Pros/Cons of Joomla?

[kcrox]

Hey y'all,
We've recently started looking into using Joomla for our church website, and are impressed with what we've seen on the web. We know that it'll be a little different from ACS, but we would just like to know from you, the avid Joomla users, your personal pros and cons of using Joomla for a church website.

[Esoteric]

I just started with it, but it is EXTREMELY easy to use and quite powerful. The only issue is that it is not as flexible as it is easy to use unless you know HTML very well.

Mike

[LaneLester]

Unless you have a Joomla expert on board, you might want to consider WordPress as an alternative. Using an appropriate theme it can be as much like an ordinary site as you wish and not just a blog.

Theme selection for both Joomla and WordPress is perhaps the most important step for future satisfaction in the way the site looks, how easy it is to tweak, and how easy it is to have multiple authors for content.

Some free and commercial WordPress themes (Atahualpa, Flexibility2, Semio Reloaded) are written with great flexibility that requires little or no knowledge of HTML.

Lane

[Mark0514]

Pros - Hundreds of free components and add-ons, many specifically for churches and ministries. A very large community of developers and users. Many free templates, and some terrific paid template clubs that offer tremendous support. Multiple user levels (which is being expanded) to allow editing, etc. I could keep going...it has been a blessing. www.southbay.cc


Cons - It's heavy (or can be)...mostly relying on allot of images and css. Also, all those little add-ins and components will add javascript and sometimes css to your page. It's a little confusing to begin with, especially the hierarchy and menus.

[Ramah]

Pros: Free. Low-cost add-ons and modules. Database driven so system-wide changes are easy. Allows non-technical users to change text on website and pictures only if in the body of the article. Non-technical users will not be able to change headers, backgrounds, etc... Takes less than an hour to get up and running.

Cons: Provides an extra opportunity for security exploits. Learning curve for administration is high. Troubleshooting requires advanced knowledge. Keeping track of updates for every single module can be cumbersome. Your website will look identical to at least 50-100 other churches who download the same template. If you ever want to use a different software in the future, you will have to start completely over.

[Esoteric]

If you use free templates then yes, look alikes could be a problem. I bought my template for $50 and there are only 4 of them on the entire web.

Mike

[shortcircuitcg]

If you change the header image and maybe the colors then only designers and people in the industry are going to know it looks like someone else's. Funny thing is .....the average user LIKES something familiar so a generic feel may work better.

[blonborg]

Subscribe to the Joomla! Security News(letter), so when updates are released, you are alerted to them. Keeping your site patched, goes a long way towards keeping it secure.

As Ramah said, keeping the extensions up to date requires more work. There's a RSS feed for the Joomla Vulnerable Extensions List - I check it periodically.

Ensure that you've worked through the Joomla Security Checklists.

One last thing, keep regular backups. In addition to backing up the files, backup the MySQL database too.

Bill

Originally Posted by Ramah

Cons: Provides an extra opportunity for security exploits.

[kcrox]

Hmm. Okay, Lane. Are you a WordPress user for your church's website?

[ccvid]

I've come to really like Joomla. It has helped me to go from mediocre looking websites to professional looking websites.

I agree with a previous comment that it does have a big learning curve for learning the administration side of it. (Its kind of like learning how to use Microsoft Office for the first time. There's lots of options, but until you start using them you won't know what they do.)

You don't have to know code (html, php, css, etc), but it will help if you do. If you know how to google answers for problems, that will also help.

I have used Shape5.com for templates. Currently our church's template is one of the default ones with different colors and backgrounds.

[LaneLester]

Originally Posted by kcrox

Hmm. Okay, Lane. Are you a WordPress user for your church's website?

Well, I did the website for Pleasant Grove Baptist Church in WordPress, but the members are mostly 19th Century and no one would supply the content.

I've since moved to a new town, and I'm waiting to see if my church wants a website... yes, I know, what church wouldn't?

Lane

[dareallyst]

I've been using Joomla since it was first introduced. I actually started when it was Mambo. Besides customizing a template, I can have the core set up & running in less than 5 minutes which has allowed me to turn some really good profits as a web designer.

I tell all my clients to just dig in and play around with all the settings, but I normally don't give them super admin rights so they can't mess up something critical like the database settings.

But I love Joomla because you can customize it to fit any type of site with the extensive add-ons and most of it is FREE!! They have some security loop holes but they are really good about staying on top of any breaches and quickly getting updates or patches out to fix the problems.