In this Joomla Review, we will discuss the various aspects of this content management system to find out if it fits your needs.
Working with Joomla is a completely unique experience. If you have used WordPress or Wix, you would easily realize the difference. A little less intuitive, Joomla continues to feel a little dated.
On the brighter side though, the websites on this CMS are neat and clean. The question remains: Is this content management system (CMS) suitable for you?
So, let’s find out the answer already!
What is Joomla?
Joomla is a content management system that is completely open source. Users can create dynamic websites along with powerful applications using this CMS. Alongside a feature-rich solution, it flaunts a user-friendly interface that enables users to make the most of it.
The CMS uses PHP as its core language along with MySQL database to offer robust website development solutions to the users. What’s interesting is that the CMS requires just a click for installation.
On top of that, you can refer to various articles online to learn how to set up Joomla. In addition, Joomla boasts multiple hosting services, offering users flexible choices.
Based on the MVC (Model View Controller) architecture, the CMS processes requests after analyzing the URL. In other words, Joomla evaluates and decides between the components to process first and executes those, one by one.
Note: Content Management System (CMS) is a solution enabling the creation and management of digital content with ease. Simply put, users can create websites using CMS without involving themselves in the complex coding.
Joomla Review – Pros and Cons
A free CMS for users, Joomla packs a variety of tools, extensions, and more to offer amazing flexibility when designing websites. Although difficult for beginners with its steep learning curve, the CMS is popular among all levels of users.
Pros
- The CMS is completely free to use
- Being popular and around for many years, Joomla has a huge community of supporters. Hence, it’s easy to find answers when starting to work out with this CMS
- Customizable designs offer great flexibility to developers
Cons
- The backend is complex, especially for beginners
- Lack of direct one to one support from either phone or email. One must depend on the online knowledge base
Features
I won’t exaggerate. Joomla comes with basic features with not much room for optimization. And the website templates are limited too.
However, it sure boasts some of the exciting features that have helped keep developers’ interest intact in Joomla.
Free Extensions
Unlike WordPress which offers integrated support for plugins, Joomla works with extensions. The platform itself is very basic. Therefore, you must work with extensions to avail the benefits of extra features.
Extensions allow you to enable reviews, SEO, and a lot of other features. What’s interesting is that these extensions are free to use.
If you wish to use these extensions, you must download these manually. Later, upload these to a specific section on the platforms to make them available for your website.
Alternatively, you can also design extensions as per your need. Thanks to the platform being open source.
Website Templates
Once again, there isn’t an official website from Joomla to download templates. However, there are many third-party websites that host hundreds of templates for Joomla.
Just note that on Joomla, you can use different templates for different pages. Hence, one website can use multiple templates. Well, this feature is not available with the most popular WordPress as well.
Built-In SEO (Search engine optimization)
There is no point in having a website or an e-commerce site that does not rank on the first page of Google.
Thankfully, Joomla has built-in SEO that packs powerful tools to get you what you need. From SEO-friendly URLs to menu items with their meta description, title tags, keywords and much more, Joomla is a complete package.
Multi-Users Platform
Joomla is a very robust CMS offering multiple users’ functionalities. You can add permission settings that might or might not differ for every user, depending on your need.
In other words, users on Joomla can enjoy full access or can be limited to a few editing permissions. With easy to manage user list, you can simply delete those that are not in use.
Pricing
The most interesting deal with Joomla is that it is completely open-source. This means you do not have to pay for anything. You own your website and manage it as you like.
From modification to adding extensions, you can do anything without worrying about expensive licenses or fees.
The Conclusion
Frankly speaking, working with Joomla was neither too great nor too bad. The experience was rather mixed.
With no-cost benefits, the platform comes with its own set of challenges. Lacking simple customization and a complex dashboard could make it too intimidating at some points.
Especially when there are so many options in today’s time. Back in 2001, Joomla did not have much competition. But things change. However, Joomla sticks to the old ways yet.
For instance, lack of navigation makes it frustrating to circle back to where we started every time. The complexity makes this CMS time consuming to deal with.
Surprisingly, it still is one of the most popular solutions out there for building websites. So, if you are interested in learning about this CMS, just go for it. It won’t cost you any penny, just the extra time and effort.