What are the Advantages of Using Joomla?

Since we build most of our sites in Joomla, we are often asked what the advantages are to a Joomla-driven site. Here are the reasons we feel Joomla is the optimum solution for our clients:

Sites are built faster
We actually tried an experiment where we built a site in Joomla and then built the same site in HTML. It was a 28-page site with an image gallery, guestbook and static content. The HTML site took nearly twice as long to build as the Joomla site. Joomla is quicker and easier to implement than a traditional HTML site.

Client can update quickly and easily
With traditional HTML sites the owner of the site either has to know HTML or Dreamweaver (or similar editor) in order to update their content. Often with HTML sites there is an update cycle where the owner contacts the developer to request changes, then they have to wait for the developer to fit it into their production schedule. With Joomla, most of the content can be updated by somebody familiar with a program like Microsoft Word. This makes for quicker and easier updating of content.

Advanced functionality without development costs
There are over 4,500 plug-ins for Joomla that add additional functionality to the core program. Many of these plug-ins include complext functionality that would cost thousands of dollars to develop for an HTML site. For example, for an online calendar we use JEvents. We can install the calendar, set up categories, input a few events and set up an upcoming events sidebar in about an hour. To have this integrated into an HTML site would probably require 6-8 hours of a developers time. Joomla saves time and money!

Popular platform
Joomla is quickly becoming the most popular CMS available. Developers and designers are learning more and about how to utilize the platform, and companies are proud to share that their site was built with this open-source CMS. It's become easy to find developers to help you add-on to your Joomla site, and the popularity means more and more extensions are being developed to increase possible functionality. The best thing is, Joomla is not a fad. It has a long history and continues to evolve as the support community around it continues to grow.

What do you think are the advantages of Joomla?
Share with us in the comment section about why you think Joomla is a great choice for web development.