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WordPress or Joomla: Which CMS Should You Use?

May 3, 2010 By Jon 2 Comments

The end of the first decade of the 20th century was a time of real breakthrough online. Perhaps more than any other respect, the way in which this breakthrough was most obvious was the increase of user-generated content. As the decade ticked on, more and more people were moving from becoming internet users to putting their own sites up. In many cases, this was achieved by the huge increase in choice and availability of blogging platforms – of which WordPress was one of the firsts. It could be said that Joomla has taken the WordPress model one step further.

While the people running both companies, and the users who align themselves specifically to one or the other, will argue that their site has its own specific identity and is very much a stand-alone entity, there can be no doubt that

WordPress and Joomla have many similarities. Both can do a lot of the same things. If you want to create a blog, you can do it with WordPress or with Joomla. If you want to make your site more general, then both platforms make it possible. However, there are many Joomla users who will not use WordPress, and as many vice versa – so what is the dividing line?

Many of Joomla’s supporters will indicate that it is “more than just a blogging platform”, either stating or implying that that is all WordPress is. And although this is not exactly true, there is enough of a grain of truth in it to make it an issue for some. WordPress gained most of its early adopters by being a very user-friendly site for bloggers, and has since diversified. On the other hand, Joomla was created after the development of WordPress and has to its advantage the fact that it was developed to be more right from the start.

There is some truth to the suggestion that the sites are similar enough to be used almost interchangeably while being different enough to have their own specific identities and attract people who will use one, and only one of the two for all of their site-creation needs.

For what it is worth, the two sites do specialize enough to give them their own defined position:

  • If you wish to create a blog, or a specific “user generated” site, then WordPress is better, and is conceived with your needs in mind.
  • If you wish to create something more individual, then it is better to use Joomla.

It would also be entirely fair to point out that if you have been using WordPress all this time and have found it to meet all your needs perfectly well, then a switch to Joomla will be more hassle than it really is worth. And, of course, vice versa.

One thing that might help you make up your mind is by looking through sites created using each application and deciding based on the ones which you find most applicable to your needs. Both are certainly good, user-friendly sites and won’t let you down.

Filed Under: Joomla Basics, WordPress Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Will Joomla Mean The End Of WordPress?

April 29, 2010 By Jon Leave a Comment

Joomla or WordPress? Which one is better?

The Internet is an arena of innovation, and is constantly seeing changes which make the experience more interactive, more diverse and more user-centered. The trick in the world of the Internet is to keep moving because you can be relevant one day and obsolete the next.

There has been no shortage of people claiming that because of Joomla’s greater range of applications, it will supersede WordPress and make the older system unnecessary, but is that true? While no-one could deny that Joomla is more versatile and powerful, surely WordPress has enough to hold its own?

What Joomla has in its favor is that it is certainly more adaptable for the dedicated user. If you want to put together a website for business purposes, the wide range of components and modules allow you to take it in pretty much any direction you want. However, there is a certain danger to this for a user who is not as technically-minded as others. If you found yourself at the seat of a rocket ship with a dashboard full of flashing lights and buttons, you would have to ask yourself if you could get it off the ground without causing a lot of damage – and this is similar to a novice using Joomla.

One might say that the benefit Joomla has over WordPress is that you can do more with it, while the disadvantage to Joomla is that, well, you can do more with it. The more you can do with something, the more you can do wrong – and that is more responsibility than a lot of people want. When things go wrong with Joomla, they are harder to fix. WordPress, for its part, is staggeringly user-friendly. Joomla is more adaptable, but WordPress is certainly more of a sensible option for plug-and-play purposes.

WordPress is fantastically easy to maintain. If you just want to blog, then you can be set up and working in a matter of moments – as long as it takes to register, create a title for your blog and start writing. With the huge range of widgets available – which are almost uniformly simple to install – you can add to your blog and make it easy to find online, as well as being easy to navigate. Joomla may be more adaptable, but it is one thing to say that and quite another to say that WordPress is rigid and fixed.

This is not any kind of attack on Joomla. It is a fantastic content management system – and that’s the point. Joomla and WordPress can easily co-exist because they have enough things making them different to appeal to separate markets, as well as being beneficial for different things in the same market.

WordPress is not going to shrivel up and die because Joomla is here and more adaptable. All that is going to happen is that the content management market will expand. Bloggers will still need a tool that lets them plug and play – if they want more features, they will go to Joomla, but there is still a need for WordPress.

Filed Under: WordPress Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,