Besides WordPress, Joomla is yet another simple and easy Content Management System (CMS) — to try for free! Bearing in mind, hosting a website requires several technologies to work together.
And as such, you need a platform for your website, as well as a great web hosting provider too — like Bluest to help keep it online. And if you are within East Africa, Kenya Web Experts is another great web host I’d recommend to you.
Of all of the available platforms, WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla are the leading options. Any of them can support your website, but each one excels in a different area. You need to know which one is right for your website before investing in any of them.
What Is Joomla?
Joomla, also spelled Joomla! and sometimes abbreviated as J!, is a free and open-source content management system for publishing web content on websites. Now that there are so many web content applications one can design or develop nowadays. Such web apps that Joomla helps you build include discussion forums, photo galleries, and eStores.
As well as user communities, and numerous other web-based applications. In other words, Joomla is an open-source content management system (CMS) built on an MVC web framework using PHP and MySQL/MS SQL/PostgreSQL. This allowed the developers to try their hands on the platform by creating new third-party add-ons and plugins.
Taking another leap into the power of the open-source platform, enthusiastic developers have developed various fantastic page builders for Joomla. Joomla is similar to WordPress in many ways but differs in at least one key area. Joomla is designed for larger websites.
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The code and interface are designed to make it much easier to manage pages across a large number of pages and posts. Because of how it is structured, you won’t run into performance issues when scaling your website.
Joomla’s biggest improvement over WordPress is that it is a two-part system, whereas WordPress is a one-part system. Joomla is made up of a CMS (Content Management System); similar to how WordPress manages blog posts and the website platform.
Having these two systems separate from each other lets you build a website outside of the CMS, so you can ignore the CMS entirely unless you need it. It’s closer to how websites were built before there were powerful management systems with the ability to add in blogs or other content.
What Is CMS Software?
A CMS Software is a web-based application used by various webmasters to create and manage site files. It also provides capabilities for multiple users with different permission levels to access it. In order to manage (all or a section of) content, data, information of a website project, or even intranet application.
Be that as it may, any CMS software helps you manage your content and turn it into a website so easily. Without needing to edit code every time you want to add/change content. Some of these tools are focused almost exclusively on helping you launch a website.
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While others are more focused on just managing your content. And then, let you deploy it anywhere via APIs (the Headless CMS approach). If you aren’t a technical user (or don’t have a tech team at your back), you’ll likely want to choose great CMS tools.
Such as Joomla, WordPress, Drupal, HubSpot CMS, or Squarespace. As you stay away from the Headless CMS options. However, if you need to deploy your content to multiple locations, you might prefer the flexibility of headless CMS software. That’s if you have the technical knowledge to use one.
Joomla! is used all over the world to power millions of websites of all shapes and sizes. Discover examples of companies using Joomla in the official Joomla Showcase Directory.
Joomla can be used for:
- Corporate websites or portals, intranets, extranets,
- Small business websites,
- Online magazines, newspapers, and publications,
- E-commerce and online reservations,
- Government, non-profit and organizational websites,
- Community-based, school and church websites or portals,
- Personal or family homepages, etc.
If you’re an agency that develops websites for your customers, Joomla! is the perfect tool for you (have a look at their benefits and features). Designed to be easy to install and set up, even if you’re not an advanced user.
With a short learning curve (they provide free video training as well) you’ll be able to quickly build sites for your clients. Then, with a minimal amount of instruction, you can empower your clients to easily manage their own sites themselves.
If your clients need specialized functionality, Joomla is highly extensible and thousands of extensions (most for free under the GPL license) are available in the Joomla! Extensions Directory.
Why Joomla Is The Best Web Building Platform
The most powerful aspect of a Joomla web platform (all benefits & features) is its ability to help you create a website easily. Without working directly with the source code for each of your web pages. Learning to code is the same as learning another language (or a series of languages that work together).
Giving it a large learning curve. Web platforms rarely let you work directly with the code, instead of having you work with a predefined system or interface. Joomla’s web page and post screens are good examples of how such an interface works.
Joomla is best-suited to complex websites that need more flexibility. This often includes medium business websites and extensive content websites like Wikipedia. You have all the tools you need to manage an extensive website. As you’ll learn in the video tutorial below, Joomla is similar to WordPress in many ways but differs in at least one key area.
First of all, Joomla is designed for larger websites. The code and interface are designed to make it much easier to manage pages across a large number of pages and posts. Because of how it is structured, you won’t run into performance issues when scaling your website. Joomla’s biggest improvement over WordPress is that it is a two-part system.
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Whereas WordPress is a one-part system. Perse, it’s made of a CMS (Content Management System); similar to how WordPress manages blog posts and the website platform. Having these two systems separate from each other lets you build a website outside of the CMS. So, go ahead and start using Joomla (download) today.
Some companies and organizations have requirements that go beyond what is available in the Joomla Core package. In those cases, Joomla’s powerful application framework makes it easy for developers to create sophisticated add-ons.
Some even extend the power of Joomla into virtually unlimited directions. The core Joomla Framework enables developers to quickly and easily build their web tools.
Such tools include:
- Inventory control systems
- Data reporting tools
- Application bridges
- Custom product catalogs
- Integrated e-commerce systems
- Complex business directories
- Reservation systems
- Communication tools
Since Joomla! is based on PHP and MySQL, you’re building powerful applications on an open platform anyone can use, share, and support. To find out more information on leveraging Joomla, you can visit the Joomla Framework site.
As I mentioned, Joomla is free, open, and available to anyone under the GPL license. You can read more on Getting Started with Joomla to find out the basics. First, if you’re ready to install Joomla by yourself:
-
- Download the latest version of Joomla!
You can find it on the Joomla! Downloads Portal, you’ll be up and running in no time.
And if you need any help, visit their official forums and documentation. You can also watch our training videos.
- Download the latest version of Joomla!
Joomla also provides another way to get started without having to install it:
-
- Free website on launch.joomla.org
This is the easiest way to start your first Joomla website immediately. You can launch a totally free and fully functional website in seconds and start publishing your content online immediately.
- Free website on launch.joomla.org
And now, it’s time we look into some of those excellent plugins and page builders for Joomla that come in handy in times of necessity.
The Topmost Best Joomla Page Builders Include:
- JD Builder – The Next Generation Page Builder
- SP Page Builder | No #1 For Drag & Drop Addons
- Azura Responsive Page Builder – Drag & Drop UI Tools
- Quix Responsive Page Builder With Stunning Templates
- JSN Page Builder – With WYSIWYG Live Editor Interface
- Page Builder CK | A Content Favouring Joomla Extension
- RS Page Builder For Better Joomla Content Pages
- JA Builder – Build Joomla Sites In Minutes
In addition to the above list, Gridbox is yet another revolutionary drag and drop website for Joomla CMS. It allows you to build modern and beautiful Joomla pages with just drag and drop tools. The powerful live code editor helps to edit the scripts and styles on the page on the go hassle-free.
As you can see, Joomla is a very fantastic platform to create websites and robust web applications. The adoption of the platform into the business is slowly increasing and attracting developers to create more plugins, extensions, and website builders. Hope you’ll like some of its fantastic plugins and page builders as aforementioned.
Takeaway,
If your intention is only to inform about your business, products, or services, it is enough to have a website. With different web sections and categories under one roof (MultiPage). Or even by gathering all the information on a single page (OnePage).
At times, your site needs may surpass your web user needs. Like when you want your customers can have some interaction with the information you provide. Or even buy online (e-commerce), and then receive statistical data on your business. As well as simply provide the ability to search the catalog.
In such cases, what you’ll need is a web application. Some businesses launch mobile applications for this type of situation. But, depending on the size of the business, it is sometimes counterproductive.
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It’s also useful if your intention is to automate the whole process. Where your customers can synchronize their actions through different devices. And as such, you can add some other key functionality to your service. Or even integrate with other business services too.
Finally, if you’ll need more support with Joomla, you can Contact Us and let us know how we can help. But, if you’ll have more additional contributions, suggestions, support guidelines, personal experiences, or even further questions you’d like to share, please feel free to share them in our comments section.
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