Comments on: Drupal or Joomla? Picking a CMS http://www.jdavidrogers.com/2007/04/07/drupal-or-joomla-picking-a-cms/ Internet Marketing and Business Development Fri, 05 Mar 2010 13:08:54 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: John http://www.jdavidrogers.com/2007/04/07/drupal-or-joomla-picking-a-cms/comment-page-1/#comment-1282 John Sat, 27 Feb 2010 17:06:47 +0000 http://www.jdavidrogers.com/2007/04/07/drupal-or-joomla-picking-a-cms/#comment-1282 I'm on a lot of open source project communities and the one thing I've noticed that may help you answer some questions as to your inquiries going unanswered is that the drupal forum is often treated like a linux forum, while a joomla forum is often treated like a corporate help box. Let me explain: with a corporate help box people are paid to answer the same questions over, and over, and over again. While the Joomla community members are not paid they are willing to answer the same questions over and over again (although as the forums get bigger and bigger i'm not sure how long that will last). In a linux forum people are definitely willing to help but you have to be willing to help yourself first. If the same questions has been answered elsewhere nobody is going to answer it again. That is what a search box is for. It also helps the forums stay a reasonable size with out having to much garbled information in one place or another. Now I'll explaing why the linux approach is better for the searcher. If you want to help yourself and seek something out, you'll search. If one forum topic is dedicated to your answer, everybody's ideas, opinions and answers are in one place, you just have to read. However if the forum topic you are searching for has been answered in a million different places, you may not find the answer to your specific problem in one place, you may have to leaf through pages and pages of different forum posts to find what you need assuming you have the patience to do that and not get frustrated and walk away. So in conclusion I would never test a forum or community by asking a question and checking response time because every forum has people looking through posts. I would check a forum and a community by searching an example question and seeing if there are intelligent and accurate answers to what I'm looking for. In this way you can also test response time by seeing when each person posted there answer. I’m on a lot of open source project communities and the one thing I’ve noticed that may help you answer some questions as to your inquiries going unanswered is that the drupal forum is often treated like a linux forum, while a joomla forum is often treated like a corporate help box.

Let me explain: with a corporate help box people are paid to answer the same questions over, and over, and over again. While the Joomla community members are not paid they are willing to answer the same questions over and over again (although as the forums get bigger and bigger i’m not sure how long that will last).

In a linux forum people are definitely willing to help but you have to be willing to help yourself first. If the same questions has been answered elsewhere nobody is going to answer it again. That is what a search box is for. It also helps the forums stay a reasonable size with out having to much garbled information in one place or another.

Now I’ll explaing why the linux approach is better for the searcher. If you want to help yourself and seek something out, you’ll search. If one forum topic is dedicated to your answer, everybody’s ideas, opinions and answers are in one place, you just have to read. However if the forum topic you are searching for has been answered in a million different places, you may not find the answer to your specific problem in one place, you may have to leaf through pages and pages of different forum posts to find what you need assuming you have the patience to do that and not get frustrated and walk away.

So in conclusion I would never test a forum or community by asking a question and checking response time because every forum has people looking through posts. I would check a forum and a community by searching an example question and seeing if there are intelligent and accurate answers to what I’m looking for. In this way you can also test response time by seeing when each person posted there answer.

]]> By: Owen McNamara http://www.jdavidrogers.com/2007/04/07/drupal-or-joomla-picking-a-cms/comment-page-1/#comment-1262 Owen McNamara Mon, 17 Aug 2009 09:14:12 +0000 http://www.jdavidrogers.com/2007/04/07/drupal-or-joomla-picking-a-cms/#comment-1262 In my limited experience to date I have actually been pleasantly surprised that Drupal is easier to use than I had been led to believe, and Joomla is actually harder than I had expected. It is not completely clear just how all the elements fit together whereas with Drupal I found a very clear description of the underlying design and understood much more quickly. I have found it difficult to get free well written tutorials and guidelines for Joomla, whereas with Drupal it is much easier. I am still undecided but starting to lean towards Drupal for most sites, and Wordpress for Blogs. Maybe Joomla is stuck in the middle? It is pretty, seems great to start with but perhaps isn't so great once you get into it. One problem though I has was with my Fantastico installation of Drupal as it gives SQL errors. This is not a Drupal problem so I will be manually installing on my real site. To help contribute to the discussions I did a review of a Webology survey and put a long ad-free blog on my personal blog. Hope you find it useful: http://owenmcnamara.com/2009/08/08/comparison-of-drupal-and-joomla/ I think both Joomla and Drupal are great but each has strengths and weaknesses and perhaps each appeals to a slightly different type of web developer. Thanks for your article Owen In my limited experience to date I have actually been pleasantly surprised that Drupal is easier to use than I had been led to believe, and Joomla is actually harder than I had expected. It is not completely clear just how all the elements fit together whereas with Drupal I found a very clear description of the underlying design and understood much more quickly. I have found it difficult to get free well written tutorials and guidelines for Joomla, whereas with Drupal it is much easier. I am still undecided but starting to lean towards Drupal for most sites, and Wordpress for Blogs. Maybe Joomla is stuck in the middle? It is pretty, seems great to start with but perhaps isn’t so great once you get into it. One problem though I has was with my Fantastico installation of Drupal as it gives SQL errors. This is not a Drupal problem so I will be manually installing on my real site.

To help contribute to the discussions I did a review of a Webology survey and put a long ad-free blog on my personal blog.

Hope you find it useful: http://owenmcnamara.com/2009/08/08/comparison-of-drupal-and-joomla/

I think both Joomla and Drupal are great but each has strengths and weaknesses and perhaps each appeals to a slightly different type of web developer.

Thanks for your article

Owen

]]> By: Social Networking Foundations « Blog http://www.jdavidrogers.com/2007/04/07/drupal-or-joomla-picking-a-cms/comment-page-1/#comment-1255 Social Networking Foundations « Blog Mon, 23 Mar 2009 02:34:15 +0000 http://www.jdavidrogers.com/2007/04/07/drupal-or-joomla-picking-a-cms/#comment-1255 [...] Drupal vs Joomla. He picks Joomla but makes a case for Drupal as a better base engine, IMO. Another Drupal vs Joomla article. [...] [...] Drupal vs Joomla. He picks Joomla but makes a case for Drupal as a better base engine, IMO. Another Drupal vs Joomla article. [...]

]]> By: chris janes http://www.jdavidrogers.com/2007/04/07/drupal-or-joomla-picking-a-cms/comment-page-1/#comment-757 chris janes Sun, 13 Apr 2008 00:19:56 +0000 http://www.jdavidrogers.com/2007/04/07/drupal-or-joomla-picking-a-cms/#comment-757 I tried Joomla and Drupal. Finally i fell in love with Drupal. For me there was virtually no learning curve with it. Almost everything was more or less self-explanatory to me. Joomla / Mambo was (and is still) very strange in my opinion. I still don't understand the internal logic of them and my impression of Joomla was: complicated, produces ugly html, unlogical, strange, inflexible; But that was only a first impression. I'am shure, that you can become lucky and productive with joomla, if you get the idea of this cms, but obviously my brain lacks the ability to become familiar with joomla. I think the choice of the right cms is a very personal one. I tried Joomla and Drupal. Finally i fell in love with Drupal. For me there was virtually no learning curve with it. Almost everything was more or less self-explanatory to me.
Joomla / Mambo was (and is still) very strange in my opinion. I still don’t understand the internal logic of them and my impression of Joomla was: complicated, produces ugly html, unlogical, strange, inflexible; But that was only a first impression. I’am shure, that you can become lucky and productive with joomla, if you get the idea of this cms, but obviously my brain lacks the ability to become familiar with joomla. I think the choice of the right cms is a very personal one.

]]> By: ChrisW http://www.jdavidrogers.com/2007/04/07/drupal-or-joomla-picking-a-cms/comment-page-1/#comment-118 ChrisW Fri, 14 Dec 2007 17:01:17 +0000 http://www.jdavidrogers.com/2007/04/07/drupal-or-joomla-picking-a-cms/#comment-118 I have just (literally) set up a simple website in the last few days using Drupal and a free template I found on the web. I have previously used Mambo (more or less same as Joomla) and was happy enough with it at the time. Now I've tried Drupal, I realise what I was missing! Mambo was clunky, temperamental and fairly convoluted to set up initially, and I never did persuade my users to add content of their own to it. In contrast, Drupal has been a breeze to set up, the internal logic is admirably straightforward, the interfaces are pretty easy to use and the add-on modules I've tried so far are excellent. But you're right about the positive user support around Joomla and Mambo, although so far I haven't has any problems with Drupal that I couldn't fix myself or with a bit of help from the WWW. IBM compared Drupal and a few other CMS for a test project and went for Drupal. They explain why here: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/ibm/osource/index.html I have just (literally) set up a simple website in the last few days using Drupal and a free template I found on the web. I have previously used Mambo (more or less same as Joomla) and was happy enough with it at the time. Now I’ve tried Drupal, I realise what I was missing! Mambo was clunky, temperamental and fairly convoluted to set up initially, and I never did persuade my users to add content of their own to it. In contrast, Drupal has been a breeze to set up, the internal logic is admirably straightforward, the interfaces are pretty easy to use and the add-on modules I’ve tried so far are excellent.

But you’re right about the positive user support around Joomla and Mambo, although so far I haven’t has any problems with Drupal that I couldn’t fix myself or with a bit of help from the WWW.

IBM compared Drupal and a few other CMS for a test project and went for Drupal. They explain why here:

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/ibm/osource/index.html

]]> By: wendell http://www.jdavidrogers.com/2007/04/07/drupal-or-joomla-picking-a-cms/comment-page-1/#comment-40 wendell Mon, 20 Aug 2007 18:58:03 +0000 http://www.jdavidrogers.com/2007/04/07/drupal-or-joomla-picking-a-cms/#comment-40 I can't speak for Joomia, but I had in the past played with Wordpress as my personal blogging app and recently have been working on the side for a small magazine to turn a Drupal install into a customized publishing system - following the New York Observer Model. So I have some ideas perspective of an end user to a developer. Basically, the potential and flexibility of drupal is amazing, but the usability lacks and as mentioned in some of the comments the learning curve is like smacking into a solid brick wall at full flight. That said, if you need customized solutions you have amazing tools like the content construction kit (CCK). Here I was able to define all the fields for the magazine's story, edition and contributors. So we could get our content to behave exactly as we wanted. The CCK paradigm, combined with views (a module to retrieve information and present it) will depreciate a large number of current drupal modules as you can role your own, how ever you choose. However, this last point really belies the learning curve and the current leanings of drupal towards developers. At first I personally found the drupal forums lacking, but as I developed my drupal vocabulary and began to understand the drupal paradigms, I was better able to describe my problem and search for solutions. I am now easily able to find the information I need. Every problem I have had thus far has been described in detail somewhere in the forums - it was a matter of being proactive, rather than reactive. I suspect your question may have gone unanswered because it may have been asked before. This doesn't forgive the negelect, but again belies the leanings towards developers. From the little bit of reading I have done on the Joomia/Drupal comparison, Joomia seems to focus on the user and as such may be a good choice for your project. However, if you are really planning to expand what you are doing in the future, and need a very flexible CMS you may still want to play with drupal. For me personally the real power is in the Content Construction Kit, and custom theming and views. I can’t speak for Joomia, but I had in the past played with Wordpress as my personal blogging app and recently have been working on the side for a small magazine to turn a Drupal install into a customized publishing system – following the New York Observer Model.

So I have some ideas perspective of an end user to a developer. Basically, the potential and flexibility of drupal is amazing, but the usability lacks and as mentioned in some of the comments the learning curve is like smacking into a solid brick wall at full flight.

That said, if you need customized solutions you have amazing tools like the content construction kit (CCK). Here I was able to define all the fields for the magazine’s story, edition and contributors. So we could get our content to behave exactly as we wanted. The CCK paradigm, combined with views (a module to retrieve information and present it) will depreciate a large number of current drupal modules as you can role your own, how ever you choose.

However, this last point really belies the learning curve and the current leanings of drupal towards developers. At first I personally found the drupal forums lacking, but as I developed my drupal vocabulary and began to understand the drupal paradigms, I was better able to describe my problem and search for solutions. I am now easily able to find the information I need. Every problem I have had thus far has been described in detail somewhere in the forums – it was a matter of being proactive, rather than reactive.

I suspect your question may have gone unanswered because it may have been asked before. This doesn’t forgive the negelect, but again belies the leanings towards developers.

From the little bit of reading I have done on the Joomia/Drupal comparison, Joomia seems to focus on the user and as such may be a good choice for your project. However, if you are really planning to expand what you are doing in the future, and need a very flexible CMS you may still want to play with drupal. For me personally the real power is in the Content Construction Kit, and custom theming and views.

]]> By: themegarden.org http://www.jdavidrogers.com/2007/04/07/drupal-or-joomla-picking-a-cms/comment-page-1/#comment-35 themegarden.org Tue, 22 May 2007 19:21:03 +0000 http://www.jdavidrogers.com/2007/04/07/drupal-or-joomla-picking-a-cms/#comment-35 Both, Drupal and Joomla are really great. Both have strengths and flaws. Out of the box, joomla has a bit more features, and has shorter learning time. On the other site Drupal is more flexible and more powerfull. A lot of "big players" those days converting their sites to Drupal (for example http://www.observer.com/ - New York Observer) Both, Drupal and Joomla are really great. Both have strengths and flaws.
Out of the box, joomla has a bit more features, and has shorter learning time.
On the other site Drupal is more flexible and more powerfull. A lot of “big players” those days converting their sites to Drupal (for example http://www.observer.com/ – New York Observer)

]]> By: eddie http://www.jdavidrogers.com/2007/04/07/drupal-or-joomla-picking-a-cms/comment-page-1/#comment-34 eddie Mon, 21 May 2007 22:22:28 +0000 http://www.jdavidrogers.com/2007/04/07/drupal-or-joomla-picking-a-cms/#comment-34 what about mambo? i've been reading a lot of discussions regarding the merits and limitations of each of the three, but a lot of time the threads are one or two years old. i am happy to find this fresh discussion, and would want to hear opinions on joomla. the 2 most important aspects for the current project is SEO friendliness and end user easy of use. what about mambo? i’ve been reading a lot of discussions regarding the merits and limitations of each of the three, but a lot of time the threads are one or two years old. i am happy to find this fresh discussion, and would want to hear opinions on joomla. the 2 most important aspects for the current project is SEO friendliness and end user easy of use.

]]> By: Matt Seymour http://www.jdavidrogers.com/2007/04/07/drupal-or-joomla-picking-a-cms/comment-page-1/#comment-33 Matt Seymour Sun, 13 May 2007 14:32:53 +0000 http://www.jdavidrogers.com/2007/04/07/drupal-or-joomla-picking-a-cms/#comment-33 I started out on the path for a PHP CMS just over a year ago, knowing nothing about PHP, MYSQL etc. Drupal seemed the most promising but I just couldn't get my head around it. The learning curve was too steep. In my experience greater flexibility goes hand in hand with a more complicated user interface. Ultimately I think Drupal's flexibility could be its downfall. I started out on the path for a PHP CMS just over a year ago, knowing nothing about PHP, MYSQL etc. Drupal seemed the most promising but I just couldn’t get my head around it. The learning curve was too steep. In my experience greater flexibility goes hand in hand with a more complicated user interface. Ultimately I think Drupal’s flexibility could be its downfall.

]]> By: J David Rogers http://www.jdavidrogers.com/2007/04/07/drupal-or-joomla-picking-a-cms/comment-page-1/#comment-20 J David Rogers Thu, 19 Apr 2007 19:49:50 +0000 http://www.jdavidrogers.com/2007/04/07/drupal-or-joomla-picking-a-cms/#comment-20 Thanks for the good comments everyone. I definitely agree that Drupal is a solid platform. While I have been very happy with Joomla and feel it was the right choice for my current project, I still plan to work on a Drupal site at some point in the future. Thanks for the good comments everyone.

I definitely agree that Drupal is a solid platform. While I have been very happy with Joomla and feel it was the right choice for my current project, I still plan to work on a Drupal site at some point in the future.

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