Joomla!

I have to admit, I have an aversion to names that have an exclamation point at the end of them.  Maybe it's a vexation to my quiet nature or maybe it's just the bad grammar (you can't use a punctuation in a name...you just can't).  But Yahoo! did it, the Library! in Boise Idaho did it, and now there is Joomla!   But, I have to say, of the three, I think that Joomla! is the most deserving of the attention grabbing mark.

Library! in Boise

So far I have used Joomla for 7 different sites, including the one you are currently viewing.  I love it.  I mean, really I LOVE IT!  But it wasn't love at first site.  It took some time to warm up to for sure.  It has also come a long way in the past couple years and it's been amazing to see how it has grown and developed into the powerful content management system it is today.  

There are so many amazing resources out there for Joomla! now...3rd party developers (3PD) have really helped push this baby into the mainstream.  One of my favorite communities to find templates is Joomlahacks.com ...a really good and ever-growing collection of Joomla! templates can be found there.  You have to become a member to gain access but it's free, and they hardly ever bother you with emails.

Another great site that developed the Community Builder Joomla! component and extension is Joomlapolis.com  where you can find the latest updates and plugins for the amazing community builder.

As a long time HTML guy, it took me a while to really appreciate Joomla for what it is and what it can do.  I felt for a long time that cms (content management systems) were only for those who could not code or for large online ezines (redundant? - online and ezine? yeah, but who cares, it's my blog). 

But no longer do I believe that.  Now, I'm not going to go the other way and say that they are for everyone either.  There will always be a need for those static placeholder sites that need only to serve as a communication gateway to the owner.  But those are diminishing rapidly as well.  

As the enigmatic veil of confusion is beginning to be lifted on Search Engine Optimization by amazing companies like Google, it will become increasingly clear that nearly ANYONE who has a website and wants it to stay in the  main flow of traffic, will no longer be able to keep up with a stale static site.  And the ease and simplicity of publishing new articles with this amazing content management system is just too enticing to ignore both for web masters as well as website owners.  For that ultimately is what keeps you in the running with other competition...keeping fresh and new...just like the "real world" businesses, the internet is a place where you can continue to work and grow or choose to settle down and be comfortable with the humdrum life of stale sitedeness.

Joomla is where it's at.  I'm sorry, I mean JOOMLA! is where it's at. joomla.org