Joomla is a very popular content management system. It’s completely free to use, has been tested out extensively within the open source community, and has a wide variety of plugins and themes that can be added on to it. These help Joomla users get their Joomla installation to perform exactly how they want it to.
A lot of Joomla plugins assist with content development. For example, one of the most popular plugins is a What You See Is What You Get editor called JCE. WYSIWYG editors are extremely popular for content development, since they allow site owners to generate new pages without requiring them to type out code by hand. For this reason, they’re also a popular choice among site owners who don’t have extensive knowledge of HTML, CSS, or other coding languages, or even those site owners who just want to save themselves a lot of time. Modules like JCE let you create a new site in minutes.
There are also a variety of plugins made to handle images, whether they are to create a slideshow, gallery page, or other display. Image gallery plugins are extremely popular, and there are several that all have different features and options, so Joomla users can select the image handling plugin that best meets their needs. For example, Simple Image Gallery is ideal for creating simple image galleries with a grid format, while Phoca Gallery can create an image gallery with a slideshow. These are ideal for artists and photographers looking to create a portfolio of their work online.
There are also plugins that can help with usability. GTranslate allows users to take advantage of Google to allow visitors to translate a web page into their native language. This is great for informative or e-commerce sites, since it allows them to reach a much wider audience than they could otherwise. There are fifty eight different languages available, so the majority of internet users will have no problem accessing GTranslate sites.
Joomla themes control the look and layout of a website. A theme determines where specific page elements will go, and creates a style sheet for pages to ensure a consistent look and feel site wide. Using a theme allows Joomla users to just fill in the blanks during their content creation process, instead of having to repeatedly type out the same code for each page. There are several pre-made Joomla themes available, and users can also create their own to make their pages look and behave exactly the way they want them to.
Part of the reason for Joomla’s popularity is because of how adaptable it is. Since Joomla is open source, that means that anyone who wants to can augment its code, create new plugins, and develop new Joomla themes depending on what their needs are. As a result, there are plenty of Joomla extensions that can help you get exactly what you want out of your Joomla content management system, no matter what kind of website you are developing.
Plugin/module System
Joomla plugin/module system adds new functionality to core features. Developers do not need to change core code to add new features, they write PHP code and implement it as a plugin into Joomla. Currently there are more than 4600 plugins on the official Joomla Plugin directory – http://extensions.joomla.org/ . Plugins range from Access and Security, Administration to Structure and Navigation, Tools and Vertical Markets. Webmasters can create almost any kind of website thanks to the plugins.
Theme/Template System
Theme system separates design from code. Thus designers who can create templates and easily integrate them into Joomla. Many free and professional templates are available on the Internet.