Drupal, what is it good for?

Drupal huh yeah, what is it good for?

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• Drupal basics and history

• Strengths

• Weaknesses

• What it’s good for

• And what it’s not

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• Project started by Dries Buytaert in 2000 at the University of Antwerp

• The name originates from “dorp”, Dutch for village.

• First came to prominence during the 2004 Dean campaign

Origins

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Coming of Age

• Recognition

• Community, online and off

• Downloads

• Usage

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Source: http://drupal.org/project/usage/drupal

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Source: http://buytaert.net/drupal-download-statistics-2008

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What is Drupal? • Core

• Modules (core, contrib, custom)

• Themes (PHPTemplate)

• Community

source: James Walker, 2007 Fsoss Drupal Under The Hood

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System Spectrum

credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ruthhb/3408333830/

custom code -> frameworks -> Drupal -> plug and play

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ease of use / rapid dev

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closed source

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Strengths

Developer: extensibility, theming, filters, security, jquery

End user: SEO, taxonomy, users / permissions, content management

Both: rapid prototyping, community, Acquia

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Building Blocks

credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kmtucker/3355551036

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Weaknesses

• The Drupal Way learning curve

• Documentation

• “Drupal lacks an intuitive, easy administration user interface”

• Updates / backwards compatability

• Migration

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When not to Use• Site focused around blogging

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When not to Use• Site focused around blogging

• Dedicated e-commerce

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When not to Use• Site focused around blogging

• Dedicated e-commerce

• Application with a singular focus and/or very high traffic

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Drupal makes less sense the more focused the app

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Drupal’s Great For• Brochureware / content

management / multi-media

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Drupal’s Great For• Brochureware

• Social network / community

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Drupal’s Great For• Brochureware

• Social network / community

• Member management

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Drupal’s Great For• Brochureware

• Social network / community

• Member management

• Publishing

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Drupal’s Great For• Brochureware

• Social network / community

• Member management

• Publishing

• Structured content

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Drupal makes more sense the

more features you combine

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Sites that bring it all together

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Questions?

Lev Tsypinlevelos.comdrupal.org/user/54135 .com/loubabe

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