Johannesburg, 01 Sep 2011
Several government departments across the globe are turning to Joomla software to create and manage online content.
With 2.7% of the Web running on Joomla software, a total of 2 821 government Web sites worldwide are using the open source content management system (CMS), according to the South African Joomla Community.
Joomla is a free and open source CMS for publishing content on the World Wide Web and intranets as well as a model-view-controller Web application framework that can also be used independently. Between March 2007 and February 2011, there had been more than 21 million Joomla downloads, according to Wikipedia.
The South African Joomla Community says the platform is also well represented in South African government Web sites, with 19 using the technology. “The figure rises to 74 across the southern African region, with the continent as a whole boasting 281 Joomla Web sites. At 759 government sites, Italy has by far the most government sites using Joomla,” the body says.
The Community notes that more and more government departments are switching to the system because of its cost effectiveness. “There are many service providers in Joomla who can offer the government a seriously cost-effective service. This is because the service provider will charge no licence fees, they will not charge for CMS development. They will only charge for Web development on top of a robust, tested, professional and already-functional CMS.”
Walter Penfold, MD of Prefix Technologies, says: “Joomla has built up a dedicated following across the world and in SA because it is so effective and easy to use.”
He adds that another advantage is existing technology. “Joomla CMS is an already existing technology that works with other already existing technology, such as MySQL, Apache and PHP. This means very little product development.”
Last week, the local Community held the Joomla Day in Cape Town, which was attended by more than 90 people. Penford believes this gives some idea of the strength of this community locally, and the growing role Joomla is playing in Web development in SA. “This was the biggest event of its kind hosted in SA to date, and it attracted delegates from all over the country and from many industry sectors, including government and education.”
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