Joomla & Community Builder
Should I do a straight Joomla or should I include Community Builder from the beginning for a new site I am getting ready to put together that has been on my list to do for some time? After some internal debate regarding the merits for making WordPress fit the needs, I decided to go with Joomla instead. I list on the reasons for decided Joomla over WordPress below, but now I am a bit torn between inclusion of Community Builder or not. Looking for some input on this so comments are much appreciated.
For background, the site is for a group of like-minded folks that have at the core of common interest a rare bread of animal. Generally there is interaction between the folks at various times throughout the year. Typical interaction today is by newsletter and the occasional face to face meetings. Typical interactions include what is working and not working for various folks, discussions beyond that include the show world and similar, animals offered for sale, breeding, wanted, and just an exchange of who is who and what is what.
I am choosing Joomla over WordPress for two primary reasons. 1) Joomla is a more general CMS that is more robust and more widely used, at least in my mind in regards to multiple participating. It also has easily added extensions for things like integrating Facebook logins, forums (though WordPress has that easily as well), and things like classifieds. 2) I have been very focused on the WordPress side of things the last several years, pretty much ignoring most of what has been happening in the CMS world outside. Joomla was a previous favorite platform and is a good time to redo skills on an almost new platform.
My big question is in regards to include or not include Community Builder. I have recommended CB to some folks that have went down the path of Joomla in the last couple of years. I think it adds a lot of functionality very quickly with one set of tools, especially aimed at the social aspect of the modern web. However, as I am looking at things this morning, it seems almost all of that functionality can easily be had with other extensions to Joomla. ?The downside, or so it appears, regarding Community Builder is that a number of the more widely desired functions seem to require a purchase or subscription.
Don’t get me wrong, I am all about supporting someones hard work to make things happen on an open platform. I just question first if that is really in the spirit of what Joomla is about. Beyond that, I have had bad experiences when adopted things that were a tending toward proprietary in the past. And probably most important is the fact that the site, at least initially and for a long time going forward, is something I am doing gratuitous.
Again, I am searching for some direction so suggestions are welcome!
