Joomla! helps those who help themselves.

By Lillian Fidler
Guest Blogger



Joomla! helps those who help themselves.




The name 'Joomla' is derived from the Swahili word 'Jumla', which means 'all together'. The name is appropriate because that's how this powerful web technology was developed – by a worldwide community of like-minded developers with a common goal. Together they developed what is today one of the most powerful 'free' Open Source Content Management Systems on the planet. The Joomla! Community now has over 200,000 users, developers and contributors and currently powers 2.6% of the web. Companies such as MTV, Ikea, Harvard and Citibank use Joomla! to power their sites.



The emergence of powerful, flexible, Open Source Content Management Systems like Joomla! is truly a revolution in web technology. This system is more than just a web development tool, it's also a business tool. With Joomla! You have access to thousands of add-on features such as e-commerce, social networking, blogging, multimedia, forms, maps, calendars, rss, to name but a few. The Joomla! Content Management System not only allows you to easily edit your content and add photos, you can generate reports, keep track of subscribers, send newsletters, setup complex shopping carts and much, much more. You can also have a site which is search engine friendly, works across all browsers and is multilingual. The list of what this technology can do just goes on and on.



With a vibrant volunteer community, user-friendly features and plenty of power, Joomla! is perfect for any site!



Who uses it?

Joomla! is used all over the world to power everything from simple, personal homepages to complex corporate websites. Here are just some of the ways this award winning CMS solution is used:

- corporate and small business websites

- online ecommerce

- real estate websites

- school and church websites

- non-profit organizational sites

- hotel and tourism websites

- newspapers and magazines



The following are some great reasons to use Joomla!:



It's Open-source

If your company or organization hires a third party Joomla! developer or builds in-house software using the Joomla! framework, you are building on an open platform that does not tie you to any one design company, developer or to a proprietary, closed application. You own your site and can develop it further with anyone you choose.



Staying Power

Your site will stay fresh. You will not have to design a whole new website every few years. If you choose to change to look and feel of the site, you can do so easily but still maintain your current functionality and retain your content. As new web technologies are introduced down the road, they will be available for you to easily plug in to your site. No need to hire a programmer.

Easy to Maintain:

Once Joomla! is installed and running, it is simple for even non-technical users to add or edit content, update images, and to manage the critical data that makes your company or organization effective. Anybody with basic word processing skills can easily learn to manage a Joomla! Site.



Very Expandable:

The Joomla! system allows you to add extra functionality to your website including things like calendars, blogs, Google maps, social networking applications, forms and shopping carts. Joomla! offers an awesome amount of extensions that currently numbers around 7000.



Widely Used

Joomla!'s 200,000+ community users and developers and it's popularity means that there is a vast amount of online technical support available.



Search Engine Friendly:

- CMS offers the best platform to develop sites that meet all the SEO requirements.

- HTML layout is well formed with no nestled tables, making it easy to read for crawlers.

- URL's are extremely Search engine friendly.

- Meta keywords can be defined at a global level (across the site) and also at page level.



So, now that you know the power of Joomla! You might be thinking to yourself “how do I implement it?”



Anyone can download and install Joomla! It is free open source software. You will need some basic knowledge of web design and there is quite a steep learning curve. To begin with, I would recommend having a professional Joomla! web designer create a site to your specifications. A professional designer will create a look and feel to suit your business, implement all of the functionality that you desire and train you and your staff in it's use and expandability. You will then be well on your way to getting the most out of your Joomla! site.



So, help yourself to Joomla! And get Joomla! helping you.



 - Lillian Fidler



Lillian Fidler Multimedia is a web development, graphic design and video production company. We have been using Joomla! for 4 years to create websites for large and small businesses, government, non-profit organizations and the arts community.



To view our online portfolio and for more information, please visit http://www.lillianfidler.com/

Please contact us for further information or to get started with your Joomla! Site.



For more information about Joomla! go to http://www.joomla.org