Whether your web site is a personal blog or a large business site, Drupal (http://www.drupal.org) is one content management system that can cover your needs. Written in PHP and open source, the software is designed to allow for a dizzying array of add-ons (called modules) and themes to be added to its core. New themes and modules are added constantly by third parties extending the program to allow for new and updated technologies. The end result is a program that allows for easy creation and simple on-going management of your web site.
Drupal’s Beginnings
Dries Buytaert originally created the program as a message board and it was released as an open source project in 2001. The name Drupal comes from the Dutch word “druppel” which translates to “drop”. Apparently, Buytaert had originally created a web site (no longer utilized) called drop.org. The intent had been to create the domain dorp.org (“dorp” translates to “village”) but a mix-up garnered drop.org instead. Drop = druppel = Drupal. Drupal has become one of the most widely downloaded CMS programs around – 1.4 million times from May 2007 to April 2008 and it shows no sign of slowing down any time soon.
The Core
Packaged within the basic Drupal program are core modules that an administrator may enable or disable, depending on the needs of the web site. The administrator may also configure which users are able to add, modify or delete content, as well as which areas of the web site are accessible by members or anonymous users. Taxonomy is the key to allowing categorization of content or “tagging” with keywords to enable easier search of the web site. Some of basic core modules you’ll find include blogging capabilities, forums, polls, RSS feed capability and a feed aggregator. Also, Drupal includes several basic themes and a color module allowing the web site owner the ability to change the look and color scheme of their site right after installing Drupal.
Modules and Themes
At last count, there are over 4,800 different modules and over 550 themes available to add onto Drupal. This huge assortment allows you to modify your web site to do exactly what you need. From image galleries, content type customization, WYSIWYG editors, social media plug-ins, and much more, Drupal third party add-ons will allow you to create the perfect site. With the available themes, a “plain jane” web site can be transformed into a work of art. Most themes created for Drupal are written in the PHPTemplate or Xtemplate engines. A few templates are all plain PHP hard-coded and do not require either engine. It’s preferable to use one of the engine-based themes as these are designed to separate HTML and CSS from the PHP coding.
Security
As of its 6.x version, Drupal can be enabled to automatically inform the administrator of all new versions of the core, add-on modules or included themes. This core modules is called the Update Status module. This by itself is a very handy tool as Drupal is constantly on top of any security issues that arise and will update the core as soon as the security fixes are implemented. For older versions of Drupal (5.x and lower), and auto-update modules is available for download as add-on module (not part of the core). Drupal.org also has a mailing list available to alert subscribers of any security concerns and updates as they occur.
Conclusion
With so many CMS programs out there to choose from, the best bets are those that are continuously monitored for security and have a lot to offer in as far as add-ons. Drupal is one such program and is highly recommended.
September 27th, 2009 at 1:00 am
Drupal is one of my personal favorite CRMs, especially for big, high volume sites. Great review.
April 11th, 2010 at 3:21 pm
Amazing site, where did you come up with the knowledge in this piece of writing? Im happy I found it though, ill be checking back soon to see what other articles you have.