14 replies to this topic

[The Abbott]

Its no big secret. I use Joomla 1.5 on my current website. Im still learning but I have tried several other programs and truthfully Joomla has impressed me the most. I havent used any commercial software cause well I can not afford it but, I wouldnt mind hearing what you think. If you use software for your site or sites let me know.

[MikeDVB]

Its no big secret. I use Joomla 1.5 on my current website. Im still learning but I have tried several other programs and truthfully Joomla has impressed me the most. I havent used any commercial software cause well I can not afford it but, I wouldnt mind hearing what you think. If you use software for your site or sites let me know.

Joomla is very nice, I actually try to avoid CMSs unless it will make my life much easier due to the extra resources that a CMS demands

[The Abbott]

Well on the other side of that I am also using Kompozer. Ive been thinking about looking into frontpage but it looks like that may be going to the wayside for web expressions. I don't know im just a newbie. LOL HEck I still haven't even gotten into web security yet.

[kocchi]

I've tried out Joomla and I've found it to be a bit too bloated. Although it's pretty decent if you need to put up a website quickly and allow others to manage content, or if you don't have much programming experience at all to build your own.
Since I do have programming experience, I've mostly end up using a MVC framework and doing it the way I want it while keeping it fairly organized. I've recently developed a web app for my company using Kohana, a lightweight PHP framework.

[The Abbott]

Yeah Joomla is a little big, but for a community site it is easy to use and the members can use it very easily. I am working on learning how make websites in other ways. Im hopeing soon to actually be able to start making web sites for others. We will see. Its a beast ive jumped into bed with but im loving it. I really wish I had kept up on HTML from years ago. It does come back to you though. Thanks for your replies.

[Chris Suyeda]

Generally speaking, do all CMSs use a lot of resources? Or just Joomla in particular? If it is the latter, does anyone have any recommendations for a Joomla alternative?

Some time in the future, I would like to learn how to build my own website from scratch, but with my current schedule it isn't likely that it will happen soon.

[kocchi]

Other popular ones that comes into my mind are Drupal and Wordpress. Though Wordpress doesn't seem much like your typical CMS and more like a blogging platform, you can create a pretty decent website with it, and it also has a lot of plugins. Same with Drupal. I haven't tried Drupal much, but the admin section is a bit difficult to use, whereas Joomla is a lot better in my opinion.

[MikeDVB]

Most Content Management Systems are pretty heavy just due to the database back end and the number of queries required to generate most pages. Creative caching plug-ins can help reduce the resource usage however.

There's no need to regenerate a page for every user if the page hasn't changed

I like WordPress for informational sites and Joomla 1.5 for anything beyond your basic informational site/blog.

[sremick]

postnuke had been my CMS of choice. But they redid things, and changed their name in the process: Zikula.

I was going to upgrade that postnuke forum to Zikula since it seemed like the most-painless route and I really didn't have any gripes. However, earlier today I discovered ocPortal which I probably dismissed originally because it wasn't free. Now that it is, I feel I should research it thoroughly first before making my transition.

[Sharon]

I have tried WebsiteBaker and loved it. Pretty simple to use and SEO friendly. The only difficulty I had was in updating pages/plugins and ownership permissions. If you load WB up as a package through the web interface, from that point on, all updates have to be done through the interface. And, let's face it, sometimes you want to add a 'quick' update or page and not go through admin crontrol panels.

I have also used Drupal and Wordpress, but they both require too many plugins to become a worthwhile, and easy to use, website CMS. The more plugins or mods you have, the more you have a chance of messing up the core software.

I have been trying to test the water with Joomla, but I think it is way too bloated and confusing for newcomers. WB was pretty easy to learn, but you better know some php.

As soon as my website gets moved over, stabilized, and updated, I am going back to CMS package selection. I want to find something that will allow my forum users to add their own pages, so I don't have to keep moving their stories from the forums into static website pages. I want them to also be able to update those pages as they travel through their journey. So, it has to be real user friendly and simple.

However, earlier today I discovered ocPortal which I probably dismissed originally because it wasn't free. Now that it is, I feel I should research it thoroughly first before making my transition.

Looks pretty darn nice. But, is it bloated with code and db space?

Yeow, this BB is different!

[sremick]

Looks pretty darn nice. But, is it bloated with code and db space?

Unfortunately I can't say... I don't actually use it and I haven't had a chance to test it (been kind of busy with other projects). I think there are some other users on this forum though who use ocPortal and are big fans who could chime in...

[MikeDVB]

postnuke had been my CMS of choice. But they redid things, and changed their name in the process: Zikula.

I was going to upgrade that postnuke forum to Zikula since it seemed like the most-painless route and I really didn't have any gripes. However, earlier today I discovered ocPortal which I probably dismissed originally because it wasn't free. Now that it is, I feel I should research it thoroughly first before making my transition.

Bunny on this forum uses ocPortal almost exclusively - I'll direct her to this thread

[bunnykins]

I like ocportal a lot and have yet to find any thing better. Although wordpress comes close but is more for blogs then for any thing else.

[jackshobs]

Of Course, With Joomla 1.5 templates you've got the flexibility to come up with latest attractive web pages that can capture your client's attention and make you sales. Joomla 1.5 templates would be able to provide you the variety and options you require to make a one of a kind web-site which would push your store and encourage clientele to visit.

[fshagan]

I like ocportal a lot and have yet to find any thing better. Although wordpress comes close but is more for blogs then for any thing else.

It looks interesting. How easy is it to apply updates?

The one advantage Wordpress has is how easy it is to update ... you click a link in the Admin section. So many other CMS require you to download an upgrade zip, unzip it locally, then FTP the files. That's not a problem for me, but it has been for my customers in the past. A survey of over a million websites showed that Wordpress had the next-lowest rate of outdated installations, while Joomla and Drupal had well over 50% of the installations outdated.