
(And for a good while after that.) If you’ve built and/or coded websites before, Joomla shouldn’t be that hard to pick up. If you’re an average web user who is looking to set up a new website, Joomla might not make a whole lot of sense at first. We’d like to say that Joomla has the kind of quick-to-learn workflow that WordPress offers. Since the base of the platform is based around posts and pages, the basic workflow becomes familiar very quickly with only a few variations depending on the task. All of that becomes much clearer and simpler once you’ve spent just a little time using the platform and doing a bit of outside research.įor typical users, most WordPress features can be carried out with just a few clicks. If you’re just getting a feel for WordPress, you might not know what features your site needs and which plugins and themes can provide those. Making the right choices-and even knowing which choices are necessary-can take a little figuring out.

#Joomla vs wordpress free#
There are thousands of free themes and plugins in the repositories, and even more premium options available from third-party developers. One of the more difficult aspects of using WordPress is making sure that you have the right suite of plugins to complement your theme.
#Joomla vs wordpress how to#
But in general, once you learn where those are and how to access them, the interface is relatively intuitive. You do have to learn where certain elements are, such as various settings, tools, and menu editing. The admin dashboard is straightforward in most ways, highlighting the main areas of focus (Pages, Posts, Media, and so on) in the left-hand sidebar.

For those with a background in traditional computer science and web development, Joomla may even have a smoother learning curve than WordPress. Joomla has always been a CMS meant for site developers, meaning that new (non-technical) users would have a greater learning curve. Themes and plugins simply expand on that functionality. Which means that nearly every feature can be boiled down to creating a post or page in some manner. While WordPress has a moderate learning curve for new users, the core of the experience is based on blogging. For those with tech and website experience, though, there’s a lot of freedom to be had in Joomla. Installing modules and getting things in working order is far more technical than WordPress. The backend interface is clunky, the terminology and messaging for new users (inside Joomla itself) is barebones. That said, Joomla does feel like a CMS that beginners would have a good time using. Both are built on PHP, but Joomla users (especially developers) have a much more traditional foundation in that Joomla can be used out of the box with straight HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and PHP without having to learn the “ WordPress way” of doing things.
#Joomla vs wordpress software#
WordPress began as blogging software so features and updates are still built on that foundation. Its development history is much different than that of WordPress, especially in that it was created to be a full-site CMS from the beginning.


Joomla, too, is a be-everything-to-everyone CMS. Users who have never had a website before can feel relatively confident in having a nice-enough WordPress site built without too much trouble. You will quickly find yourself using posts, pages, themes, plugins, and widgets like a pro. Users will find a mild learning curve with WordPress, but it doesn’t take long to get beyond that. It might not be the most advanced website out there, but the tools are easily accessible and understandable by anyone through various third-party plugins and themes. What we mean is that anyone who needs a website can build it with WordPress. WordPress does its very best to be the jack-of-all-trades CMS. When taking a look at WordPress vs Joomla, however, you will see a number of functionality differences, as well as user-experience and technical requirement differences. Many developers work to extend its capabilities beyond what comes built into the base software. Joomla is also a free-to-install, open-source platform that thrives on its third-party support. WordPress isn’t the only modular content management system (CMS) that has an established base and active community.
