So you want to know the basics? Here we have a Drupal beginner guide. While WordPress is the most common CMS in use, it is far from the only one. In reality, if you're looking for a more advanced solution that caters to developers, Drupal may be a better fit.
Because of its comprehensive features, Drupal is among the most popular CMS platforms. It is generally preferred by developers and other advanced users who want to build stable, scalable, and ambitious websites due to its sophistication.
In this post, we'll go through Drupal's benefits and drawbacks. We'll also go over its advantages over other CMS platforms and show you how to get started building your own site with it. Let's get started!
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A quick overview of Drupal
Drupal is among the oldest CMS platforms, which may come as a surprise to you. It began in 2000, several years before WordPress and Joomla were even conceived in the minds of their developers.
Drupal was created as a simple message board to allow a few students to interact with one another. It became an open-source project the following year, and it has since developed to become one of the most influential and successful CMS platforms on the web. It currently powers nearly 2% of all websites, making it the third most common content management system.
Drupal distinguishes itself from its key rivals by being more versatile and developer-friendly. Although WordPress and Joomla! are designed to be user-friendly and beginner-friendly, Drupal is a CMS built by developers for developers.
As a result, Drupal is now used by a large number of larger and more advanced websites where protection, speed, and stability are paramount. Universities, states, libraries, and environmental groups are all among the Drupal-powered sites (among others).
What makes Drupal so unique?
Drupal is a more mature and developer-focused CMS than its key rivals, as we've already discussed. As a result of this, there is a widespread belief that Drupal is difficult to use, which is largely untrue.
It's more difficult to get started with because there's a fairly steep learning curve, particularly if you're used to WordPress's simple interface.
Drupal provides a wealth of features and functionality in exchange for this increased time commitment, more than compensating for the initial challenge. If you're willing to put in the effort to learn the ropes, Drupal will open up a world of possibilities for you, including advanced user permissions, more content forms, and the ability to manage large sites with thousands of pages.
That last point is especially important because WordPress will struggle with it at times. WordPress started as a blogging website, and although it has evolved significantly since then, much of its functionality still caters to small and medium-sized businesses.
Drupal, on the other hand, was built from the ground up to assist developers in creating larger sites with more complex architectures and higher traffic levels. Drupal includes caching functionality and improved protection by default to help achieve this aim.
When do you use Drupal to create a website?
Whether or not you can use Drupal to create a new website is largely determined by two factors:
- Your technological experience level
- The aim of your website
Drupal is an excellent option for any site that requires a high level of reliability, protection, speed, and versatility due to its advanced features.
Drupal is also well-suited to sites with more complicated systems and large volumes of data. This includes high-traffic sites including user forums and social media networks, as well as political, educational, and other large-scale organisations' websites. It's also perfect for developers who want complete control over their projects in order to create more ambitious websites.
On the other hand, if you're a non-technical person looking for a system that's easy to use right away, WordPress is still the best option. This is particularly true if your website is a personal blog, portfolio, magazine website, or even a small e-commerce shop.
Of course, the CMS you choose is entirely dependent on your preferences. Drupal, like WordPress, is, fortunately, free and open source. That means your team can download it and try it out without having to pay for it.