What is Joomla!

Well, traditionally, Joomla! has been described as a content management system.  Joomla! definately does do content managment to some level.  However, it does so much more than content management, that I argue that it is not a content management system.  It is a management system.  The extendability and flexability that Joomla! provides really is unique in the market.  Only one other "CMS" offers a similar level (although via a different approach) of extendability, and that is Drupal.  The difference (arguably) is that Joomla! is much easier to use.  

The Requests

People have been blogging as to whether or not the white paper aproach is good for Joomla! or not.  I'm not going to argue that here.  I personally believe that the white paper aproach is good, but that's not what I want to get into here.  I've been looking at some of these posts, and looking at what people expect to go into the Joomla! core.  A few quick examples:

1. http://www.goodwebpractices.com/joomla/joomla-1.6-seo.html
1. SEF Urls (better urls...)
2. Meta tag control
3. Site Map
4. RSS with Ping
5. Multi - category support
2. http://www.alledia.com/blog/open-questions/open-question:-seo-changes-in-joomla-1.6/
1. Meta Data control
2. Mulit-language content support
3. Comment engine

The Fundamental Question

 A quick look at the white paper forum at joomla.org will prove that there are a lot of features that people want in the core.  But which ones should go in, and which ones should not?  The answer to this question is very much opinion, but I have a better question for you.  Which ones are possible, and which ones are not.  I'm not saying possible as in can they happen (anything's possible), but can they happen via 3pd extensions without core modifications.  That's the point I think needs to be focused on.  Not what should be in the core.  But what should be possible with the core.  

Perfection

When I started reading some of these white papers, I was reminded of a blog post by Jan on the lighttpd blog (http://blog.lighttpd.net/articles/2007/04/10/about-perfection-deprecacting-mod_rrdtool).  There's a quote on that page that presents a philosophy that a lot of software (especially open source software) forgot a long time ago.  

“Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing left to add, but
when there is nothing left to remove.”—Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Now,  combine that philosophy, with the refined definition of Joomla! that I proposed, and it's easy to see that a lot of what people want in Joomla! just doesn't belong there.  I'm a minimalist.  I'd like see all of the core frontend components either be able to be removed or be able to be replaced (this includes com_content). Remember, adding functionality is not free.  Even if you don't use that functionality, it does affect performance.  It affects the usability of the system (the more features you add, the more complex the user interface).  It affects the potential for bugs.  It affects the time between versions.  It also limits the 3pd market.

My Thoughts

Now, I speak here in my own personal opinion, and with no reference to the "official" stance of Joomla!.  I personally feel that nothing should be in the core that is possible with a 3pd extension.  This includes comments, site maps, knowlegebase extensions, galleries, multi-sites, payment systems, etc.  My stance, is that wanted features should be possible without core modifications.  And suprisingly, every feature with the exception of one that I mentioned in this article is absolutely possible as it stands.  The only one that needs a core change is ping support on creation of content.  Joomla! provides a strong, solid platform...  Why do we need to cheapen it with all these extra features that half the sites out there don't use?

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