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What is the Case for Drupal and Joomla?

by mikelmraz
12 replies
I have always liked to use Wordpress to build sites. But was recently wondering if the other two big ones, Drupal and Joomla namely, are better for some other uses such as local sites, small business sites etc.?
#case #drupal #joomla
  • Profile picture of the author anandshaw
    I have used all the three: It totally depends on your purpose. Joomla & Drupal are great CMS but have substantial higher learning curve than wordpress.
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    • Profile picture of the author mikelmraz
      Originally Posted by anandshaw View Post

      I have used all the three: It totally depends on your purpose. Joomla & Drupal are great CMS but have substantial higher learning curve than wordpress.
      What is Joomla's specialty, as in which functions are they really excel in? Drupal?
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      • Profile picture of the author anandshaw
        technically joomla & drupal are complex in their db structure & functionality provided by the core.
        From a user's perspective I have noticed the following
        Wordpress is favoured by bloggers & Internet marketeers
        Joomla is favoured by web designers
        Drupal is favoured by web developers
        Many of the functionalities such as ecommerce,membership etc is possible using plugins available on each of the platform. The difference is primarily in the time & skill required and the customization that is allowed.
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    • Profile picture of the author jaggyjay
      Took the words right out of my mouth

      I did some seo work for a company recently whose site was built using Drupal. It was real high end stuff (memberships, complex sales funnels, custom back-end ... the works).

      At any given time they had 3 coders working on the site. That alone made me want to stay away from it. But I do take comfort that, like WP, they have a huge community that one can access for help.

      Originally Posted by anandshaw View Post

      Joomla & Drupal are great CMS but have substantial higher learning curve than wordpress.
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      • Profile picture of the author mikelmraz
        Originally Posted by jaggyjay View Post

        Took the words right out of my mouth

        I did some seo work for a company recently whose site was built using Drupal. It was real high end stuff (memberships, complex sales funnels, custom back-end ... the works).

        At any given time they had 3 coders working on the site. That alone made me want to stay away from it. But I do take comfort that, like WP, they have a huge community that one can access for help.
        Can this just be done using a membership theme or plugin under Wordpress. Or is it something that cannot be done?
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        • Profile picture of the author jaggyjay
          Theoretically yes. There are several WP membership plugins available. WishList is one of the best from what I understand.

          There are also many other plugin that allow you literally "pimp out" your site with all the bells and whistles you can imagine.

          Now the biggest challenge is... how to get them all to play nice together

          I'm just getting into WP and WP plugin development (yes, I'm a avid programmer too not just an IMer). Anyway, throughout my learning process, I've noticed that many WP site owners seem to have the same problem: that is, how to get a site to seamlessly function the way they want.

          Of course, this greatly depends on the how complex the site is.

          One solution is to custom code everything. But this can get very pricey.

          Another solution is to get compatible plugins and do custom hacks as necessary.

          Which route you go is up to you and your budget. My suggestion for you is to try and find a site that is already doing (or close to doing) what it is you want your site to do. Don't worry about the design or layout - just find a site that's close to what you want.

          Once you do, find a coder and have them figure out what CMS platform they are using and then copy the site's functionality. Depending on the coder - you can have a working copy of your ideal site in a short amount of time.

          Best of luck!

          - Jay

          Originally Posted by mikelmraz View Post

          Can this just be done using a membership theme or plugin under Wordpress. Or is it something that cannot be done?
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  • Profile picture of the author sunray
    Both are better for more serious projects. Joomla is a little easier to learn, but Drupal allows more customization, and is much more powerful. You can use Drupal in a way that is unthinkable with Wordpress.

    Lets say you make a review site of laptop computers. You want to have all specifics on different data fields: processor, disk size, memory size, screen sice, amount of USB-s, price etc. You make a custom content type, create a text/number/boolean/list field for each of these. First you create this content type, then you can use it to make product pages using this template. Then you edit your display of the main product (content) page, deciding what fields and in what order will appear.

    After that it really gets exiting. You go, and create a VIEW. View in Drupal allows you to make all kinds of different table-like lists based on any of the data fields you entered. You can filter based on any of them, you can sort, you can display the fields what you want. You can create user searches with multiple drop-down lists and so on. Endless possibilities.

    Just another use of a view is a teaser page (front page, or just a subtopic). With views you have total control what to display and how to display it. As a tiny example, you can add comment count numeral to your front page teaser.
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    • Profile picture of the author mikelmraz
      Originally Posted by sunray View Post

      Both are better for more serious projects. Joomla is a little easier to learn, but Drupal allows more customization, and is much more powerful. You can use Drupal in a way that is unthinkable with Wordpress.

      Lets say you make a review site of laptop computers. You want to have all specifics on different data fields: processor, disk size, memory size, screen sice, amount of USB-s, price etc. You make a custom content type, create a text/number/boolean/list field for each of these. First you create this content type, then you can use it to make product pages using this template. Then you edit your display of the main product (content) page, deciding what fields and in what order will appear.

      After that it really gets exiting. You go, and create a VIEW. View in Drupal allows you to make all kinds of different table-like lists based on any of the data fields you entered. You can filter based on any of them, you can sort, you can display the fields what you want. You can create user searches with multiple drop-down lists and so on. Endless possibilities.

      Just another use of a view is a teaser page (front page, or just a subtopic). With views you have total control what to display and how to display it. As a tiny example, you can add comment count numeral to your front page teaser.
      That sounds like pretty complex stuff. So, this is not possible for Wordpress?
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      • Profile picture of the author sunray
        Originally Posted by mikelmraz View Post

        That sounds like pretty complex stuff. So, this is not possible for Wordpress?
        I don't think it is. In Wordpress all the page's content is in one single field, and so the data cannot be manipulated like that. Of course, it is complex, and not easy at first. But there is no obligation to use these advanced features at first. Views module even doesn't come with core, event though it's so widely used it probably should.
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    • Profile picture of the author pinkclouds
      Originally Posted by sunray View Post

      Both are better for more serious projects. Joomla is a little easier to learn, but Drupal allows more customization, and is much more powerful. You can use Drupal in a way that is unthinkable with Wordpress.
      Exactly. You don't really need Joomla or Drupal for small business sites, Wordpress will more than suffice. I personally would choose either Wordpress or Drupal - Wordpress for the easier sites and Drupal for sites with more complex requirements.
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  • Profile picture of the author RedShifted
    I use to love WP, and still do, but it seems to be a magnet for hackers. Only a few days after my first WP site hit page 1 it was hacked to hell and back.

    I had the option to download more "security" plugins but plugins were the reason it got hacked in the first place. So I said eff that and wound up recoding the entire site myself, off WP.

    I still use it for my less important sites but for my main money maker I will never use WP again.

    -Red
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  • Profile picture of the author TanYaV
    I would say that both Joomla and Drupal are very decent CMS. They certainly can be used for any project, but are more complex than WordPress. You can check this post for more details.
    In short, if you are ready to learn or already have some advanced skills, why not take up Joomla or Drupal? it depends also on the requirements for a specific project.
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    regards!

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