When you are looking for lessons or courses on building websites for beginners, you immediately come across a mention of CMS. Of course, you can learn PHP, HTML, CSS, JavaScript and write the code yourself. But it will cost you your time (and probably nerves). If you need a simple and fast solution, then a CMS is your choice.
What is a CMS and why is it needed?
CMS is a content management system. You upload content (images, media, text), and the CMS takes care of the shell on its own – layout and design. You will be able to control the visual of the site through ready-made themes, and the content through plugins or modules.
Let’s try to compare the three most popular CMS: WordPress, Joomla, Drupal. They have a lot in common: they are free, open source, written in PHP, and work with MySQL databases.
Let’s determine which system is right for your ideas and goals.
WordPress
Perhaps WordPress is the most popular CMS. 42% of sites all over the Internet work on this platform, and in the web blogging zone – more than 50%! Blogs, news resources and business card sites are made on its basis. Why does everyone love WordPress so much?
Sample WordPress site: Newsroom | Meta – Facebook
First, this CMS is very simple and easy to use. With its intuitive interface, even a beginner can create a blog or a small website. Secondly, a huge number of themes (over 4000) and plugins (over 50,000) are available for WordPress. They are easily installed in one click right in the admin panel. Themes allow you to experiment with the design, and plugins allow you to expand the functionality of the site: add galleries, newsletter tools, comments, forms, and other utilities. Third, WordPress has a huge community of web developers who even host monthly meetings in cities around the world. This means that you can find the answer to almost any question in search engines and on online platforms dedicated to working with WordPress.
Note that if you are planning to create a small site, then WordPress is the best choice – CMS requires few resources, which means it will help save on hosting. For example, Bluehost has hosting with WordPress CMS already installed.
Joomla
Joomla is intended for more advanced users like web designers. Basic technical skills can be useful for working with it. But a beginner can still cope with Joomla.
Joomla is a lot like WordPress: a clean interface, about a thousand available themes, and over 7000 development extensions. But unlike WordPress, all additional functionality needs to be found on the Internet yourself, and then added to the site. Joomla, like WordPress, has a large user community. The official site has extensive documentation for beginners. As for professional help, finding an expert for Joomla development is more difficult.
Harvard University website made with Joomla: https://gsas.harvard.edu/
This system is suitable for larger sites and projects, for example, for e-commerce, a site for a small company or a thematic forum. Overall, Joomla perfectly combines the power and flexibility of Drupal (more on that later) and a user-friendly WordPress-like environment.
Try Joomla or even order a ready-made website on this CMS at A2 web hosting.
Drupal
Drupal is the most complex, but at the same time, the most powerful CMS of the three options we are considering. It is intended for professional developers. If you choose Drupal, keep this in mind – to an inexperienced user, the interface and working with Drupal can seem complicated. Like the rest of the CMS, Drupal has many free modules (over 30,000) and professional themes. But, like Joomla, you need to find and install them yourself.
Tesla’s Drupal site: https://www.tesla.com/
If you have the necessary skills or are going to launch a large project, such as a corporate website, an online store or a business management system, choose Drupal. Try hosting with Drupal from GreenGeeks
Choosing a CMS for a website: summary
WordPress, Joomla and Drupal are great content management systems. WordPress has a lot less built-in functionality than Drupal and Joomla. But it wins in ease of use and in the number of plugins and themes that you can use to add any functionality to your site. If you’re a beginner, WordPress is the way to go. It is great for blogs and small personal sites.
Joomla is a cross between WordPress and Drupal: it gives you more flexibility, but it is a little harder to use. Choose Joomla for larger projects in which you are willing to invest time and effort.
Finally, Drupal is for advanced users. It is suitable for those with good technical skills. If you are looking for which CMS to choose for an online store or corporate website and you know PHP, MySQL, HTML and CSS, choose Drupal.
Thanks for reading and clapping.