 Blogs are becoming a key part of most companies' SEO strategies.
Yesterday we talked about how we blog on Alledia.com using Joomla itself. Today we're going to take a look at another option, MyBlog from Azrul.com. MyBlog is an ambitious attempt to create a fully-featured blogging component for Joomla. It launched in January 2007. It aims to replicate the features of WordPress or Blogger.com inside of one component. If successful, this would be a significant achievement. We use more than half-a-dozen different extensions to build a blog on Alledia.com, and still we lack some key blog functionalities. Advantages- Wide range of blog features not available with default Joomla blogging, including RSS, tags, pings, archives and trackbacks.
- Development is very active with new updates released regularly.
- Community Builder integration
- Easily allows users to create their own blogs with their own image folders.
- Unlike the WordPress component for Joomla, this does allow you to add content within the regular Joomla Section/Category heirarchy.
Disadvantages- Currently not compatible with any SEF URL solutions
- You'll probably want to buy JomComment as well for full blog functionality. The whole package without links back to Azrul.com will be $75.
- Still a relatively new component and not quite stable. Some bugs with trackbacks, tags and other features remain although I expect these to be solved very soon.
- Because the admin panel takes you outside of Joomla, to a template-less page or a pop-up, users on some of our sites have been a little confused.
- Its not open-source as so obviously can't compete with the vitality and plug-in range offered by a solution such as WordPress.
OverallI like MyBlog a lot. Together with JomComment is makes a feature-rich, low-spam blogging solution for Joomla. On sites with multiple users, a lot of the non-technical users were flummoxed by the admin panel that looked very different from the rest of the site, but for a one person blog, or a site where several administrators blog, that shouldn't be a problem is. Also, it is still a work-in-progress. Bugs are squashed quickly but they still exist. Finally, the question is .... am you willing to pay $75 for a strong, Joomla-integrated blogging platform? If the answer is "yes", MyBlog is a good choice. Further ReadingOver to you .... have you used MyBlog? Is it worth paying $75 for a commercial blogging solution for Joomla? |
