1. Content Management System? It is difficult to define the term CMS because of its encompassing nature and variety of functions. Wikipedia's definition is: A content management system (CMS) is a computer software system used to assist its users in the process of content management. A CMS facilitates the organization, control, and publication of a large body of documents and other content, such as images and multimedia resources.

2. Content Management System? Cont… Content Management System (CMS) contains the terms content and management (administration), that imprecisely refer to a system that administers content. or it could be something like Wikipedia (the free online encyclopedia at http://www.wikipedia.org or an online auction house such as eBay http://www.ebay.com/

3. What is Joomla! An Australian company, Miro (http://www.miro.com.au/), developed a CMS named Mambo in the year 2001. On September 1, 2005, the name for the Mambo was announced—Joomla! Joomla is written in PHP, uses object-oriented programming (OOP) techniques (since version 1.6) As of March 2012, Joomla has been downloaded over 30 million times. Over 9,200 free and commercial extensions are available from the official Joomla! Extension Directory, and more are available from other sources. It is estimated to be the second most used CMS on the Internet after WordPress.

4. Version history Joomla 1.0 was released on September 16, 2005 as a re-branded release of Mambo 4.5.2.3 Joomla 1.5 was released on January 22, 2008. The latest release of this version was 1.5.26 on March 27, 2012. This version was the first to attain long term support (LTS). LTS versions are released each three major or minor releases and are supported until three months after the next LTS version is released. 2.5 will be supported until spring of 2014.

5. Version history Cont… Joomla 1.6 was released on January 10, 2011. Joomla 1.7 was released on July 19, 2011, six months after 1.6 Joomla 2.5 was released on January 24, 2012, six months after 1.7.0. This version is a long term support (LTS) release. Joomla 3.0 is released in September 2012

6. Numbering System of Joomla! Versions Joomla! versions abide by the X.Y.Z system: X = major release number: This is incremented whenever profound changes are made at the source-code level. The version with the higher number sometimes is not compatible with earlier versions. Y = minor release number: This is incremented whenever significant changes to functionality are made. The higher version number is usually compatible (with minor customizing) with earlier versions. Z = maintenance release number: This is incremented whenever errors are repaired and security gaps are plugged. An increase of this number indicates only minor changes and very minor new features. These versions are fully compatible with the versions of the same X and Y number. Full release: This is a change in the X and Y system. With these, alpha and beta test periods are given. The length of the test periods is not fixed and is at the discretion of the development team. Beta versions should be available for testing for at least three weeks in order to give component developers the chance to customize their components. Maintenance release: This is a release that can be used immediately.

7. Structure of a WCMS Using Joomla! as an example, I will briefly explain the structure of a WCMS. Front End and Back End A web content management system (WCMS) consists of a front end and a back end. The front end is the website that the visitors and the logged-on users see. The back end, on the other hand, contains the administration layer of the website for the administrator. Access Rights Whenever we talk of management, we talk of the clever administration of existing resources. In a WCMS, user names and group names are assigned to the people involved and these are assigned different access rights.

8. Structure of a WCMS Cont… Content Content can come in all kinds of forms; in the simplest case, it is text. But content can also be a picture, a link, a piece of music, or a combination of all of these. Extensions Components, modules, templates, and plug-ins are all referred to as extensions. Components Joomla! has to be expandable and able to grow with the requirements. Extensions that offer additional functionalities and that usually have their own area in Joomla!'s administration are called components.

9. Structure of a WCMS Cont… Templates A template is a kind of visual edit format that is placed on the top of content. A template defines the colors, character fonts, font sizes, background images, spacing, and partitioning of the page, in other words. Module A module is a field in the front end that usually displays data from a component. Plug-ins A plug-in is a piece of programming code that is appended at certain places in the Joomla! framework in order to change its functionality.

10. Joomla! Features The following is a listing of Joomla! features: Free source code A large and eager community of users and developers Simple workflow system Publishing system for content File manager for uploading and administering files Flash Media manager for uploading and managing media files(not available in joomla1.5). Search-engine-friendly URLs Banner management Multilingualism for website and administration interface Administration interface that is separated from the website Caching mechanism to secure fast page creation with favorite pages Simple installation of additional extensions Powerful template system (HTML, CSS, PHP) Hierarchical user groups Simple visitor statistics Simple polling Rating system for content

11. What are some real world examples of what Joomla! can do? Joomla is used all over the world to power Web sites of all shapes and sizes. For example: Corporate Web sites or portals Corporate intranets and extranets Online magazines, newspapers, and publications E-commerce and online reservations Government applications Small business Web sites Non-profit and organizational Web sites Community-based portals School Web sites Personal or family homepages

12. Who uses Joomla? Here are just a few examples of Web sites that use Joomla: MTV Networks Quizilla (Social networking) - http://www.quizilla.comhttp://www.quizilla.com IHOP (Restaurant chain) - http://www.ihop.comhttp://www.ihop.com Harvard University (Educational) - http://gsas.harvard.eduhttp://gsas.harvard.edu Citibank (Financial institution intranet) - Not publicly accessible The Green Maven (Eco-resources) - http://www.greenmaven.comhttp://www.greenmaven.com Outdoor Photographer (Magazine) - http://www.outdoorphotographer.comhttp://www.outdoorphotographer.com PlayShakespeare.com (Cultural) - http://www.playshakespeare.comhttp://www.playshakespeare.com Senso Interiors (Furniture design) - http://www.sensointeriors.co.zahttp://www.sensointeriors.co.za More examples of companies using Joomla can be found in the Joomla Community Site Showcase.Joomla Community Site Showcase

13. How can I be sure there will be Joomla! support in the future? Joomla is the most popular open source CMS currently available as evidenced by a vibrant and growing community of friendly users and talented developers. Joomla's roots go back to 2000 and, with over 200,000 community users and contributors, the future looks bright for the award-winning Joomla Project.