Member Avatar for levsha

I've never used any CMS as a developer.
Now I think it's time for me to start getting familiar with them.
There are three out there I laid my eye on - WordPress, Joomla!, Drupal.
Which one should I begin with?

Thank you!

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A short, practical roadmap for a developer who wants to learn CMS work and move beyond basic site setup. This complements the thread: it focuses on the transferable skills and a minimum safe workflow so time spent learning one system pays off when you try others (as discussed by and ).

Start with a local, repeatable dev environment and source control. Use Docker or a local stack (MAMP/XAMPP/Local), put everything in Git, and script site tasks with WP‑CLI or equivalent. Turn on debugging early (WP_DEBUG) and log errors; see the official debugging guide at Debugging in WordPress. Always develop on a branch and deploy to a staging site before production.

Focus on core development concepts that transfer across CMSs: theme/template structure and the template hierarchy; how and when to use child themes; hooks (actions and filters) and the plugin API; custom post types and taxonomies; safe input/output (sanitizing, escaping, nonces); and the REST API / block editor for modern integrations. The WordPress developer handbooks are the authoritative references: Theme Developer Handbook and Plugin Developer Handbook. For headless or API work, see the REST API docs at REST API Handbook.

Practical mini‑projects accelerate learning: rebuild a small brochure site as a custom theme, add one custom post type + a plugin that exposes data, and build a simple block or REST integration. Add a security and performance checklist (hardening, backups, caching) using Hardening WordPress. When ready to broaden out, consult the official docs for other systems: Joomla Documentation and Drupal Documentation.

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Member Avatar for gunnarflax

From my experience is Wordpress the easiest one to grasp. Drupal has an enormous learning curve and will take quite a while to fully understand and I haven't tried Joomla! yet. My suggestion is that you first and foremost figure out what kind of site you will use it for: a forum, marketing site or personal site/blog. Wordpress has a forum plugin but Drupal or Joomla! would be better suited for it. The same for marketing sites/online stores. But Wordpress can do all that too but it may just not be just as convenient since it's from the beginning a blogging platform.

But if you are just curious then my vote would be that you start learning wordpress since it's so simple and easy to start working with. :)

Member Avatar for levsha

From my experience is Wordpress the easiest one to grasp. Drupal has an enormous learning curve and will take quite a while to fully understand and I haven't tried Joomla! yet. My suggestion is that you first and foremost figure out what kind of site you will use it for: a forum, marketing site or personal site/blog. Wordpress has a forum plugin but Drupal or Joomla! would be better suited for it. The same for marketing sites/online stores. But Wordpress can do all that too but it may just not be just as convenient since it's from the beginning a blogging platform.

But if you are just curious then my vote would be that you start learning wordpress since it's so simple and easy to start working with. :)

Thank you very much!
Yes, I'm just curious because I see a lot of demand for CMS around, especially for WordPress.
And I did figure out that it is the easiest one to learn and I started with it. :)

Member Avatar for levsha

Now, thanks to you, I'm sure I'm on the right track. :)

Member Avatar for gunnarflax

If you wanna go hardcore you can always try to design your own ;) good luck with WordPress! :D

Member Avatar for outsourcing99

You should use wordpress that is the best

Member Avatar for Member #334542
Member Avatar for levsha

If you wanna go hardcore you can always try to design your own ;) good luck with WordPress! :D

I'm not that far yet, but I'm on the way. Thank you! ;)

Member Avatar for levsha

Wordpress is the simple theme based CMS to start with. You can also with joomla.
http://www.google.com/custom?hl=en&safe=active&client=pub-0644743064127479&cof=FORID:13%3BAH:left%3BS:http://www.cocodle.com/%3BCX:Cocodle%3BL:http://www.cocodle.com/images/cocodle_logo100x.jpg%3BLH:24%3BLP:1%3BLC:%230000ff%3BVLC:%23663399%3B&cx=partner-pub-0644743064127479:4te5vx-grlq&adkw=AELymgW92jwKalet5rvA3rvaYxeX55U0CJVI9Iw0R43OBp71qKgGAhD5-5FMVOPW7BYv1VLeUb6KGLInRq5tmpEMuH1tiyD1XXroHRdTFYBe4cuEJ4LYzbQ&channel=6674144857&oe=ISO-8859-1&&sa=X&ei=3FdqTM2jFsS14gb8gZWPAQ&ved=0CAgQBSgA&q=wordpress+beginner+tutorials&spell=1

Thank you!
I've already started learning WordPress, then next step will be Joomla!, and the last - Drupal.
I've noticed that the demand for Drupal comes with larger companies that require more complicated, professional web based software.

Member Avatar for teedoff

Does noone use Contribute? I know its not free, but I'm sure with as popular as DW is, many people use contribute. Just curious.

Member Avatar for levsha

Does noone use Contribute? I know its not free, but I'm sure with as popular as DW is, many people use contribute. Just curious.

I've never seen any request for it from potential employers.

Member Avatar for gunnarflax

If your problem has been solved, please also mark the thread as solved :)

Member Avatar for jerinjames

I think Wordpress should be a good place to start. Drupal is very good but a lil more complicated than Wordpress.

Member Avatar for santoodesigner

even iam new to CMS

Member Avatar for VpsHosting

For me Joomla is best and it is easy to use, also you have lot of tutorials on youtube :)

Member Avatar for levsha

I think Wordpress should be a good place to start. Drupal is very good but a lil more complicated than Wordpress.

That's what I've figured out. :)

Member Avatar for levsha

For me Joomla is best and it is easy to use, also you have lot of tutorials on youtube :)

Joomla! is number two on my list. :)

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