Drupal, Wordpress and Joomla, Oh My!

July 7th, 2010 by Hall

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If those words in the title are thoroughly confusing, don’t worry, I had no clue what they meant a few years ago either. Since then I have had the opportunity to dive into each one and see what they are all about. Whether you are involved with your company’s website, or you work on your own, you have probably heard of at least one of these three open source content management systems (CMSs). While there are hundreds of great systems available (just check out the CMS Matrix to see), Drupal, WordPress and Joomla are typically the most talked about. Have you ever been curious about exactly what each one is and which CMS is right for your website? Starting this month, I will present a 3-part webinar series, answering your questions and giving you an introduction to each system.

Drupal

Drupal This CMS is a full scale website creation and management system. Drupal, which was released as an open source project in 2001, is built for easy web community integration and allows for large scale customizations. It has a large following, especially among developers who are very passionate about the system. Because of this, there are many custom built add-ons (known as modules) available. There are also many sites available for support and tutorials, which is helpful because of the steep learning curve associated with Drupal. Websites that require a lot of customizations will find Drupal to be a good solution.

WordPress

WordPress is another open source CMS that is often used as blogging software. With the recent release of version 3.0, there are new features that allow users to have more freedom when adding content other than blog posts, making it a robust content management system. Similar to Drupal, WordPress has add-ons called widgets that can be customized and placed in different areas on the site without having to use code. WordPress has a versatile templating system with many themes available. This CMS is perfect for blog-based websites with additional information pages and some unique functionality.

Joomla

Joomla Another popular open source CMS is Joomla, which was released in 2005. There are many free and commercial plug-ins available for the system that allow for customization of your website. Multiple templates are available for Joomla sites, which are easy to install and switch between. As with Drupal, there tends to be more of a learning curve, but it can be easily mastered with the proper set-up. Joomla can be a good solution for simple websites, member based websites, and sites that need a little bit of customization.

If you are interested in learning more about any or all of these systems then keep an eye out for the upcoming webinars on our webinar listing page. The Introduction to Drupal webinar will be held on Tuesday, July 13th and you can register for it here. I look forward to talking CMS with you!

Posted in Content Management System, Web Development, Webinars

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Seth

You should look at CMSMadeSimple. It’s another php platform that I find has a small learning curve, and clients are easily able to get their head around. It is what I use on sites that don’t need the robust solution that drupal requires.
Seth

You should look at CMSMadeSimple. It's another php platform that I find has a small learning curve, and clients are easily able to get their head around. It is what I use on sites that don't need the robust solution that drupal requires.
http://twitter.com/CMS_Girl Alayna White

Thanks for your comment Seth! I have taken a look at CMS Made Simple, however not quite as in depth as the other 3 systems. From what I saw you are right, it seems easier to work with and would be perfect for sites that are not as intensive as others. A lot of developers and users rave about it. There are so many great CMSs out there that the best solution often varies depending on the project!
http://twitter.com/CMS_Girl Alayna White

Thanks for your comment Seth! I have taken a look at CMS Made Simple, however not quite as in depth as the other 3 systems. From what I saw you are right, it seems easier to work with and would be perfect for sites that are not as intensive as others. A lot of developers and users rave about it. There are so many great CMSs out there that the best solution often varies depending on the project!
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http://www.drupal-themes.adodis.com Drupal Themes

I have been using Drupal for nearly a year now and two of my websites are on that platform, which is working pretty well for me. I have also heard that Joomla is the most user friendly CMS, but never tried it before. Thanks for this post, for sharing more information on CMS.
http://twitter.com/CMS_Girl Alayna White

As a developer I love that Drupal lets me have so much freedom with the modules, I find it much easier to customize than the other two. If you have a very simple site then Joomla is user friendly, but I think Drupal can be as well if you set it up properly. Also, Drupal has addressed many usability issues in the new release of Drupal 7 set for launch in the beginning of January. Thanks for reading!
http://www.drupal-themes.adodis.com Drupal Themes

Alayna, I too have read about the Drupal 7 launch and am waiting for it. I also read on some blog that Drupal 7 will be more user friendly compared to the previous version. Which is actually a good new to me, I guess it does not make any difference for you, except for the fact that there may be additional components coming with it.
http://twitter.com/CMS_Girl Alayna White

The new usability features will definitely be helpful for clients who use the system. Hopefully the udpates will help Drupal be more user friendly from the start without having to configure multiple user permissions and extra modules like I have to now. I am excited to really get into it and am looking forward to the updates with custom fields and image handling.
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