We all have our personal reasons why we once started using Joomla to build web sites. Joomla Community Magazine asked on social media how people started using Joomla and here is a selection of their answers.

As for me, I started using Joomla after having a blog in another CMS, which doesn’t exist anymore, and found out about Mambo which we used at work for our intranet. When the switch to Joomla was made at work I also used it for my personal blog and after lots of upgrades and migrations it still is running on Joomla. Everything I wanted to have, or wanted to have, on my website was possible with Joomla. So far I have only made a few personal sites and once upgraded the HTML site of my running group to Joomla.

Rolf Dautrich
Back in 2007, we started a non-profit community project. I was elected webmaster, because I had been in the IT business for decades. Before, I had only made a few web pages for company intranets, but never a complete website.
Requirements for the software: A CMS, open source, free of charge, user-friendly. So I evaluated TYPO3, Drupal, and Joomla. The clear winner: Joomla

My first website went online late 2007. It evolved from 1.0 to 2.5 to 3.3 to 3.10 (and will be 4.x as soon as all the extensions required will be J4-ready).

Meanwhile, I have built about half a dozen websites, most of them still alive. Though not a PHP programmer and not a specialist in Joomla internals, I have gained some knowledge about Joomla and its environment. Now I'm a member of both the German and the English Joomla Facebook groups and try to help other Joomlers wherever I can.

გიო ბულო
Back in 2008 if I am right I asked on a local forum which CMS to learn and one of my friends recommended Joomla. Version 1.5 was the current release at that time, so I learned Joomla from video lessons and have been using it since then. At first it was as a hobby but it later became a main job.

Ronnie de Bruin
I began to work with Joomla 13 years ago. For our company we needed a site, and it was made by an acquaintance, and he did a great job.
I then started doing the maintenance myself, so I updated Joomla and its extensions. After that I had to do a migration to Joomla 2.5, and I did this myself; it took a lot of reading, but I succeeded.

All in all, I liked this so much that I started reading more about Joomla and then made 2 more sites for our company. I also started offering help on the Joomla forums, and for family, friends and acquaintances I also made sites for a small fee.

It's a hobby of mine, but super fun! I once made a WordPress site, but my heart is still with Joomla! ❤

Alison Meeks
Joomla! providing the perfect platform to build beautiful websites!

I've been building Joomla websites for many years, since around 2008 and started with Joomla 1.5. I found Joomla by accident but have continued to use it on purpose. The flexibility Joomla gives me as a website designer is important. Some clients need a very basic site and most all functionality is built in but there are extension to add so much more. Add to that a secure, fast code base and it is truly an excellent partner. Secure, Extendable, Fast, Flexible!

Julie Steffers
I got involved with Joomla through the demo and absolutely fell in love. It's not too hard to learn and you can create a stunning website with little coding. I also find it secure with the right tools.

How long have you worked with Joomla, and what do you love about it? Feel free to share it in the comments!