Why am I using Joomla again?

by mudskippa

Posted: 13 years ago 13 replies

WEB DESIGN

OK I can't for the life of me remember why I decided to build a Joomla website now. I think someone recommended it back when I was young and naive.

One of the problems I have noticed is that of course WP has all the good and generally-used plugins, IM tools etc. This has become more apparent since I signed up to Aweber and had problems displaying the opt-in box as a hover or shadowbox. They say it's because I'm on Joomla.

Why oh why am I using it again? I spent ages building my own site from scratch. Is it worth shifting to WP now before I have even more content I have to shift over? Remind me why it's worth sticking with Joomla? :rolleyes:

#aweber #joomla #wordpress

mudskippa 13 years ago

Is this deafening silence supposed to mean - "Yah, switch to WP"??
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KevinBurns 13 years ago

I know exactly how you feel...
I had the same problem, I started out with joomla and spent nearly a year perfecting my skills, but when it came down to it, I finally realized that I had just wasted a year of my time that could have been spent on learning wordpress.

IMHO, wordpress is definitely the way to go...
I learned the hard way...trust me.
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mudskippa 13 years ago

Thanks Kevin, yeah I'm thinking if I can set aside the time I might convert it. Hmmm, what time?!
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r3p 13 years ago

WP is fairly easy to learn, if you know html, css and basic php the transfer shouldn't take too long.
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Andrew H 13 years ago

I beg to differ! I love Joomla. It really depends on what you are doing. I feel that Joomla has plugins/modules that offer for much more complex sites.
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- mudskippa 13 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by mcflause
  
  I beg to differ! I love Joomla. It really depends on what you are doing. I feel that Joomla has plugins/modules that offer for much more complex sites.
  
  Interestingly I think I have been 'Joomlafied'! I tried setting up WP yesterday and today and found it really frustrating!
  
  I think one of the problems with my Joomla site is it doesn't look as 'clean' as WP. I'm just using the JA Purity template though, which is maybe the problem. Any recommendations for a better template? I need a horizontal Navbar as the vertical is taking up too much space. And I don't mind fiddling with a bit of CSS but would LOVE a more intuitive template to work with.
  
  I like the ease of creating modules on Joomla - WP seems less easily customisable. Any tips if were to hang onto Joomla? Otherwise I might try againwith WP but get Headway for it!
  
  Thanks
  
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Andrew H 13 years ago

When I was first learning Joomla I found the best service to me was the JoomlArt forums. I think you have to purchase a template to access the forums, but the forums are a really solid source for information (on the basic stuff). And if you run into any serious issues (ie: browser compatibility), they have a premium support which is... usually.. pretty good. If you got a little money to spend I definitely recommend checking out their templates because you basically get a super nice sites and you just plug in the content.

I use all their templates for my web design business . After reading through this forum quite a bit it does seem like ALLOT of people use wordpress, but I think that is just because it is easier... not necessarily better.. but what do I know.. haha
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- mudskippa 13 years ago
  
  Yeah I guess it's time to change the template - I can't really spend too much money on something but would be prepared to spend a little to get a better look and better navigation on my site. That's the main thing - it's way too crowded at present. Hence why I need a cleaner look.
  
  My other concern is that all the best common marketing-type plugins (CommentLuv, Aweber signup form) are on WP. The growing popularity of WP also makes me worry that Joomla developers will not make the effort to create their own versions of these plugins in future. Which mkaes me think switch now before it's too late (re breaking all my backlinks etc or recustomising all the links on WP).
  
  The Aweber thing is particularly worrying - their sign up form will not work on Joomla as a hover box. Thay have no plans to do anything about this!
  
  Thanks
  
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Andrew H 13 years ago

Yeah well to be honest so far I have been mostly concerned with 'web design' and only recently, as in yesterday when I joined this forum, have I become interested in IM. So for my web design business I have found that Joomla has been great for creating nice sites, with plugins available that have been great for specific needs.

As I delve further into the IM world I will need to look around and make sure the marketing-type plugins are available, or else I guess I will need to look for other options.

Good luck with your project though!
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- mudskippa 13 years ago
  
  Thanks very much. I am fed up of WP now and have changed to Joomla JA PUrity 2 template - it looks so much better now! Well it will when I've sorted the Header out. It's still only showing half-height, grrr. The sidebars are a little slim but it's a massive improvement on Purity 1 visually.
  
  I may look into WP later but really time and useability are the issue now - and I still like Joomla. I like being the odd one out I guess
  
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sharonhurley Banned 13 years ago

Joomla is highly extensible, robust and has an active development community.
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mudskippa 13 years ago

Actually Sharon, I have fallen in love with it again. I would not necessarily urge any newbies to start with it unless you really want to put the time into learning about it, but if you can commit to doing that, actually I prefer it to WP in many ways. And my website looks great now
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king153 13 years ago

This is a wonderful post! nice information.Thanks.
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