Joomla is what we call a CMS, a content management system. Where you would usually have to edit the files of your website to change something and as such know some html code, a CMS alows you to make changes to your website on the website itself. You go to yourwebpage.com/administrator, you login and you have easy acces to the articles and menus of your site.
Joomla is one of the most Popular CMS’s in the world. This because it has quite a lot of possibilities, it is flexible and still quite easy to use. You can automatcally make lists of articles, blog layouts, FAQ’s, contact forms etc. For example it will allow you to put articles in a category and show the latest or most read on your front page.
We generally recommand Joomla for teams that have to manage more advanced webpages with lots of information. (for example: categorised articles)
It is however required that you have some basic knowledge of:
- HTML code
- Uploading files to your server
- Understanding the file structure on your server
You will also need to invest some time into studying the CMS. While it has a good logic behind it, it is not something you can just start using without understanding the basics. The advantage is that because of its immense popularity a lot of documentation is available.
If you only need basic fonctionallity like few pages with a contact form we strongly recommand Pluck. Especially if you don’t want to invest time in learning the program.If you only need basic fonctionallity like few pages with a contact form we strongly recommand pluck. Especially if you don’t want to invest time in learning the program.
To get a good impression of what can be accomplished through Joomla you can go to the demo page. The actual site can be found here and the admin part (there where the website is managed) can be found here.
These demos are supplied by OpensourceCMS a website that allows you to compare the look and feel of many different online tools.