2 of 6: About the Joomla! Content Management System (CMS)

Features

Joomla! is packed with features that address multiple content management issues and which solve a variety of problems for non-technical users. It has basic functions like updating content on a web page as well as more advanced features like enabling RSS feeds or archiving a high volume of data. 

Some of the very basic features include:

• Articles.
• Blogs.
• Calendars.
• Forums.
• Questions and FAQs.
• Image Library.
• Language Internationalization.
• Links.
• Newsflashes/News.
• Page Caching.
• Polls and Surveys.
• Printable page versions.
• Web Indexing.
• Site Search.
• Website Translation.
• And more ?

Plus, you have ready-to-use templates to design or modify your website. Layout preview allows you to have an idea about how the actual website will look using the template or any of the other features of Joomla! If you want to earn through website advertisements, there is a Banner Manager feature

For all this, you just need to have a PHP pre-processor, MySQL database and a web server (preferably Apache, though Microsoft IIS is also acceptable)

Add-ons and Templates

Joomla! has a thriving community of developers who work towards adding value to the core CMS offering. Thus, Joomla! has several add-ons and templates to choose from. With frequent releases of new add-ons, Joomla! users never run out of options. Joomla! Add-ons may take the form of commercial software as well as open source software that are aimed to enhance your website?s functionality. They may be the components or integrated solutions provided by third party providers. However there may be certain risks (legal or in terms of security) associated with using such third-party add-ons.

Generally Joomla! add-ons may be grouped in three main categories -

• Joomla! Forums.
• Joomla! Galleries.
• Joomla! Blog.

Joomla! Forum

Forums are no longer a fancy addition to the overall website. With the business environment dictating more customer interaction, forums have emerged as an important customer service tool. Forum members also look at it as a potential marketing tool for their own website/products/services. Adding forums on your website can make your website more interactive. It can bridge the gap between you and your customers, forum members or website visitors.

Joomla! provides you with multiple options to incorporate a forum, discussion boards or bulletin boards on your website. Joomla!-SMF, Joomla-phpBB, Joomla!-SimpleBoard and Joomla!-vBulletin are some of its components that may be required to integrate a forum to the website.

Joomla! Galleries?A brand new Harley Davidson jacket up for sale at a 30% discount?

When was the last time you saw a text ad like this and reached for your credit card? I know you?ve never done that and you never will. Why? Because you can?t see the product. How do you know what the jacket looks like? Now, imagine the same advertisement, replete with pictures on eBay. Would you react differently? That?s why visual appeal is so important for the sale of a product. And it?s not just the visual appeal. If it?s an online music store, you may want to listen to a trial version before downloading an album. Similarly, you may want to see a short ?how-to-use? video before buying electronic equipment.

All those needs are addressed by Joomla! Galleries. They cover images, audio-visual files, pdf files and more. Joomla! Galleries offer various extensions which allow you to store, add, edit, delete and manage your online galleries. Each of Joomla! Gallery extensions, which are developed and set afloat by community members, may vary in their functionalities.

Joomla! Blog

Joomla! Blog helps users integrate a blog to their website. With this component, you can organize your blog content as per your preferences. It includes numerous useful features like RSS feeds, filter blog posts on certain criteria, dashboard, image browser, community builder integration, Joomla!Content Mambot Integration, etc.

There is much more you may add to the list of add-ons or components. Calendar, Comments, Guestbook, Hosting Customers, Redirect, ODT Indexer, YaNC (yet another newsletter component), Blocklist, etc

Joomla! Template

Joomla! Templates offer more design options for users who want to break the clutter with a unique looking site. There are a number of websites formed by the Joomla! Community or working group members (former or present) -developers, designers, technicians etc. These websites offer a range of readymade XHTML/CSS based web designs. All you need to do is choose one, download it and you have an attractive design for your website. You can also manage the text and graphic content on your site so as to gel with the template. Still not convinced? Check out the live demos to get a better idea about how your site would actually look in a particular template.

Joomla! templates fall into several categories. This includes Agriculture, Animals, Architecture, Business, Restaurant/Caf?, Hotels, Computers, Education, Books, Fashion, Entertainment, Food and Beverages, Church/ Religious organizations, Law, Media, Online Casino, Science, Sports, Medical, Real Estate, Travel, Politics, Military, Society and Culture, family, personal, etc.

You may get these templates for free or at a nominal cost. But then, it?s worth the money when you know the kind of value it adds to your website.

Downloading and using certain templates may be subject to License regulations. Make sure you read through the License requirements for each of them.

Difference between Mambo and Joomla

As we have seen in the earlier section, Joomla! is the extended form of Mambo. The core development team of the Mambo project resigned from Miro Corporation, Australia in August 2005 and came up with a similar product Joomla! in September, 2005.

Joomla! made its foray into this area with its first version Joomla! 1.0. It was a refined form of Mambo version 4.5.2.3 with certain additions like bug fixes and security patches. Joomla! 1.5, the latest version of Joomla! provides language internationalization facility and uses the ?ini? format while Mambo 4.6 uses ?gettext? format for translation files.

Add-ons, components, templates, modules, mambots etc. for Mambo 4.5.2 will also operate in Joomla! 1.0. It may also run on Joomla! 1.5. However add-ons for Mambo 4.6 version may not work for Joomla! 1.5 and vice versa.

Some other additional features of Joomla! 1.5 include authentication models ? LDAP, Gmail, etc., XML-RPC client-server support and also support of UTF-8 character set.