Joomla explained

Joomla is a free, open-source content management system (CMS) that lets you manage a website without any programming knowledge. It is known for its strong built-in features for multilingual sites and user permissions.

What is Joomla?

Joomla is one of the best-known open-source CMS platforms in the world and has been around since 2005. Like other systems, it runs on a web server with PHP and a database, and you manage the content through a secure admin environment. Joomla occupies a middle ground: it is more powerful and more extensive than a simple blogging platform, but more accessible than a system that requires fully bespoke development.

Joomla compared with WordPress

Joomla and WordPress are similar: both are free, open source and can be extended with extensions and templates. WordPress is more popular and therefore has a wider range of extensions and a gentler learning curve. Joomla, on the other hand, offers more structure and scope for complex sites out of the box, which does take a little more time to get to grips with at first.

Strengths of Joomla

Joomla stands out above all in two areas that are built in as standard:

• Multilingual support: Joomla supports several languages without extra extensions, which is useful for international organisations.
• Permission management (ACL): with a fine-grained system of access rights you determine exactly which user may see or edit which parts.
• Flexible structure: suitable for sites with many pages, categories and user groups.

When do you choose Joomla?

Joomla is a good choice when you want a large or multilingual website, or when several members of staff with differing permissions work on the site. For a simple presentation site or blog the system is often more extensive than necessary; WordPress or a website without a CMS may then be a better fit.

Maintaining a Joomla website

Like other CMS platforms, Joomla needs regular maintenance. The software and the installed extensions receive updates that you have to apply in good time, both for new features and for security. If you fall behind with updates, the risk of faults and vulnerabilities increases. If your site no longer works properly, InnoDIGI can help with repairing a broken Joomla website. If you would like a new site built or an existing one maintained, take a look at Joomla web design.