Joomla Website - Content Management System

Need an expert Joomla website developer? You've come to the right place. VWeb specializes in creating full-featured Joomla CMS websites with custom-designed templates.

What is a Content Management System (CMS)? A CMS allows you to log in, through a web interface, to edit your website. Generally if you're comfortable editing Word documents, you could do basic editing on your site. The ability to edit graphics - changing file sizes and physical dimensions of the graphic or photo are also useful skills. The more computer-literate you are, the more you'll be able to do with your site. Some tasks, such as adding new menu items, require a little more expertise.

The following screen capture shows the editor you use to edit a joomla article, the equivalent of a page on your website. The wysiwyg editor makes editing your site easy. There are many books on Joomla available, but since Joomla sites can be configured in innumerable ways, VWeb provides training tailored to the specific setup of your site. The initial training will get you started and we will be here for ongoing support and updates as needed.

Is Joomla a Good Option For Every Website?

The Joomla CMS is powerful and relatively easy to use, however I don’t necessarily recommend that every client have a CMS-based website. The table below lists the considerations for a CMS vs a traditional HTML site.

In general, if you require a small site, ten pages or less, that will not be updated too often or will have simple text updates, an HTML site will be more efficient. If all you want to do is blog, I recommend Wordpress. VWeb can install Wordpress with a custom template, if that's the direction you'd like to go. For most other sites we recommend the Joomla CMS.

With the convenience of a CMS, come a few things that aren't a factor with a straight HTML site. All content management systems store their information in a database. This tends to make CMS sites load a little more slowly and creates additional complexity for site backups. With an HTML site, it's easy to store a full copy of the site on a local computer. With a CMS, you need to back up the database as well as your site files. VWeb Hosting provides full backups for Joomla websites.

CMS Website	Traditional HTML
Advantages	Advantages
Client can edit the site through an online administration panel, although a certain level of computer expertise is required Availability of addon components to handle site functionality that would take longer to develop on a non-CMS site, like event calendars, polls, photo galleries, etc.	Smaller size, less disk space Web pages generally load faster Design layout can be changed more easily; more flexibility in design
Things to be aware of	Things to be aware of
Uses more disk space. Hosting requirements are higher and specific configuration of settings are required to ensure the CMS runs properly CMS sites are generally more susceptible to security attacks, this requires periodic updates to stay up-to-date with the most recent versions of the cms software Backups are more complicated because the database must also be backed up Database corruption (rare) can bring your entire site down. This is when you need that backup! Extensive visual design changes still require a web designer, as changes to the template will be required	Client usually cannot edit the site (however there are ways to make a few areas of an html site editable by the client)

 

Joomla CMS Maintenance
Rather than a static html website with fixed pages, Joomla is a dynamic content management system, continually being updated and improved to provide enhanced features and online security. CMS websites provide powerful features and flexibility, but in order to utilize those capabilities fully and to keep your website running optimally, you need to keep the system software up-to-date.

If you are using the Joomla CMS, VWeb can keep your website updated as new versions are released. The procedure for installing updates is:

• Back up the website files and database
• Install the Joomla update
• Optimize the database files
• Check for updates to core components
• Install component updates as needed
• Test the website to ensure that all is working correctly after the updates

You can be placed on a list to have updates applied to your site as they are released. Contact VWeb for website maintenance pricing.

 

*This does not include updates that involve a major version change, such as going from Joomla 1.5 to 1.7, but refers to updates within the same version, for example Joomla 1.7.2 to 1.7.3.

* There were 22 updates to Joomla 1.5 from January 2008 to January 2011, roughly 7 per year.