Joomla!

When it comes to complexity, Joomla! places somewhere between simple WordPress and comprehensive and advanced Drupal.

The Open Source script is very popular among programmers who create even quite advanced websites with it.

The CMS can be downloaded and viewed at www.joomla.org

Advantages

Easy to install

Joomla! is quite simple to install. It takes only about ten minutes from downloading to having a working script on a server. It is not as easy as Quick.Cms or WordPress, but is still much simpler than Drupal.

Plugins

The script has several thousands of free plugins available at the homepage. WordPress may have even more, but to make it as functional as Joomla!, you have to instal dozen or so plugins to start with.

Support

There is abundance of programmer's tools and tutorials available for users. There's also an extensive discussion board.

Navigation management

The script has a comprehensive navigation system, that can successfully manage several hierarchies. It allows to easily manage a site even with couple hundred subpages.

Good looking URLs

Links generated by the script are very friendly and make for better SEO positioning.

Updates

When the page design is ready, there will come a time to update the script to a newer version. You can do it from web browser.

Advanced administration

Administration panel provides many functions that can be intimidating in the beginning. In time, however, you can master most of them to use the full potential of the script.

Disadvantages

Limited adjustment options

Even though Joomla! has many modules and templates, it is always missing something for the more advanced users. It's still better than in case of WordPress.

Server resources and efficiency

Modularity and expendability often means bigger demands on server parameters. This certainly is the case. Still, if the website is not too large and there will not be thousands of visitors, there should be no problems, at least not in the beginning.

Paid plugins

Some of plugins and modules for Joomla! are paid, unlike for e.g. WordPress or Drupal. It pays to spend some time to make sure you won't have to buy an addition that is free in some other script.

Plugins compatibility

There may occure some frustrating compatibility issues between some of the plugins. It may turn out that it will be impossible to get some functionalities without some serious work on the PHP code.

First contact

Many users, beginners especially, are terrified by multitude of possibilities and functions. So if the website is to be simple and the user or the client is just beginning, it would be wiser to use Quick.Cms or WordPress.

Conclusions

If you have some experience with CMS systems and you're looking for something more than WordPress, but you're still intimidated by Drupal, Joomla! might be just the thing for you. The script is free, has a great number of plugins, modules and templates as well as good technical support. It's a system of choice for multimedia sites and sites with a lot of content - it's when it performs best.

Screenshots

  • Joomla! screenshot - admin panel dashboard
  • Joomla! screenshot - admin panel menu
  • Joomla! screenshot - admin panel article editing

Users comments

  • Timcz3k
    2014-03-23 17:31

    Joomla's strenght is in complexity. Deep level navigation, sections in sections, categories but it is not easy to use for begginers.

  • Nicole
    2014-05-15 20:52

    I use Joomla for very large websites, for simpler ones, that is for most, I use quick.CMS, which is faster and easier to handle. Unfortunately Joomla is difficult to use for my customers, so I have to feel a customer if he will be able to manage it.
    In general it has many useful options. You also need not just any server, one that could handle a large traffic website.

  • deduj
    2014-07-10 23:34

    Jomla is really cool, but it requires some adjustments of server on which stands. Simple operations, many problems can seek answers to the forums regarding Joomla. I recommend it

  • Kanishka
    2014-10-30 12:16

    Joomla was designed mainly for simple websites and blogs, and for

    people with only some knowledge of building.

    Disadvantages of joomla:
    -------------------------
    Complex,
    huge server resources requirements,
    limited Customization,
    some Paid plugins,
    some Plugins compatibility,
    SEO Un-Friendly,
    makes the website heavy to load & run,
    less secure

  • Priyanka
    2015-05-09 08:08

    Excellent review, Joomla is quite simple to use it but not very well for hackers protection. There is lot of protections upgrades

  • Valadha
    2016-02-03 04:03

    Joomla is awesome! It is easy and very simple to use. You may be able to use it when making websites for your businesses like hotels, restaurants, schools, etc. But beware that it may be hacked into and messed up.

  • Thomas
    2017-01-17 15:19

    Joomla's code is being refactored to use some good design patterns with many plugins available. Unfortunately its native content component is not so flexible. There are a lot of good free plugins, but I'm sure the price of some plugins worth the benefits.

  • Mark
    2017-04-28 19:25

    Valadha your comment is very unjudged

    Because I hope you give explicit feeds but in real joomla is very deep work the main problem is documentation of joomla is not transparent

    Very tough for beginners if they want to built component for client need

  • Brett
    2018-08-31 15:44

    Joomla is no different to any other CMS out there when it comes to free and paid plugins/extensions. Not sure how you can say that this is a disadvantage over other CMS's as even WordPress and Drupal have plenty of paid plugins.

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