Would Wordpress be good enough or should I go for Joomla?

Klaas Koopman · 10-10-2006, 11:42 AM

Hey All,

Okay so I am really new to php, heck don't even know css good enough, but now I'm wondering, what should I do, cause I really want to spend some time learning a great CMS system.

Should I go for Joomla, more functions so i've heard, but alot harder to code?
Or should I go for wordpress, easier to skin, so i've heard/tried, but less features...?

Or any other?

Please let me know. And if any has some extra time and doesn't mind learning me a thing or two here, let me know.

Kind Regards,

Klaas Koopman

menj · 10-10-2006, 03:21 PM

If you know PHP well and you know what you are doing, I would definately suggest using Wordpress. You can modify the template and turn Wordpress into a simple yet powerful CMS. Whatever you do, do not use Joomla. Its like a dinosaur: big, fat and ugly.

- MENJ

exam · 10-10-2006, 03:30 PM

It really depends on what kind of site you want to have. How big is it going to be? What kind of interaction will it have with the users? etc.

Klaas Koopman · 10-11-2006, 12:16 PM

well since I'm going to offer this service to clients of mine, i'm wondering what would be best.

I have some experience in wordpress now, but i'm certainly no php expert!

I have spend the whole day trying to find out what everything means in a certain template, heck even tried to convert a design of mine see:
http://www.webmasterspalace.com/cmstest/

Just to test everything out.

Now i've got this person in my msn who says joomla is perfect for any kind of site and is really adjustable and fantastic even if the site goes really really big!

So now my problem is, should I just go for joomla, or wordpress, or learn both and start with which?

(also if someone here knows abit about joomla, what does this piece of code mean haha : <?php echo $colspan; ?> )

Thank you all for replying! Isn't this the best board there is!

StupidScript · 10-11-2006, 04:46 PM

<?php echo $colspan; ?> is a PHP instruction that is saying "insert the value of the PHP variable '$colspan' here".

Code:

<?php $name = "Fred";?>
Hello <?php echo $name;?>!

outputs

Hello Fred!

Joomla is cool and Wordpress is cool. Basically you should take a look at the templates for each and see if you like them. If you're interested in making your own templates, which you probably would need to do if you offered it to clients, then be sure to check out the template creation or modification process and investigate a sample template's code to be sure you could do the programming. Both have people available (for a fee) to make templates for you. Both also have extensive collections of 'plugins' available. Both are mature products that have their own rabid fans.

I've used both, and frankly it's a matter of personal taste more than anything.

aryo · 10-11-2006, 04:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by menj

Whatever you do, do not use Joomla. Its like a dinosaur: big, fat and ugly.

you haven't seen fat and ugly till you try typo3. it's actually kinda nice once you get the hang of it.

menj · 10-11-2006, 07:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aryo

you haven't seen fat and ugly till you try typo3. it's actually kinda nice once you get the hang of it.

Hmm...I have Joomla on one of my sites and I regret using it. Not only it is slow, it breaks in IE6. Now I am figuring out how to migrate to Wordpress.

- MENJ

Klaas Koopman · 10-12-2006, 12:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by StupidScript

<?php echo $colspan; ?> is a PHP instruction that is saying "insert the value of the PHP variable '$colspan' here".

Code:

<?php $name = "Fred";?>
Hello <?php echo $name;?>!

outputs

Hello Fred!

Joomla is cool and Wordpress is cool. Basically you should take a look at the templates for each and see if you like them. If you're interested in making your own templates, which you probably would need to do if you offered it to clients, then be sure to check out the template creation or modification process and investigate a sample template's code to be sure you could do the programming. Both have people available (for a fee) to make templates for you. Both also have extensive collections of 'plugins' available. Both are mature products that have their own rabid fans.

I've used both, and frankly it's a matter of personal taste more than anything.

I know joomla is capable of supporting big sites, but how about wordpress can it handle sites with an ENORMOUS number of pages?

Quote:

Originally Posted by menj

Hmm...I have Joomla on one of my sites and I regret using it. Not only it is slow, it breaks in IE6. Now I am figuring out how to migrate to Wordpress.

- MENJ

Looks good in both FF aswell as in IE!

cloudtrance · 10-12-2006, 12:34 AM

I am trying out a site using Joomla.. Learning curve is not much when you consider Drupal...The biggest advantage with Joomla is that it has a very big developer community. One really bugging constraint is Joomla's table output. Actually I am looking forward to Joomla next version which is supposed to address that issue...

Klaas Koopman · 10-12-2006, 02:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cloudtrance

I am trying out a site using Joomla.. Learning curve is not much when you consider Drupal...The biggest advantage with Joomla is that it has a very big developer community. One really bugging constraint is Joomla's table output. Actually I am looking forward to Joomla next version which is supposed to address that issue...

what does this mean, table output? And how is it going, any progress we can see?