Think of the age-old battle between Windows and Mac, or for us Australians, the old Holden and Ford battle.
At Mity we are well and truly in the Joomla camp (and Apple, and Holden too) and have spent many years becoming experts in Joomla, and we believe that for our business-focused clients it is a better platform to establish and grow their business.
One of the reasons we love Joomla is the fact it is a much more feature-rich content management system out of the box (meaning you don’t need to add third party plugins and components).
Here are just 5 of the difference of the core systems:
1. Meta Data Management
Meta Data is a one of the important aspects of SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) and it helps Google categorise and index your site, plus it can be the text you see in search results on Google - very important information.
Joomla provides the ability to manage your meta Title and Description tags for each individual page (and menu item) in the website.
With WordPress you cannot manage your meta without installing a plugin. Sure this plugin is free, but you still need it to do this very basic task.
2. Menu Management
Being able to add a menu to your website is key. It provides your visitors with an easy way to navigate your site and find the content they need.
Joomla has a very sophisticated menu component that allows you to not only link to a single page, but you can also create blog layouts, lists of articles and many more types of menu items out of the box. This allows you to create a menu structure that makes your site easy to navigate and provide a way of using different page/content layouts to boost the look and usability of your site.
WordPress only provides a simple menu system that allows you to link to single pieces of content or a blog layout.
3. Custom Fields
Having the ability to use custom fields in your content is a game changer and gives you infinite flexibility in what structured content you add to your pages and how you present that content.
The Custom Fields function of Joomla not only allows you to add different types of fields and content to your pages, but it extends this functionality to other parts of the CMS, such as Users, giving you a lot of flexibility in how you use and manage your site.
Custom Fields are only available in WordPress by installing a 3rd party plugin or custom coding.
4. Contact Form
Having a contact form on your site is a basic requirement. It allows you to guide your visitors to provide the information you want to collect from them, but also protects your email address from spammers by not displaying it on your site.W
The core Contacts component of Joomla provides you with a contact form to use on your contact page. Couple that with custom fields and your simple contact form can become much more sophisticated.
WordPress does not provide any core contact form functionality.
5. Multi-language
While in Australia there isn’t a huge requirement to have a multi-language site, the functionality is there, and it is core to Joomla.
In Joomla, you can provide content in different languages and allow the visitor to select which language they want to see.
The benefit of the Joomla multi-language component over Google Translate is that you can provide a more accurate translation. Ask anyone who speaks multiple languages and they will tell you that, while Google does a good job, it does not provide the most accurate or grammatically correct translations, so having professionally translated content helps your site reach your multi-lingual audiences with greater accuracy and nuance.
Again, without a 3rd party plugin multi-language translation is not part of WordPress.
This isn’t event close to an exhaustive list of differences, but they are some key and important features that help set Joomla apart and position it as a more business (and solution) focused content management system without the need for third party plugins for basic functionality.
If you're considering a new website, or looking to upgrade your existing site, consider Joomla as and options and speak to us, the Joomla specialists.
Michael Scruse
Michael brings his technical, web and sales expertise to every project, backed by over 30 years’ experience in the IT industry.
Michael is also a qualified chef, although cooking is now in a domestic kitchen. Michael is a bit of a history buff and is currently researching his own family history.
