Drupal is a CMS for building dynamic websites. Like other CMS frameworks, Drupal has a modular interface that allows developers to customize and extend the CMS.
It is a great content-management tool, a powerful web-application framework, and even an excellent social-publishing platform.
With Drupal we can build anything we can imagine.
Its website and community are at Drupal.org, and Drupal is a registered trademark of Dries Buytaert.
Drupal as a CMS for Dynamic Websites
We have all the tools we need:
- user registration and login
- creation of user types, roles, and assignment of different permissions
- content creation with different content types, editing, and administration
- categorization with taxonomies
- content syndication and aggregation
- and much more
And beyond all these features you can extend its functionality with modules such as:
- SEO modules
- tools to visually organize content on landing pages
- modules to create groups, forums, and social networks
Drupal as a Framework
Drupal’s flexibility, versatility, and power mean it can be used for purposes beyond content management. In this way, we can see Drupal as a framework for developing web applications.
Drupal as a Social Network
Advantages
What has always characterized Drupal is the power and flexibility of its modular system.
Drawbacks
Drupal’s main disadvantage is its steep learning curve.
Websites Using Drupal
If you’re looking for examples of websites built with Drupal, here are some of the best-known ones.
In Spanish, my favorites are:
- Museo Reina Sofía
- Real Academia Española
- Revista 5W
Internationally there are many more—genuine works of art, especially major portals such as government sites:
- Tesla
- General Electric
- University of Oxford
- Major League Soccer
- U.S. Department of the Interior
- Arsenal
- Louvre Museum
If you want more, leave a comment and I’ll surprise you ;-)
With this sample you can see how Drupal is used. Over time, people with small projects have moved to simpler CMSs. Almost no one uses Drupal for personal blogs anymore—the market seems to be large corporations and ambitious projects. But that’s something I want to experiment with again.
Blogs in Drupal
Drupal is often too complex for simple solutions. Many times we just want a static site or a simple blog, and although you can do it with Drupal, it isn’t really designed for that.
For a long time I advocated creating blogs with Drupal, but the maintenance required, the resources consumed, and the complexity of certain tasks have led me to use other tools for simpler sites.
Even so, I want to experiment and show you the possibilities it offers.
What We Should Know Before We Start with Drupal
As with any other CMS, you don’t need programming knowledge to install, configure, and use it. Of course, the more you know the better, but don’t let that hold you back.
Ideally, you should have some basic webmaster knowledge—simple things you learn through practice: having hosting, using cPanel or another control panel, working with FTP, and knowing how to make backups.
But everyone starts somewhere, and if you know nothing at all you can still install it using our tutorials and learn along the way.
Knowing HTML and CSS is recommended, and a bit of programming helps—PHP, JavaScript, etc.
Drupal 7 is written in PHP and JavaScript (using the jQuery library) and uses MariaDB/MySQL or PostgreSQL as its database.
Drupal or WordPress
The big question. It all depends. I answer that in Drupal vs WordPress—there’s a lot to explain.
https://youtu.be/IPR36uraNwc
History of Drupal
Drupal was created in 2000 by Dries Buytaert and Hans Snijder, two classmates at the University of Antwerp.
What Is the Druplicon
The Druplicon is Drupal’s logo or mascot and is based on a drop of water. Over the years it has undergone many changes and evolutions.
On the official site you can find the media kit of logos and banners as well as usage guidelines.
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