In some ways I've come full circle.

I started out using Joomla and joined several Joomla Theme clubs. Later on, I became a WordPress user because of it ease of use, elegant admin and the great community. I invested many hours learning how WordPress works, learning basic theme development, experimenting with plug-ins, listening to WP podcasts, etc. I became a developer member of StudioPress (when it was Revolution 1), WooThemes and lately have purchased several Theme Forest themes among others.

I primarily use WordPress as a CMS and I tend to favor the magazine/news/portal type themes. After-all, these are the feature rich type of themes that put most premium theme authors on the map. As Jeff knows, I spend considerable time looking at and analyzing these type of themes looking for one that would build in many of the features I desire. I'm fully aware that many features can be accomplished with numerous plug-ins or custom code but then you face considerable support challenges when your dealing with so many different plug-in authors or developers who may cease development or be slow to upgrade their plug-ins.

Earlier this month I finally found the theme I've been looking for. There is only one catch, it's a Joomla theme. At the end of April RocketTheme released what I think is the ultimate magazine/news theme. It has an incredible amount of features already built-in that you would typically find on a commercial quality news site. Weather, Stocks, News Ticker, News Pager, Featured Content, Advertising, Tabbed Modules, Incredible Typography, built-in source ordered SEO optimization, Ajax Search, Various Navigation Options, Built-in Module Highlights and on and on. The support that I receive from a single source is second to none. My questions are usually answered the same day and often times within the same hour. It literally is the best in the business.

And so, I have come full circle and back to Joomla development. It doesn't mean I'm abandoning WordPress by any means. I have way too much time invested in WordPress, it possesses capabilities that Joomla doesn't have and is the perfect solution for many projects.

I would like to put a challenge out there to WordPress developers who are cranking out magazine/news themes every other month. Take a long look at the May theme release from RocketTheme, see if you can step it up a notch and produce something similar. I'll be your first customer. Until then, Joomla and RocketTheme will be my preferred solution for a sophisticated magazine/news/portal website.