Drupal

posted November 11th by feverishpoptart

drupalMaking websites has been a hobby of mine for a few years. Coding is is not something I know very well, but I used programs like Dreamweaver to make my life easier. A lot has changed over the years, and when I had to redesign a website for a friend I found myself a little bit more lost than usual. I needed to make a really great looking professional website. After talking to a friend he mentioned Drupal. He said he had never used it but it seemed to have everything I needed for this site. After a bit of research it seemed like Drupal was more powerful and had more options than wordpress. The process of making a site with Drupal has been pretty painless. I found a video tutorial on installing the software, and had no trouble because I was able to follow it step by step. A lot of hosting site have pushbutton drupal installation, making the whole process even easier. I have hit a few bumps along the road, but most of the problems I have had have been because I was trying to rush through something and didn’t take the time to read all the directions and files first.

The basic site comes with a set of modules that can be enabled to enhance the website. It has a forum, you can create blogs, polls, and stories. it also has a set of basic themes you can choose from. Sounds pretty boring, but when you go to drupal.org and see the endless amounts of user created modules and themes, there is no limit as to what you can create. There are forums to discuss bugs and get help, as well as resources to help you troubleshoot your problems. If there is a bug it has most likely been discussed or fixed at some point. With a little bit of time and effort you can create a nice looking site. The best part is that it is open-source, so it’s completely free. I really love using Drupal and I can’t see myself making websites any other way now. I am currently using it to make a charity website for work. I have three more projects lined up that I am planning on using it for, and my first drupal site went up in September. You can go to http://hunterrevenge.com and take a look at what I’ve done. Eddie who you all may know helped a lot too, so I can’t all the credit for that site, but you get the idea. It is far from being finished. I’m not happy with a few things, but again that has everything to do with me and not the software. There are a few things I think can be a bit easier to use, and it might be just from lack of knowledge on my end, but all in all I really like Drupal. I give it ★★★★☆ Go to drupal.org to find out more info.

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category: a very serious review

→ 3 comments so far ↓

  • 1 donovan // Nov 11, 2009 at 12:10 pm

    I saw Drupal once at the Pride Parade. He (She?) was the grand marshal.

    current votes: 0 if this makes you say “word”

  • 2 phil // Nov 11, 2009 at 12:28 pm

    I tried to use Drupal and got frustrated and angry. A lot of it has to do with the support. So many more people use wordpress that every conceivable problem has already been dealt with.

    I’m trying to make a thing that grabs from the comments on google readers’ shared items when it spits them out on the left side of the page. I bet I don’t even have to make it myself cause someone else has done something similar already.

    With drupal there are fewer people so you have to solve problems yourself more.

    current votes: 0 if this makes you say “real talk”

  • 3 beth // Nov 13, 2009 at 1:01 pm

    I always wondered about Drupal, although I’ve heard it is only slightly better than the craptastic Joomla! I’ve been using at work. (Which, by the way, isn’t worth as much as the unidentified feces on the bottom of my shoe.)

    It is no secret that I hate any CMS, on principle alone.

    I want to do things the older-fashioned way, with programs like Dreamweaver that have a pretty good WYSIWYG/html split view and a long, antiquated, handwritten list or flowchart of what links to what. This is what I know and like. It takes me longer to produce the results I want – but I always get them. This is not the case with a CMS.

    I know a CMS is supposed to make my life easier, but I feel like design flexibility is lost (besides…isn’t that what style sheets are for?) Anyway, I like doing things the 2001-way and I resent having to change with the times.

    With that said, we are now switching to a new CMS at work. It was decided to bypass Drupal and go straight to WordPress. It wasn’t a hard choice and in the end, I know we’ll all be better off for going with WP.

    current votes: 0 if this makes you say “black word!”

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