Has anybody used Joomla or Wordpress etc?

[yello]

My wife wants me to build a website for her business. My knowledge of such things is frozen firmly back in the 90s, so whilst I could develop it in HTML it would look very, um, 'retro'

I can't really be arsed learning loads of new stuff (css, php, etc) so I decided to have a look at these CMS systems (that acronym has stood for SO many things in my time but in this context it's content management) and packages like Wordpress and Joomla. They supposedly allow simple and quick web page development... my spotty bum they do! If you're going to develop locally then you've got a pretty involved localhost setup to perform. Ok, do-able so I did it. Then trying to understand HOW to put together a web page is, frankly, guess work. I chose Joomla, maybe that was my mistake, because the documentation is poor. They concentrate on setting it up and the site admin side... actually putting together a web page doesn't seem to be addressed!

Maybe I'm just too old for all this stuff now (I frankly have little interest) but I personally would not recommend Joomla unless you are a web developer. WAY too much overhead. You might as well just sit down and learn to code a web page without the overhead of a db. It'd be just as quick and generate a cleaner site.

Anyways, rant over. I've only experienced Joomla. Do all these CMS type packages (and there are a few) share a similar design concept?

 

[Boris Bike]

I used Joomla in the past, and found it very complicated to use. This was a few years ago, so it might have got better by now.

However I've recently started using Wordpress on my site. It's easy to set up, and the themes/plugins are a dream to set-up. You don't have to go into any code, but you can if you want.

 

[beanzontoast]

I'm interested in the outcome of this post because like you Yello, I'm a coder not a CMS person (though I have taught myself CSS and have to say it's not that bad once you get the hang of it. PHP on the other hand I just can't find the motivation to learn - I just use bits here and there and work out enough to be able to get things running...)

So, if it's ok to interject Yello in the hope it helps us both - may I ask Boris, is it correct that there are two versions of Wordpress - a web based one and one that you download and install / configure on your own pc? Which do you use?

 

[ColinJ]

So, if it's ok to interject Yello in the hope it helps us both - may I ask Boris, is it correct that there are two versions of Wordpress - a web based one and one that you download and install / configure on your own pc? Which do you use?

Not quite ...

There is WordPress.com which hosts your sites/blogs for you but places restrictions on what you can do and there is WordPress.org which supports a stand-alone version of the software which you install and run on your own hosting.

I use Hostgator for my hosting and they have Fantastico set up to install WordPress for you. It takes a couple of minutes, that's all. Once it is installed, you can automatically update it to the latest version.

There are thousands of free plugins available to make WordPress do all sorts of clever things.

You can install a new 'theme' in seconds to completely change the appearance of your site. You can pay for a 'premium' theme, but there are thousands of free ones to choose from.

I really like WordPress. It is extremely simple to use and very flexible. One thing that many people don't realise is that you can completely hide the blogging side of the platform if you don't want to use it. You can organise your site as a blog, a blog with a conventional website on the side, just a conventional website, or a conventional website with a blog on the side.

I'm not a web developer, but I recently knocked up a simple little WordPress site to help try and sell my late mother's property. From deciding to do it, to this took less than a day. It's not brilliant, but it does the job of catching the attention of would-be buyers trying to get their children into a popular local school.

 

[beanzontoast]

From deciding to do it, to this took less than a day.

Good going, Colin!

Wordpress sounds do-able from what you say about your experience.

 

[Ravenbait]

I used Wordpress (see sig) and find it relatively easy. I haven't needed to learn much in the way of php, and what I have was relatively straightforward. I hand-built my previous website so was okay on CSS anyway. I'd certainly reccomend it, although there's also blogspot, which a lot of people use, if you want a blog to be the main feature.

Sam

 

[ttcycle]

I've heard good things about Wordpress as a CMS.

Including a professional web developer who uses as it's easy to set up.

 

[fimm]

My boyfriend and I used Wordpress to set up a simple site for his small business. We initially turned the blogging option off, but he's recently decided to start a blog, so we turned it on again!

I'm a programmer/tester, but don't really know anything more than anyone else about web design (I was quite happy to do some hacking of the php scripts, though...) These days my boyfriend does what he wants to do himself - the UI for changing things is pretty good, once you have got the hang of it.

 

[coffeejo]

I use WordPress as well. Took a brief look at Joomla and ran like crazy

 

[yello]

Yes, agreed. I've downloaded Wordpress and it does look WAY simpler to use than Joomla.

At present, I've only got it configured to run locally (re-installed apache, php, mysql, etc) but I'm getting a bit peeved trying to install a theme.

Anybody any experience of using WP on localhost?

 

[beanzontoast]

Yes, agreed. I've downloaded Wordpress and it does look WAY simpler to use than Joomla.

At present, I've only got it configured to run locally (re-installed apache, php, mysql, etc) but I'm getting a bit peeved trying to install a theme.

Anybody any experience of using WP on localhost?

Just been investigating this myself...

In Wordpress admin, in the left sidebar click Appearance, then in the submenu click Themes.

Click the Install Themes tab.

Don't type anything into the searchbox - just click the Search button.

The first of 48 pages of themes loads up. To install any of them, click the little Install link below its description. You'll probably get another screen where you have to click Install again.

Then to activate the theme, click the Manage Themes tab. The themes you have installed are displayed. Click Activate to make your chosen theme the active one.

Beyond that I haven't gone - yet!

 

[yello]

Cheers for that beanz... sadly doesn't work for me since I've wordpress running on localhost and not out on the web. If I try to install a theme, I keep being asked for ftp user and password... I don't have, or need, an ftp set up... I'm running locally!

Doesn't matter anyway. I've taken an executive decision and have decided CMS is just an unnecessary overhead that we don't need (it's going to cost to have hosted SQL too)

If I've got to learn something, I may as well build on the html & css etc knowledge I already have. Besides, I'm a coder, it's easy for me to work from that perspective rather than the more admin kind of approach required by CMS.

 

[gaz]

I'm a web developer by trade and at work we built our own CMS.

But for home stuff i've used wordpress (see signature), modx, joomla, drupal etc...

The common theme with most of them is that they are geared mainly around developers, they can be hard to understand if you don't know what you are doing.
However, wordpress isn't like that and is fairly simple, it's also really common so if you get stuck on anything, post here or search on google and someone will have done what you are trying.

 

[beanzontoast]

Cheers for that beanz... sadly doesn't work for me since I've wordpress running on localhost and not out on the web. If I try to install a theme, I keep being asked for ftp user and password... I don't have, or need, an ftp set up... I'm running locally!

Sorry to hear that - but in case you change your mind in future, just to mention I'm running locally too using XAMPP. I used to use a stand-alone Apache 1.3.33 install for my localhost, but XAMPP seems so easy by comparison. I put the entire wordpress folder in the htdocs folder within XAMPP, which is itself in the root folder on my computer, and it runs from there.

 

[Tinuts]

I use Hostgator for my hosting and they have Fantastico set up to install WordPress for you. It takes a couple of minutes, that's all. Once it is installed, you can automatically update it to the latest version.

Yes, Hostgator is very good value - especially for multiple site hosting. If you would rather use a UK based hosting company but with the same ease of WordPress installation just look for one that offers CPanel/Fantastico and it makes installation a breeze. I use Ariotek - good customer support.

However, wordpress isn't like that and is fairly simple, it's also really common so if you get stuck on anything, post here or search on google and someone will have done what you are trying.

Yes, lots of free advice out there and loads of plugins for when you're feeling a bit more adventurous too.

I looked at Joomla but thought it would require too much work so knocked up three sites using Apple's iWeb. It is very easy to come up with visually appealing sites because of the drag & drop approach to populating web pages. It can be very fast for a simple but good looking site. When you delve a bit deeper and start to look at SEO etc it gets a bit more complex but, if you have a Mac, it's well worth a try.