Joomla
Joomla is a free and open source content management system (CMS), used for creating dynamic websites. It is the second most used CMS in the world (after WordPress), and it uses a model-view-controller (MVC) framework that is independent of the system itself. Written in PHP, Joomla connects to a variety of database backends, including MySQL and PostgreSQL, and its features include the ability to create and manage blogs, RSS feeds, caching, printable pages, searching, news flashes and support for language localization. Joomla also provides more than 8,000 extensions (both free and commercial), and others are available through third-party sources.
- Can create a dynamic website that is as simple as a blog or as complex as a web application
- Does not require a programmer to set up
- Uses a MVC framework that is independent of the CMS
- Completely free to use
- Has lots of quality extensions, especially for e-commerce
- Makes editing web content as easy as editing a Word document
- Easy to use and power administration interface
- Connects to many popular database backends
- Has good localization tools
- Not as customizable as some other content management systems, such as Drupal
- Does not have as many extensions as WordPress
- Has had security issues in the past
Joomla has been downloaded more than 90 million times, and with good reason: it is one of the best content management systems out there. Similar in many ways to both WordPress and Drupal, it allows web developers to create dynamic websites that can be as simple as a blog or complex as any sophisticated web application on the market. Among the many positive aspects of using Joomla are the many extensions available for creating e-commerce sites. It is also incredibly simple to use, even for someone who is not a software developer. Editing site content is no more difficult in Joomla than editing a document is in Microsoft Word, and its administration interface is simple to use as well, but still very powerful. Best of all, Joomla is completely free to use and open source. On the downside, it is not as customizable as some other systsms, such as Drupal, and while there are plenty of extensions available for it, this number is small in comparison to WordPress. Finally, Joomla has had its share of security issues in the past.