Drupal

by Jack Savvy

Jack’s Savvy Opinion on the Drupal v. Wordpress Debate

If starting a blog site, don’t even think about using Drupal head to Wordpress

Wordpress built for blogging; very user-friendly out of the box

Drupal more complicated to put together because of the myriad options that you can build in; intended t be a more robust site (i.e. not specifically for blogging)

Both open source software; download plugins for different functionalities

Drupal has more reliable plugins

No custom codes required in Drupal—> difficult for nonprofits to maintain; Wordpress requires user to build way much more from scratch

Wordpress (custom code + expensive) v. Drupal (plugin/built in tools+ cheaper + easy to maintain)

Questions:

• How do you get permission to edit certain pages?

• How do you create slideshows on different pages?
  • Use “Views” modules and a bit of JQuery to have the photos rotate through. There’s also a plugin but if you’re not sure ask a Drupal expert.

• What are Drupal configurations?
  • Drupal configurations (groups, themes, modules; essentially template) collections that are put together for certain purposes so you don’t have to start from scratch. Drupal tools mean you can avoid doing all the custom code and starting from a higher level from the get-go.

• Can you customize Drupal configurations?
  • Yes, but the more you diverge from custom codes the more you have to maintain it.

• How should I get started in Drupal?
  • Visit drupal.org. Use a base theme (Adaptive and Omega). Both give existing framework to make your site responsive.

• What are Drupal modules?
  • Modules are like plugins in Wordpress

• What’s the current version of Drupal?
  • Version 7. Drupal gets a new versions approximately every 3 years with updates in between. Wordpress is superior to Drupal in that you can upgrade from one version to the next. Upgrades in Drupal = pain in the ass because the API changes from version to version, but you can migrate the data to the new Drupal version.

• What do nodeques do?
  • It’s how Drupal allows us to add content to a particular view.

First thing in Drupal is figure out types of content people want to post to help determine the types of plugins you might need to installed.

• How do you know when you need a new type of content?
  • If it’s going to have different fields, show up on particular pages, etc.

• What are the tried and true modules?
  • Jack will share them ASAP. Entity references is one

• What upgrades well?
  • “Most installed” modules.

• What does a Panel interface do?
  • Allows you to re-organize the view of a page. The view of page already builds in the ability for customization via panel.

You can get your Drupal website going with the following core tools: Context, Panels, Views, Drupal Core