What is Joomla?
An Introduction to the Joomla Platform
What is Joomla?
Joomla is an open source platform on which Web sites and applications can be created. It is a content management system (CMS) which connects your site to a MySQLi, MySQL, or PostgreSQL database in order to make content management and delivery easier on both the site manager and visitor.
Joomla's primary focus has been on usability and extensibility since its initial release in 2005. It is because of this that the project has been the recipient of numerous awards, including being a three-time recipient of the PACKT Open Source Content Management System Award.
Joomla is a completely free open source solution available to anyone and everyone with a desire to build dynamic and robust sites for a variety of purposes. Joomla has been utilized by some of the Web's most recognizable brands including Harvard, iHop, and MTV. It is capable of carrying out tasks ranging from corporate websites and blogs to social networks and e-commerce.
Joomla is backed by a large and active developer community. With thousands of unique and useful extensions and templates available, it is presently one of the largest single site building platforms available. It is this incredible community effort that makes Joomla a great choice for developers searching for a single platform with which they can receive active support from their peers.
It is important to think of Joomla not as a limited platform on which a specific type of site is built, but a robust set of tools that makes it possible to connect visitors to data in a variety of ways. Joomla's extensive set of integrated technologies empowers site managers and developers to innovate well beyond the bounds of a simple website.
You can find out more about Joomla by visiting Joomla.org.
Why Use Joomla?
Joomla has a number of advantages over many of its competitors. In addition to being a full-featured CMS, it is easy to learn, quick to set up, and inexpensive.
Joomla is absolutely free. 100% free to use, regardless of your implementation. This is due, in part, to its non-corporate roots and volunteer-driven support structure. There are few bills the Joomla project needs to pay to keep up and running, and everyone that contributes to its development does so out of a passion for creating something that truly meets the needs of sites both large and small.
Joomla is open source, and that means no surprises will pop up once you have started your site. Every part of the Joomla platform is open for you to inspect and even modify to meet your site's individual needs. Joomla's extensive third-party development community has created thousands of plugins, extensions, templates, and other options to empower you to make the most of your site without having to be an expert in Web development.
You might be wondering why so many people contribute to Joomla only to make it available free to the public. The answer is, simply put, that there are a number of companies out there founded on the principal of providing premium software and services that work with the Joomla environment. These companies and individuals spend their days working with clients to help them turn their ambitious website concepts into reality. By night, they are frequently found contributing to the greater Joomla project in order to make the platform even better.
RocketTheme, for example, provides a number of useful and freely-available templates and extensions for Joomla while creating premium templates and applications for anyone wanting to kick their site up a notch without spending large amounts of time and money to do so.
Who Uses Joomla?
Joomla is useful for a wide range of different site types and styles. In addition to being the largest Web software platform for government organizations around the world, it is utilized heavily for education, media, corporate, e-commerce, and even personal websites and blogs. It is extremely versatile.
One of its primary strengths is its usability. Whether you are a student just getting started in Web design or a retiree wanting to learn how to make a website, Joomla can be an excellent choice for you. You really do not need to know anything about programming or Web development to set up and customize a site, though you can tap into its open codebase to create something entirely original and unique. Want to make a custom module for your site that no other site on the Web has? You can do this with Joomla.