Joomla as a website builder: How is it?

[Little Shepherd]

Joomla -- I've been looking into options for building a website, hopefully something that won't cost an arm and a leg, and came across this. It looks like one of the various functions you can use this Joomla thing for is building websites, only the descriptions of how exactly it does that(in the "What is Joomla" section") range from the semi-legible to downright technobabble. Okay, maybe not quite that hard to understand, but . . . enough so that I can't quite wrap my head around Joomla.

Anyone know if this works well? Or just how much you need to know about website design in order to get something functional out of it? Or should I just save up to pay a proper web designer to help me out?

ETA: I did a quick search, and saw a few threads already discussing Joomla. Apparently, all positive, though no real specifics about it -- one person said it's not particularly for novice web designers, so . . . I hope he's wrong. I'd appreciate some help getting a website set up once I get hosting, and if the help exceeds the occasional bit of advice(or actually involves doing stuff for me as opposed to just talking me through it), I can afford to pay a bit. Not a whole super lot, but specific $$$ amounts would be better discussed in PM/IM if it comes to it.

[NSMinistries]

Joomla -- I've been looking into options for building a website, hopefully something that won't cost an arm and a leg, and came across this. It looks like one of the various functions you can use this Joomla thing for is building websites, only the descriptions of how exactly it does that(in the "What is Joomla" section") range from the semi-legible to downright technobabble. Okay, maybe not quite that hard to understand, but . . . enough so that I can't quite wrap my head around Joomla.

Anyone know if this works well? Or just how much you need to know about website design in order to get something functional out of it? Or should I just save up to pay a proper web designer to help me out?

ETA: I did a quick search, and saw a few threads already discussing Joomla. Apparently, all positive, though no real specifics about it -- one person said it's not particularly for novice web designers, so . . . I hope he's wrong. I'd appreciate some help getting a website set up once I get hosting, and if the help exceeds the occasional bit of advice(or actually involves doing stuff for me as opposed to just talking me through it), I can afford to pay a bit. Not a whole super lot, but specific $$$ amounts would be better discussed in PM/IM if it comes to it.

I use it for all my sites now. Works great and is easy to use. Check my sig for a few examples.

[$cirisme]

I prefer Drupal. I used the predecessor to Joomla, mambo, and it swore me off using it ever again.

[NSMinistries]

I prefer Drupal. I used the predecessor to Joomla, mambo, and it swore me off using it ever again.

you ought to look at J1.5. Lots of improvements and fun stuff.

[ShadowLands]

I just started using 1.5, it's working quite well thus far.

[ShadowLands]

Sorry, past the edit time. If a mod can edit this in that'd be great.

I found out I'm using version 1.0.15, not 1.5. Thought I'd downloaded the latest, apparently not.

[Little Shepherd]

Oh, wow, dude, ur Joomla is ancient. On my end, looks like I have to wait another week before I have hosting to upload Joomla to. No sandbox for me this week.

[Little Shepherd]

I've managed to get the default install of Joomla up and running on my web space here. Yes, you'll notice I haven't changed anything at all from the default. There's just so much to do, and I have no idea what most of the options do yet . . . and I'm still in the market for an artist(dunno what I need to order there either). I figure I should work on the actual site content before worrying about making it look pretty.

But yay! This is really exciting. I've got no idea how long it'll take me to get a fully-loaded, functional, good-looking website, but . . . baby steps, I guess.

[NSMinistries]

1.5.4 came out yesterday.

[Little Shepherd]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's what I have installed. Good timing, huh?

[NSMinistries]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's what I have installed. Good timing, huh?

Very...

[mostlyharmless]

Something like Drupal is more flexible, but Joomla is good for getting a descent website up quickly.

Have a look at cmsreport.com and cmsmatrix.org to get some idea of the various strengths and weaknesses for Joomla as compared to other cms systems.