Use Joomla or not

cracker

Hi

I am looking to create a couple of web applications. I have been playing with PHP and MySQL creating some prototypes from scratch. However I have had a look at Joomla and I was impressed with what I saw, particularly for websites that need to be updated regularly. However I am wondering if it is suitable for web applications with their own database and business logic. I can see that it can be done by creating custom components and modules. But would I be better creating my applications from scratch?

I am not very experienced at web design so I thought I could get a much more professional look using something like Joomla but I am not sure if it is the best way to go.

drim3r

If you wanna get web applications like news, pictures, blogs. Joomla is good. But if you wanna get more, could search for plugs for Joomla, but how you say: If you search for an especific module or logic could be more difficult try to adapt your business to Joomla.

Could try to write a plug for Joomla in better of case. The best of Joomla is that is a plug n play application. Fast implementation and good management environment. But is a generic application.

web2crawler

Drupal, Joomla and Typo3 are the best CMS in PHP. If you are not a beginner try Drupal. It is more powerful and flexible. There are also many modules and themes.

Drupal site:
www.drupal.org

Popular Drupal Themes:
www.cafewebmaster.com/cool-drupal-themes-preview-download-directly
www.themegarden.org

Typo3 is more complicated for beginners.

pauldiv

cracker wrote: »

Hi

I am not very experienced at web design so I thought I could get a much more professional look using something like Joomla but I am not sure if it is the best way to go.

It a parallel learning curve. Most people start by coding small php projects to get a handle on what it does, and how it works with a web server.

Because you are learning core php skills this will help you now if you want to learn a php based blogging or cms application with all the available plug-ins.

Just use the best php forums and take mental notes of the positives and negatives of pre-build applications like Drupal and Joomla. They look good and can be great when the problem fits well with their capabilities.

You are right to start looking at Joomla and all the others because they have a lot going for them. Like the poster above said, Joomla and Drupal are probably the best of well known heavy duty platforms and they have great community support if you get stuck on some problem.

Wordpress is also a great piece of software and is easier to learn plus the wordpress.org website has very good tutorials and documentation for learners.

cracker

I am not too worried about the learning curve. I have programmed in quite a few languages and I am sure I can figure it out. But before I spend time doing this I was really wondering if I it is an appropriate use of Joomla.

My initial impression is that a CMS is for informational type websites. Then you create components to add functionality like a stock ticker to display on pages.

But say you want to create an application with business rules, different user roles etc. So it is not just about restricting access to particular pages. Depending on the person logging in they see different records from the database. And they can create records and modify and delete information in the database all following a set of business rules.

Is joomla suitable for this type of application. The advantages I see are that it will guide me towards a proper MVC type design and also I get nice built in professional look and feel which I am not very good at.

pauldiv

There is a good article below about the pitfalls of CMS systems:
http://www.idealware.org/articles/top_ten_mistakes_CMS.php

It's written by the MD of a vendor neutral CMS solutions provider and explains the importance of defining the problem in terms of what services the site will provide before thinking in terms of the tools to use.

I think CodeIgniter might interest you. Its a lightweight MVC php framework with just enough of the common functions such as form validation, tidy urls and security already built in. Its also fast and has great documentation.

I have a great ebook on CodeIgniter that is written by a man who ran his own web business for years and then adopted CodeIgniter for building custom e-commerce applications. It brought order to the way he now does his projects and saves lots of time when making changes in the future.
If you want a link to the e-book the pm me.

The primary use of a CMS is for quickly publishing and updating content. Newspaper and magazine sites are a prime examples. They can also be used for building online communities and ecommerce applications.

A CMS provides role based functionality where permissions would be restricted in descending order of seniority from Editor, Sub Ed, Staff Writer, Author, Contributor etc. Wordpress has all that built in.

I also learned to program before I started using pre-packaged php applications like Drupal, Joomla and Wordpress. Learning to program was easier than trawling through all the available CMS systems on sites like www.opencms.org. There are literally hundreds of them and it takes time to sift out the gems from the pack.

These systems can provide a hell of a lot of cool functions that save development time but you will still need to occasionally write your own scripts to bent it to your needs.

Going back to your original question about whether you would be better off building things from scratch then I would say yes, for learning php and for publishing small sites and writing custom scripts for a cms.

Frameworks like CodeIgniter, Drupal, Joomla and Wordpress take a lot of the worry out of it because you dont need to code in your own security mechanisms. Instead you can concentrate on coding up your business logic and other custom mods. There are also tons of free templates for these systems and they can be tweaked cheaply to look the way you want.

To get up to speed you could stick to these suggested tools -
1. CodeIgniter.
2. Joomla or Drupal.
3. Wordpress.

Smart developers who master these systems can work fast because they don't reinvent the wheel by coding every project from scratch.