If you’ve been building websites for some time you may just reach for your favourite CMS without thinking much about why you use it. However you might need to give some justification to a client, especially one with some knowledge of website building tools, as to why Joomla 5 is the best CMS for their new site.

I started my list using the Joomla 5 page and changed the order as ideas came into my head into a more persuasive order (for someone wanting to get a website started, with some by-the-ways to back it up) This is my personal list of reasons, and no doubt readers will have other suggestions. Maybe leave a comment at the end.

1 - Easy to learn

If you’ve used a CMS before then you will take to Joomla the same way you might use a different type of word processing program. The principles of content management are the same across many platforms. You can create an article, format the text, add images, tag content, add it to a menu and much more. If you need help, there are plenty of learning resources available. In Joomla 5 you can use the Take A Tour feature that will guide you through the fundamentals of using the CMS. Help is built-in and even includes a handy glossary of terms.

2 - Community

Behind Joomla is a large and active community of developers, testers and writers, all focused on making sure it works optimally and is documented and supported so anyone can find the answer to their queries

3 - Easy to install

Joomla runs on Apache, NGINX or Microsoft IIS web servers meaning it can be installed on Linux, Mac or Windows. Its step-by-step installation process makes sure all required details are completed and that the server it’s being installed on meets the minimum requirements.

4 - Blog creation is a breeze

With a number of options in the menu manager and content editor for showing content from specific categories, teaser images and teaser text, Joomla makes it simple to create a blog layout for your content.

5 - Scheduled publishing of content

You can write a series of articles and have them appear at the right time rather than pressing Publish at the critical moment. I know people that write week's worth of content in a day. I think they have other stuff to do the rest of the week, like publicising the work that is published, but you get the gist.

6 - SEO functionality

Out of the box, Joomla offers on-page functionality that sets the page SEO title, meta description and schema information making it easy to get your website indexed by search engines. Metadata can be managed from a number of places in the backend depending on how your content is published, meaning you could create all your search engine-friendly text without even having to leave the article you’re writing.

7 - Menu management

The Joomla Menu Manager covers loads of scenarios for menu publishing including single articles, category blogs, category lists and article tags. It’s simple to create new menus and with the Module Manager, you can add the menu in the position you want.

8 - Custom fields

For improved content creation, there is a Custom Fields option. I needed to load extra images for certain articles. I was able to create a custom field that worked with articles and another specifically for categories.

9 - Multi-user

A team of content creators can be easily accommodated so rules for publishing can be applied for editorial approval. The Workflow option helps automate this process.

10 - Multilingual

Joomla has built-in functionality for handling multiple language content, something other platforms need plugins and extensions for. Create articles in different languages and associate the content so visitors can quickly switch between dozens of possible languages.

11 - Security

Multi-factor authentication is included in Joomla’s core. We’re probably all familiar with having to go through several steps to login to an online account. Some send a code via text message, some use an authenticator app which provides a code. Passkey is also available and allows for biometric / touch / face recognition as the additional factor for logging in. Enable this and you’re making it x number of times more difficult for unwanted logins on your account.

12 - User management

Not all users need to be Super Admins and some only need to create or edit content. Joomla makes it possible to control user permissions on a granular level without having to install complicated plugins. In this way some users could access the admin area and just have permission to make content changes.

13 - Accessiblility

There are built-in accessibility tools such as keyboard shortcuts and default templates comply with WCAG standards.

14 - Fast

Joomla 5 runs on the latest server technologies including PHP 8.3, MySQL 8 and MariaDB 8. It has cache management built in, meaning not only is content compressed for faster delivery, it can also be rendered from a cache meaning reduced load on the web server. Besides which, it’s possible to create lightweight templates or install commercially produced ones which are tuned for speedy delivery

15 - Extendable

If you’ve got specific requirements for your project there’s probably an extension for it. You can sell products, sell houses, create courses with learning management, create online publications and blogs.

16 - Flexibly apply styles

It’s possible to completely switch styles between pages on a Joomla website by applying a different template or instance of the same template. This can be helpful if your website has several distinct areas. Think of the way the BBC website carries different branding for its main sections.

17 - You own it

Joomla has a low cost of ownership as it's built on open source software meaning no costly subscription fees just to create a website. And unlike some subscription models, you can own the data you create.

18 - Customisable

HTML overrides can be deployed to extend the layouts provided by extensions such as ecommerce. This might be to add extra detail, custom fields or to change the order of content appearing in a section of the page. This is quite a technical option but it’s great to know what’s possible, even if it involves a developer or two.

19 - Longevity

This article is for the Joomla Community Magazine edition that’s celebrating 19 years of Joomla. That’s a long time in technology years. 19 years ago you couldn’t even have owned an iPhone, or have used Twitter and more than likely didn’t have a Facebook account. A lot has happened, but Joomla has remained a CMS of choice for millions of websites worldwide.