Software Development Insights | Daffodil Software

Startup Strategy - Which Open Source CMS to choose?

Written by Team Daffodil | May 24, 2016 11:14:28 AM

Choosing the right CMS is like choosing the right house to build your home. And when it comes to businesses who have just embarked on their journey to join the new age startup phenomenon, the case of right technology stack becomes more and more eminent.

With all that said, I must also add that it is not that hard to pick the right CMS. If you know your business and your customers then choosing a CMS does not require a roundtable nerve wrecking debate.

There are hundreds of CMSs to choose from but it boils down to three name - Wordpress, Joomla and Drupal - and to choose between these three is something I can help you out with.

Using Wordpress

For a simple website that will not need complex content displays in the future, Wordpress will be the easiest to setup and maintain.

It is good to use Wordpress if you have website listing products of one or two types, and if you do not expect to diversify a lot. It will be light and easy to maintain, and secure within your business limits. Wordpress has actually got enough capabilities to handle small to medium changes in your system.

WordPress had proved to be famous, convenient, easy, beginner-friendly. WordPress has simplified everything that should be simplified, and for extra options they are constantly developing great add ons and extensions. There would rarely be things you can't add to your WordPress with the help of extensions.

But Wordpress is rarely used for big websites, since with a growth of content and audience a Wordpress website can lose the loading time. Nobody likes slow sites. And it's well known that Wordpress has security issues. Wordpress has evolved but there is still a long way to go before Wordpress becomes the ultimate CMS.

Using Joomla

Joomla is harder than WordPress, but basically the choice between Joomla and WordPress is the matter of taste. Go first trial of both to see what fits you better.

So, as for Joomla, one can do all he/she needs using Joomla default options only, especially for smaller sites. The website stays easy, not-overloaded and as a result faster and more user-friendly. Joomla also went further in adding an e-commerce option to you website. Its extensions like HicaShop or VirtueMart can turn your usual website into full-scale online-store, and it will be quite powerful one.

What I really appreciate in Joomla is that unlike WordPress you don't need any plugins to start basics of SEO for your website. It is a default option.

Using Drupal

Drupal is great for sites that will ultimately need features such as forums, blogs, news, analysis, demos, product displays, intranet etc that necessitate complex content creation and management. This is because Drupal can manage this intricacy with the leanest possible backend. Drupal can be used to rapidly set up a simple, inexpensive startup site that can accommodate very complex and large scale changes later.

Joomla has been successfully used by reputed enterprises to create fairly intricate sites at lower costs than with Drupal. This is because, upto a certain level of intricacy and size, Joomla solutions do function as well as Drupal solutions. In fact, with a little bit of self-training in Joomla , it is possible for even an amateur to create a fairly sophisticated business site. You can reduce costs even further by doing so. This is a major attraction of Joomla that Drupal does not have.

Should you take a quick look at recent trends, you will actually find Drupal and Joomla neck to neck for enterprises of medium complexity and scale. However, for sites needing tons of features tied up to intricate interaction of multiple data and content types at enormous volumes, you will find a clear trend in favor of Drupal.

How to decide between Joomla and Drupal?

Consider a situation where you have to work with tons of dynamic content which are likely to get more intricate soon, and you will need to handle very large scale information and derive credible output efficiently. You will need the leanest possible database and backend updated smoothly even during severe volume surges.You will need a CMS which will accommodate highly skilled development efforts that result in facilitating your analysis at the CMS level itself. Voila! Drupal for you!

Another scenario in which you want a corporate site to set up inexpensively. You are flexible enough to work with another solution later if need be then choose Joomla hands down. It lets amateurs create much more efficient large scale dynamic content than you ever can with Wordpress. You will face problems if you try to do this with Drupal and you can always take care of future contingencies later as the topmost CMSs have superior migration capabilities already, and in future this capability is bound to increase.

I hope this information helps you in picking the right platform for your business.

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