Build a website, they said! You just have to get the domain, they said! It’s easy, they said!
Little did you know that you had to learn how to work with a content management system. In addition, they didn’t tell you what goes into it after you have it up and running. And by “it” I mean WordPress because most likely it’s the default installation for your hosting.
For some, it will lead to a few more questions. Is there something else easier to use that will do a better job for me or am I running something too complicated for my little Internet gem?
Before breaking down what you would use for what, you have to know the players in the game.
WordPress runs about 75 million sites on the internet. It’s the most often installed content management system available.
Joomla accounts for about 2.8 million sites. Think about that gap for a moment. That doesn’t necessarily mean that WordPress is the obvious choice and winner, though.
Drupal has about 1.1 million sites out there. When we talk about Drupal later you will understand the obvious gap from its cousins.
WordPress is user-friendly. Anyone from a noob (and if you don’t know what that means you are one) to a seasoned pro can use WordPress at ultimately the same level. What a fully trained web pro can do by altering code, a beginner (or “noob” which is short for “newbie”), can do with an easily installed plugin.
WP can handle e-commerce as well as your everyday blog. The interface is friendly for the user, as well. This makes it a good choice for many because the administration of the site can be handled both by those without a lot of experience and those that have been around computers for a while.
Joomla has a great user interface as well. The platform offers more structure as it relates to content than WordPress but Joomla has a very consistent menu structure. This is something that WordPress struggles with sometimes as developers of plugins can often put menu items anywhere they want, sometimes creating a struggle for beginners as they have to hunt down the options they just tried to install.
Learning how to use Joomla can be a time investment. However, the payoff is that you can create more complex websites in comparison to WordPress. It’s great for e-commerce and can also be a very strong blogging system.
Like Joomla, there’s a time investment involved. The payoff is that you can create very complex and informational and data-heavy sites. However, you will run into situations where there is technical skill required to do certain things. Of the three systems we’re talking about, Drupal requires the most technical skill.
With each release of software updates, though, the platform is becoming more user-friendly. Just know that community forums with multiple users are often but with Drupal, so if that’s not your goal this might not be your choice. However, if doing e-commerce, Drupal is a fantastic choice.
We know you hate this answer, but, it depends. What are you trying to do with your site? What is your skill level?
If you want to blog about fishing and sell your branded blog t-shirts and tackle boxes WordPress and Joomla are good choices. WordPress spans any skill level while Joomla can be just as strong of a choice of the user is willing to learn the software.
The fisherman that had developed the depth finder that will tell you what species of fish is under the boat, how it works, what boat fittings are used and offers a community forum complete with technical support for the item is the best candidate for Drupal. While Drupal can be a platform for basic sites, it’s a lot like driving a 747 on side streets to the grocery store and it has a learning curve.
We will be talking about all this and more on our next Webbin’ It Wisdom. Join us!
Source: MakeAWebsiteHub.com
