Inside the Fold

A few weeks ago I began looking into CMS options for a project that I am heading up at work.

Normally I would use Wordpress but this site has an important distinction in that multiple users will need access to the CMS but with restrictions. Aside from need everything else needed by this site would be possible with Wordpress.

As a front-end designer delving into the likes of Drupal or Joomla is not something I take lightly. This is a full on commitment to learning a more complex architecture and won’t be an overnight “Cliff Notes” sort of study session.

The benefits are huge and I feel it is worth the time to learn a powerful CMS solution such as Drupal or Joomla.

With each CMS comes different was of talking about the same stuff. My understanding of the various file structure and components of a CMS come from Wordpress.

I “grew up” on Wordpress so I immediately look for comparisons when pouring through the Joomla installation and core files.

I used the following to help guide me through installing Joomla on my local desktop server.

The install was quick and I didn’t even have to create the database because it was automatically created by the installation files (which need to be removed after the install is complete).

There are five types of extensions for Joomla:

1. Components
2. Modules
3. Plugins
4. Templates
5. Languages