Joomla

Joomla is a free and open-source content management system (CMS) used for publishing web content. It is written in PHP and uses a database to store content, settings, and metadata, with common deployments using MySQL. Joomla provides a framework for building websites and online applications, from simple blogs to corporate portals. The project is maintained by the Joomla Community and overseen by Open Source Matters, Inc.

Joomla originated in 2005 as a fork of the Mambo project and was released as Joomla 1.0 later that year. The name is commonly cited as meaning “all together” in Swahili, reflecting its goal of bringing people and content together. Since then, Joomla has evolved through several major releases, including 1.x, 2.x, 3.x, and 4.x.

The software’s architecture is modular and extensible. Core functionality can be augmented with extensions organized as components, modules, plugins, and templates. Out-of-the-box features cover content creation, user management, media handling, menu systems, search, and multilingual capabilities. Joomla also provides SEO-friendly options and access control lists to manage permissions.

Joomla is distributed under the GNU General Public License, encouraging free use and redistribution. It supports a large ecosystem of extensions and templates, curated in the Joomla Extensions Directory. The community emphasizes ongoing security updates, documentation, and user support.

Used by individuals, small businesses, governmental bodies, and organizations, Joomla suits a range of sites, including portals, news sites, and community platforms, often expanded with extensions to enable e-commerce and specialized functionality.