Here's my first draft at a response to the statements I quoted above.
Architecture vs. Functionality
To my mind, architecture is more important than
current functionality. Functionality changes and grows, but a bad architecture will haunt you forever.
This would be a point in Drupal's favor -- except that I do not buy the argument that Drupal has a better architecture than Joomla.
Taxonomy and user permissions are not "architecture."
User Permissions
Drupal has a far more complex user permissions system than Joomla.
This would be a point in Drupal's favor, if I needed that.
Taxonomy
This is frequently listed as one of the major advantages for Drupal.
Joomla is limited to Sections, Categories, and Articles. Categories can only be two levels deep.
The question is, does Joomla meet the requirement?
I need to store data like this:
- Top Level
- Cell Phone Reviews
- Motorola Phones
- Motorola StarTac Review
I believe the answer is that Joomla will meet this requirement.
Drupal gains an advantage however, for it's support for cross-categorization. I have many articles which I would like to link from
two categories. Joomla apparently does not allow that.
Versioning
Drupal has versioning built in; Joomla has versioning available in the
Versioning Extension.
Performance
Performance is not a major concern. Hardware is
considerably less expensive than my time.
Drupal appears to have better performance than Joomla, although some disagree.
Administrative Interface
I originally hated the Joomla UI. After using Drupal's administrative user interface for about six months, Joomla's looks pretty nice in comparison.
Theming
Drupal theming appears to be more complex. Joomla theming appears to be more simple.
Personally, I like simply. Your point of view may differ.
SEO
Both seem to have problems with
SEO. Both have
SEO add-ons to fix known
SEO issues.
Forums
Joomla appears to have a slightly less awful community solution than Drupal. This is irrelevant, as I refuse to settle for anything less than vBulletin.
Both integrate with vBulletin. Drupal's integration with vBulletin has not been updated to support Drupal 6.x.
This is a major point in favor of Joomla.
Pay Modules
A lot of Drupal community members criticise the presence of commercial extensions in the Joomla environment.
Personally, I don't mind paying for software. Paying is a lot better than waiting.
Multi-Site Installations
One Drupal installation can support multiple web sites, much like Wordpress Mu.
I am not using this feature currently, even though I have three Drupal sites in production and one in development.
This can apparently be bolted onto Joomla with
Multisites Site Manager Pro FTP.
e-Commerce
Joomla is reputed to have better eCommerce and shopping cart options than Drupal.
This is not a current requirement, but it may become a requirement in the future.
Other Advantages of Drupal
- Standards Compliance
- Internationalization
Other Advantages of Joomla
Areas of Strength for Both Systems
- Support Communities
- Modules and Extensions