Tagging To Make The Joomla! Blog More Friendly Like WordPress

Blogging with Joomla!

Those from each camp vigorously defend their positions. The justification for using one system or the other depends on who needs what from the blogging experience.

Developers who look after clients are found in all three camps. Beginner bloggers or experienced bloggers who only need to blog prefer WordPress. Those that need more than just blogging go with either Joomla! or combine it with WordPress.

Clearly I am in the Joomla! blogging camp. That's not because I don't like WordPress. I need a content management system and Joomla! is the system of choice for me. I only started blogging a short while ago. Blogging has become an important part of a website's popularity. The rise of social media has proven that people like blogs and bloggers. It is also easier to write a blog than it is to write an article. So of course I want to ensure that my Joomla! blog isn't at a disadvantage over a WordPress blog.

It doesn't matter what system is used for the blog

From a blog readers perspective it shouldn't matter what system is being used for the blog. The content should be worth reading and the time on the site should a pleasant experience. The site should look nice, be easy to use, and there should be familiarity about it. That's why most of the malls around North America look familiar. Familiarity makes you comfortable.

I noticed that a lot blogs using WordPress are fun and friendly. A lot of the Joomla! blogs tend to be technically oriented, you might even say a bit stuffy. Not all Joomla! blogs are stuffy. One of my favourite Joomla! blogs to read is Brian Teeman's blog. He is a very technical guy but far from stuffy. He's got strong opinions and it makes for lots of debate and provocative thought.

Prothemer lists '20+ blogs about Joomla you should subscribe to' on their site. These are blogs about Joomla! and not necessarily all Joomla! blogs. You can do a Google search on WordPress blogs and find all sorts of good WordPress blog reading online.

What does the tag bring to the blog?

I don't want the 'JoeJoomla Sound Off Blog' to be stuffy so I thought I would make it a little more 'WordPressy'. That's why I decided to start using tags on the site. Having a tag cloud is familiar to WordPress blog readers. They expect to see one. WordPress has all kinds of tag cloud plugins. It's tag mania in the WordPress world. So what does the tag bring to the blog? I think it brings a different attitude, sort of like left brain vs right brain thinking.

Joomla! 1.5x system content is organized by Sections and Categories. A simple way to show how a categories works with sections is:

Section: sports
Categories: football, hockey, baseball, basketball, tennis

Section: dance
Categories: folk dance, ballroom dance, latin dance, swing dance, hip hop dance

Tags provide a more granular way of organizing content

So categories tied to sections are all nicely structured when organizing a content management system. They are also restrictive. Not everything can be so organized. Sometimes trying to organize everything makes you crazy. Tags help you out in this area. Tags are unstructured and provide a more granular way of organizing content. Tags seem friendlier. You can freewheel when it comes to tags. Freewheeling is like being the life of the party at an event, or maybe the town fool. Either way you appear friendlier and less rigid.

Tags like these give a perception of friendly social interaction:

funny, cool, sad, social, happy, hot, whimsical

Of course you could tie them all to a section called 'attitude' but then you are showing your need for rigid structure and I'm trying to loosen it up here. So now the JoeJoomla Sound Off blog has tags. Pretty soon you are not going to know the difference between this Joomla! blog and a WordPress one. Hopefully this helps make my blog a friendlier and a more familiar looking place for blog readers. If you are looking for the tags they are on the side. It's going to take me a bit of time to tag all the content on this site, so for now I'm starting with the blog entries.

As always, your comments and suggestions are welcome. Let me know if you think tags make Joomla! blogs friendlier.