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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.
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- Availability / breadth of extensions (45)8.080%
- Role-based user permissions (44)7.070%
- Page templates (45)7.070%
- WYSIWYG editor (46)6.060%
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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.
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What is Agility?
Agility CMS is a cloud-based content management system from the company of the same name in Toronto, Ontario.
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What is Joomla?
Joomla! is a free, open source content management system used to publish web content. Joomla is written in PHP, uses object-oriented programming (OOP) techniques and stores data in a MySQL, MS SQL, or PostgreSQL database. Included features are page caching, RSS
feeds, printable versions of pages, news flashes, blogs, polls, a search
function, and support for language internationalization. Its dashboard organizing administrator tasks into context
menus, from which content is edited, permissions set and changed, contacts
managed, and messages sent to users. Extensions modify functionality in widely
varying ways and provide flexibility.
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What is Joomla!
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Joomla Competitors
- Drupal
- Kentico Xperience
- Plone
- Magnolia (V5 and later versions)
Joomla Technical Details
| Operating Systems | Unspecified |
|---|---|
| Mobile Application | No |
Frequently Asked Questions
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.
Reviewers rate Library of website themes highest, with a score of 9.
The most common users of Joomla are from Small Businesses (1-50 employees).
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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:
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Reviews
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October 18, 2018
Joomla Offers Hassle, Headaches and Stress
Joomla is used to manage our company Intranet. It is used as an information clearinghouse. We both communicate information on the page and use links, documents and videos to further assist communicating what ever is needed. Whether its for Human Resources, Medical Staff, Security or Marketing, we have place for it on our Intranet.
- Document indexing
- WYSIWYG editor
- Page version control
- Multiple language support
- Massive learning curve to get ramped up on the product. In my opinion, is more difficult than Drupal.
- Terrible experience upgrading between versions.
- Migrating content into Joomla is not easy.
- WYSIWYG editor is a pain. Almost always errors editing content in this fashion as extra code is generated around functions such as bold, italicize, header, etc.
- Document management can be a pain with files uploading into multiple spaces.
- Overall, not user friendly for tech leaders and content managers.
August 28, 2018
Missing the Mark - Joomla!'s SEO and Mobile Optimization Capabilities Need An Upgrade
Joomla is used by half of our small team, so roughly 4 people, all with varying levels of CMS experience and Joomla-specific knowledge. This was a legacy platform used by the firm and we have continued to use it as our primary website CMS.
- Speedy publishing (ability to push content live)
- Joomla extensions providing flexibility
- Various permission levels for content access
- Not necessarily SEO-friendly
- Various extensions are not always compatible with one another
- Overall UI and UX of the CMS itself is confusing and often takes way too much time to ramp; it's not very "user-friendly" to borrow a buzzword, and it often takes new team members longer than anticipated to ramp up and feel comfortable using the platform
- Lack of safety and security features to protect site content and user/member information collected through the platform
June 28, 2018
Joomla! for CMS... Simple and easy...
At that time, we used Joomla! to address the specific needs to create and build company Portal and some web applications for business purpose. So, we were using Joomla! as the main platform to serve it for IT departments and other teams as well. Joomla! already quite popular and easy to be used when we search the solution for this requirement.
- 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.
January 24, 2018
Great, straightforward CMS that allows easy allocation of management of various pages
We use this to manage the pages for the English Department at a big university, so we have total access but each program or individual represented can, if they wish, have control over their own page.
- I love the ability to assign users different levels/areas of access so that they can keep pages updated themselves and I'm not constantly updating something when someone emails me. This is an especially nice feature the bigger the pool of people who need to edit the page gets.
- Joomla's interface looks a little old-fashioned and can be a bit finicky, which is intimidating to less experienced users.
July 26, 2017
Joomla! is a great tool for anyone!
Joomla! is used by our marketing and web development teams. We design websites to hand off to our clients and also teach them to use it in order to allow them to make small changes. It addresses many problems such as time management and reliability. Being that we hand these sites off, they need to be user-friendly and easy to teach.
- Keeps content organized
- Safe to use
- Teachable to someone who is not a web developer
- Make things more customizable
- Sites are a nightmare as far as responsiveness via tablet and phone
- Add more templates
September 19, 2016
Joomla!, a view from the trenches
We use joomla! for a wide variety of projects, both internally and for clients. We use joomla! as a pure CMS for marketing projects as well as the core platform on which we build custom components servicing anything from price model calculations in the manufacturing sector to auction engine design in the food sector.
- 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.
June 14, 2016
Joomla! The Flexible Business Solution
We use Joomla! internally and externally on behalf of Fortune 50 to entrepreneurial firms. Joomla! addresses simplified management, great flexibility, and proper model–view–controller (MVC) development. With these tools, the least technical users in an organization can make significant content contributions, and developers are able to leverage a robust platform for significant customization with minimal distraction. Additionally, Joomla! is the first open source content management system (CMS) to be mobile ready and responsive utilizing Twitter's bootstrap framework. Out of the box Joomla! is ready to deliver.
- 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
March 16, 2016
About Joomla!
We used it across the organization and granted different levels of access to employees. We used it for content management of a public facing website.
- Content management
- Build applications
- Build and design websites
- Creating your own templates and themes
December 23, 2015
Joomla - The Leading CMS (Content Management System)
'corePHP' uses Joomla not only for our internal websites for 'corePHP' but we also build and customize our clients' websites to the demands and needs of the client. Our clients range from small to fortune 500 companies with vastly different needs. Joomla is an easy to use product for the end users as well as a powerful CMS to program in.
- East of Use - Joomla has a very easy user interface for the backend where admins will manage their site and make updates when needed. With the latest version of Joomla you have responsive backend that makes updating your site on your mobile device easier.
- Template Clubs - Its super easy for small companies to have professional looking templates with the latest design trends. This helps them look bigger and perform better then a cookie cutter template that you would typically see. Amazing template providers are gavick.com rockettheme.com bang2joom.com joomlart.com and yootheme.com
- 3rd Party extensions - With the many 3rd party developers there are a lot of products that meet the small to medium size companies needs where we would go in and modify the functionality to meet the final needs of the clients. Great companies are www.corephp.com compojoom.com jomsocial.com ijoomla.com and MORE
- Custom Development - When you can't find that perfect solution and you need something customize to meet your need. Joomla is very extendable and easy to build what you need. The great thing about Joomla is it is also very easy to grow your site with without the thought of abandoning the platform later. Joomla will grow with you!
- This is from a coding view point. When modifying the code for users it is very difficult to use. Hoping in later versions this is cleaned up so it makes it easier for developers.
December 23, 2015
Why Joomla still matters and the benefits of its use!
From 2011-2013, as the Web Master for the City of Pomona I personally built a 300+ page website for a city government with little to no budget. The old website was antiquated and didn't allow for the easy and quick editing and dissemination of important information for the public citizens to obtain. After implementing Joomla, the City of Pomona’s website now has these features:
- Each department has its own individual folder to store its data in.
- The web administrator can Create users and groups and then assign them specific rights according to the built-in Access Control List (ACL) features of the new CMS system.
- Specific users with specific rights can sign-in to the website from the Front-End and edit/update content.
- When the web administrator posts new articles to the front page news section, it is also posted to the City’s FaceBook Page automatically with a Social Network AutoPoster.
- Specific users with specific rights can access, edit, and update the City’s Calendar, directly through the front end.
- The website features a contact manger that lists the pictures, phone numbers, email addresses, and fax numbers of the city’s departments, council members and the mayor.
- Utilizing the Joomla Content Editor (JCE) Component, when standard users sign into the website to edit or update, it’s easy for them to get work done because the JCE is incredibly user friendly and very similar to Microsoft Word.
There are many more beneficial features that are too numerous to list.
- Joomla has a Built in Media Manager that allows you to create your own folder, name it whatever you like, and then configure the settings of your Media Manager to redirect to the new folder. Then, after that is complete, you can create other folders inside of the “Main Media” folder in a proper organized hierarchical manner.
- Joomla’s Menu Manager is extensive and configurable. Joomla allows for an Unlimited amount of Links to have in your Unlimited amount of Menus.
- No Separate “Page” and Separate “Post.” There’s only one type: “Article.” ALL “Pages” are “Articles.” All “Posts” are “Articles.”
- Joomla has Unlimited Custom Module Management – Joomla gives you the ability to create your entire website out of Modules or simply create and manage as many modules as you want. You could put them anywhere you want, in any place, on any page you want. You can even put Modules into the Menu Items.
- Joomla has a Built-in Access Control List (ACL). This allows you to create Specific Groups and then you can add Specific Users to those groups and manage with a fine granular approach, which group can access which individual part or element in the website.
- Joomla lets you Sign-in to the website from the Front-End and edit/update content in Articles and Modules.
- With Joomla there is one central place for installing Templates, Components, Plugins, or Modules: the Extension Manager
- Joomla has built in Cache Control. This gives your site a quicker response to requests, if nothing has been change to an article or other element.
- Joomla has a built in Contact Manager that includes Google’s new reCAPTCHA v2. This is the modern version that helps to block spam and other malicious submissions.
- Joomla has built in Global Check in for items. Useful if you want to quickly return articles and release them from users editing it.
- Joomla has a built in Language Manager. Very useful for International Websites or websites that welcome people who speak different languages.
- Joomla is compatible with Microsoft Windows SQL Server and Microsoft Windows IIS Server so it could be seamlessly used in a Microsoft Environment. Most corporations run on Windows Networks with Windows Servers.
- Joomla has a built in Authentication – LDAP plugin that synchronizes with Microsoft Windows Server’s Active Directory so you can just use your standard A.D. Login to sign in to Joomla on your organization’s Intranet Website. Implementing a Joomla based "Intranet" is a great low cost solution.
- Joomla has built in Nested Categories. This provides for a more organized hierarchical atmosphere.
- Joomla has built in Revision Control. In case something goes wrong in an article, you could revert back to a previous version.
- Joomla has built in Tag Management. Tags help users to find articles pertaining to specific subject matters.
- Joomla has built in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) settings on important parts of the Website including: Articles and Menus. This is where you can insert keywords and metadata. This helps with search engines.
- Joomla has Search Engine Friendly (SEF) URL abilities that use Apache Mod_Re-Write. Instead of the user trying to read "?=itemid1" they will easily read "about" or "services" in the url of their web browser.
- For Developers and Software Engineers:
- Joomla is Object-Oriented Designed - Unlike Joomla's main competitors: Drupal and WordPress, Joomla, is an Object Oriented Designed (OOD) CMS. Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) takes the view that what we really care about are the "objects" we want to manipulate rather than the logic required to manipulate them. One of the principal advantages of object-oriented programming techniques over procedural programming techniques is that they enable programmers to create modules that do not need to be changed when a new type of object is added. A programmer can simply create a new object that inherits many of its features from existing objects. This makes object-oriented programs easier to modify.
- For Developers and Software Engineers:
- Joomla is MVC - Also unlike Joomla's competitors, Joomla's architecture is MVC. Model–View–Controller (MVC) is a software architectural pattern for implementing user interfaces. It divides a given software application into three interconnected parts, so as to separate internal representations of information from the ways that information is presented to or accepted from the user.
- Joomla is SLOWER than its competitors. Although, with the implementation of new Solid State Device Hard Drives in Modern Website Host Servers, the slowness is becoming less noticeable.
- The Image Editing abilities of the built in Media Manager are USELESS. WordPress is much better at built-in Image Editing.
- The ability to either turn off or turn on, Automatic Menu Item Creation does NOT exist. WordPress is much better at that.
- Sometimes, it seems like Joomla or its database becomes confused and\or Cache Build Up becomes a problem, and then the cache has to be cleaned out.
- There is no built-in Automatic Cache Cleaning at configurable intervals.
- The updating and upgrading process is easier than it ever has been, but it’s still not as flawless and as easygoing as WordPress.
- NO Automatic Update abilities for Components, Modules, or Plugins.
- Joomla is NOT nearly as popular or as used as WordPress.
- Joomla lacks a comprehensive Preview ability. And there really isn't a good plugin for it. WordPress's Preview ability is far superior to both Joomla and Drupal.
November 11, 2015
Joomla - the mature, responsible older sibling in the CMS family
We use Joomla as the primary platform for the development of client and internal websites. It provides a robust framework for creating dynamic websites and meets the needs of web projects from simple informational sites to complex action driven projects. Over the years we have used a variety of Joomla versions to deliver web solutions and have enjoyed the new features that each upgrade brings. We find it to be the best overall CMS on the open source market.
- 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
September 30, 2015
Joomla!, An Open Source CMS For The Rest of Us
I am a freelance web designer and content strategist who uses Joomla! as my platform of choice to implement websites for small businesses and non-profits. These websites run the gamut from brochures, landing pages, e-commerce storefronts, to major information portals. Joomla! and its extensions handles all aspects of each of these types of sites.
- 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.
July 20, 2015
Joomla! Review
We've been offering a web hosting platform that supports Joomla since it's inception. Our customers like the fact that they can click a button and have our system automatically install Joomla for them. Joomla is one of our most popular apps and is one of the most user-friendly apps available right now.
- 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.
July 20, 2015
Joomla CMS 3.0 Solutions & Options
I provide freelance contractor services for global businesses and organizations. I have been using Joomla CMS from J1.0 to current release of J3.4. I also have experience with both responsive Joomla templates and frameworks and the over 8000 possible extension solutions.
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
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
July 08, 2015
I couldn't imagine using anything else!
I use it to build web applications to solve an engineering problem that a corporate company has had. I've improved the business processes and communication between all our locations working together. Without Joomla, we'd all be back to email processes and slow production.
- Custom Applications (Fabrik Extensions)
- Complex Custom User Access - As complex as you can think it, you can create the access!
- Mobile Compatible - Joomla 3 is mobile ready and bootstrapped. Also there's so many professional templates to choose from, most being mobile compatible.
- Accessibility - Fortunately they have a team working on that improvement
- Marketing - I hear they have huge plans with this and I'm excited to hear!
- Updates - On older versions of Joomla it's really complicated to upgrade! Luckily they have been improving this since Joomla 3.
July 08, 2015
Why We Went With Joomla Most of The Time
We implemented various CMS platforms for various size non-profit enterprises (small 1-10 employees to 100-1000 employee ranges). Some of them would select Joomla (others Drupal, WordPress, etc.) based on their specific needs/intentions for their web presence needs and requirements and expected use cases. Ultimately the decision was on the client as to which CMS they would choose/go with, but we'd make strong recommendations according to their needs.
- 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.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Joomla is a free CMS platform that I've used to develop websites for our clients. Joomla allows us to deploy websites faster with better solutions.
- Joomla has tons of templates. Some free, some paid. I particularly like Joomla Bamboo templates which are responsive and highly customizable.
- Joomla has a very strong community that will assist newbies if they have questions. There is also a database of questions, answers and solutions that can assist newbies and solving their problems.
- Joomla has tons of modules and components. Most of the free ones are sufficient to develop to comprehensive website.
- Joomla is capable of building a more complex website than wordpress. That said, the learning curve is slightly steeper too.
- Joomla documentation can be better and clearer. Since the change of Joomla 1.5 to 1.6 to 1.7 to 2.5 to 3.0, the knowledgebase wiki is quite messy and sometimes confusing.
- Joomla has a lot of hidden functions whereby changing a certain part might affect a totally different part. The link might not be obvious especially for newbies.
- Joomla version change is quite rapid with the new direction that they are going with. After I mastered Joomla 2.5, we are now moving towards Joomla 3.0 now. The version change is sometimes unwarranted and unnecessary.
July 07, 2015
Joomla is best now, and will be in the future.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
If you are new to CMS development, Joomla is a good solution to learn and use. I started in web dev. as a designer with low coding skills. When the time came to make myself more productive to my clients, I knew CMSs were the way, so I researched many and the two I chose to learn were WordPress and Joomla, which I picked because of their open scalability. That was four years ago and I almost exclusively use Joomla today because in my opinion it far exceeds the functionality of WordPress and only is widening the gap with its advances like Joomla Framework, which will soon bring RAD to the masses. I am about empowering my clients to do for themselves and even if Joomla (currently) has a more steep learning curve than WordPress, if trained correctly, I find my clients quickly going from newbie to developer in a short time. I taught high school for ten years and know what and when something works for my students, so trust this former teacher and make your choice Joomla. You won't regret it.
- 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
July 07, 2015
Joomla!: For What?
As a contract-based developer for marketing agencies in the Chicagoland area, it is my job to quickly turn their aesthetic and brand development into viable, interactive web applications. Their clients generally need the following: the ability to log in and make changes themselves after the project is complete, the ability to keep track of users, and the ability to carry out business and communication using their web presence. Joomla makes it possible to check off these goals while still fitting within strict timelines.
- Joomla! makes it easy to create pages and organize menus/navigation on the fly for flat content. An informational website is a synch with the quick CMS workflow for content.
- Customizing or creating custom templates is quite easy with a basic understanding of HTML and CSS. Joomla! is incredibly flexible and customizable if you have the know-how and desire to make it your own, and its templating system is intuitive and not messy or too complicated.
- Having users and keeping track of accounts and security levels is built-in and easy to do. Accounts are accessible and manageable, giving you a lot of control over who accesses and sees what, or who can edit and contribute to the content. Once again, this is a sign of Joomla!'s flexibility and scalability - the tools are there if you need or want them for your project.
- Sometimes you end up locked into screens while editing or viewing settings and/or content. It'd be nice to not have to "cancel" a current action in order to quickly get somewhere else.
- Certain common additions, such as forms, are not included in Joomla out of the box. Contact Forms, for example, should be easy to implement without third party plugins/extensions, but should also be customizable - a drag and drop sort of interface for form creation may be a critical addition to the system, as even the simplest websites generally have at least one.
- Database issues are pretty common with Joomla!, especially when migrating to new servers and/or updating database information. The database connectivity should be streamlined so that developers don't get locked out and forced to edit core or config files manually on the server in order to fix it.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
As a webdesign agency, we had implemented in different organizations with multiple users and responsibilities. One of the best features of this CMS (Content Management system) is the versatility to create users and assign them different access to components and/or modules. Beside the editorial profile you can give to each user to write, review or edit content. You can assign to each user or group of users access to specific areas (components, category of articles, specific articles, etc.) inside your administrative portal with the chance to just read and or write on the assigned sections.
- Basic SEO, with very limited knowledge you are able to manage titles, meta tag descriptions and keywords, create sitemaps. And provide the initial elements every search engine require for indexing your webpage.
- Responsive templates, you have a broad list of templates and components which are responsive and help your site adapt to desktop, tablets and phone without any problem. Also the opportunity to create specif modules just for any combination of devices (desktop, tablets or phones).
- Broad list of components and modules, are you looking for an specific requirement for your website. You will find an application (component), Module or plugin already created that will avoid you development time. And the awareness that all software are supported and evolving with new features.
- Update notification, even though you can see from your administrator access when a component, module or plugin needs to be updated. It would be great to get email notification when new versions arrive.
- More Community user features, you can use different components to create a community of users. But it would be great to have the opportunity to create new information field for the user profile, picture and social platform links as a features in joomla user management.
- More video tutorials introducing joomla and main features as specif information about installation and configuration.
A professional photographer needed a CMS tool that would allow her to have full control of content. I felt that Joomla! provided the tools needed for her request with expandability to handle her changing needs. There was a lot of good plugins to represent her photos, which was the core of what we were trying to do with her site.
- Display photos using Lightbox
- Sort content inside the Joomla! admin tool
- Allow the developer (myself) alter the code inside the templates easily for personalization.
- Not SEO friendly
- Some Joomla! plugins cost while same is free in WordPress
- Much bigger learning curve than WordPress out of the box
Our company Cloudaccess.net is a Joomla! hosting company that specializes in hosting Joomla! sites optimally and offering most excellent support to our clients and customers who are building their websites using Joomla! on our platform.
- Joomla! is very user friendly for all experience levels.
- Joomla! is extremely flexible in the sense that you can build any type of website you want including an advanced E-commerce site or social media. The possibilities are endless.
- The Extensions and templates that are available to use in building your site is wonderful. You can get beautiful designs from template manufactures in the community and at good costs as well as well functioning extensions that give you the abilities and functionalities you are looking for to make your sites vision come together.
- The ACL manager for advanced user control is also a great feature. Being able to easily set up different access control levels for different types of users is a wonderful attribute. It can be as simple or complex as you need it to be.
- I cannot think of any improvements I would like to see at this moment. The new version release has addressed a few of the previous bugs/ issues
June 30, 2015
The Swiss Army Knife of Content Management Systems
We use Joomla! as our primary customer facing website CMS. It's the front-line method of engagement with our customers by providing information for our product; allowing users to log in using their social network credentials for an easy login experience; helps the user make the purchase by providing detailed information and has an integrated support area to keep our customers satisfied after the sale.
- Easy to use Content Management system for creating rich content for your website.
- Cost-effective extensions allow adding new functionality with minimal effort.
- Easy integration with social networks using JFBConnect to help grow your site organically.
- User ACL can be tricky to set up and manage if you need many different levels of user groups with various permissions for each.
- Media manager is rudimentary. Uploading and editing images isn't possible.
June 30, 2015
10 Year of Joomla Use
We use Joomla! as the backbone for our content management system for our clients. We use it for over 100 of our clients in the insurance and banking industries. We find it very easy to develop on while allowing our clients to fully manage their sites. What is unique is that it is open source which saves money for our clients in licensing fees.
- 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.
March 18, 2015
Why I Choose Joomla over other CMS's
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
I use Joomla to build websites for non-profit organizations and small businesses. I find it to be a great resource for non-profits who need functionality such as online donations, event registrations, online directories and online membership management. Joomla has some great extensions that makes it easy for users to manage these function right from within their website.
- The new release of Joomla, version 3.x, has a new, user-friendly interface. This new interface reduces the learning curve a lot compared to the other versions. It also makes it easy to keep your website updated and to find extensions to add to your website.
- Joomla is also great at managing different permission levels for users. For organizations that want to have members-only content and have different levels of membership and what people can see, Joomla 3.x handles this well without need a third-party extensions.
- I find that Joomla has some great extensions for managing online donations, event registration and online membership. This is what makes me choose this CMS over many of the other popular CMS's out there.
- Joomla does not have a good preview system. If you want to preview your pages before they go live you have to use a third-party extension. I wish this was built-in as this is a common feature in other popular CMS's.
- I haven't found a great ecommerce system for Joomla yet. There are some semi-good ones but they are either overkill or not enough functionality.