Joomla CMS and Its Advantages

Joomla is an open source Content Management System (CMS), which enables you to build Web sites and powerful online applications. In August 2005, Joomla originated from the Mambo content management system, which included the source code, as well as the development team. As Joomla code is open source, so it's easy adaptable for anyone to write modules and extensions of the system. Joomla allows web designers to develop websites by combining modules, and requires no programming knowledge. Joomla framework is written in PHP, as are the modules used to customize websites.

Why Joomla?

Why is joomla so popular among web developers? There are various reasons for its popularity depending upon the joomla users. Mainly, as an open source system Joomla is free, Secondly Joomla environment is very flexible which meets the needs of different user accordingly. Thirdly, it can be downloaded from the Internet absolutely free of cost and also, because of its ease-of-use, extensible and accessible environment it so popular.

Characteristics and Benefits of Joomla

• Completely database driven site engines. Each and every element in joomla is stored in a centralized database.
• The content that is displayed on the website can be scheduled as per the requirement of the web editors.
• Fully customizable layouts - there are thousands of templates to choose from so you can change the look and feel of your site without affecting the main content.
• Joomla supports multiple languages.
• News feeds from various websites can be gathered using the News Feed Manager available in Joomla.
• Runs on any platform including Windows, Linux, several Unix versions, and the Apple OS/X platform. It also depends on PHP and MySQL database to deliver dynamic content.

Apart from these characteristics, it provides many benefits such as

• Easy Management: Joomla is designed to be easy to install and set up even if you're not a programmer. Once Joomla is installed, configured, it is simple for even non-technical users to add or edit content, update images, and to manage the critical data that makes your company or organization go.
• Joomla Components & Modules: The popularity and flexibility of Joomla modular architecture has made it possible to develop a wide range of components and associated modules. One can find nearly any component or module which meets our requirements and then just download and plug it into your content management system.
• Joomla Templates: There are number of web designers who develop and design Joomla Templates which can transform the look and feel of your web site. All you have to do it find a template you like, download it and apply it to your content management system (CMS). Many of the templates come with predefined module positions so you can display modules in various different positions.
• Joomla for Search Engine Optimization: Having your website found by the search engines (Google etc…) is vital in most cases for a successful website. Joomla has built-in SEO functionality. (SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization). The SEO tab in Global Configuration (in Administration backend) takes care of global SEO settings for your Joomla site. Joomla provides (SEF) search engine friendly URLs to ensure you get the highest search engine ranking position

Joomla is an internationally developed application, with many developers contributing to the growing movement by submitting their own web services components and plug-ins to the Joomla Extensions Directory. It is a platform where you can plug-in smaller applications as per the needs of the user. Hence, scalability is an important factor to be considered for organizations that requires CMS.

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