Why I chose Drupal over Joomla.

JeBas — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 10:00:00 +0000

When I originally started using this domain, I was using Joomla. I wanted the experience of running a website, but I also knew that I wanted to do a few things more than were available in WordPress at the time. So I loaded Joomla onto my Apache server, and started my stories blog.

As I got use to putting up posts, I quickly realized that there were other subjects that I wanted to write about. Some of these subjects required more than a simple content management system. I had wanted to have recipes on my GlutenFree site and galleries on my art site. I also wanted to link all of my sites so that there was a common login for everyone. That's when I realized that Joomla was not going to work for me.
The first problem that I ran into was how modules were distributed in Joomla. Most of the modules that I was interested in were proprietary, and shipped without the source code. I didn't have a problem with paying someone for providing the module, but a lot of what I was interested in doing required changes to the modules. This made modifying the site more difficult.

The second problem was running multiple sites off of the same code. Joomla, at the time, was designed to run one site at a time. My goal at the time was to have multiple sub-domains sites running off a common login database. There was a module I could added that was highly unstable and extremely difficult to install. It would give me multiple site access, but it would have made software upgrades difficult. I was forced to return to my original research, and choose some new software.
When I had done my original research, I was deciding between Drupal, Joomla, and Plone. I had given up on Plone because I could never get it to run at a reasonable speed, so I looked at Drupal again.

I immediately noticed that Drupal placed its modules into an open source format. If something didn't quite meet my needs, I would have access to the code to make changes. Secondly, the system was initially designed to run multiple sites off the same code and database. There was even a common sign on module that gave me the ability to have a single login for all of the sites.

After a little time for debate, I finally decided that it was worth scrapping Joomla, and rebuilding the site with Drupal. It was a bit of a pain, but Drupal has proven that it was worth the effort.

www.JeBas.us - drupal

Why I chose Drupal over Joomla.