At Pathfind Media, we eat, breathe and sleep building and maintaining beautiful functional websites.
We also love providing our clients with useful information so this article will take a quick look at the following aspects when it comes to WordPress versus Joomla:
What it is
What it does
How they differ
Let’s dive straight in.
What it is
Both WordPress and Joomla are what is known as CMS’s (content management systems). Joomla started out in 2005 as a CMS meant to serve portal-like websites, whilst WordPress launched 2 years prior in 2003 and was originally a blog-focused platform.
What it does
Presently, both WordPress and Joomla have evolved into systems that are fully capable to run any type of website.
Website developers, like us, will use either WordPress or Joomla software as the foundational tools/software for building your website.
How they differ
1. Themes and templates
Themes (WordPress) and templates (Joomla) are a collection of stylesheets or layouts that are used to define the appearance and display of a website.
These themes or templates are pre-chosen and installed as the foundation of the look and feel a client prefers for building their website, and can be updated, customised, managed or added onto from the WordPress or Joomla admin panels.
WordPress Themes - 5 000+ free themes at the official WordPress.org theme directory, plus thousands of premium themes.
Joomla Templates - There’s no official Joomla template library, so it’s hard to get a number for available Joomla templates.
2. Plugins and extensions
Plugins (WordPress) and extensions (Joomla) are add-ons (small pieces of code designed to perform specific tasks) that can be downloaded to extend your site or to add functionality (like sign-up forms, social media integration buttons, chatbots, SEO optimisation, etc.).
WordPress Plugins - 54,000+ free plugins at the official WordPress.org plugin directory, plus thousands of premium plugins.
Joomla Extensions - 8,000 extensions listed at the official Joomla extension library
3. Market share
WordPress powers about a third of the world’s websites and are used by individuals, small businesses and big corporations alike, and it is the most popular content management system in use today.
Why we prefer WordPress and how that benefits you
As with all things, both WordPress and Joomla deserve their spots in the sun, but other than the reasons that have already been outlined, we prefer to work exclusively with WordPress.
Here’s why:
How this benefits us:
Flexible and adapting - It enables us to build varied sites for varied purposes. WordPress sites can contain full-service eCommerce stores, incorporate eLearning, showcase portfolios, host blogs and podcasts – the possibilities really are endless.
User friendly - In comparison to Joomla, the WordPress back-end is much less complicated to navigate.
Wide variety of available themes (see explanation on themes above) - Many of these themes are instantly available to a new site owner through the WordPress theme directory, and thousands more can be purchased through design marketplaces and third-party designers from around the world.
Extensive plugins (see explanation of plugins above) - There are thousands of free and premium WordPress plugins to extend the functionality of a site.
Mobile responsiveness - WordPress offers a variety of responsive theme designs, and users can also make a static site responsive with plugins and adjustments to theme files.
SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) - The wide variety of plugins make our job to optimise websites for search engines easier.
Ease of publishing content - We can add a blog section to a client’s website without needing to create it separately.
Supportive community - Because WordPress is free and open source (Open source software is software with source code that anyone can inspect, modify, and enhance.), it’s supported by WordPress-loving communities around the world. We love to join in for the WordPress meet-ups to stay abreast of the latest trends and breaking news surrounding WordPress.
How this benefits our clients:
Flexible and adapting - If you can dream it, we can build it.
User friendly - A WordPress based site can be up and running relatively fast. Adding or updating information is also very seamless.
Wide variety of available themes (see explanation on themes above) - We’ve built our own library of WordPress compatible themes / premade layouts for our clients to choose from.
Extensive plugins (see explanation of plugins above) - Easy to add specific functions to your website
Mobile responsiveness - Your website’s layout will automatically adjust to fit the screen of the device it is being viewed on (whether on desktop or mobile).
SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) - Your site will be able to rank on Google
Ease of publishing content - Ease of publishing content (from blogs, to videos and podcasts)
Supportive community - Continuous improvements and enhancements.
(Word)Press on with Pathfind Media
If you are hard-pressed for a comprehensive website solution that includes hosting, as well as building and maintaining a WordPress website, Pathfind Media would love to assist.
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