The Joomla Project, a free, award-winning PHP-based content management system that enables users to build websites and powerful online applications, has announced the beta release of Joomla 1.6

Key Features in Joomla 1.6:

New Access Control System - Allows site administrators control over who can view and manage content.
Unlimited Depth Organizational Model - Gives site administrators and content creators user-defined category levels that allow for the creation of a category tree with as many or as few levels for organizing articles and other content as needed.
One-Click Extension Updates - Allows users to keep sites secure and controlled by simplifying the process of updating extensions.
Semantic XHTML Layouts - Provides a better baseline for content presentation.

In addition, developers and implementers will enjoy the new ability Joomla 1.6 provides in allowing extensions to be built with granular control and permissions. This will make it easier to create more advanced, enterprise-focused applications and extensions for Joomla. Furthermore, there are numerous improvements in areas like code reuse, and considerable success in ensuring the stability of application programming interfaces via unit testing. Read more information here.