Please explain Joomla!

[Lord DarkPat]

What is Joomla!? I've been hearing a lot about it and can't figure out exactly what it is and does. Can someone explain please?

[Belliinator]

What a coincidence, im trying to work out the same thing!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joomla

From what I can deduct, joomla is a tool for publishing content on web pages. It structures them in a way that allows for this. Its based on mambo, which I have actually briefly used, but never really understood.

[Lord DarkPat]

so it's something like MediaWiki and WordPress?

[Belliinator]

Im not sure.

But I think its more admin focused for fully blown websites, then blogs and wiki's

Like I said, Im still trying to work it out, you just happened to post at almost exactly the same time I was looking at its wiki.

[macogw]

It's a Content Management System. Templates and automagic menu generation and things.... It's got modules to do like anything....forums, wiki, blog, static pages, calendar...

[Paqman]

Yeah, it basically provides a framework for your content. You manage it through a GUI in a web browser, so you don't have to ever see the php/css/whatever of your pages if you don't want to.

It takes a bit of adjustment if you're used to writing sites yourself, since a lot of the conventions (such as sites being built from a bunch of files considered to be "pages") don't really apply. Basically you insert you content into "modules" and define their position within a template.

[PartisanEntity]

Joomla is cool, but complicated and extensive. If you don't know anything about Joomla, but wish/need to use a CMS, go for the simpler Drupal.

[Lord DarkPat]

sorry, but "simple english please"
I'm new to web design! I know what php/css etc. is though.
So far, I think it's like cPanel

[PartisanEntity]

It is like cPanel but without any options to manage your server. A CMS such as Joomla or Drupal offers module based features that you can turn on or off. You install it in a web accessible folder on your server and then you can customise the looks and the features you want.

For example you can add rss features, a forum or user management, you can turn all these on and off. You can also add content in the form of a 'block' that you can move around. Further, it allows you to log in and post new content just like a blog, but more powerful.

If this interests you, and you have access to a server, preferably LAMP (Linux Apache MySQL PHP) then installing it is the best way to learn what it is.

A CMS makes a web developers life easier, it is a package of many features, all pre-made so you don't have to reinvent the wheel every time you create a site.

Think of it as a complete website with many features that you drop in a folder and customise.

[Vadi]

It's a huge CMS system. Personally I found it a tad too big for me, and use Enano CMS instead :)

(CMS systems rock. They let you to just focus on the content, and they take care of presentation)

[Barrucadu]

It's a stupidly complex system for putting content on your website. Gedit/Kedit and FileZilla are a much better alternative.

[PartisanEntity]

I just remembered this useful link:

www.opensourcecms.com

On the right side of the above mentioned website you will see a menu, look for Demo Menu and expand the entry Portals (CMS) you will then see a huge list of many different portal and cms solutions, with screenshots and many come with a demo installation you can test.

[PartisanEntity]

It's a stupidly complex system for putting content on your website. Gedit/Kedit and FileZilla are a much better alternative.

An unfair statement, it depends what you use it for. It is less useful for a static site consisting of maybe 10 pages about you and your dog.

It unfolds its power when you need it to create a large website (hundreds of pages) with dynamic content that changes regularly. It is great for community websites. It is superb for websites of companies or organisations where many users need to log in and post content.

Notepad or any other test editor (quoted post had 'notepad' in it) are sadistic choices for such massive endeavours, IMO.

[az]

It's a stupidly complex system for putting content on your website. Gedit/Kedit and FileZilla are a much better alternative.

You can't compare a database-drive (dynamic) website to a static one.

I use Drupal for a number of sites.

When I upload a new version of Ubuntu-Rescue-Remix, I can basically put that on the ubuntu-rescue-remix.org site in a few clicks. That content gets organized so that it can be easily found.

Users can comment on the content on the site easily. You can't get the features of a database-driven website by just writing it by hand.

Sure, a databse-driven site is overkill for a static (think business card-type site) but it can still work fine.

[Vadi]

No, that's why you use a small CMS. Like Enano! It's the first one I've tried, and I love it.

[Barrucadu]

You can't compare a database-drive (dynamic) website to a static one.
I never did. All of my sites are dynamic, yet coded in a text editor.

[akiratheoni]

Joomla is cool, but complicated and extensive. If you don't know anything about Joomla, but wish/need to use a CMS, go for the simpler Drupal.

I guess to each his own. When I used Joomla (I think it was the 1.0.12 release), I found it much easier than when I started using Drupal later. It might have been because I got used to Joomla but I still to this day can't figure out Drupal. Lol.

[derekr44]

I am an exclusive Joomla user with a few websites running it. Want a peek at what it can do?

ldsgamers.org
canofrags.com
tekify.com

It's a core framework that allows you to publish content. The easiest way to think of it is a blog on steroids. You can publish your own articles with just the core framework or you can get deeper in and integrate it with third party software, such as bulletin board systems, photo galleries, project management applications, etc.

IMO, I love it. You can make it quite complex or you can keep it extremely simple. The learning curve isn't too bad actually. A lot of people get overwhelmed by the administration GUI, but once you get in and poke around a little bit, it really makes sense.

[Tux Aubrey]

I agree with derekr44 - its worth the learning curve. I recently put up my first Joomla! site (cafebotanical.com) and, while I'm a total clutz at coding, it wasn't all that difficult - mostly removing functions and a bit of tweaking to get a gallery working with a plugin.


You can make it quite complex or you can keep it extremely simple.

That's the key for me. I wanted something that could start simple, do easy updates and have the capacity to expand functionality later.