Content management system (CMS), software systems that allow users or group of users to update content on a Web site. Content can be simple text, photos, music, video, documents, etc. A major advantage of using a CMS is that it requires almost no technical skill or knowledge to manage. Without a good CMS, most web site owners would not be capable of setting up their site and maintaining it on a daily basis, as that would require a great deal of technical knowledge and persistence.
There are lot of open source CMS available. We can use any of this software to enhance web site management capabilities, and even build new CMS around the core system. If you would like to take advantage of such software, then go through the following top two open source CMS that Argus having good expertise:
Drupal is one of the best open source CMS available, primarily because of its incredible capability to replicate the functionality of all other CMS, within a slightly more complex interface of course.
Joomla enables you to build Web sites and powerful online applications. Many aspects, including its ease-of-use and extensibility, have made Joomla the most popular Web site software available.
They are open source packages that will run on any Linux based web server and it uses PHP & MySQL. The customization is possible of either Joomla or Drupal based sites. A very common question from our customers is whether I should choose Drupal or Joomla or other CMS? We can help you to decide which better suits your needs.
Drupal Vs Joomla Comparisons
We have gone through several industry expert blogs and articles to give you more insights here, so that it will guide you to select CMS either Drupal or Joomla to develop your web site as described below.
Drupal
Thumbs up:
· Easy deployment
· Editing tabs integrated into actual pages
· Editing content is simple as well
· Very flexible in its configuration
· Modules are plentiful, free, and suitable for non-profits
· Versioning is available
· Many high profile sites use Drupal (e.g.: MTV UK, BBC, the Onion, Nasa, Greenpeace UK, Kleercut )
· Multiple levels of categories allowed along with easily integrated tagging system
· Human readable URLs which are search engine friendly
· 1 installation allows you to create and manage multiple websites (very handy when creating campaign sites)
· Highly configurable user permissions handling
Thumbs down:
· Administration area is clunky, but it's getting better with each version
· Terminology in the administration can be cryptic
· Adding a visual theme to Drupal can be time consuming
· Support for the free modules can be frustrating
Overall view, Drupal is an excellent CMS for organizations looking for a community building CMS. Mainly very high profile organizations using Drupal, plus I liked the flexibility of categorizing their pages where ever and being able to fine tune the permissions for each role (i.e.: Administrator, Editor, Contributor, Authenticated user, and Anonymous).
Joomla
Thumbs up:
· Easy deployment
· More intuitive administration user interface
· Editing content is simple
· Lots of polished modules for things like calendars, polls, etc.
· Easy addition of modules
· Versioning is available
· Large community of developers for helping with setup and development
· Multi-lingual
Thumbs down:
· 1 installation of the software gives you 1 website
· Categories can only go two levels deep
· Limited roles and permission allowances
· Modules cost you money
· URLs are not search engine friendly (but there is a purchasable module)
· Out-of-the-box blogging functionality is mediocre
Last Updated | 2/26/2009 | 1/11/2009 | |
System Requirements | Drupal 6.10 | Joomla! 1.5.10 | |
Application Server | Apache | CGI | |
Approximate Cost | Free | Free | |
Database | MySQL | MySQL | |
License | Open Source | Open Source | |
Operating System | Platform Independent | Platform Independent | |
Programming Language | PHP | PHP | |
Root Access | No | No | |
Shell Access | No | No | |
Web Server | Apache | Apache | |
Security | Drupal 6.10 | Joomla! 1.5.10 | |
Audit Trail | Yes | No | |
Captcha | Free Add On | Free Add On | |
Content Approval | Yes | Yes | |
Email Verification | Yes | Yes | |
Granular Privileges | Yes | No | |
Kerberos Authentication | No | No | |
LDAP Authentication | Free Add On | Yes | |
Login History | Yes | Yes | |
NIS Authentication | No | No | |
NTLM Authentication | Free Add On | No | |
Pluggable Authentication | Yes | Yes | |
Problem Notification | No | No | |
Sandbox | No | No | |
Session Management | Yes | Yes | |
SMB Authentication | No | No | |
SSL Compatible | Yes | Yes | |
SSL Logins | No | Yes | |
SSL Pages | No | Yes | |
Versioning | Yes | Free Add On | |
Support | Drupal 6.10 | Joomla! 1.5.10 | |
Certification Program | No | No | |
Code Skeletons | Yes | No | |
Commercial Manuals | Yes | Yes | |
Commercial Support | Yes | Yes | |
Commercial Training | Yes | Yes | |
Developer Community | Yes | Yes | |
Online Help | Yes | Yes | |
Pluggable API | Yes | Yes | |
Professional Hosting | Yes | Yes | |
Professional Services | Yes | Yes | |
Public Forum | Yes | Yes | |
Public Mailing List | Yes | No | |
Test Framework | Free Add On | Yes | |
Third-Party Developers | Yes | Yes | |
Users Conference | Yes | Yes | |
Ease of Use | Drupal 6.10 | Joomla! 1.5.10 | |
Drag-N-Drop Content | Free Add On | No | |
Email To Discussion | Free Add On | Free Add On | |
Friendly URLs | Yes | Yes | |
Image Resizing | Free Add On | Yes | |
Macro Language | Free Add On | Yes | |
Mass Upload | Free Add On | Yes | |
Prototyping | Limited | Yes | |
Server Page Language | Yes | Yes | |
Site Setup Wizard | Limited | No | |
Spell Checker | Free Add On | No | |
Style Wizard | Limited | No | |
Subscriptions | Free Add On | Costs Extra | |
Template Language | Limited | Yes | |
UI Levels | No | Yes | |
Undo | Limited | No | |
WYSIWYG Editor | Free Add On | Yes | |
Zip Archives | No | No | |
Performance | Drupal 6.10 | Joomla! 1.5.10 | |
Advanced Caching | Yes | Yes | |
Database Replication | Limited | No | |
Load Balancing | Yes | Yes | |
Page Caching | Yes | Yes | |
Static Content Export | No | No | |
Management | Drupal 6.10 | Joomla! 1.5.10 | |
Advertising Management | Free Add On | Yes | |
Asset Management | Yes | Yes | |
Clipboard | No | No | |
Content Scheduling | Free Add On | Yes | |
Content Staging | Free Add On | No | |
Inline Administration | Yes | Yes | |
Online Administration | Yes | Yes | |
Package Deployment | No | No | |
Sub-sites / Roots | Yes | Yes | |
Themes / Skins | Yes | Yes | |
Trash | No | Yes | |
Web Statistics | Yes | Yes | |
Web-based Style/Template Management | Yes | Yes | |
Web-based Translation Management | Yes | Free Add On | |
Workflow Engine | Limited | No | |
Interoperability | Drupal 6.10 | Joomla! 1.5.10 | |
Content Syndication (RSS) | Yes | Yes | |
FTP Support | Limited | Yes | |
iCal | Free Add On | No | |
UTF-8 Support | Yes | Yes | |
WAI Compliant | Limited | No | |
WebDAV Support | No | No | |
XHTML Compliant | Yes | No | |
Flexibility | Drupal 6.10 | Joomla! 1.5.10 | |
CGI-mode Support | Yes | Yes | |
Content Reuse | Limited | Yes | |
Extensible User Profiles | Yes | Yes | |
Interface Localization | Yes | Yes | |
Metadata | Yes | Yes | |
Multi-lingual Content | Yes | Free Add On | |
Multi-lingual Content Integration | Free Add On | Free Add On | |
Multi-Site Deployment | Yes | Free Add On | |
URL Rewriting | Yes | Yes | |
Built-in Applications | Drupal 6.10 | Joomla! 1.5.10 | |
Blog | Yes | Yes | |
Chat | Free Add On | Free Add On | |
Classifieds | Free Add On | Free Add On | |
Contact Management | Free Add On | Yes | |
Data Entry | Free Add On | Free Add On | |
Database Reports | No | Free Add On | |
Discussion / Forum | Yes | Free Add On | |
Document Management | Limited | Free Add On | |
Events Calendar | Free Add On | Free Add On | |
Events Management | Free Add On | Free Add On | |
Expense Reports | No | Free Add On | |
FAQ Management | Yes | Yes | |
File Distribution | Free Add On | Free Add On | |
Graphs and Charts | No | Free Add On | |
Groupware | Free Add On | Free Add On | |
Guest Book | Free Add On | Free Add On | |
Help Desk / Bug Reporting | Free Add On | Free Add On | |
HTTP Proxy | No | No | |
In/Out Board | No | No | |
Job Postings | Free Add On | Free Add On | |
Link Management | Free Add On | Yes | |
Mail Form | Free Add On | Yes | |
Matrix | No | No | |
My Page / Dashboard | Free Add On | No | |
Newsletter | Free Add On | Free Add On | |
Photo Gallery | Free Add On | Free Add On | |
Polls | Yes | Yes | |
Product Management | Free Add On | Yes | |
Project Tracking | Free Add On | Free Add On | |
Search Engine | Yes | Yes | |
Site Map | Free Add On | Free Add On | |
Stock Quotes | Free Add On | Free Add On | |
Surveys | Free Add On | Free Add On | |
Syndicated Content (RSS) | Yes | Yes | |
Tests / Quizzes | Free Add On | Free Add On | |
Time Tracking | Free Add On | No | |
User Contributions | Yes | Yes | |
Weather | Free Add On | Free Add On | |
Web Services Front End | Limited | Yes | |
Wiki | Free Add On | Free Add On | |
Commerce | Drupal 6.10 | Joomla! 1.5.10 | |
Affiliate Tracking | Free Add On | Free Add On | |
Inventory Management | Free Add On | Free Add On | |
Pluggable Payments | Free Add On | Free Add On | |
Pluggable Shipping | Free Add On | Free Add On | |
Pluggable Tax | Free Add On | Free Add On | |
Point of Sale | No | Free Add On | |
Shopping Cart | Free Add On | Free Add On | |
Subscriptions | Free Add On | Free Add On | |
Wish Lists | Free Add On | Free Add On |
Drupal [-] | Joomla [-] | |
Content Management | Very sophisticated. It allows unlimited category levels, tagging and categorization. You can also create multiple types of content, each with different features. | Weak. There are only three levels of content - Section >> Category >> Content is available. That's it. No cross-categorization. To get flexibility, use aContent Construction Kit extension. |
WYSIWYG Editors | Probably the most common complaint about Drupal - it has no default editor. | TinyMCE comes by default. |
Template / Themes | Very few commercial developers and off-the-shelf choices are very poor. Most designs are custom-made. | Perhaps Joomla's biggest strength. Joomla has a wide selection of free and commercial designs. |
Community Features | By default it offers the ability to expand user profiles easily and Organic Groups allows for powerful community-building. | Non-existent by default but there are two powerful community extensions. Community Builder is free. Jomsocial is commercial but a powerful social application. |
User Permissions | A huge strength of Drupal wins hands-down. You can create unlimited user levels and customize them in minute detail. | Perhaps Joomla's achilles heel. Most Joomla aites will only be able to use three user levels (Public, Registered and Special) without installing a cumbersome Access Control Level extension. |
User Subscriptions | ||
Shopping Cart | See above. The only real option is Ubercart. Its a powerful, fully-featured ecommerce platform but may be overkill for small stores. | Joomla has only one major shopping cart: Virtuemart, but it considered buggy and difficult to work with. |
SEO | The out-of-the-box URLs work well and can be improved with one easy addon: Pathauto. The code is generally lightweight and well-optimised. | Reasonable out of the box, but lacks the ability to really control URLs or metadata. Various SEO extensions are needed for those who really care about SEO. |
Forums | A native and very smooth forum, but lacking in the high end features of the best modern forums. | The choice is between Agora and Kunena (native to Joomla but short on features) versus RokBrige (a bridge to phpBB3) and JFusion (a bridge to almost any forum software). |
Multimedia | Not by default but several multimedia modules for video and podcasting are available. | Yes, the default WYSIWYG editor allows video and there are plenty of podcast and video extensions. |
Photo Galleries | Definitely less options than Joomla. Decent galleries require several modules to be combined. | Yes. there's over a dozen excellent galleries. |
Event Calendars | Not great. There are options but they are far behind those available for Joomla. | Yes, multiple native and high-quality calendar extensions. |
Document Management | Would need to be constructed from other modules. | |
Blogs | Good default capabilities, although not a natural blog in the manner of Wordpress. | Some out-of-the-box capability (we use Joomla for our blog here on Alledia). Good native blogging extensions plus a port of Wordpress are available. |
Internationalization | Yes, Excellent. | |
Standards Compliance | Yes. Excellent out-of-the-box. | Not great. The Beez template does provide clean output but most Joomla installations still use a good number of tables. One company has produced a full set of table-less overrides. |
Multisites Management | Yes, out-of-the-box. | Weak. There are some multisite options but they're either unstable or very expensive. |
Commercial Community | Drupal's commercial talent pool is very high-quality but also very shallow. Most commercial developers work with large-to-medium size business and charge accordingly. | Very strong. Perhaps the best in the Open Source CMS world with a wealth of developers, designers and consultants. |
General Community | Good community. Often more non-profit than business driven. Excellent forum support at Drupal.org. | The community as a whole has a tendency to argue and fragment but its also highly dynamic with 1000s of companies offering support and services. |
Ease-of-use | Definitely a weakness. Terms are confusing and overly-geeky. The admin interface is text-driven and often overwhelming to beginners. | Joomla has a very good graphical interface but still retains quite a few quirks and oddities. |
Documentation | Pretty good. The main Joomla wiki has a lot of highly-detailed pages but also some with very little information. | |
Learning Curve | Steeper than Joomla. Drupal's strength is in its flexibility and power, not its ease-of-use. | Shallow. One of the easiest CMS systems to learn and customize. |
Current Situation | Clear development path. Currently working on Drupal 7. | Joomla 1.5 is the current version with the possibility of two new versions (1.6 and 1.7) due next year. Roadmap is not always clear. |
Overall | Drupal is flexible and developer-friendly. It also benefits from a coherent and stable community led by several large and reputable companies. | Joomla 1.6 will focus on improving two crucial areas: Joomla's inflexible systems for managing users and content. It may become a little more complicated as a result, but it will remain relatively easy to produce a good-looking site with plenty of functionality using Joomla. |
