WordPress and Joomla are two of the world’s biggest content management systems, both have a loyal following and the debate still rages on. Which Content Management System (CMS) is the best for your website? we are going to try to be as thorough as possible with this comparison.
User friendliness:
This is the most important criteria in my mind, as web designers and developers try to sell you on the idea of making updates to your website. But if the CMS is not easy to use I feel that you are getting ripped off
Joomla: I tried Joomla when I first got started in this industry and one of the things I hated about it was that it was just not easy enough for the end user and the client to use, which to me was a major problem with their Content Management System. I did recently have a look at their dashboard and they have come a long way, but still not the most user-friendly one around.
WordPress: From the first time I used WordPress I found it easy to use, which means that our clients can use it with ease. Their menu items are named correctly so you immediately understand what it will do.
What type of sites can I build?
There are so many different types of websites you get online from blogs, and forums to Social Networks so picking a platform that can meet your needs is important.
Blog?
Joomla: Joomla does not come with a blogging component by default but you find a component in their module repository on their website.
WordPress: WordPress was originally a blogging platform when it was launched, so by default, it has blogging functionality built into it.
Basic website?
Both WordPress and Joomla are great for building basic business websites, they both allow you to create pages as well as set up menus for your site. Both options have a lot of themes available for them, WordPress has slightly more.
Forum & Social Networks?
Forums and social networks are rather complex types of websites, which most people don’t think WordPress can do.
Joomla: There are extensions for Joomla which will allow you to build such complex websites, which is quite handy if you want to start a social network or a forum.
WordPress: Just like Joomla WordPress does not come with these features in the box, but has plugins that will allow you to extend WordPress to have a forum or to build a social network.
Ecommerce?
Joomla: Joomla has extensions that will let you build an online store on the CMS, So people can view your products and purchase them all from the comfort of their couch.
WordPress: WordPress out the box does not allow for e-commerce, but there is a plugin called WooCommerce that happens to be the most used online store platform. So you can create an incredible store on your website with woo-commerce, which has endless possibilities.
SEO
Joomla: Joomla is a bit harder to optimize for search engines it is not super friendly out of the box requires quite a bit of configuration and hacking. Here is a guide to optimizing Joomla.
WordPress: WordPress is SEO friendly straight of the box but with everything that comes premade there is room for improvement. WordPress has a plugin for everything you need SEO-wise.
So in our opinion, WordPress is the victor of the CMS battle, we will probably be told that this is one-sided and favouring WordPress but the truth is WordPress has come a long way since it was first released, but there are still a lot of preconceived idea on what WordPress is good for.
Awesome post