Using Joomla

Chapter 1. An Overview

Using a CMS: Static Versus Dynamic

For many years, the traditional way of building a website has been with plain HTML. Whenever a change was needed, web designers used tools like Adobe Dreamweaver to perform tasks manually. When websites were small, it was a fairly simple task. Now that even the smallest sites contain hundreds of pages and the largest ones contain hundreds of thousands, the need for a way to manage all that content is more important than ever. Enter a content management system.

A content management system (CMS) has many advantages because of its dynamic structure. You can make one simple menu change and have it reflect throughout your entire site—no matter the size. Your content (e.g., text, images, etc.) is stored in a database instead of in many static HTML files, which allows you to restructure and repurpose that content however you see fit. A CMS like Joomla has many powerful features such as contact forms and search already built-in. It can also help teams effectively collaborate, create efficient publishing workflows, and manage documents and digital assets.