Top 5 most popular CMS: which one to choose?

In recent years, the Internet has so rapidly impressed the public that it has not only become a significant part of human life, but also a key factor in business development. The Internet plays a significant role and provides tremendous assistance to companies in the conduct of business and its development, gives bread to programmers, and is also an excellent means of communication for all people. But what would be the Internet without the so-called virtual information space? This space consists of millions of websites.



It doesn’t matter whether you are a newbie who doesn’t know anything about building a website, or you are a seasoned professional, you can become part of the virtual space by creating a website. There is only one big question - how? Naturally, you can hire a team of professional designers, programmers and SEO managers who will bring your idea to life, or you can use the CMS (content management system) .



Of the vast majority of websites that fill the Internet, about 31% use CMS. Below is a graph showing the historical dynamics of the share of websites on the CMS, starting from September 1, 2011 to September 19, 2012. The graph shows a clear positive trend towards an increase in the share of sites with CMS, and all because these tools make your life easier. There are many CMS, and you can choose the most suitable for yourself, depending on the goals and specifics of your web site.



Figure 1 Dynamics of use of CMS in websites for the period from September 1, 2011 to September 19, 2012.



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There are many reasons to create your own website. It can represent your business (corporate site), serve as an online store, be a social network, an information portal, a gallery, a blog, a forum, and so on. However, as we have said, there are many different CMS, each of which may be more or less useful for each type of site. It is worth mentioning that today the so-called open source CMS has become widespread, that is, free. As a rule, these systems have quite powerful communities, ensuring the continuous development of CMS and filling them with various features.



In this article we intend to tell you about the advantages and disadvantages of the five most popular CMS . It is possible that this information will help you make the right decision when you want to create your own website. So...



Figure 2 Percentage of using different CMS





The diagram shows the market shares of various CMS at the present stage. As we can see, more than half of CMS sites use WordPress. And now you will understand why.

WordPress: Rules the Internet!

It's hard to say something new about WordPress . This CMS initially established itself as an innovative blogging platform with high usability. But the development of the system’s functionality has ensured its high popularity also among other web site formats. Today, the web design industry is driven by high demand for WordPress development services. WordPress is used everywhere, from personal blogs to e-commerce sites.



Benefits:

• This is the most popular CMS: more than half of users prefer WordPress. Perhaps this statistic is already strong evidence for the benefits of this system;
• The widest range of plugins, themes, widgets for galleries, forums, multilingual, various catalogs, shops and so on;
• WYSIWYG editor will make life easier for those who have problems with HTML markup and other languages;
• Technical expertise is not required. The admin panel is much simpler than other CMS: PHP and CSS files can be edited directly in the admin panel. For example, you can easily paste text from any text editor, unlike Drupal or Joomla;
• WordPress is also a pretty powerful tool for developers and designers who create websites for clients.

Disadvantages:

• The system gives a huge field for selection, so the main problem is how to use all its capabilities correctly? This CMS will work much better if you customize the settings correctly;
• If you are a beginner, you may encounter some problems during installation, despite the common opinion about the easiest installation process.

The best decision:

This CMS may be the best option if you need an easily administered website. Using this system provides a wide, but at the same time simple functionality. WordPress is ideal for news sites or blogs, but, as we have already written, it is also used for other types of sites.

Joomla: cute, but small, like your brother's girlfriend

Joomla is the next most popular CMS, which is used by 9% of users. This is something between a wide range of Drupal-oriented developer features and the simplicity of WordPress, but with more advanced development capabilities. Despite this, Joomla has a user-friendly interface.



Benefits:

• Despite its simplicity compared to Drupal, Joomla is a complete development tool;
• Support access control protocols (OpenID, LDAP, Gmail.com);
• The presence of a convenient admin panel with a wide range of functions: templates, styles, menu management, and so on;
• Simple installation process for inexperienced users;
• And it is impossible to miss the fact that this CMS is quite beautiful.

Disadvantages:

• The system is rather superficial and weak, despite all the versatility;
• More paid plugins and themes compared to WordPress. Be prepared to pay;
• For inexperienced users it may seem that Joomla has many unnecessary features, and for experienced users it is too simple.

The best choice:

Joomla is the best solution if you are looking for a CMS with advanced features and features. It provides a richer and more flexible website structure than WordPress.



You can use Joomla to create a corporate website, community or a site with e-commerce features.

Drupal: Strength and power!

About 7% of users prefer Drupal . Developers love its comprehensive power and developer-friendly interface that allows you to create complex websites. And, like other cool tools, Drupal requires some technical skills that you could do without using Joomla or WordPress.



Benefits:

• The presence of so-called hooks (hooks), which allow to avoid almost any problems in the system;
• The CCK and VIEWS modules allow the construction of arbitrary data types and their display;
• With each new release, Drupal gets easier to use;
• This system is known for its Taxonomy module, which allows you to organize content by level, feature and category;
• Drupal has an active and large community;
• A huge number of modules that will allow the site to add many features, such as user blogs, OpenID, forums, profiles, and so on, increasing functionality.

Disadvantages:

• Because of its complexity, Drupal is definitely not suitable for an inexperienced user. In order to customize modules in Drupal, additional programming skills are needed. But you can hire a specialist for this purpose.
• Drupal requires advanced technical equipment, otherwise there may be some problems in terms of performance. Therefore, you need to be sure that your servers will withstand the load created by such a complex system.

The best decision:

• This is a good, but technically sophisticated tool for designing highly functional, versatile and advanced sites.
• Typically, Drupal is used for sites that require complex data organization: for forums, online stores, web blogs, corporate websites and the community.

vBulletin: Bull's strength for your forum!

This CMS is preferred by about 4% of users. But speaking of popularity, it is worth noting that this system has been losing its market position in recent years. vBulletin provides the user with the tools to create and administer forums and blogs.



Benefits:

• vBulletin - an advanced and innovative solution for creating forums;
• A wide range of plugin plugins;
• - Many skins and clean code;
• Simple and nice admin panel;
• A high level of security, thanks to which a large number of forums have been created on this platform;
• Many components for SEO.

Disadvantages:

• This CMS is not free;
• The system has a lot of options, which can be a problem for an inexperienced user;
• If you need to import data from other electronic bulletin boards, you will need to install a modification patch separately.

The best choice:

vBulletin - an advanced tool for creating forums and publishing content. This is definitely a good decision if you decide to make a forum on your blog. vBulletin will provide easy control over the website.

TYPO3: last but not a loser

TYPO3 is used by 2% of websites using CMS. The demand for this system has grown significantly since the release of version 4. This is a professional and powerful tool, rich in various features and options.



Benefits:

• The system provides a wide range of features that can be customized or extended;
• Easy installation;
• Effective content management and graphic elements;
• Improved login for users and administrators;
• You can easily add content, pages, documentation, images, even if you are an inexperienced user who knows nothing about HTML and web markup.

Disadvantages:

• Requires a good hosting, because the system is large;
• TYPO3 is quite hard to learn;
• There are many holes in the code that developers propose to fix by hashing, but in fact this does not solve the problem.

The best decision:

TYPO3 can be used to create blogs, home pages, online newspapers, educational portals, online stores and so on.



So, we shared some important facts that you need to know in order to choose the right CMS for a successful site that can be easily managed. But advice tips, however, do not forget about your own preferences, conclusions and experience!