Joomla For beginners??

15 replies
IS Joomla an easy to use CMS for beginners? What are the Pro's and Con's from people that use this system? thanks
#beginners #joomla
  • Profile picture of the author thunderbird
    Joomla is not so easy but not rocket science either, but there are lots of step-by-step how tos. Search YouTube and you might find useful videos on it. On some projects, I opt for Joomla! over other CMS, but fixing up extensions on some projects (eg shopping cart) has sometimes involved programmers spending about 40 hours or more on them to get to work properly. For basic funtionality, should be good as is. There are lots of Joomla! vs whatever threads across cyberspace.
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    • Profile picture of the author Jill Carpenter
      I learned wordpress first. You will benefit if you go that route first.

      Joomla IMO is not newbie friendly.
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      "May I have ten thousand marbles, please?"

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    • Profile picture of the author VideoCreator
      I got around it it fairly well my first time, and there are lots of options, but for me I stick with WordPress. For a membership site, WishListPro is an awesome plugin for WP.

      Joomla (and Drupal) both have their dedicated, diehard fans, but I like focusing on other aspects of the business. Just too much learning curve.
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      Regards,

      Ken
      Want to see why my clients have 6-FIGURE launches? Sales Page Videos
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  • Profile picture of the author bbminded
    So far, lots of good advise.... Wordpress is another CMS system im very aware of but have not yet attempted. How about xsitepro compared to these other CMS?
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    • Profile picture of the author Marketstriker
      Originally Posted by bbminded View Post

      How about xsitepro compared to these other CMS?
      XSitePro is aimed at the entrepreneurial user who wants to build an effective website quickly using built-in design elements and tools. It's a great tool for building multiple websites fast. I tried Dreamweaver to build sites, but it was much more to learn and that's why hard to use.
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      • Profile picture of the author bbminded
        Was there a learning curve at all with xsitepro assuming you are a newbie? Or is it pretty straight forward and easy to use? How well do you feel the search engines pick up on websites built with xsitepro?


        Originally Posted by Marketstriker View Post

        XSitePro is aimed at the entrepreneurial user who wants to build an effective website quickly using built-in design elements and tools. It's a great tool for building multiple websites fast. I tried Dreamweaver to build sites, but it was much more to learn and that's why hard to use.
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      • Profile picture of the author accxess
        Joomla isn't the quickest learning curve, however the power and functionality is top class. I like wordpress for it simplicity and now you can completely integrate the two seamslessly to give the power and functionality that both offers.

        Deciding what your eventual use is highly important, I have had to convert many WordPress sites to Joomla after wordpress failed to be able to deliver in the long term.

        A little bit of thought early on can save a HUGE amount of drama.
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  • Profile picture of the author thunderbird
    It comes down to what you want to do. For most purposes, Wordpress is fine and perhaps the best choice (and free too). That said, extra measures should be taken to improve the security of a wordpress site.
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  • Profile picture of the author billross
    forget Joomla for now. you need to start with WordPress. much easier and can do just about anything you need.
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  • Profile picture of the author Aaron H
    I've used Joomla for a works site and it's got plenty of really useful plugins but I'd agree with Thunderbirds comments that from experience if things go wrong it can turn into a real nightmare, also adding and editing posts/articles doesn't seem as streamlined as in Wordpress.
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    • Profile picture of the author thunderbird
      Originally Posted by Aaron H View Post

      I've used Joomla for a works site and it's got plenty of really useful plugins but I'd agree with Thunderbirds comments that from experience if things go wrong it can turn into a real nightmare, also adding and editing posts/articles doesn't seem as streamlined as in Wordpress.
      Well, any CMS can be a nightmare if things go wrong! Sometimes it isn't things going wrong, so much as having complicated requirements. For example, in one project -- an optical shop website -- we needed to have a shopping cart with parallel drop-down fields (since glasses or contact lenses have different strengths, and each eye may have specific requirements). It wasn't exactly nightmare, just a lot of coding to extend the extension's functionality (but some bugs in the original Joomla extension had to be fixed).
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  • Profile picture of the author bbminded
    Sounds like i should focus on wordpress.... can you add a wordpress blog to a static xsitepro website??
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    • Profile picture of the author Aaron H
      Originally Posted by bbminded View Post

      Sounds like i should focus on wordpress.... can you add a wordpress blog to a static xsitepro website??
      You can but if you've blended the two to make it look like one site you really need to stay on top of any style sheet or navigation changes you make. I caused myself major headaches using a standalone review system, wp installation and html front end. Won't be doing that again in a hurry.
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  • Profile picture of the author designsedge
    I have used Joomla for a while now, and although it is "fairly" easy as CMS goes, I have discovered that it has depths unknown. If you want a quick and dirty site, can't beat it. Want a super-advanced SEO friendly and functional site - that takes time to learn in Joomla.
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  • Profile picture of the author abelacts
    Joomla is a different beast. It took me a full week to understand how it works. It's not easy to learn but once you get the hang of it, you can be amazed by its flexibility. However, for beginners, I advise you try out Wordpress first. It is more beginner-friendly, IMHO. Also I find Joomla is too heavy and runs more slowly compared to WP.
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