The 3 most popular content management systems
The number of websites that are launched each year is growing and the numbers are staggering. A recent study by the Daily Mail showed that 70 new domains and 571 websites are launched every minute. Another survey showed that in early 2016 alone, around 866 million websites were launched. This is because when it comes to meeting a need or getting a solution, the whole world turns to the Internet.
While many companies choose to hire a web designer to create their websites, they don’t consider the many options they can use to set up a decent website on their own. This can be quite inexpensive for small and medium-sized businesses and also for professional freelancers.
The most popular way to configure websites is to use content management systems (CMS). CMS software allows you to configure your website without having to assign a single pixel or line of code. If you have the time and energy, then CMS is the perfect option for you.
Globally, the most popular CMS providers are WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal.
1. WordPress
Published by Matt Mullenwegg in 2003, WordPress has become the world’s most popular CMS provider and is widely used by small and medium-sized businesses, as well as large corporations, including Forbes, Sony, and CNN. More than 12 million websites are powered by WordPress and the software has had more than 140 million downloads.
“WordPress is web software that you can use to create a beautiful website, blog, or application. We like to say that WordPress is free and priceless at the same time.”
WordPress is open source software and can be downloaded for free. It is extremely customizable with 2,000+ themes and 27,000+ plugins. Installation is easy and takes no more than ten minutes for the average user. It is also quite easy to use: users with limited computer skills can use the software without problems. All of these features combined to make WordPress one of the most popular content management systems in the world.
2. Joomla
Joomla was first released in 2005 as a fork of Mambo, an open source CMS development project. Like WordPress, Joomla is written in PHP. It is the most preferred CMS for e-commerce and social media sites. In 2016, more than 2 million websites are managed with Joomla.
“Joomla is an award-winning content management system (CMS), allowing you to build powerful online applications and websites. Many aspects, including its ease of use and extensibility, have made Joomla the most popular website software available.” .
Like its father, Joomla is open source and can be downloaded for free. It has been downloaded over 30 million times, second only to WordPress, and is used by companies like The Hill and Harvard University.
Joomla has over 900 free themes and over 7000 plugins to choose from. As in WordPress, Joomla can be installed with a single click and the installation procedure will not take more than 10 minutes. However, it is not as easy to use as WordPress and requires a bit of technical knowledge to operate.
3. Drupal
Released in 2001 by Dries Buytaert, Drupal is less popular than WordPress and Joomla. Like its competitors, Drupal is also written in PHP. The Drupal CMS follows the “one size fits all” principle and can be used by all types of businesses, whatever their requirements. More than 600,000 websites in 2016 are managed with Drupal.
“Drupal is an open source content management platform that powers millions of websites and applications. It is built, used and supported by an active and diverse community of people around the world.”
Like its competitors, Drupal can be downloaded for free. It has been downloaded over 15 million times and is used by Linux, The White House, and The Warner Brothers for their websites. There are over 1800 themes to choose from, as well as over 24000 plugins. Although Drupal is easy to use, it is more difficult to install and customize compared to WordPress.
Depending on your requirements, any of these content management systems will serve their purpose: powering a decent website that communicates with its audience.
