Content Management Systems (CMS):Which do you use and why?

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By Akita-jitsu


Joomla!

I've tried Joomla, Mambo, Drupal to build websites. By far, Joomla is the best in my experience. The administration interface is very easy to navigate, and you really don't need to read any lengthy how-to manuals. Just play around for a few minutes and you'll get the hang of it.

The extensions and templates available are excellent. I haven't had any problem finding extensions that fit what I want to do with my website. Most are available for free, though there are some really nice ones that are commercial. It's nice to have these extensions readily available for those of us who aren't really familiar with php.

Joomla.org is the home-base for Joomla. You can get all the extensions you need here, and find links to sites that offer both free and commercial templates. As for templates, I really enjoy the templates are Rocket Theme and Template Plazza. Both have a couple free templates, but to get their best templates, you need a club membership, which really isn't that expensive.

I currently have one active Joomla powered site, and one in production. Mommy's Little Black Book is website directory site powered by Joomla 1.0, and makes use of a modified Template Plazza template. I also use SOBI2 Business Directory on this site. Life After Miscarriage is still being constructed. It is powered by Joomla 1.0, and uses a variety of extensions including Community Builder, Flashchat, MyBlog, and several others. The template I used is a free template called Orange Smoothie, by Rhuk (I modified it though).

Joomla has been upgraded to version 1.5, but many of the extensions have yet to follow suit. I do prefer the admin interface of 1.5, It's cleaner and even easier to use. I'm probably going to use this version of Joomla for my accounting site, which doesn't need a lot of fancy extensions at this point.

I'd definitely recommend Joomla to someone looking to use a CMS to build their website. There is a learning curve, but once you get going, it's incredibly easy to build a very professional looking website without touching a bit of code yourself!

Joomla Powered Website Screenshot

Mommy's Little Black Book - Joomla powered!
Mommy's Little Black Book - Joomla powered!

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Lady Luthi profile image

Lady Luthi  says:
2 years ago

Thanks for the Hub. I am currently using Joomla 1.5 to rebuild our college newspaper and I use it for my personal website. I totally agree that Joomla is much easier to use then Mambo and Drupal. I find that some extension can be used with 1.5 as long as 1.0 legacy is on. I love the templates I get them from many different places. Great information.

smallbizpro profile image

smallbizpro  says:
2 years ago

Good Hub, although I'd have to disagree with the choice, lol.

I find Wordpress by far the easiest CMS to work with - from support to adaptability to ease-of-use to SEO-friendliness, it's an excellent system that works well with both websites and blogs alike. And with companies like iThemes.com providing wonderful templates for the non-HTML experts, telling a Wordpress site apart from a "dedicated website" is almost impossible. :)

But, that's what choice and opinions are all about, right? ;-)

danieltetreault profile image

danieltetreault  says:
2 years ago

I totally agree with Joomla being one of the most easiest CMS to work with. However the support for the open source CMS has always been my beef. Of the top three CMS of Joomla Mambo and Drupal, I would rate them in that order, respectively.

Now, is Blogger and WordPress a Content Management System? If WordPress is considered a CMS and NOT just a Blogging Platform, then and only then would I agree with smallbiz-promos comment that Wordpress is the easiest CMS to work with. I always considered the two (CMS vs. Blogging platform) as being different.

Sincerely, Daniel Tetreault

Check out one of my Hubpages on this issue and tell me if you agree? Click the link below:

http://hubpages.com/hub/Which-choice-is-better-whe

Akita-jitsu profile image

Akita-jitsu  says:
2 years ago

I'd agree that Wordpress is very easy to work with, but I think I'd categorize it as a blogging platform, rather than CMS. I guess it just all depends on what you want to do within your site. For my purposes, Wordpress just doesn't have the capabilities that I need. But, it does work great for a friend blog I helped with http://www.supersavingmom.com

Lady Luthi profile image

Lady Luthi  says:
2 years ago

Well, I would say that you could categorize Wordpress as a CMS as long you have the write plugsin and template to make it work. I am currently in the process of using either Wordpress or Joomla for our school newspaper and I wanted to see what the hubbing community used for their own sites.

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