Joomla review

Rating: 8/10

• Release version: 1.5 Beta
• License: GNU/GPL, Open Source
• Homepage: http://www.joomla.org
• OpenSourceCMS.com demo
• CMSMatrix.org listing

Although it is a beta version, I am reviewing Joomla 1.5 because it has many improvements over the 1.0.x versions and even though it may still have some bugs Joomla 1.5 is here to stay!

Ahh, Joomla - my first CMS! Well, it was actually Mambo but Joomla is a fork that is pretty close (at least in the 1.0.x versions), so...

When I started making sites I (like everybody else) coded them by hand and FTPed them to the server; after a while it started getting tedious and more than anything else, a nightmare to update. This is when I started looking for a CMS and eventually chose Mambo, mostly because I had the feeling that no matter what problem I would have the community would help me. And I was right!

There have been many improvements from the 1.0.x series, many of which are a breath of fresh air to Joomla users:

• built in SEF (search engine urls) support. Previously you could turn urls with variables into static urls, but those looked something like example.com/content/view/12/24; in 1.5 Joomla has the ablility to transform urls into example.com/index.php/products/widgets/green-widgets.
• better caching (really helps with heavy trafficed sites, in case of Digg or Slashdot).
• removed statistics - while it may seem to be a step back for many, that component ate resources like no tomorrow.
• general code improvements.
  

Joomla review