I was recently asked by a potential client why I recommended Joomla! to be used for building their website.

Let me explain the benefits of using Joomla versus using anything else, and by anything else I mean comparing building a website using some type of WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor, such as Frontpage or Dreamweaver, or building a website with a comparative type of software package.

Joomla! is a Content Management system

which means that it is built to ensure that website pages can easily be maintained and updated. This includes for example, adding new pages or removing pages. This is the main advantage above building a website in straight forward HTML that would normally be the end product of using some type of HTML editor.

But why Joomla? Why not something else like a Microsoft based product or another commercial product?

• Joomla is Open Source, which means that there are no licensing fees payable, that you have often pay for a Microsoft product or a commercial product
• Because Joomla is Open Source, there is a huge pool of community resources available to provide support. The Joomla community is huge worldwide as well as in local countries, there are often local user groups which are very well supported often even in small countries such as South Africa. There is an enormous pool of people supporting the product. The forum on the Joomla.org site has over 200 000 members all providing support and input into making Joomla! a better product.
• There are millions of sites worldwide (about 10 Million if you do a guestimate using Google) that runs on Joomla. It is therefore extremely popular and widely used which also means that it will never be difficult to find developers and people to support it.
• Because it is so popular, it also means that by now there have been quite a few books written about Joomla! from various perspectives to assist both the developer as well as the end-user.

Some other good reasons to use Joomla!

One of the most attractive features of using Joomla! is the fact that is so very easy to extend its functionality. You can build anything from a brochure website to a full-featured shopping cart or interactive membership site. This is because there are over 3500 add-ons and plugins available to extend its functionality. This ranges from shopping carts, image galleries, video plugins, forums, blogs, project management tools, etc etc

The Joomla templating system

Makes it easy to change the look and feel of your site without having to redo the whole site from scratch. You can literally change the whole graphic design/look of the site in a matter of seconds while retaining the content.

 Features & Benefits

• Ability to edit formatting, such as changing fonts, sizes, colours etc..
• A complete file manager allowing you to insert, remove, resize and create pop up images as well as insert flash animations.
• On-site and off-site linking functionality providing the ability to create links to other website's as well as links to other pages within your own website.
• Video (YouTube / Vimeo etc), Google Maps and affiliate code insertion.
• Insert and manage PayPal "Pay Now" buttons, enabling you to accept payments through the website.
• Spell-checking functionality. 
• User friendly table creation for page layout.
• No software required to download or install.
• Easy to use, no training required, although we do provide training to get you started and additional support if you require 
• The ability to upload any file type (for example, PDF, Word document, Excel file etc) and offer it for download by your website visitors.
• Content Management System can be accessed from any internet connection allowing you to update your own website on the fly.
• There are no on-going fees to use the system.
• No reoccurring fees or licences, the system is yours included in the cost of the website.