Problems Encountered in WordPress and Joomla

Before I ventured online, I had a dilemma - WordPress or Joomla? It was a hard pick. I started off on Blogger and moved to WordPress after I got my paid web hosting up and running. Later I discovered Joomla and have been using it ever since. But the big question remains - WordPress or Joomla?

I bet there are many bloggers or aspiring bloggers that want to start their online blog and make money out of it. I see that many rely on WordPress and I believe there are good reasons behind it.

WordPress
WordPress is easy to install and use. If you are renting your own web host, usually they will have a list of free software that you can install and use. WordPress is one of them. Installation on the server will take a couple of minutes and that's it. WordPress is easy but to add additional function, you'll need some technical or IT skills. I'm not a seasoned WordPress user, but I did use it for a while. You'll have free templates readily available everywhere on the Internet.

What I didn't like about WordPress was that I can't really put functions or extra things in it. Furthermore, I don't really have power over content management. Sometimes I want the post to stay on top - but I couldn't find any function to support it.

One of the major problems that I didn't like about WordPress was usually I add functions by editing the template's HTML source codes. Whenever I change the template to a new one, I have to re-edit the new template to add additional functions. There might be an easier way to do this that is to add plug-ins but I'm not that well versed on that subject.

Joomla
Joomla might take some time to master it. It's not easy to use and your first attempt to master Joomla will take a couple of hours. However, I like Joomla very much but this piece of software might only suit seasoned bloggers who know moderate level of HTML.

I could add functions easily on Joomla and content management is fantastic. I have full control over the website's content and how I want it to appear.

But there might be some problem caused by Joomla. Their coding uses too many frames which might not display properly in some browsers. I had complains from forums which I requested a blog review and some of them claimed that the text on the page was not readable. Also because of the overly complicated coding most of the templates that I used did not pass WC3's XHTML tests. I received hundreds of erroneous codes.

Some of the templates that you have downloaded might not work properly and might affect some functions such as embedding a YouTube video. Also these templates might affect your text editor functions as well.

Last but not least, you might notice that when you have built your website to a certain size, say over 300 articles or blog posts, you will notice that Joomla functions rather slowly. Adding an article or uploading pictures to your server might take longer than expected.

The list might go on, but I'm still glad to be using Joomla. I'll stick to it until something better comes out.

Cheers!