There are many CMS products available today, both in freeware and commercial categories. Joomla is probably the most powerful open source CMS among them. And this is not because it is free, but because of its powerful features that help you create a simple five page personal web site or a full corporate web site with hundreds of pages with multiple backend databases. Not to mention the ease with which you can create your own custom joomla templates by following a few simple joomla tutorials

Some of the main advantages of Joomla are listed below.

1. It is absolutely free of cost

Yes, as said earlier, this may not be the only reason to use Joomla, but when combined with the features listed below, this advantage is hard to beat.

1. It is supported by more extensions than any other CMS product

Almost all CMS products support additional modules, which enhance their inherent capabilities. As of today, even the commercial CMS solutions support less than 100 modules. Compare that to Joomla – it currently boasts more than 2000 modules!

1. It is easier to maintain

Maintaining a web site is not an easy task. It can become a nightmare for even a technical person. Joomla makes this task very easy. Even non-technical persons, who can use notepad or a word processor, can easily maintain and supervise a Joomla powered web site.

1. It supports multiple languages

Joomla has built-in support for multiple languages. This feature is present in very few CMS packages.

1. It can be controlled remotely using a web browser

You need not control the Joomla web site from its main console. It can be modified, edited and monitored from any corner of the world, using a web browser or even you iPhone.

1. Joomla powered web sites cost less than 1% of the other commercial solutions

Although Joomla is free, creating and maintaining a CMS web site needs some operating expenses. However, just before five years, a corporate web site would have required several thousands of dollars to do this task. Today you can do this all and more at the fraction of that cost. The future maintenance of the site is also inexpensive.

1. It is not dependant on any company or their proprietary product

This is probably the biggest advantage of using Joomla. For any other CMS package, you need to have personnel trained in that area. After you buy their products, you are forced to take services from the same company for a long time, either for modifying the web site or just to keep it running properly. With Joomla powered web sites, you are not dependant on any company or an individual. Any person having adequate knowledge of Joomla can maintain and upgrade your web site.

1. It supports LAMP technology

Many people who do not want to spend their money in commercial CMS solutions opt for LAMP technology. (LAMP is a short name for Linux + Apache + MySQL + PHP). Several thousands of web sites have been developed using LAMP. Joomla also supports LAMP since it is based on PHP and MySQL, and it operates on Linux as well. Apache server already has a built-in support for PHP.

Due to these and several other reasons, more and more people are moving towards open source CMS solutions, especially Joomla. With its expected release of version 1.5 in December 2007, it will remain the prime choice of developers for years to come.

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