons can register additional feature switches in the same screen.

#Available Features

#New Listing Detail Page

• Complete rewrite that also includes rewrites for listing detail page addon integrations
• New listing media manager
• New map features: full screen control, automatic KML/GPX/GeoJSON attachment loading as route layers. New elevation profile when elevation data is detected, and a route player/scrubber map control
• New comment/review form
• Optional tabbed layout that splits the description, custom fields, media, reviews and map across tabs, the JReviews 5 tabbed detail layout brought to the modern page. Turn it on the same way as in JReviews 5, with the _tabs theme suffix on the category or the menu item, or decide it per listing with the listing detail layout hook
• Redesigned header, with a dedicated layout for listings without a cover image and a logo plate for listings that have a logo, restyleable from custom.css
• Add-ons can register their own sections on the page, so add-on content sits alongside core content

#New Listing Form

• Integrated media uploads allowing creating/updating listings and uploading media in the same form
• Administrators can allow listing owners to move their listings between selected categories.
• Optional tabbed form that presents field groups as tabs, enabled with the _tabbed theme suffix on the category or the menu item, as in JReviews 5. The category wins over the menu item, so choosing a category that asks for tabs switches the form as you pick it, and the listing form layout hook can decide it instead. Uploads stay at the foot of the form, outside the tabs

#Email Notifications

• Routes core JReviews notification emails through the modern JReviews 6 mail pipeline and durable queue.
• Covers core notification families such as submissions, reviews, inquiries, reports, claims, owner replies, discussions, media, and moderation.
• Emails carry the language of the site the action happened on, with translations for German, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch, Brazilian Portuguese and European Portuguese. Administrator mail is kept separate from customer mail.
• Listing type Language settings apply to the modern pages and lists, so a hotels directory reads "Add new hotel" instead of "Add new listing".
• Requires a working JReviews cron. The Queue add-on is recommended for continuous background processing.

#YOOtheme Pro Elements

When the Early Access listing detail page is enabled, 11 new YOOtheme custom elements become available:

• Listing Blocks - Rating histogram, detailed ratings, user comments/reviews, listing resources, and directions
• Listing Actions - Manage listing, upload media, write review, follow listing, add to list, and listing payment buttons

Read YOOtheme Pro documentation →

#Structured Data Setup

• New administration page for mapping custom fields to Schema.org properties
• Supports additional Schema.org types and supplemental PropertyValue entries
• Outputs JSON-LD independently of the listing detail page template
• Only works when the new listing detail page is enabled

Read structured data setup documentation →

#PaidListings Checkout

• New streamlined checkout one-step checkout flow. When using the new checkout experience that is automatically activated with the new listing detail page, there are some required changes needed for the PayPal and Stripe integrations:
  • Updated PayPal integration to use the modern PayPal hosted checkout experience. This requires Details on new setup requirements can be found within the PayPal handler settings in PaidListings
  • Updated Stripe integration. Handler settings remain the same, but the integration now only uses two Stripe events. The events names are listed in the Stripe handler setting and need to be enabled for your webhook in the Stripe developer dashboard.

#Listing Comparison Page

• Complete rewrite of the listing comparison page.

#Directory Page

• Rewritten directory list page with CMS-agnostic alpha index URLs and improved card layouts.

#Listing List Pages

• Rewritten list pages used for category listings, featured, latest, popular, top rated, search results, and all other list page types.
• New table layout, layout switcher, map split-view, configurable RSS feeds, and a redesigned toolbar.
• Includes the Listing Filters widget for sidebar/dialog filtering with active-filter chips and live URL sync.

#Advanced Search Page

• Rewritten advanced search page with numeric range and date range field components, Any/All match toggles for multi-option fields, and configurable date presets.
• Pairs with the Listing Search widget for header-bar and homepage search placements.

#Comments/Reviews List Pages

• Rewritten comments and reviews list pages, including the per-user reviews page (the legacy my-reviews URL is automatically routed to the new V6 page when this flag is on).
• Includes the Comment Filters widget for sidebar/dialog filtering and active filter chips.

#Discussion Pages

• Rewritten discussions list and discussion detail pages with a compact rows layout, canonical URL handling, captcha verification, and a new discussion report component.

#Media Pages

• Rewritten dedicated photo and video gallery pages with full-screen Swiper modal, lazy loading, fullscreen zoom, embedded gallery sync with theater mode, and Schema.org JSON-LD structured data.
• Per-photo <title> and OpenGraph meta tags for shareable photo pages.

#Reviewer Rank Page

• Rewritten reviewer leaderboard with new podium and list layouts and a "helpful" percentage indicator.

#Add-on Features

Installed add-ons can add these independent Early Access switches:

• PaidListings — Account & Plans Pages: modern My Account, Paid Plans, orders, invoices, subscriptions, billing, and notification flows.
• ListingResources — Resources Pages: modern Resources and My Resources pages.
• UserProfiles — UserProfiles Pages: modern registration, login, account management, profile, and submission pages.
• EngageUsers — EngageUsers Pages: modern site activity stream, inbox, and notification-preferences pages.
• MapsPro — Map View Page: modern full-page map with clustered markers and interactive filtering. The map can also be added as a section on the listing detail page.

Enable only the pages you can test end to end. When a switch is off, the corresponding legacy add-on pages remain in use.

#JSON Custom Query

• Strict, model-aware JSON filtering and ordering is available in Listings, Comments, Media, and Calendar Site Widgets; listing and comment Custom List pages; Related Listings; and Related Comments.
• Related Listings and Related Comments gain listing-detail context tokens. Site Widgets and Custom List pages intentionally do not receive listing context.
• Legacy Joomla modules, legacy WordPress widgets, and the legacy Related Reviews renderer retain Legacy Custom Where / Order until those paths are retired.

Read the JSON Custom Query reference and migration guide →

#Customizations

• The listing detail page, listing form, and PaidListings checkout use a new template system (Blade) and language system (PHP arrays) that differ from the legacy JReviews 3/5 approach
• Old .thtml templates and .po language files will not work with these Early Access features

Read customizations documentation →

#Developer Hooks

• Similar to the template system, the re-written functionality also implements a new system for hooks. This means that any previous hooks available for the listing detail page and listing form will not work when the early access versions are enabled. There is already a long list of new hooks implemented to replace the previous ones.

Read hooks documentation → | V5 to V6 migration guide → | Browse all v6 hooks →

#Blade Template Formatting for Custom Fields

When the new listing detail page is enabled, custom field output formatting uses Blade templates with different syntax, model APIs, and file locations from the legacy PHP formatter.

Who is affected: Only users who have added custom code in individual custom field's Advanced Settings using the "PHP output format" editor or "Field output template" dropdown. Fields without custom code in these settings continue working normally.

Important: When the Early Access listing detail page renders a field, custom code in PHP output format and a legacy Field output template is ignored. The field falls back to its shared Output Format until you configure Blade template code or a Field output Blade template.

Read the migration guide → | Use the AI-assisted migration guide →

#Migrating Existing Customizations

If you have existing customizations for listing detail pages or listing forms, review this checklist before enabling Early Access features:

• [ ] Template overrides - Review documentation to migrate your .thtml customizations to the new Blade template system. See customization guide →
• [ ] Language string overrides - Review documentation to migrate your .po language customizations to the new PHP array system. See language overrides →
• [ ] Hooks - Review documentation to migrate your hooks to the new hook system. See V5 to V6 hooks migration guide →
• [ ] Custom field PHP formatting - If you have custom code in "PHP output format" or "Field output template" settings, migrate to Blade syntax. See PHP formatting migration guide →