Why Joomla is Not good for Blog
There're multiple article updates about how to configure blog via joomla platform. However, is joomla really good choice for blog website purpose? How we'll benefit from the solution and how to proceed with the best practice? We'll introduct the most popular blog extensions for joomla and check what would be the best choice for blogging.
About Joomla
Joomla!(www.joomla.org) is the most popular content management system software which you can use for user management, article management, web development and any other web application purpose. The art of joomla is it's great core structure and thousands of components and plugins directory. The usage of joomla is only limited by imagination!
How to setup blog via Joomla?
Joomla initial setup is pretty clean so you can fully customize the rest configuration. In order to configure blog for joomla site, we need to install some blog extensions. Just refer to http://extensions.joomla.org and search "blog" and it will provide a list of available blog components to work with. Just pick up the best one based your requirements and install it from your joomla backend panel. To install a new component, please follow instructions below to proceed:
Login to joomla site admin panel -> select Extensions -> Install/Uninstall -> Click the Browse button and select the extension package on your local machine -> Click "Upload File & Install" button.
Once installed, you would be able to configure it by following official documentations.
Best Joomla Blog components
If you make a search from extension directory you will see more than 10 pages results for joomla blog. The most popular and latest updates will show up on the first page. Here we'll check out two most popular choice as suggested by joomla site: Easyblog & Joomlablog.
Easyblog is simple and powerful commercial blog extension developped by stackideas site. This software is featured for clean layouts and powerful integration. Easyblog can be used for personal/company blogs and even team blog purpose. It has social plugins included like twitter, facebook, linkedin etc.
- Official site/plan: http://stackideas.com/easyblog/plans
- Demo: http://stackideas.com/demo
JoomBlog is a fully-featured and easy-to-use Joomla component used to set up a blog directory on your web site. It's light weight and fully integrated with your joomla site by using any available functions such as CSS styles. What really makes this component outstanding is its "Free wordpress to joomla" converter. If you have used wordpress and would like to transfer to joomla, this converter will migrate over all articles in few seconds.
Official site: http://www.joomplace.com/joomla-components/joomla-blog-component.html
Why joomla is not suggested for blogging?
As we see from joomla extension directory, most good blog components are commercially provided and it's not cheap to get. You also need to renew license every year in order to keep it alive. While there're lots of great free blog softwares to work with, there's no reason to just pay a lot for just an extension. There're indeed some free blog components but obviously too simple to use and not suitable for professional blog creation.
Another weakness is about site management. Joomla comes with lots of function for various website purpose. However, there's no dedicated setup for blog configuration, any customization will needs to be done via component itself. In case you need to edit source file, you might have to reflect changes from multiple directories. It's absolutely not good choice for start users.
But when you need blog solution on joomla site? It's perfect solution only when you have an existing group site developped by joomla and you need to add blog function to it. For this case, you don't have to manage an extra site but just add a component to existing website structure. It will simplify your website management and maintenance.
Best Blog Software
Wordpress(wordpress.org) is the best choice for dedicated blog site creation. WordPress is used by over 20% global sites by both personal and enterprise groups. You can customize a simple wordpress installation to any kind website using wordpress themes/plugins. By up to date development, wordpress is more than a basic blog platform but a powerful core structure for any kind website creation. You can use wordpress for blog site, CMS site, enterprise site and even ecommerce site purpose.
Another advantage of wordpress is almost 100% web hosting service is compatible with it and most hosting servers are optimized purposely for this software. Some leading hosting providers like webhostinghub and arvixe even proud themselves by providing the best wordpress support.