By noiseordinance on

Seeking advice: Joomla vs. Drupal

Hello there,

I've been looking at both Joomla and Drupal and they both seem great. I'm debating which one to use. I am intermediate with HTML and CSS, though no PHP skills in the slightest.

I'm looking to build a website for my company with the following features:

Ease of use
Smaller learning curve
Easy to manipulate templates
Access permissions (if I want someone to add content without altering design, for instance)
Contact form

I don't need a shopping cart, if that makes any difference. Does anyone have a recommendation as two which product would better suite my needs?

Thanks!!

Comments

silverwing’s picture

silverwing commented

Drupal seems to have a better handle on users and roles.

As for ease of use, both have a big learning curve. For me, Drupal has always been easier once I figured out the taxonomy/category function. I can't figure out Joomla's content manager.

Drupal has a contact form.

Templating is different. Joomla has the inline editor in their admin section, drupal doesn't. I think Joomla uses smarty, which never was my thing.

Joomla has a pretty admin interface. I can't figure out how to do most things in it, though.

If you haven't, set up a testing site on your computer and create your site with each.

~silverwing

_____________________________________________
MisguidedThoughts | showcaseCMS

onejam’s picture

onejam commented

I use both Drupal and Joomla. Based on your features you require and the knowledge you have, go with Joomla 1.5 as it is quicker to learn though not as powerful and customisable than Drupal is.

Having said that since the features you want can be built using no contributed modules, you may also want to look at Drupal 6 as it has improve on usability so learning curve should be like Joomla now.

Access Permisson in Joomla is limited to three levels which can not be customised like Drupal. But if you set the user to editor's role that should be enough for them to only manage content items and nothing else. If you need a more granular access permissions then stick with Drupal.

------------------------------------------
Personal Blog & digital playground: duvien.com

-----------------------------------------------------------------
We build engaging websites and intuitive designs that will benefit your business.
Duvien

ceejayoz’s picture

ceejayoz commented

Joomla may be quicker to learn, but if there's any chance that your site is going to need to be expanded in the future, Drupal is the way to go. Joomla is simply too restrictive in the long run.

A little extra time spent now will save huge amounts of time in the future.

brasil2014’s picture

brasil2014 commented

Hi guys,
I am looking to start with a open source tool that no required to pay millions dollars to buil my site.
I am current a Real Estate agent and I do have some knowledge in IT, question:

Can I start with Joomla and later if I feel Drupal is better for me, I can change no problem?

Thank you!

ceejayoz’s picture

ceejayoz commented

Not really, no. Joomla and Drupal are different enough in their workings that switching between the two is going to require a lot of work.

noiseordinance’s picture

noiseordinance commented

Based on both comments, I think I'll dive into Drupal anyways, if ver6 is a little easier to use, comparible to the ease of use of Joomla. I'd rather invest in the product with great customization if the learning curve is fairly similar. Thanks guys!

trendsetterwebs’s picture

trendsetterwebs commented

im always looking Drupal vs Joomla opinions.

these drupal forums are a great place for abundant user contrib info.

just search for "drupal vs joomla" in the upper right ^

I like joomla,

my 2 cents

matt
http://trendsetterwebsites.com

http://drupalthemeblog.wordpress.com

socceronly’s picture

socceronly commented

I think the..not quite in the picture now... but will have a huge possible impact difference between the two will be/could be Acquia.

That doesn't really help with comparing one feature to another or anything like that today....

But if you are going to invest the time into learning something, I think Acquia is one reason to pick Drupal. They are likely to have a substantial impact on rate/quality/sophistication of future development. Not that there is anything wrong with it now, just that it might get even better.