Below is a chart highlighting the core differences between the three most popular content management systems (CMS). Each of these choices has their strengths and weaknesses but it is important to know their differences and how they would impact your sites development. This will help you make a decision based on your specific needs.
 Joomla |
 Drupal |
 WordPress |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Installation | Easy. Configuration is done completely within a GUI. | Easy. Configuration is done completely within a GUI. | Easy. Configuration file must be setup for database access, the rest is done within a GUI. |
| Developement | Relatively easy, but lacks the core abilities for more advanced functionality. | Can be extended to do pretty much anything, but will require a lot of time to implement all features. | Easy to accomplish simple tasks quckly, a bit more difficult for complicated ones. |
| Scalability | Easy to manage content, sections, and categories, but creating custom content types is not as straightforward. | Very easy to add new content, content types, and taxonomies, all within a GUI. | Extremely easy to add new content and taxonomies within a GUI, but requires additional content types to be configured through code. |
| Design | Moderate control over most aspects of layouts, but some content cannot be modified or filtered. | Access to all html elements for customization, but takes a bit longer to theme completely. | Can completely customize html and hook into dynamic content to target specific elements. |
| Administration | Fairly easy, but the organization of content and options can be confusing for beginners. | The user interface is difficult to familiarize with, especially for non-developers. | The easiest to learn and use efficiently. |
| Search Engine Friendliness (SEF) | Not complete, but can be extended by installing the necessary modules. | Most can be configured but must be done manually for each page. | Basics included automatically, more control can be achieved through plugins. |
| Community | Relatively low support for add-on development. | Good support with modules available to convert the system into anything you would want. | Extremely active community with over 10,000 free plugins and themes to install. |
| Website | www.joomla.org | drupal.org | wordpress.org |
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