Overview
What is Joomla?
Joomla! is a free and open source content management system used to publish web content. Included features are page caching, RSS feeds, printable versions of pages, news flashes, blogs, polls, a search function, and support for language internationalization.
TrustRadius Insights
Joomla! Review By JoomTech Solutions
New Joomla! 4 jumps ahead of the others
Jooma! the website developer's software of the future.
My two cents on Joomla!
We are creating creative websites with unparalleled ease
Be satisfied with Joomla
Joomla was adopted in my company as a content generator for the internet, with the objective of making websites quick for temporary or …
Ok for users, not fascinating for developers
Joomla is a developer's dream
A Satisfying CMS software
Joomla! Is the best CMS that you don't know you need.
Nobody puts Joomla in a corner!
Joomla Expert Admin Since 2006 - Technical Support Specialist
Excellent, Easy To Use CMS
Jammin' with Joomla!
Awards
Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards
Popular Features
- Availability / breadth of extensions (45)8.080%
- Role-based user permissions (44)7.070%
- Page templates (45)7.070%
- WYSIWYG editor (46)6.060%
Reviewer Pros & Cons
Pricing
What is Joomla?
Joomla! is a free and open source content management system used to publish web content. Included features are page caching, RSS feeds, printable versions of pages, news flashes, blogs, polls, a search function, and support for language internationalization.
Entry-level set up fee?
- No setup fee
Offerings
- Free Trial
- Free/Freemium Version
- Premium Consulting/Integration Services
Would you like us to let the vendor know that you want pricing?
18 people also want pricing
Alternatives Pricing
What is Adobe Business Catalyst (Discontinued)?
Adobe Business Catalyst was a cloud-hosted system for building and managing web content and online stores with a built-in CRM framework in addition to sales, service, and marketing features including eCommerce and Email Marketing tools. It has been end of life (EOL) since 2020.
What is UENI?
Small business owners don’t have much time to build their online presence, don’t have much money to spend on digital advertising, and don’t want to navigate the complexity of what it means to be online today. So UENI presents a solution built specifically for them. Unlike DIY website builders or…
Product Demos
Joomla! 3 Quickstart Installation Step by Step Guide
JA Elastica - Free Responsive Design Template for Joomla 2.5!
Template Creator CK 3 - Overview, simple demo, create your Joomla template in 7minutes
Template Creator CK 3 - Overview, simple demo, create your Joomla template in 8 minutes
Features
Security
This component helps a company minimize the security risks by controlling access to the software and its data, and encouraging best practices among users.
- 7Role-based user permissions(44) Ratings
Permissions to perform actions or access or modify data are assigned to roles, which are then assigned to users, reducing complexity of administration.
Platform & Infrastructure
Features related to platform-wide settings and structure, such as permissions, languages, integrations, customizations, etc.
- 7API(39) Ratings
An API (application programming interface) provides a standard programming interface for connecting third-party systems to the software for data creation, access, updating and/or deletion.
- 6.1Internationalization / multi-language(40) Ratings
The software supports multiple languages, countries, currencies, etc.
Web Content Creation
Features that support the creation of website content.
- 6WYSIWYG editor(46) Ratings
What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get editing tool allows users to build pages without writing code.
- 8Code quality / cleanliness(44) Ratings
Code generated by WYSIWYG editor is clean and validates according to W3C standards.
- 8.4Admin section(43) Ratings
The admin page is easy to navigate and use.
- 7Page templates(45) Ratings
The CMS has standard webpage templates or types of web pages (e.g. homepage, article page, interior page, blog page, etc.); users can also build custom templates.
- 9Library of website themes(43) Ratings
A library of website frameworks or themes is available as a starting point for building a website.
- 7Mobile optimization / responsive design(43) Ratings
The CMS helps users build webpages that work well on mobile devices – whether m-dot pages or responsively designed pages.
- 6.1Publishing workflow(43) Ratings
The software allows users to set up a custom workflow for updating the website, including approval processes.
- 6Form generator(39) Ratings
Users can build website forms for visitors to fill out.
Web Content Management
Features for managing website content
- 8Content taxonomy(44) Ratings
Users can create multiple levels and types of content categories including tags.
- 7SEO support(44) Ratings
The CMS helps users create the right website infrastructure (pagination, page headers, titles, meta tags, url structure, etc.) to increase the site’s visibility in search engine results.
- 4.1Bulk management(42) Ratings
Users can change an attribute on a group of documents or sites all at once through features such as global search and replace, making bulk changes easier.
- 8Availability / breadth of extensions(45) Ratings
There is a broad library of extensions, plug-ins, modules or add-ons that allow users to easily customize their websites without building custom code.
- 6.1Community / comment management(43) Ratings
Users can put post/page comments through an approval process, auto-approve commenters based on their email addresses, block commenters by IP address, delete comments, etc.
Product Details
- About
- Integrations
- Competitors
- Tech Details
- FAQs
What is Joomla?
Joomla Video
Joomla Integrations
Joomla Competitors
- Drupal
- Kentico Xperience
- Plone
- Magnolia (V5 and later versions)
Joomla Technical Details
Operating Systems | Unspecified |
---|---|
Mobile Application | No |
Frequently Asked Questions
Comparisons
Compare with
Reviews and Ratings
(285)Community Insights
- Business Problems Solved
- Pros
- Cons
- Recommendations
Joomla is a versatile content management system used by various businesses and organizations to run and manage their websites. It is popular among marketing departments as it allows them to update web content without the need for a developer, saving time and resources. Web development teams also benefit from Joomla's user-friendly interface, using it to design websites for clients and teach them to make small changes independently. Additionally, Joomla serves as a content management system for a wide range of projects, both internally and for clients. Its flexibility and extendability make it a preferred choice for both non-technical users and developers.
Joomla is widely used across organizations to manage content on public-facing websites, including non-profit organizations and startup companies. It is also utilized by web hosting platforms for its user-friendly interface and automatic installation. Companies rely on Joomla to manage their company intranets, providing a centralized information clearinghouse. This CMS is also commonly used by website design and development departments to create and maintain websites for various industries. Furthermore, Joomla finds applications in educational institutions to manage department pages and provide control to individual representatives. Its ability to handle different features like e-commerce and blog sites makes it an attractive choice for businesses with diverse needs. Developers appreciate Joomla's customization options, allowing them to create templates and extensions tailored to specific requirements.
The City of Pomona's website is managed using Joomla, enabling web administrators to easily edit and disseminate important information to the public. The built-in Access Control List features of Joomla allow the creation of users and groups with specific rights, granting access only to authorized individuals. These specific users can sign in to the website from the front-end to edit or update content as needed. Additionally, Joomla's Social Network AutoPoster feature automatically posts new articles from the City's website onto its Facebook Page. The CMS also includes a contact manager that lists the contact information of city departments, council members, and the mayor. The user-friendly interface provided by the Joomla Content Editor Component, known as JCE, makes it easy for standard users to edit and update content, similar to using Microsoft Word. Overall, Joomla offers a range of features and functionality that make it a valuable tool for managing websites across various industries and organizations.
Versatility and Customizability: Users have found Joomla to be highly versatile and customizable, allowing them to create websites that meet their specific needs. Several reviewers have mentioned how they were able to tailor the CMS to their unique requirements, making it a popular choice for businesses and organizations.
User-Friendly Interface: Many users appreciate the user-friendly interface of Joomla. They find it easy to navigate and perform various tasks without much hassle. The logical and intuitive admin interface has been praised by several reviewers, highlighting its contribution to a smooth user experience.
Availability of Third-Party Components and Extensions: Reviewers have expressed their satisfaction with the availability of third-party components and extensions in Joomla's marketplace. This wide range of options allows users to enhance the functionality of their websites by adding features like e-commerce capabilities, social media integration, and more. Some users have even mentioned specific third-party components that have greatly benefited their website development process.
Confusing User Interface: Users have found Joomla's user interface to be confusing and not user-friendly, making it difficult to perform tasks quickly. Several reviewers have mentioned this issue.
Security Concerns: There were concerns about Joomla's security, with users mentioning that it was not the most secure platform in the past and needed regular updates and secure file permissions to combat vulnerabilities. Some reviewers have expressed worry about the security of their websites.
Menu Items Rearranging Themselves: Users reported frustration with menu items rearranging themselves after adding new ones. This inconsistency in menu organization has been mentioned by several reviewers as a source of annoyance when managing their websites.
Based on user reviews, users commonly recommend the following for Joomla:
-
Consider other CMS alternatives: Explore other CMS platforms, especially if you are not tech-savvy or lack previous web programming experience. Compare different CMS options before committing to Joomla.
-
Invest in learning Joomla: Highly recommend dedicating time and effort to learning Joomla. It is particularly beneficial for small business owners who publish their own web content but have limited experience. Having someone at your business who knows code, including HTML and CSS, is recommended.
-
Use Joomla for specific purposes: Joomla is suitable for developing web applications and websites, especially for small businesses without the resources for a website agency or in-house management team. It is also recommended for associations and small to medium-sized businesses with the help of a Joomla expert. Additionally, it is seen as a good option for beginners and creating multilingual websites due to its ease of use and flexibility.
It's important to note that while Joomla offers powerful features, it may not be suitable for all users or scenarios. Users advise considering other platforms if SEO is a major part of your company's future or if advanced or e-commerce features are required. Checking out WordPress as an alternative before deciding on Joomla is suggested.
Attribute Ratings
Reviews
(1-25 of 34)New Joomla! 4 jumps ahead of the others
- Security. Its got many new features in the new Joomla! 4 which make the already good security even better. I like the ability to use my Yubi keys to log in with the new webauth standard, I don't think any other CMS has that built in
- W3C Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 (with AA compliance)
- Really good SEO that gets our sites to the top of the search engines again without the need for any extra things
- Speed, it gets a really good score (100%) in the google lighthouse on our server, can't beat that
- There is not much. I think perhaps a built in cookie system but thats planned for 4.1
- Always welcome more tutorials but they seem to have a fair few
- Not all extensions have been converted to [Joomla!] 4 but the important ones are there
But the new interface is so simple it seems pointless using WP when Joomla! is as easy and can then grow as big as you like.
The Workflows feature which allows you to set up work pipelines easily is going to be a boom to any larger enterprise sites.
Couples with the new API which I got to see at one of their user groups, is amazing. They were creating articles on one site then another site was taking the feed directly for just certain categories. Really blows your mind what you could do with that and the new workflows.
My two cents on Joomla!
- Very light interface and fast loading response.
- Easy content manager.
- Good builder.
- SEO should be better.
- Limited to certain things such as customization.
- More intuitive.
Joomla is a developer's dream
- Content management.
- Image management.
- free templates
- extension help
A Satisfying CMS software
- It provides control and personalization to your website.
- The third party components are also easily available for Joomla!.
- Joomla! has built in revision control. Going back and fixing previous work is easy.
- It's free and open source.
- Sometimes cache buildup becomes a problem..
- Its learning curve is more complex compared to others.
- It can't create a very complex website.
Joomla! Is the best CMS that you don't know you need.
- Moderate control of features.
- Extensive customization.
- Robust and secure structure.
- Should have better interface, automatizing more features
- Should have a better customer service, even when it's an open-source project.
- Should have better outreach for beginner customers.
Joomla Expert Admin Since 2006 - Technical Support Specialist
Here are many of the situations where I've been involved in Joomla projects with clients paying me to guide them and serve their digital platform building needs.
- Comprehensive online websites with sophisticated front and back-end functionality (with ecommerce, event booking, email marketing, etc..).
- Basic small business websites
- Online product gallery websites (non-ecommerce)
- Online blogging platforms
- Online content repositories
- Complete control over your website content, menus, SEO elements, and site layout.
- A logical and intuitive admin interface for creating and managing the website.
- An engaged and supportive community and marketplace of people, tools, and extensions.
- A module management system to provide more control over a page layout and content in flexible ways.
- A flexible design layout paradigm easily allowing for different design use across different pages.
- A strong community of design template creators and page builders.
- Joomla eliminates antiquated code with two-year deprecation pathways. This ensures all active components stay up to date and are currently supported.
- The functionality power of Joomla can make users feel overwhelmed that they may break something.
- Joomla doesn't have a corporate backing, so the growth and future of the tool is based on community involvement. It is currently strong and well-organized, but has had issues in the past.
With the countless extensions, Joomla's functionality can be extended to provide you with more advanced tools the default install lacks. This includes email marketing, event booking, online store, online community, and popup boxes. It is, by far, has the best multi-lingual support system in a CMS.
Joomla, out of the box, has terrific access control and privacy settings. This allows you to tier both admin access and public user experiences based on the level of the user and in many cases, the level of their paid subscription.
Joomla! is a great open source CMS for businesses
- Multiple templates assigned on a page-level basis allow fine-grained control of your site design
- Excellent ACL out-of-the-box means you can have a mutli-user website up and running without needing to install anything additional
- Straightforward control panel and useful help features and documentation make it easy for people to manage their own websites
- Because Joomla's user community is smaller than WP, it lacks as many choices from 3rd party developers, meaning it can be a little more difficult to find the right extension for what you need to accomplish
- Along the same vein, most of the best 3rd-party software for Joomla! is paid
- Simple features such as Add to Menu and Cache cleaners should be adopted as part of the Joomla! core, though they are available as extensions
- Joomla! could use a simpler and easier URL rewriting process
Make sure it's the right fit for your team - for many, it's not
- The menu/category/article structure provides a decent organization.
- The check-in/check-out system can work well to prevent overwrites with large numbers of editors.
- Creating a community-driven site - with large numbers of contributors.
- The Process is smoother with the latest versions.
- There is a bit of a learning curve in order to make edits as compared to other CMSs.
- Upgrading from older versions is very difficult.
- The framework is decent, but it's not the most flexible, nor the most intuitive.
Joomla is a Robust Open-Source CMS
- Joomla has great core functionalities and is free to use.
- Joomla has a built-in user management system which allows you to control who accesses certain aspects of your site.
- Joomla is search engine optimized out of the box.
- Joomla is continuously updating itself and I am amazed at what has been accomplished for the better since I started using it.
- Joomla allows me as a simple website designer and developer to build complex sites without much of a need to hire developers.
- The out of the box blogging situation with Joomla definitely needs improving. It is pretty basic, however, there are extensions both free and paid that handle this gap. Joomla 4 is fast on the horizon so I hope this feature is addressed there.
- Joomla's media management system has improved, however, it could use more updating. It would be nice to be able to make simple edits for images.
- Joomla needs more modules to choose from for certain things users may be trying to create.
I would not recommend Joomla if all you need is a simple website to just blog and give basic information about your business. I would more than likely recommend WordPress for that.
Joomla! A small business answer with a big ROI!
- Easily update pages
- Great website templates can be found for free
- Publishing websites are a breeze
- Provide easier ways to format text
- More template options
- Easy to understand instruction manual
A great CMS with an even better community of developers behind it.
- Joomla provides a strong core to get website development started quickly and easily.
- The possibilities that the many Joomla extensions offers are unlimited.
- Joomla's templating system is quick and easy to create a custom design for your website.
- The community of experts are second to none, the community offers excellent support.
- The administration can be difficult for non-technical people to use, some of my clients find it daunting and not very user-friendly.
- Security...Joomla is a really big target to hackers...I do know that Joomla works hard to get security patches out as quickly as they can though.
- Speed, I'd like to see the core Joomla sped up with out having to put in tons of work to speed it up.
Joomla! for CMS... Simple and easy...
- It is very easy to create any project using Joomla. Easy to use and easy to publish and maintain.
- Joomla! has many add-on and extensions to support the full range of features.
- It is based on Open Source with the strong support from many communities
- Some of the Joomla! plugins and extensions are not free and not cheap as well.
- Difficult for own customization.
- Security concerns.
Again there will be no silver bullet for all purpose. For someone that require very high customization on their website then Joomla! is not for them.
Joomla!, a view from the trenches
- In my opinion, the diversity of joomla! is its strength. The fact that we can have a marketing 'website' with minimal customization on the same platform as we have a transactional 'application' allows us to diversify the services we're offering.
- Another big advantage is the amount of knowledgeable people in the community. While being a FOSS (free open source software) assumes an active community, the joomla! community is eager to help at any level of question and for any user level.
- One of the biggest problems in my opinion is the requirement of backwards compatibility which has two side effects. First, it can't take advantage of new design (programming) principles and changes are very slow to be incorporated. Second, the code base is bloated and 'heavy'. Sometimes the wheel is being re-invented and outdated solutions have to be maintained because of code/functionality dependencies that have to stay active.
- Another (maybe even more problematic) issue is the lack of talent in certain markets. The US is a prime example for this. It is extraordinarily difficult putting a team of good developers together when announcing the project to be joomla based. (Tip: framing the project as PHP based and then on-boarding the team by explaining the nuances has been a proven remedy)
- Europe, on the other hand, has an abundance of talent, so if you're contemplating outsourcing, joomla! is a very good option.
Joomla! The Flexible Business Solution
- Built-in and built-upon a mobile ready framework
- Easy to utilize content creation
- Model–view–controller (MVC) framework for highly customizable web applications
- Powerful and detailed access control could be more intuitive
About Joomla!
- Content management
- Build applications
- Build and design websites
- Creating your own templates and themes
Joomla - the mature, responsible older sibling in the CMS family
- Framework stability and continuous development by a dedicated group of developers
- Comprehensive network of extension developers providing a wide range of solutions via components, modules and plugins that will accomplish virtually any web related functionality goal
- Well organized, active support community that is communicative and easy to tap in to.
- Reasonably priced template options offered by a variety of professional companies focused on the ongoing development of cutting edge templates to reflect the latest trends and features.
- Easy to customize and build off of without the need for repeated redevelopment when the time comes to revamp and renew a sites' look/feel
- It would be nice to see more of the "internet marketing" based extensions that easily incorporate marketing strategies like email list building, user/mobile friendly popups, etc. There are some available now but it will be nice when they become more plentiful.
- Would like for more SEO options to be built into the core framework but it is simple enough to install extensions to meet those needs.
- Transitioning from major versions can be a tough transition. (i.e. moving from J2.5 to J3) It can be time consuming and tricky to upgrade. They seem to be working on that in the latest version - J3
Joomla!, An Open Source CMS For The Rest of Us
- Joomla! is a content management system based on a database so it creates web pages dynamically based on a single editor and keywords. This allows users to update the site themselves and let Joomla create the pages from their input in a familiar environment.
- Joomla! is Open Source software managed by a non-profit organization called Open Source Matters. Because it's free under the GNU GPL license, there are millions of programmers worldwide working on the platform honing it and maintaining it. Open Source also means that there is a strong community of approximately 8 million users who cooperatively share this free software platform.
- Joomla! is modular. You only use what you need for your particular project. Joomla! has an extremely strong value-added software community providing add-ons for security, editing, forms, newsletters, storefronts, payment gateways, SEO, and so forth.
- Joomla! is currently split into a framework and kernel and because it is Open Source, programmers are using Joomla!'s framework to build enterprise-level content management systems and cloud-based systems such as Nooku. Joomla! complies with most standard modern software protocols and runs on LINUX/Apache/MySQL/PHP so it is highly secure and easy to set up.
- Joomla!'s organization consists of a front-end and a backend (called the Administrator). The Administrator area is meant to be intuitive but falls short because of the complexity of its structure -- areas where you perform work. There is a strong learning curve to get used to modules, plug-ins, and components plus articles and categories and how they work together.
- Joomla! has a rigid structure that allows only certain types of pages, namely blogs and lists of articles based on how you classify subjects. Everything in Joomla! is an article. You have to know content strategy to add appropriate keywords to ensure that your articles show up on the appropriate pages either with others tagged similarly, or by themselves. Navigation is based upon these keywords as well. You need to design the site before you jump in and add articles.
- Joomla! is built using PHP and runs on an Apache server. As such, it is not totally secure from malicious attacks at the server level. Extra care has to be taken to set up passwords, roles, and permissions to ensure that spammers and hackers cannot touch the database or Administrator.
- Joomla! is not meant to handle more than a medium- to small-sized website with up to one million concurrent users. It can be placed on the Cloud, such as Amazon Web Services, where instances of the platform can take more users, but it is not enterprise-level software.
Joomla! is best used for projects that are stand-alone and created by developers who are used to the Open Source LAMP (LINUX/Apache/MySQL/PHP) environment as well as working in the browser rather than an organization structured around an IT department and its software development protocols. You build the site on your computer inside your browser and test it on the Internet. When your users are happy, you move the site to its home on the host server. You can also build the site directly on the host but hide it until it is built, but the bottom line is that Joomla! can be created by a single person or a small team but is not appropriate for an Enterprise organization.
Joomla! requires a hosting service that offers access to their root and provides high priority to the servers, high memory allocation, and the ability to display and upload large files. It is very I/O intensive. Always purchase a business-class hosting service with plenty of storage and bandwidth. Most Joomla! designers (vs. programmers) like to use a host that offers CPanel as its graphical user interface to the server.
Joomla! Review
- It is easy to use for most people.
- There are lots of extensions available.
- A wide variety of developers are able to expand Joomla due to it's open-source PHP code base.
- Joomla could be better if it offered automatic updates out of the box.
- Joomla could benefit from better documentation.
- Requiring plugin vendors to auto-update would be wise as well.
Joomla CMS 3.0 Solutions & Options
Open Source Advantages:
• Integrated Store (eCommerce)
• Social Networking
• Responsive Mobile Compliant
• Non-Proprietary
• Cost Effective
• Reduced Development Time
• Built In Solutions
• Modular Framework
• Global Support Network
• Training & Tutorials
• 1000’s of potential solutions
• and much, much more
- Cost effective, fast build, large support from contractors, developers and designers.
- Hosting support and options.
- As secure as any open source products and options
- Provides integrated solutions like, eCommerce/Store, newsletter, community, events, forms...etc, over 8000 extensions and 3rd party integrations.
- Free, while it can be customized, upgrades are released by the Joomla organizations.
- Feature and upgrade cycle is dependent on the Joomla organization timelines and based on their priority feature releases.
- General purpose core, good for many options, but some limitation for full customizations
Why We Went With Joomla Most of The Time
- No CMS is perfect for 100% of a clients needs. Usually the base CMS get's 70-80% of the requirements out of the way with just a base install. Then there is another 10-15% that is covered by a standard set of extensions/modules that you would typically install for almost every client (SEO optimization, ACL/permission levels, etc.). The remaining 5-20% is usually custom module work (either building out a custom version of existing modules/extensions/components, or building a new one from scratch). The extensibility and ease of developing components/modules for Joomla is one thing it does very well.
- We used Joomla for a majority of our clients solutions because of their preference in the administrative interface for Joomla. Obviously administrative interfaces are something that can be customized/skinned/themed in most CMS's, but the native back-end interface was always more intuitive than Drupal (where a non-technical end-user always had a hard time telling if they were logged-in or not, and where the WordPress admin area was always very blog/post centric). Joomla was almost always the top choice for non-blog specific web platforms.
- The Joomla community was always the most helpful and responsive (WordPress maybe slightly greater, but most of the WordPress community at the time was focusing on themes/skins and less on the development of feature/functionality heavy plug-ins). Much of our work on Joomla went into making the modules/components available look good/consistent with our site designs, which was an easier feat then building out actual functionality/features that were missing from the communities of other CMS's.
- Updating was never as seamless/easy as it seems to be with Wordpress. Obviously we accounted for this with our own workflow/methods, but I remember whenever we did WordPress updates it always seemed a breeze compared to the time/energy involved with a Joomla update/upgrade.
- For a while (I think this has changed some) Joomla left itself open to attacks when administrators were not as well versed as they should be. There were developer additions that did security checks/audits for you, but the CMS was the subject of a lot of attacks when left in the hands of our clients for a long time (who had changed permissions to make editing easier/convenient). Ideally the CMS would have been more restrictive on some of these things to prevent easy abuse. Obviously this is more the fault of the misinformed/human then the CMS, but it could have been more dummy-proof.
- No native versioning. There are some community extensions that add this functionality, but they pale in comparison to the versioning plugins of other CMS's (WordPress specifically). Again this was some time ago and in our experience, it could have changed by now.
Joomla is best now, and will be in the future.
- Scalability
- Responsive
- Functionality
- Intuitive
- Open
- Mobile
- Modular
- Steeper learning curve than WordPress
- Less customization than Drupal
- Newest 3x versions are lagging with 2x modules keeping up
10 Year of Joomla Use
- The ability to build a site with no coding experience.
- The ability for free software and hosting from joomla.org.
- One of the world's most popular CMS systems.
- Core in-line editing would be a nice feature.
- Better marketing to help people understand why Joomla! is unique from other CMS systems.
Joomla, Drupal, or WordPress? Oh My! How to Choose.
- Joomla has one of the largest communities of developers in the CMS market. With easy to install plug-n-go applications there is no need to hire a developer to custom build your web sites main features or functionality.
- Joomla 3.2 and the available template frameworks are responsive, clean, and current. These frameworks keep updated on the cutting edge of mobile and web use.
- With a few hours of training, most users can maintain and update a Joomla site as easily as you would write up a document.
- Over the past few years Joomla remained behind in the ability to update a site easily, with few issues. Joomla is getting much better at one-click updates, but there can still be issues with other applications (components) that do not stay current.
- Joomla does have a small learning curve. Although it is not necessary to know or understand any coding when utilizing Joomla, a user will need to understand how Joomla compiles it pages and how to create use the main features.
- The choice of applications available can make it difficult to find the right one for your company. For example, there are 5-6 top eCommerce solutions on the market for Joomla. Careful thought and investigation should go into selecting the right one.
- Functionality. Thousands of great extensions
- Ease of use for customers
- Price: can you beat free?
- Maybe just a bit more 'drag and drop' for editing purposes, especially in the front end for non-developers (clients).
- A little elbow grease never hurt anyone. I have always found a solution to anything I have needed....can't really say I've ever been really disappointed.
- Not really Joomla!'s doing, but some third party extension licences are all over the place. As a web developer, you have to be very careful when purchasing components, plugins etc. You may buy something incredible for a few bucks and be allowed to install on multiple domains or pay a fortune for something not as good and only licenced for 1 domain. You need to do your research very well before spending any money.
Joomla! - Open Source CMS for Business
- User management, the creation of custom groups of users, various security levels, and the ability to separate back end from front end users. For example you could grant a customer access to a particular front end page that has content dedicated to them only with a username and password, yet keep them from other customers files on the back end of the system.
- Numerous free extensions, Joomla provides a solid foundation for whatever kind of site you would like to build and offers a range of not only free templates but free functions such as photo galleries, contact forms, shopping cart functions.
- Joomla! extension development and customization for plugins and modules. With knowledge of MySQL and PHP a skilled developer, or in many cases, even novice users can create their own extensions. For example, we created a custom FTP front end to share files with users.
- Joomla! is open source and therefore does not provide immediate support for the product. If a problem occurs during setup or operation the best way to solve a problem is report it to the Joomla! community support, but a quick fix to your problem is not guaranteed.
- Joomla!'s data is held (typically) in a MySQL database that the user will never see. When a Joomla! site becomes very large with an extensive number of users and/or information it can become sluggish, but this can be mitigated with some basic database management skills, specifically someone who can create new indexes, procedures or someone who knows the data well enough to archive at a certain point.
- Content Management Solutions, such as Joomla!, continuously update and change with the market requirements and security requirements of the online community. I would like to see a standardized backup and restore process implemented so that if a user does upgrade there system it is easily reverted and or changes are tracked more thoroughly.