A lot of people I meet are confused about Joomla!, many don’t know what it is, some know what it is but don’t understand it and then there are some who understand it but aren’t sure whether they should use it or not.
This article is going to simplify the understanding of Joomla! for everyone who wants to know what it is, how it works and whether it is the better choice as a content management system than WordPress.
What is Joomla?
Before we dive into the details of what features Joomla offers, lets make sure that you understand exactly what Joomla! is.
Joomla is an open source content management system that allows you to build websites and powerful online applications. This website software contains easy-to-use features and it is freely available to everyone.
This content management system can be used on any type of websites that you are trying to build. Joomla powered websites can function in many ways. You can build a website with online web store, directories portal, customer service system, membership sites or even a blog site.
Even though WordPress dominates the world of content management Joomla too powers millions of websites. Unfortunately this decade old content management system is losing its audience for a little while now. A lot of developers refer to Joomla’s state as a fall from grace, why is that? Let’s find out!
Joomla!’s Fall from Grace
A few years back, there were three content management systems that were known to the world, Worpress, Drupal and Joomla!, all in the running to become the world’s leading CMS. In 2011, WordPress became the king of CMSs and has maintained to be so since.
This resulted in Joomla! becoming the second best content management system, thanks to its very loyal following. The CMS despite still having millions of users is struggling to find new converts, not to mention a lot of the ‘loyal followers’ of Joomla! have converted to WordPress and refuse to look back.
Take a look at this example from Google Trends, comparing the interest shown by users in Joomla! and WordPress, over time:
Although Joomla! has lost users and is not doing well by any standard, there are still good opportunities for the CMS and the developers that work with it.
Let’s take a look at Google Trends with refined keywords and see how the demand for Joomla! extensions comes up against WordPress plugins.
It is apparent that WordPress plugins are more in demand than Joomla! extensions, but as you can see both the queries are going more towards the downward side. What does this mean?
It means that the love for plugins and extensions is fading, as more and more end users now seek a solution that is simple and at the same time scalable like SaaS or something that works just out of the box.
Here’s what Hogash, author of the very popular Kallyas and Ammon Joomla themes has to say about the people who buy themes and templates for Joomla! “To be honest, Joomla is now at its peak, as product development has evolved from something great to something even greater. Not to mention there’s a strict roadmap for the next few years. The community is still active, there’s a lot of buzz going on and updates are often released, whether it’s a security release or new features”.
According to Hogash, people who buy themes and templates for Joomla! are mostly freelancers and design agencies. This is good news for Joomla! as it shows that there are still buyers out there for Joomla!. These buyers are mostly made up of folks who know what they are doing and how to customize and tweak in order to get the desired results. Beginners, bootstrappers and other similar users stay aloof from Joomla!
In the end I think Joomla! is definitely one of the more complex content management systems out there and while there are ways to use and stretch it to fit your web development needs it is certainly easier to search for solutions that are simpler and more rational.
Joomla!, as a regular mainstream CMS, is now finding it difficult to cater to both the ends of the spectrum: the average routine user and the advanced user. Several other CMSs, on the other hand, have been lucky enough to have a specific niche underlying their base: WordPress has a blogger-like sub-section in its audience, whereas MODX lovers rely on its customizability, and so on. Joomla!, unlike the rest, has no such sub-section in its user base that has a ‘keen’ reason to stick around.
In spite its limitations, Joomla! has survived so far and will continue to survive. As shown in the images above, while the Content Management System is losing in popularity to WordPress, the demand for its extensions and templates is still keeping pace with that of WordPress plugins or themes (albeit the numbers are different, obviously). This is because while people no longer flock to Joomla! as a de facto CMS of the masses, there are users who seek and use this CMS as a mainstream solution — possibly not for highly specific aims, but surely for general aims.
Have you been using Joomla! as your content management system? What do you have to say about its current state? Do share your insight with us!
(The information in the article was extracted from www.marketblog.envato.com)
