Joomla CMS

I have very little experience in web design.  In undergrad, I took a class where we learned to build a website using Microsoft Frontpage. We learned a little bit of HTML coding as well.  After that I built and an a website for a dirt track series.  Then I went years with no involvement in web design in any capacity.  Last semester I took a class that taught us how to create a website from scratch using HTML and CSS.  So, up until this point, I have had no experience with CMS.

I will admit, I had quite a bit of a learning curve with Joomla and it was a rocky start.  First, I had multiple login problems.  Second, I had problems being kicked off in the middle of working.  Not only did I get kicked off, but I could not sign back on.  Finally, after a chat with Joomla customer support, they reset everything and I could logon and managed to stay on long enough to finish most of my work.

At first, Joomla looked very intimidating.  I had no idea where to start.  I decided to watch the tutorial as suggested to us and quickly picked up on the basics.  The basics were pretty easy to use, and I have to admit, it was quite nice to create a page and link it to the menu through Joomla and not have to worry about whether or not the link would work. I just selected what item I wanted that menu button to connect to and Voila!  I also liked the ease of changing the colors of the menu buttons, etc.  Last semester, when creating a page from scratch, we used a free CSS menu builder, and I found it very difficult to get my colors right. I also never was able to get the menu to highlight the active page.  Instead, the home page was always showing as active.  Therefore, I loved the simplicity of the Joomla menu both in appearance and how easy it was to create.  I also really liked how Joomla webpages scale to fit the browser or device the user is using.

I did have some reservations about a CMS before trying Joomla. I worried most of all that all the websites would look the same and it would be easy to see that they were all created using some sort of cookie cutter software.  I admit, at this point mine probably does look like that, but I could see where it would be easy to get a more customized look with Joomla and all of its templates and extensions, and it would probably be easier for most of us than building our custom website from scratch.

I do not work in a library, so it is hard for me to say if Joomla would be a great option for libraries.  However, from my point of view, I could see where Joomla and other CMS's would be a good option for most libraries, especially smaller ones.  It seems like the expense to create and manage a website using a CMS would be much less.  It seems that training would be less intensive, expensive, and time consuming.  I could see where some larger libraries with more intricate websites would have a harder time using a CMS, and if  library had a web developer on staff that knew how to create a website from scratch, I think that is great. But for smaller libraries with smaller budgets and less resources as well as no need for an intricate website, I think a CMS could be a good answer.