WP or Joomla

by 67 replies
76
Just curious to know what everyone's thoughts are on the differences between Wordpress and Joomla.

Myself? I am trying Joomla for the first time for one of my domains because I was told that Joomla has more capabilities than WP
BUT
I'm finding it difficult to understand and to create my website.

I've been building websites for years, but I'm not finding Joomla very user friendly.

I know that once I finally get the hang of it, it should be easer, but right now - I'm very frustrated...

What do you think?
What are your experiences with Joomla?

Any suggestions or tips to make this easier would also be appreciated.
#main internet marketing discussion forum #joomla
  • By far my favourite is WordPress, i've just written an article about the differences between blogging platforms, you may find it useful: Recommended Blogging Platforms


    • [1] reply
    • I've tried Joomla a couple of times, but the learning curve is so steep for me that I stay with wordpress now.

      I think Joomla has some good features to it, but for my own marketing purposes, WP has let me deploy my sites quicker and easier.
      • [2] replies
  • Joomla is still developing, but one can say that once it becomes more robust, it will have greater potential than even Wordpress has. With that being said, it seems that right now Google favors Wordpress sites in regards to the organic rankings.
    • [1] reply

    • Well, they are all still developing. At this point Joomla is far more robust. WordPress did not even enter the CMS world until version 2.8 (it's now 3.1)... all these years its been a pretty light-weight blogging platform.

      The reason Joomla seems more difficult to some is simply because it is far more sophisticated than WordPress. I've been using since the early days (about 6-7 years ago) when it branched off Mambo. WordPress has never been adequate for more diverse tasks until just lately.

      Joomla has excellent features and a huge third party support base. It's ideal for heavy lifting in the business world, media and e-commerce. WordPress, as people say, is well supported, easy to learn but is a different horse for a different course.
      • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • I think WordPress is easy to use, it's pretty good for building blog.
  • I personally have always just stuck to wordpress, as it's just such a kick-ass CMS
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    • You're asking this on a 'Wordpress-only' forum.

      That statement will probably tickle some people in the wrong way, but it's the truth. Maybe Wordpress is favored Google, it probably is! I'm just saying, if you ask this question in any form on the Warrior Forum, 98% of your answers will be Wordpress.


      I use Wordpress myself.
      • [1] reply
  • WP is alot quicker to get to grips with. I hated Joomla when i first started to use it but now i hardly use anything else. I think that its the Joomla admin panel that puts people off, its very confusing.
    • [1] reply
    • I have been using Joomla since it was mambo, and use it for everything..

      if you decide to stay in joomla, just pm when you get stuck.

      Sandra
      • [2] replies
  • It seems to be a case of fully featured vs easy to deploy.
    I favour wordpress, but definitely not because "google favours it". The same SEO rules apply regardless of CMS.
  • I've tried Joomla once before and it was just too time-consuming to learn everything. WP was much easier to use.
    • [1] reply
    • Having used them both, I go along with those that favor WordPress. The simplicity of use being the biggest factor.
  • If you have been building websites for years, then I assume you have been building wordpress sites. Wordpress sites are easier than just pure HTML LOL.

    Joomla has a lot more capabilities and functions than wordpress. If you are a php, css, xml, javascript developer, you can do whatever you want with any platform.

    However, wordpress is limited but great for newbies. Joomla is something that gives a more naturally polished look and a lot more functions and a lot more powerful for the average user.

    You will have to get over the learning curve and then you will never go back to wordpress.
    • [1] reply
    • Wrong I have used a few different CMSs as well as buidling from scratch but I still found Joomla to be difficult to learn and navigate around. I do understand that once you get the "hang of it", it is probably quite easy, but the learning curve was just too time consuming - time that I don't have.

      The reason that I wanted to try Joomla was exactly because it has more capabilities and functions. I wish I had the time that it takes to learn it...but I've had to put that on hold for awhile. Too many other things going on and it was taking quite a chunk out of my time just to figure things out.

      As a result, I've gone back to using WP.

      J

      • [1] reply
  • Wordpress fits the bill for me a noob! Joomla was very hard when I tried to do simple tasks while Wordpress did those tasks in less then 30 seconds. Joomla took a long time to install modifications and they were very tedious as well...
    • [1] reply
    • I feel that about WP, it is a matter of getting used to a system or the other. I have installed, and templated several wp, and hate it every single time.
  • Joanne,

    It takes a little bit to get used to how Joomla handles content, but once you wrap your head around it, it's pretty straightforward.

    Joomla 1.5 vs 1.6

    The big change in Joomla 1.6 is that it allows multi-nested categories and ACL's and more granular user groups have been implemented.

    In contrast, 1.5 has two levels of content categorization: sections and categories. Other than not having a limit to the depth of subcategories, J1.6 really isn't that much different in implementation. The top level is just now called a category instead of a "section." Same difference really.

    J1.5 already had 6 user levels: 3 front end and 3 back end. Unless you're doing a membership site, the ACL's probably won't be a game changer one way or another.

    At this point, I would be really hesitant to go with 1.6 as the majority of the extensions available aren't compatible. I'm holding off upgrading my sites for awhile. However, 1.5 to 1.6 is a migration, it's not a simple upgrade process. So starting brand new right now, it's a tough call.

    Other than that, the basics of Joomla are:
    * Components handle types of content (articles, images, directory, forum posts, etc.)
    * Modules display the content (the blocks of information outside of the main content display (menus, latest news items, etc.)
    * Plugins perform an action on the content (display videos, read more page break, etc)

    The variable display of your modules (see above) is determined by menus. So create all of the individual menus, then look at each of your modules. You can set them to display on every page, or you can select individual modules to display when certain menu items are clicked.

    For example, say you have a main menu of Home, About, Services, and Blog. You could set module A to display on all the page; modules B & C to display on About and Services, and modules D & E to display only when the Blog menu item is clicked.
  • WP is more easy but limited feature.. Joomla is more complicated, but you can take and develop it to be anything..
    If you want to make only 'blog' better if you are using WP, but if you want a more complex web with tons of feature, better if you using joomla
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    What they said.

    Interesting you put WP first in the title. It's usually the other way 'round (in case it makes any difference).
  • I use wordpress. In my opinion it's the best of the best. You will see its value especially once you purchase some quality theme.
  • Never used Joomla, I don't even know how it looks like... WP is always my best choice to build up blogs, I'm lazy
  • I have built websites using both, and I think that they are both great. However, there was absolutely no way that I would have been able to build a website using Joomla!, had I not bought a book to teach me how to do so. Which is best for you really depends upon the functionality that you require. If you require a more robust web page, then I recommend Joomla!. However, much of the time it is not needed.

    Nonetheless, if you choose to build a website with Joomla!, it is important that you buy a book. The book which I used, and in turn recommend using, is a "Visual Quickstart Guide" called, "Joomla!: Learn Joomla! the Quick and Easy Way!". It was written by Marni Derr and Tanya Symes. Excellent book for someone who is new to Joomla!, as I was.

    Hopefully this helps.

    Brian
  • Also, one other thing which I forgot to mention which you will not find in the book is the fact that if you use Joomla! in the SEF (Search Engine Friendly) mode, you are going to need to rename the "htaccess.txt" file to ".htaccess". If you don't, the pages will appear to be corrupt in SEF mode.
    • [1] reply
    • I love using WP because of there's ton of plugins can support your wordpress.
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  • I am a wordpress user and love it... share with us how you get on with joomla in the future
  • I think WP is better for SEO than Joomla
    • [1] reply
    • you think or you know? have you tested them side by side?

      not trying to be confrontational (this time ), just a question. it would be an interesting experiment.

      WP come with better urls by almost default, and syndication is a bit more in front of your face than Joomla.

      But joomla has an interesting way to multiply pages of your site and it is much better for mid size authority sites.

      if you want to do really big things and have a budget for custom work, Drupal is more robust.
  • hi,
    WordPress cms is more secure then Joomla..
    secondly contributor of WordPress are more then Joomla so you will found lots of free plugins, Themes if you choose Wordpress.
    • [1] reply
    • They are both open source, which means anyone can study their code and try to break it. WP suffer a particularly annoying hacking system, a virus installed in your local computer that infects your wp site when you login. Joomla is still free from that kind of bug...

      in both cases the core developers release security updates (btw, there is one for joomla 1.6 right now) fast; the plugins developers might take longer, specially for free plugins.

      I haven´t counted one or the other, so I can´t tell in terms of number of plugin available. They are both very strong.
  • SEO Urls don't matter. This has been publicly stated by Google.

    Joomla does have a learning curve...but it's far more powerful than Wordpress for developing large sites with large amounts of varying content. I'm not talking hypothetically, either. I have 5+ years of experience managing both. WP is a blog framework that has been retrofitted and hacked to become a CMS. Joomla is a CMS framework by design. Joomla was made to create a robust website with complicated content.

    Joomla does not update as easily as WP. No one-click update here. Be ready for FTP work.

    Joomla has the same problems as Wordpress with developers abandoning projects and leaving webmasters stuck in old versions. Also, major releases break Joomla components ('plugins' to you WP folk) just like Wordpress.

    Both rank well in Google. If you update either regularly, Google will love you equally. No red headed step-children here.

    Both are superb solutions. However, if you're planning a large scale site with complicated menu structures, complicated sidebars and need different modules on different pages, you should definitely consider Joomla over Wordpress. Wordpress will need way too many plugins and adjustments to perform the job that Joomla can handle out of the box.
    • [ 2 ] Thanks
  • I like WP, it's so much more simple and useful to me
  • As you said Joomla isn't quite userfriendly. I think a beginner will find it very comülicated to create a website with it. WP is a lot easier to learn.
  • Choose WordPress. It's simple to use and is stupid proof. If you have a lot of free time and you love to read manuals then go with Joomla. Doing simple changes to the theme is also much easier on WordPress.
  • WP is way better than Joomla. WP is easy to use!
  • If you are a beginner, definitely Wordpress. It's just so much easier.
  • Wordpress is just simpler. You can achieve great looking sites with both, but Joomla requires more time under the hood to know how it works. Took me a good year to figure it out. When I dug into WP, I stopped Joomla development.
  • Of course, the other thing is that search engines tend to favor Wordpress.
  • I personally only work with WP blogs, there are so many plugins that are often free that can optimize on page-seo
  • My favorite is Wordpress, it's very easy to use. Never tried Joomla BTW.
  • I've used Wordpress for years and find it the best overall for my needs. I've tried Joomla a few times but it's just too *out there* for me. There's so much you can do with Wordpress, depending on the Wordpress theme you choose to use. Joomla does have some good features, if you can figure them out.


    Cindy
  • If you want to get something live fast, then it's WP. You can buy a domain, do a new install of WP, and get content on it inside of an hour — and that's with a custom header.
    • [2] replies
    • I have a video in youtube showing how to install a squeeze page with joomla from scratch (installing the script) in 6 minutes.

      It is an old version of joomla, will do it again with 1.6 just to see how long it takes.
    • Several years ago I paid a huge sum to get taken by one of those site makers who was a referral. Everything with Joomla had to be tweeked by the guru and then when changes had to be made it went longer than expected and three times as expensive. What's that go to do with Joomla? WP is much easier to use and has a huge following for free and premium plugins and themes....and lot's of average people whiz through it. I am getting there. After the last security breach (last week too) my ISP said it was a security issue and brought it down....I will try to use my own expertise to revive what I can for membership profiles....into a WP platform.

      Clayman
      P.S. I had heard Joomla was awesome for membership scalability...but the wave for me is WP.
  • Wordpress is great for beginners and it is what I started using when I began IM. I really suggest it because Joomla just seems too hard!
  • im using WP, and im never submit to google but my blog in pg one google guys!
    • [1] reply
    • Hello!!!

      I m developing websites with both Joomla and WP and even though I like Joomla more because it delivers more complete solutions easier when compared to WP I recommend to anyone that wants to build a small website to use WP.
      WP is easier to setup and has a more soft learning curve plus its used by many bloggers so you can find solutions related to your problems more easily.
      Last but not least WP has sef(search engine url) build in and can make your website seo friendlier easier than what Joomla can.

      ps: this is my 1st post here
  • Joomla has a steeper learning curve IMO, because Wordpress is easier to use out of the box especially if you are not a coder or web developer type.

    With the recent significant version upgrades i feel Wordpress 3.0+ has gone in the right direction whilst Joomla 1.6+ has alienated alot of loyal users because of the compatibility issues. Here's a RECENT article comparing joomla and wordpress.

    I'd say Wordpress is the goto CMS for IM/SEO though
    • [1] reply
    • It makes no difference in SEO. If Joomla weren't great, linux wouldn't be using it. Burger King, Mitsubishi, Porsche, quizilla, times square!

      Joomla is great, and I can rank most Joomla sites faster than the people that believe wordpress is the best.

      SEO wise, none have an advantage. From a development standpoint, Joomla is clearly a LOT more flexible than wordpress.

      If you are a coder, a true developer, you know that wordpress isn't the most robust CMS.

      All this Joomla vs. WP stuff, kind of baffles me because when it comes to development, Drupal beats Joomla and wordpress, LOL.
      • [1] reply
  • I also think that Joomla is not very user friendly as wordpress, if wordpress can do your work, better to go with it.
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  • From what I've seen and heard, WordPress is a better choice if you're (like me) not that much into the technical stuff. An IM friend of mine LOVES Joomla and uses it on basically every site he owns. The reason? He's a self-proclaimed "tech geek" and Joomla allows him to do more or less whatever he wants.
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    • OK, that is something new to me. But if you put it together with Brian's quote, below, it means you have to choose between url rewrites and SEF?

      This is getting complicated already. (sigh)
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  • For now wordpress is far superior IMHO
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    • Do you work regularly with both? Can I ask what are the parameters you are using to qualify?

      Not trying to be controversial, just curious.
  • I've found Joomla to be, almost uniquely, difficult to get my head around. I even had someone install it for me as a WSO but still found I was spending more time trying to understand the site than to get it making money for me.

    That said it's about using the right tool for the job so I would always choose on the basis of what will work best be that Joomla, Drupal, WP or HTML.

    Nigel
  • I think the question should be WP or Joomla or eonicweb, which is the best CMS i have used
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    WP or Joomla

    Just curious to know what everyone's thoughts are on the differences between Wordpress and Joomla. Myself? I am trying Joomla for the first time for one of my domains because I was told that Joomla has more capabilities than WP