Joomla is an open source content management system.

Open source means that the software is usually free to install, use and amend in any way you wish other than to end up selling it.  There are lots of open source software, you have probably heard of Wordpress, this is another open source software that benefits thousands of users each day.

The big question is, if it's so useful, why give it away free?  There are groups of techie's who love coding software and seeing their work being put to good use and believe that the software they provide should be free.  Free, however, does not mean that they will not take donations to help cover the costs of developing Joomla further.  Part of my mission as The Joomla Chick is to donate a percentage of the profits from this site to the Joomla development team, as well as those components, modules etc that I just can't live without!

Next question has to be, what is a content management system?

Joomla's content management system means that instead of going into core code and having to deal with html, php and other coding issues and seeing the "raw" data, a content management system makes it easy for you to create and manage content within your system.  You can upload graphics easily (up to 2mb), add articles, move modules about, display different things on your front page, infact you can do 1001 things with Joomla from your content management control panel.

Joomla can be, and is, used in a huge variety of ways, from setting up community sites, online magazines, basic website, online store, articles directory, business directory, online reservations, event co-ordination, the list is endless.

It is definitely worth taking the time to learn how to get the best out of Joomla.  I've been using Joomla for a few years now and find Joomla now is easier to learn than ever and it's popularity is definitely growing.

You may have to pay for some components, modules and/or plugins but usually these add-ons are well worth the expense and if you are creating a commercial website, you can usually recoup your investment in no time.