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Migrate your Site to a Joomla or Drupal CMS

Now is the time to migrate your website to a Joomla or Drupal open-source content management system.
Written Aug 15, 2008, read 6 times since then.

 

Why? Because both the Joomla and Drupal community have released new, completely recoded and rebuilt versions of their excellent CMS. That means you won't have the headache of migrating from the older to the newer versions of the CMS. Your website will benefit from the best open-source CMS available to-day.

The Object-Oriented JavaScript framework MooTools is now integrated into Joomla 1.5. It can be used to create interactive tabs, slider and other dynamic browsing effects in Joomla.

Both Joomla and Drupal can create bilingual or multilingual sites, the control panel can be set up for each administrator's selected language. Administrator access to content and workflow can be configured for your organization's publishing process.

Each CMS can be customized with free extensions. Joomla lists 2850 free and commercial extensions. Drupal lists 1023 free modules for Drupal 6.x. To view more information about a web content management system go to www.kwebdesign.ca.

Joomla 1.5

Here are a few of the improvements.

  • Joomla 1.5 components and modules have been completely recoded using a new API (application programming interface)
  • Template parameters can switch color schemes, choose between a 2 or 3 column layout or set the minimum width of the template.
  • Template overrides allow developers to override the HTML output created by Joomla modules to produce custom layouts using accessible, semantic code
  • Multiple CSS files help template developers organize formatting and color styles
  • Improved SEF URL implementation means Joomla can generate search engine friendly URLs
  • Administrator Control Panel has been simplified with module and component installation incorporated into one screen
  • The content editor is easier to use, now only one screen appears with easy buttons to insert a teaser break, page break and images.
  • The menu manager has easy tooltips to guide the user throught he steps of creating a menu item
  • More languages can be used on a Joomla site because UTF 8 support is implemented
Drupal 6.0
  • Useful modules have been added to the core installation:
    • OpenID client module - users can sign on your site with their OpenID accounts
    • Trigger modules assigns flexible configurable actions to events happening on your site
    • Update module informs you about the latest bug fix and security updates for modules and themes enabled on your site
    • Language module to enable multiple language versions of site
  • Menu system is more more efficient and powerful
  • Theming is more flexible and easier
  • Improved security using password strength checking
  • More granular permissions to restrict user access to administrative functions
  • Security Announcements - notification of security updates for core and modules
  • Improved performance by optimizing the way modules are loaded for functionality, use of better file handling
  • Extended logging allows administrators to keep tabs on the functioning of the Drupal site
  • improved site functionality like better polls, more formats available to forum users, email notifications, commenting and themed user signatures

Learn more about the author, Johanna Kaeppner.

Article tags

  • kwebdesign
  • content management system
  • joomla
  • drupal
  • web sites

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