"To compare, Wordpress is like a simple phone, while Drupal is like the open Android software for phones made by Google. Joomla! however is like the iPhone... a bit more limited than other smart-phones out of the box, but there tons of apps (extensions) available for it, which make it the best phone out there... and it is easy for non-nerds to use!"
In the world of content management systems their is some serious competition. Whether you just got put in charge of your library's website or just looking for something new, keep reading to find out if Joomla! is right for you.
In an Iron Chef-like match-up, a team of developers from Drupal (news, site), Joomla! (news, site) and WordPress (news, site) had 100 hours to build a website based on a specific list of specifications and design. Then representatives of each team got to meet face to face to show off their hard work during the South by Southwest Interactive festival in a session called "The Ultimate Showdown of Content Management System Destiny."
|
Drupal |
Joomla! |
WordPress |
| Total Hours |
79.25 |
57.25 |
90.5 |
| Hours spent on front end |
21.75 |
15 |
36.5 |
| HTML Validation |
No (8 errors) |
Yes |
No (8 errors) |
| CSS Validation |
No (7 errors) |
No (1 error) |
No (21 errors) |
| Page weight |
180K |
140K |
154K |
| Lines of custom PHP/JS code |
220 |
30 |
1,808 |
So what does this mean for you? First let me point out that the most expensive thing you might have to someone to do for you is custom code or custom graphic design. Wordpress, while having a friendly and pretty backend, required by far the maost amount of custom PHP and Javascript code to create a site similar Joomla!. Wordpress is best left to it's specialty...a blog website. Bottom-line, Joomla! on the other hand has more built in functionality and has more add-ons available, and therefore needs less custom coding, and will save you money both up-front and long-term.
Drupal is favored by programmers and coders, which is why it took first place in the CMS awards, but remember they (programmers) want to do lots of programming...that's how they get paid! When it comes to templates and design, Joomla! wins hands down. So unless you are a programmer, you will love having a Joomla! site and when the time comes to add functionality you will find it much cheaper to do so, since an add-on has already likely been written.
To recap you can use the image below to determine which CMS is right for you. If a blog is all you want then you can use Wordpress. If you need something more then and have a the budget and access to developers then use Drupal. If you need a Powerful CMS that can handle anything without you needed to be a programmer, that is quick to create, and has many template options as well as plugins then you should be using Joomla!
Thanks to Jason Hull at http://www.openpotion.com/ for putting this explanation together. I have modified parts and shortened his article to apply to you as Librarians designing your own library web sites rather than full-time web developers looking for clients.
