Joomla is among the most popular CMS (Content Management System). If you are evaluating Joomla for your next project or just picked it up you may get confused as to whether it's a good fit for your project. This is due to some myths associated with it that are all over the internet. In this blog post, i shed light on some these myths.

Joomla is dead.

One of the most popular myths about Joomla is that Joomla is dead and no longer relevant. However, data from W3Techs and other services that track web technologies indicate that Joomla has about 2.5% market share among content management systems and it runs about 1.7% of all websites on the internet. In actual figures that’s about 1.4 Million active live websites. In terms of position, Joomla is fifth behind Wordpress, Shopify, Wix and Squarespace.

Joomla is not secure and is prone to hacks.

Theoretically any piece of software can be hacked. Web applications are only safe until a vulnerability is discovered and exploited. In order to prevent exploits any vulnerabilities that are discovered are always fixed by way of patches, upgrades and security fixes. This is true for every piece of software including the operating system on your phone or computer. Many of the Joomla websites that have been hacked are those that their owners never had an upgrade policy. We still have Joomla 1.5 and 2.5 websites that are active. These versions no longer receive support and also run on PHP versions that are no longer supported. Upgrading your Joomla website to the latest Joomla release is the first step towards preventing security incidents.

Joomla is not mobile ready.

Every CMS has a frontend which is served by a template. Mobile responsiveness is more of a template/theme function than a CMS function. Your Joomla website will be mobile responsive as long as the template used supports mobile responsiveness.

Joomla is difficult to learn and use.

Joomla’s backend interface may appear intimidating for first time users. If you put in some time to learn it, you’ll discover it's actually straightforward and easy to use.

Joomla needs extensive customization and third party plugins before you can use it.

This is not true. Out of the box, Joomla has all the necessary features and modules needed for the average website. We have authentication, a WYSIWYG editor, a registration system, a default template, a contact form, content management, menus, basic SEO, file and image management system etc. Joomla is good to use immediately after you install it.

Joomla does not scale for high traffic websites.

We have Joomla websites that receive millions of pageviews per week. Picking the right tool for the job holds true in life as in web development. If you are building the next Facebook or Instagram you’ll most likely not use Joomla but opt for a tool or technology that  fits that need. However, for the majority of business and personal websites that don't have millions of users Joomla is a very good and capable fit.

All Joomla websites look the same.

Houses that are painted in the same color will look similar. Joomla websites that use the default native template will obviously look the same. Every brand has a unique look and feel which must reflect on the website. One can hire a designer or use the services of a template shop to make sure that they have a template that’s unique and that communicates their brand.