Having spent quite allot of time using both Joomla and Wordpress, I felt it necessary to point out the advantages and disadvantages of both Content Management Systems. I am a firm believer that an Open Source CMS should always be used unless absolutely necessary. Imagine the following scenario, you have a design studio with a single developer employed with the company, a client has asked to have a web site developed and this is done using a custom Content Management System.

For whatever reason, the developer leaves the company and a new developer joins. Now the client has come back and requested a list of alterations to the web site, here begins the problem. The new developer will now have to carry out the following tasks:

• Try and get an understand of how the current Content Management System works
• Figure out how to make manipulations to the Content Management System to ensure all of the alterations will happen without flaw.
• Make the changes

Now remember this is a business which is being run, the owner now has to pay the developer for the time spent trying to understand how the system works and how to make the changes. Remember the old saying?

If the first developer had have simply used an Open Source Content Management System - the new developer would have had the simple task of making the changes. What's that I hear you shouting about? There is no Open Source Contact Management System to full fill the requirements of the web site? On occasions like this I think a custom built content management system would be appropriate.

The Advantages & Disadvantages Of Joomla

Advantages

- Has been rapidly growing and developing since its first launch
- Has a huge following and assistance channels to help with the creation of any web site.
- Friendly for all types of users, Designers, Developers, Bloggers, Administrator & Users
- An extensive extension library catering for nearly all requirement
- A "True Content Management System" allowing for development of any type of web site, whether it be an e-commerce web site, a blog or just a static site.

Disadvantages

- Can be difficult to understand initially, and isn't overly user friendly at first. Joomla has a very steep learning curve
- Joomla recently rebuilt their entire system from the ground up (Joomla 1.5), and many users are sticking to the initial 1.0 edition of Joomla.
- Can be vulnerable to hackers if not updated with new releases

The Advantages & Disadvantages Of Wordpress

Advantages

- Very straight forward and simple to use
- Excellent for blogging
- Has a large library of templates and modifications available

Disadvantages

- Not very developer friendly
- The Wordpress community seems to do quite a bit of complaining regarding the features and can be allot more difficult to receive help
- Allot of the updates provided by Wordpress can create allot of Bugs with previous web sites
- Not a true "Content Management System" - quite a bold statement I know - however, Wordpress doesn't allow for various facilities in which other systems do.

Conclusion

I would like to conclude that I personally prefer Joomla to Wordpress and use it for 95% of web sites I develop. However, if a web site is to be used purely for blogging and nothing else, I would strongly recommend Wordpress, as this is what It has been made to do. I now intend to look into Drupal, as apparently it is the most powerful system available at the moment. The choice of Content Management System is purely a matter of Preference.

I will leave you with my final thought, to much "Design Snobbery" is used in today's industry in my opinion, many (not all) users of Certain Content Management Systems tend to look down their nose at users of other systems. Why? Surely if the selected system achieves what is required of the web site does it really matter which was used?