In a previous article we told you more about how a website works. It turned out that in order to have a good-looking and well-functioning website we need the following things:
- server space (web hosting);
- domain;
- knowledge of programming languages such as HTML/CSS, PHP, JavaScript, MySQL and others.
Website with Content Management System
The good news is that there are few easy tricks for building a website without need of coding. This is possible thanks to special platforms called Content Management Systems (CMS). In this article we will tell you more about them, but namely – which are the most common platforms, what are the similarities and differences between them and which one is most suitable for you.
A Piece of Statistics
There are different types of CMS. The most popular CMS worldwide as well as among our customers are: WordPress (51.88%), Joomla! (27.44%), and Drupal (3.55%).
Step one
You are only required to install them on your hosting account. This is done very easily in the cPanel with only a click in Softaculous library. Softaculous is included for free in all our Shared hosting and Managed VPS plans.
Before starting, please have a look at the comparative table where we summarized the key features of the three content management systems:
WordPress | Joomla! | Drupal | |
Level of technical competence | Beginner | Intermediate | Advanced |
Installation | With a click in Softaculous | With a click in Softaculous | With a click in Softaculous |
Price | Free | Free | Free |
Design | Themes | Templates | Themes |
Additional features | Plugins | Extensions | Modules |
Support | Biggest number of web forums and experts, who share experience, video tutorials, specialized websites | Forums, CMS tutorials | Forums, help articles |
Security | Most commonly used => numerous malicious attempts, but also many ways to prevent them. | Very widely used => numerous malicious attempts, but also many ways to prevent them. | The number of malicious attempts is considerably smaller, there are certain vulnerabilities, published on the official website, which are fixed afterwards. |
Adding social media buttons | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Suitable for: | Blogs, corporate websites, news websites | Social networks, news websites, e-stores | Large-scale online projects requiring complex structure and functionalities |
Website with WordPress
You do not need any technical skills to build a website powered by WordPress. The platform administration (the place where you modify the website content) is intuitive. You can change almost everything with only a few clicks and no need to code. The more you work with the platform, the more interesting opportunities you will discover.
Design
By using free and premium themes you can customize your website appearance. You can choose a theme and activate it in the administration section.
Possibilities
By using the extensions also known as plugins, you can add different functionalities to your website (for example, you can integrate a map with your office location or make a sales page, you can optimize your website for search engines, add a gallery with images or icons linked to your social media profiles, and many more).
Administration and Users
If you are teamed up with other people and you want each of them to have limited access to the admin section (for example, you don’t want the content creator to be able to edit the website design), use the different roles. There are 6 pre-defined user roles in WordPress: Super Admin, Administrator, Editor, Author, Contributor and Subscriber as each of them has different permissions (capabilities).
WordPress enables you to add and edit content easily and quickly. You can upload images to the posts, you can even embed videos with just a click.
WordPress is Suitable for Building: beauty, food, creative inspiration blogs, etc., news, sports or lifestyle websites, corporate websites for law firms, medical services, beauty shops, hotels, etc.
Website with Joomla!
You can also build a trendy website by using Joomla!. Building a Joomla! website requires that you become familiar with the terminology and structure used in the admin section in order to understand how the platform works.
Design
Similar to WordPress, Joomla! also offers easy design changes by using different templates.
Possibilities
Similar to WordPress, Joomla also has plugins, but they are called “extensions”. They are many different types and all are easy to install.
Administration and Users
In Joomla! you can also easily add content and assign different roles to the website visitors. From Joomla! back-end you can assign different permissions to the developers. There is account hierarchy – Super Administrator, Administrator and Manager, as the Super Administrator has all of the permissions. In the frond-end that is seen by registered users, you can also assign different user roles – Publisher, Author and Editor. This provides the opportunity for easy-to-use admin section, management and control of the content published on the website.
Joomla! is Suitable for Building: a social network, e-commerce website or websites where a lot of content is published.
Website with Drupal
Drupal provides you with vast technological opportunities for building a website, but the administration requires yielding many more technical skills than the simple management of WordPress and Joomla!. You need to have at least some basic knowledge of PHP and HTML to build a Drupal website. The platform itself is popular for being “developer-friendly”, meaning that it was designed for facilitating developers’ work, but it was not aimed so much at average users.
Design and Possibilities
Drupal also offers options for enhancing your design and functionalities. This happens by using special themes and modules.
Drupal is Suitable for Building: more complex websites in terms of structure and functionalities.
Technical Information: The three platforms have a lot in common – they are based on PHP, they work with MySQL databases and are open source which means that they can be modified or shared, because the code is publicly available.
A Tip Before You Start: WordPress is the most suitable CMS platform for beginners and Drupal is the best technological solution, but please note that certain programming knowledge is required there. Joomla! is the golden mean between the two other platforms. After all, each of the platforms has its supporters. Choose the most appropriate one, install it on your hosting account and share with us your first impressions!