Difference between revisions of "Evaluators"

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How do you evaluate Joomla! to see if it will fit your requirements? There is no one answer to this question, but this section will provide some suggestions.
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===High-Level Evaluation===
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There are several resources that can help you to get a high-level view of the overall capabilities of Joomla!.
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====Web Sites Running Joomla!====
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One way to evaluate a CMS package is to look at web sites that run on it. It is impossible to say how many web sites run Joomla!, but we do know that about 2 million copies of the software have been downloaded since March 2007.
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Joomla! has a forum called [http://forum.joomla.org/viewforum.php?f=514 Site Showcase] that allows you to look at a number of sites running on Joomla!. Obviously, these represent a tiny fraction of the total number of Joomla!-run sites worldwide. A simple [http://demo.joomla.org/1.5/ demonstration site] is available for viewing. This site contains a lot of useful information about Joomla! features and the Joomla! community.
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If you are evaluating Joomla! for a school, university, or non-profit organization, you might want to look at the [http://forum.joomla.org/viewforum.php?f=156 Non-Profit Site Showcase] or the [http://forum.joomla.org/viewforum.php?f=265 Schools and Universities] forum.
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And, of course, don't forget to include all of the Joomla.org sites as examples of what can be done with Joomla!, since they of course are all run on our favorite CMS package.
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[[Category:Joomla! user profiles]]
 
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[[Category:Installation]]
====Extensions====
 
An important feature of Joomla! is the ability for third-party developers to easily extend Joomla!'s core functionality with "Extensions". Extensions in Joomla! are third-party software programs that can be installed along with Joomla! to provide additional functionality. Joomal! is designed to be extended in this way, and, once installed, these extensions look and work just as if they were part of the core program.
 
 
 
One of the strengths of Joomla! is the large and active developer community creating extensions. There are over 2,200 extensions currently available, with more being added daily. Many are open source, like Joomla!. Others are offered as commercial software. To get an idea of the variety of extensions available, visit the [http://extensions.joomla.org Joomla! Extensions] site.
 
 
 
====Community====
 
The developer community is one part of a larger Joomla! community. For example, there are over 140,000 active registered users on the various Joomla! forums, with over 150 new participants every day. These forums are very active, with over 1,200 posts per day, and provide a high level of free support to Joomla! users. To get an idea of the types of questions answered in the forums, visit the [http://forum.joomla.org/viewforum.php?f=428 General Questions] forum.
 
 
 
====Support====
 
An important question when evaluating any software package is the quality of support available. In addition to the support forums, Joomla! has a large community of skilled web professionals and consulting organizations who use Joomla! to create and maintain a wide variety of web sites. Take a look at the [http://forum.joomla.org/viewforum.php?f=177 Professional Services] forum to get a view of this community. There are also a growing number of local Joomla! [http://community.joomla.org/joomla-user-groups.html user groups].
 
 
 
===Functional Evaluation===
 
As part of the evaluation process, you may want to understand in more depth exactly what Joomla! does and how you create a web site in Joomla. There are two aspects to evaluating Joomla!'s functionality. The first is to understand the core functionality that ships with Joomla!. The second is to understand how extensions will be used in your site.
 
 
 
====Joomla! Core Functionality====
 
When evaluating Joomla!, it is useful to understand its core functionality. If you are new to web development and CMS software, the [[Beginners|Absolute Beginner's Guide to Joomla!]] is a good place to start.
 
 
 
If you are more experienced, then you might prefer to try out Joomla! using the [http://demo.joomla.org/ Joomla! Demo site]. Or you can download and install Joomla! on a local computer, along with the Joomla! Sample website. Instructions for this are contained in the [http://help.joomla.org/ghop/feb2008/task048/joomla_15_quickstart.pdf Quickstart Guide]. (Note that, to install the sample data, just press the "Install Sample Data" button during step 6 of the installation wizard.)
 
 
 
In either case, you can try out the "back end" administrator functions of Joomla! and see how you create menus, pages, articles, and other components of your web site. Everything you see in the sample web site is created with the core functionality of Joomla!.
 
 
 
====Joomla! Extensions====
 
As discussed earlier, over 2,200 extensions are currently available for Joomla!, with more being added daily. Although sites can be built using only the Joomla! core software, it is likely that you will want to use extensions. Most Joomla! web sites of any size or complexity include a number of extensions, and the identification of the major extensions that you will use to provide important functionality should be part of your evaluation.
 
 
 
====Other Joomla! Customization====
 
Extensions provide pre-packaged solutions that require no programming to use. Another way to extend Joomla! is to customize it. Joomla! is designed to be extended and customized in several different ways.
 
 
 
The appearance of the web site -- the colors, graphics, typeface, and so on -- are controlled by the site's "template". Joomla! comes with three built-in templates, and there are many templates available as pre-built extensions. If you are familiar with HTML and CSS, it is not difficult to build your own customized template. You can look at the [[Joomla!_1.5_Template_Tutorial|Template Tutorial]] to get an idea of how templates work.
 
 
 
Since Joomla! is open source, any part of the program can be customized as needed. In addition, Joomla! includes a feature called "Template Overrides" which allow you to create a small customized program (for example, a small PHP file) that overrides one part of the standard Joomla! program. Template overrides allow you to easily customize almost any part of the way in which Joomla! renders a page, without having to change the core Joomla! programs.
 
 
 
===Technical Evaluation===
 
Joomla! is built using PHP and MySql, the most widely used web technology anywhere. Joomla! is of course an open source project, as is PHP and MySql. The technical design of Joomla! recognizes that, although there are great benefits from using a pre-packaged CMS package to build a web site, each web site is different and there is no single approach that will work for everyone.
 
 
 
The solution is to make Joomla! as easy to extend as possible, while providing a rich and reliable core feature set. As discussed earlier, Joomla! can be extended in a number of ways, including with pre-built extensions, with custom templates, and with custom template overrides, and by customizing the core programs.
 

Revision as of 15:21, 1 September 2012

Beginners · Developers · Web designers · Administrators · Evaluators

Joomla! Evaluators


{{Chunk:Evaluators/<translate> en</translate>}} <translate> How do you evaluate Joomla! to see if it will fit your requirements? There is no one answer to this question, but this page will provide some suggestions.</translate>

Different Types of Evaluations


EvaluatingJoomla.png

<translate> There are several resources that can help you get a view of the overall capabilities of Joomla!. Here are some of the main considerations you might need more information on while evaluating Joomla!

</translate>



High-Level Evaluation


<translate> There are several resources that can help you to get a high-level view of the overall capabilities of Joomla!.</translate>

<translate>===Websites Running Joomla=== </translate>

<translate> One way to evaluate a CMS package is to look at websites that run on it. It is impossible to say exactly how many websites run Joomla, but we do know that over 80 million copies of the software have been downloaded since March 2007. Joomla is the world's most popular full-featured Content Management System (CMS) and powers 2.5% of the largest 2 million websites in the world. See Usage Statistics of Content Management Systems</translate>

<translate> Joomla maintains The Joomla! Showcase Directory that allows you to look at a number of sites running on Joomla. Obviously, these only represent a tiny fraction of the total number of Joomla sites worldwide.</translate>

<translate> The Joomla Launch demonstration site is available for viewing. This site contains a lot of useful information about Joomla features and its community.</translate>

<translate>===Extensions=== </translate> <translate> An important feature of Joomla is the ease--by design--with which its core functionality can be increased by installing Extensions. This extensibility is a major strength of Joomla. A large and active third-party developer community has helped create nearly 6,000 extensions with more added daily. Most, like Joomla, are Open Source, whilst the others are offered as commercial software. To get an idea of the variety of extensions available, visit the Joomla Extensions Directory(JED). It should also be noted that the JED does not include templates within its catalogue and there are many thousands of these available for free or commercially.</translate>

<translate>===Community=== </translate> <translate> The developer community is just one part of a larger Joomla community. For example, there are over 700,000 active registered users on the various Joomla forums, with over 150 new participants every day. These forums are active, with over 1,200 posts per day. They provide a high level of free support to Joomla users. This support is given voluntarily by other community members. To get an idea of the types of questions answered in the forums, visit the Joomla! Joomla 4.x General Questions forum.</translate>

<translate>===Support=== </translate> <translate> An important question when evaluating any software package is the quality of support available. In addition to the support forums, Joomla has a large community of skilled Web professionals and consulting organisations who use Joomla to create and maintain a wide variety of websites. Take a look at the Professional Development Services forum to get a view of this community. There are also a growing number of local Joomla User Groups.</translate>

<translate>===Independent Market Studies=== </translate> <translate> A 2009 report by the independent consulting firm water & stone concluded that "Joomla is the Web’s most popular Open Source content management system". Click here to read the complete report.</translate>


Functional Evaluation


<translate> As part of the evaluation process, you may want to understand exactly what Joomla does and how you create a website in Joomla. There are two aspects to evaluating Joomla's functionality. The first is to understand the core functionality that ships with Joomla. The second is to understand how extensions will be used in your site.</translate>

<translate>===Joomla Core Functionality=== </translate> <translate> When evaluating Joomla, it is useful to understand its core functionality. If you are new to web development and CMS software, the Absolute Beginner's Guide to Joomla is a good place to start. You may also need some help with unfamiliar terminology</translate>

<translate> If you are more experienced, you might prefer to try out Joomla using the Joomla! Launch demonstration site. Or you can download and install Joomla on a local computer, along with the Joomla sample website. Instructions for this are contained in the Installing Joomla Guide. (Note: to install the sample data, just press the Install Sample Data button during the installation wizard.)</translate>

<translate> In either case, you can try out the Backend Administrator functions of Joomla and see how you create menus, pages, articles, and other components of your website. Everything you see in the sample website is created with the core functionality of Joomla.</translate>

<translate>===Joomla Extensions=== </translate> <translate> As discussed earlier, nearly 6,000 extensions are currently available for Joomla, with more being added daily. Although sites can be built using only the Joomla core software, it is likely that you will want to use extensions. Most Joomla websites of any size or complexity include a number of extensions, and the identification of the major extensions that you will use to provide important functionality should be part of your evaluation.</translate>

<translate>===Other Joomla Customisation=== </translate> <translate> Extensions provide pre-packaged solutions that require no programming to use. Another way to extend Joomla is to customise it. Joomla is designed to be extended and customised in several ways.</translate>

<translate> The appearance of the website-—the colours, graphics, typeface, and so on—-are controlled by the site's template. Joomla comes with built-in templates, and there are many templates available as extensions. If you are familiar with HTML and CSS, it is not difficult to build your own customised template. You can look at the Creating a Basic Joomla Template Tutorial to get an idea of how templates work.</translate>

<translate> Since Joomla is open source, any part of the program can be customised as needed. In addition, Joomla includes a feature called Template Overrides that allow you to create one or more small customised programs that override parts of the standard Joomla program. These programs work with the Joomla core programs, and using them does not require modifying any core files. Template Overrides allow you to easily customise almost any part of the way in which Joomla renders a page.</translate>

Technical Evaluation


<translate> Joomla! is built using PHP and MySQL, the most widely used web technologies anywhere. Joomla! is of course an open source project, as are PHP and MySQL. The technical design of Joomla! recognises that, although there are great benefits from using a pre-packaged CMS package to build a website, each website is different and there is no single approach that will work for everyone. </translate>

<translate> The solution is to make Joomla! as easy to extend as possible, while providing a rich and reliable core feature set. As discussed earlier, Joomla! can be extended in a number of ways, including with pre-built extensions, custom templates, custom template overrides, and by customising the core programs. </translate>

Security Evaluation


<translate> Evaluators should also be aware of how Joomla! handles security issues.</translate> {{:Security/Guide/<translate> en</translate>}}

More Information for Evaluators