For a beginner with no coding skills or related experience, creating a new website can be an overwhelming process with too many choices. The first huge decision comes quickly in choosing a content management system for your site. There are hundreds of options to choose from, some with very large price tags or complex coding knowledge requirements.
The two most common free content management systems are WordPress and Joomla. They’re both accessible for use for beginners, have many options for customization, and include large support communities.
In this article, we’ll outline the qualities both systems share, along with their differences, to help you decide which content management system is best for you.
What Is a Content Management System?
A content management system (CMS) is the combination of the necessary content and computer code to run a program. It is responsible for creating a website.
To be technical, a CMS is a platform for creating and sharing digital content. Sometimes called a web management system, it’s a program or group of applications that guide the process of writing, editing, and publishing text and media online. They have a particular interface that allows access to them via a web browser, along with options for search engines to understand and categorize them.
Both WordPress and Joomla Are Content Management Systems.
They’re both open-source software that is entirely free, with no fees to use or license them. Both WordPress and Joomla are written in the programming language PHP and support the database system MySQL.
They both use downloadable templates to help alter the site appearance and different plugins to add functions or features. Both are fully customizable and decently straightforward to create.
Joomla and WordPress both have large communities of individuals invested in their projects and offering support to others. Through chats, blogs, and forums, beginners of each CMS can find the help they need. Being an open-source software has turned each of these platforms into a community project, which involves continually improving the programs and making them accessible to all.
Despite their many similarities, WordPress and Joomla do have differences as well.
WordPress Is the Most popular of All CMS.
It is the best platform for blogging and e-commerce sites. It has the best and most extensive collection of themes and plugins. WordPress is excellent for search engine optimization (SEO) and is continuously getting better at website translation and multi-language sites.
The major downfall to WordPress is its reputation for leaving sites potentially unsecured. WordPress sites have often been the targets for hackers, mostly as a result of the widespread use of the platform. More people using the system makes it more worthwhile to figure out how to attack it.
However, WordPress has added automatic security updates every 40 days. The community has become increasingly more diligent at adding security patches to fix holes in the code and protect users. Like most platforms, if you use a strong password and only install reputable themes and plugins, then your site will be safer.
Joomla Is Slightly More Complex but Offers More Functionality.
Joomla has more power on its own but brings a slightly steeper learning curve than WordPress. It has quicker page loading speeds that are easy to boost even faster. Plus, it can be translated or multi-lingual with no need for extra plugins or work. There are many reasons that big brands choose Joomla for their sites.
Joomla’s other claim to fame, besides its power, is its ability to create social networks. While WordPress is known for blogging, Joomla is known for networking and can hold its own as an e-commerce platform as well.
Because it is slightly more complicated, features such as SEO are harder to implement. However, once you know how it works, Joomla’s SEO capacity is fully functional. The complicated nature of becoming an expert at Joomla also means that expert help is expensive and harder to find.
Joomla provides users tools and information to keep their sites safe and secure on their own. They have accessible checklists and extensive documentation. However, they don’t have automatic security updates or the same number of security patches as WordPress. It’s up to the user to keep their site protected.
So Which Is Better, WordPress or Joomla?
Joomla comes with more built-in features and more power. It is better for international sites that use different languages and see high volume traffic. However, it’s harder to learn and manage.
WordPress is more beginner friendly with its large support community and the amount of information and help available. Despite its reputation for being less secure, the considerable variation in the available plugins and the number of different themes make up for it.
Overall, for a beginner website designer without any coding knowledge, WordPress is the best option. It may not be perfect, but it makes creating the perfect website for your needs quick and easy.
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