Joomla! or WordPress? - Part 1: Joomla! 1.5

Many times our clients interested in website design have been asked whether Joomla! or WordPress is the best option for their website since these are two of the platforms we frequently use. To that we always respond: it depends. What are you looking for to accomplish with your website? Are you planning on blogging? Will you need to administer the site your self? Interested in SEO? Do you need a custom design? What is your budget? Questions like these come up as both platforms behave on its own way, and every client needs specific things to make his/her site come alive the way he/she wants. Both platforms are incredibly powerful and offer a myriad of extensions (Joomla!) and plugins (WordPress) to enhance and maximize the productivity of a website; yet depending on one's needs we as a website design company would aim towards one or another to achieve specific results...

Joomla! 1.5

Joomla basically comes in 2 "flavors": Joomla! 1.0 and Joomla! 1.5. Since 1.0 is not (or will very soon) been supported anymore, and it is rather old anyway, we will focus on Joomla! 1.5 for this posts' purpose.

Joomla! 1.5 CMS (Content Management System) can give you everything you need--and more. We already said that 1.5 is a powerful platform, and that it has over 3,000 extensions to help you get the site you always dreamed of. From forums, flash menus, blog platforms, SEO tools, to community builders, music players, and multiple security features, Joomla! is ready to shape as you need it to. It is also database driven to make things a lot simpler for the site to process and faster.Template wise, there are no limits as you can choose for a free, a pro template (paid template), or go for a fully customed template to suit every single one of your dreams. Also, and because Joomla! is Open Source, you can modify the template, extensions, and core files to customize your Joomla! site even further. All of our clients need diverse ways to convey the message they need for their site, and Joomla! is up for the task.

And what about security? Joomla! is also extremelly secure. The Joomla! team is constantly releasing security patches that enhance and/or fix current threats to Joomla! sites. In other words, Joomla! works hard so you don't have to. Well, someone is got to do the updates, install the extensions, and customize the sites, right? The CMS also has a list of security extensions to help you worry less and less about your site being hacked or spammed. Oh yeah... where did I leave that "piña colada"?

Joomla! 1.5 is as powerful on the outside (front end) as it is on the inside (back end). The administrative site is very simple to navigate (after understanding how it works, of course) and everything is practically "there" so you don't have to figure things out or mess around with code once the site has been built. Our team offers training as part of the website packages in case a client decides to administer the site on his/her own. However, and despite the training, Joomla! should not be taken lightly if you want to administer your site. Specially if there are advanced features such as search engine friendly (SEF) re-writing, subscription driven communities, and eCommerce stores.

Joomla! 1.5 should be the choice for all those projects that require more than just a few pages and a blog, as WordPress is usually used for. With its strong core, and the option to choose from over 3,000 extensions, Joomla! has become one of the best CMS available today. Additionally, the Joomla! team is currently developing the next generation of the famous CMS (version 1.6) corroborating one more time why the CMS is THE choice for thousands of sites, including kRemtronicz.

Next Monday Part 2: WordPress. Don't miss it!