Joomla
Joomla is a free, open-source content management system built on PHP that sits between the simplicity of WordPress and the structural complexity of Drupal, used for building websites ranging from small business sites to more complex web…
Definition
Joomla is a free, open-source content management system built on PHP that sits between the simplicity of WordPress and the structural complexity of Drupal, used for building websites ranging from small business sites to more complex web applications.
Overview
Joomla is one of the major open-source CMS platforms alongside WordPress and Drupal, built on PHP with a MySQL-family database backend. It provides core content management features — articles, categories, menus, and user management — along with a built-in access-control system for defining user groups and permissions, which is somewhat more structured out of the box than WordPress's default role system. Joomla's functionality can be extended through a marketplace of extensions, templates, and plugins (called "components," "modules," and "plugins" within Joomla's terminology), allowing it to power everything from simple brochure sites to more complex applications like membership sites, directories, and social networking platforms. Its administrative interface and content architecture aim to balance ease of use for content editors with enough structural flexibility for moderately complex sites. In practice, Joomla occupies a middle position in the open-source CMS landscape: it's generally considered more flexible out of the box than WordPress for structured content and multi-user permissions, but simpler to set up and maintain than Drupal, making it a common choice for organizations that outgrow WordPress's simplicity but don't need Drupal's full architectural depth.
Key Features
- Open-source PHP content management system with a MySQL-family backend
- Built-in, relatively granular user groups and access-control system
- Extensible via components, modules, and plugins from a marketplace
- Multilingual content support built into core
- Template system for customizing site design and layout
- Suited to moderately complex sites beyond simple blogs