Anyone else use Drupal?

Willaim · Lurker Joined: 27 Jun 2003 Posts: 242 Location: IRC

My brother got me started on Drupal so I'm going to start using it on my network's sites.

It's basically a form of CMS that enables you to simple write in your content and it does the rest - generates the website, menus, and layout. You can have blogs, polls, etc.

It's really simple to use once installed.

Examples (none of these are mine):

http://ichris.ws/
http://acko.net/
http://ekoscommunications.com/

Willaim · Lurker Joined: 27 Jun 2003 Posts: 242 Location: IRC

c'mon.. no one?

Anyone at least hear of Drupal?? Sad

zeke · Idler Joined: 04 Oct 2003 Posts: 325

heard of it, haven't had the time nor purpose to use it for anything yet..

greg27 · Lurker Joined: 07 Oct 2006 Posts: 178 Location: Australia

i tried out drupal a while ago wheni was redoing my own site, but decided to go for wordpress instead - lately i've been thinking of switching to something else, so maybe i should have another look at what drupal can do..

darkwarrior · Lurker Joined: 02 Aug 2008 Posts: 172

I don't really use third party CMS software for several reasons, one being that most, if not all of them are insecure, with many loopholes. Another reason being that it would take a lot of time and work to study the code if you'd want to develop custom additions to it. I prefer to just create my own, then I know exactly how it is done, and I know exactly where everything is at, and I know where the loopholes might be, and can fix them without waiting for a patch to come out from the author.

That is just my opinion on third party CMS systems.. But, if it works for you and you don't have any problems, then go for it. My recommendation though is to make your own.

zeke · Idler Joined: 04 Oct 2003 Posts: 325

I've been on both sides, and I see your point. The problems with custom code are fairly obvious (like the problems with common software) and if you have the time and knowledge to write complex code that works efficiently enough for the environment it's in, awesome. Most of the time, I don't fall into that category, so it becomes a case of hacking existing software to do what I needed it to do (and generally doing a better job than I).

Also, when updates occur, or security flaws or other faults are found, there is a larger userbase available firstly to give cause to the developers to fix the flaw quickly and keep their reputations high, and secondly to provide support when things aren't working well - to advise whether it's a config problem, a user error or a legitimate bug.

My stand is often simple - if there is something existing (especially open source) that does what is required, or can be hacked to do the job it's expected to do, why not support the people who are making it happen? If there is nothing, perhaps there is demand for a new piece of software in the OSS community.

darkwarrior · Lurker Joined: 02 Aug 2008 Posts: 172

zeke, you do have some valid points there and I must agree. I've never really looked at it that way. While using custom code of your own if possible, is probably the best way to go, the third party open source software does save a lot of time and money. I did forget to mention that if I really needed it at a certain deadline and feel that I wouldn't be able to create it by then, I would temporarily use the third party choice, although at the same time, I would be continually working on my own replacement to later replace it.

So, perhaps timing could be a factor in the decision as well. If you need it now, then take advantage of the open source solution, and if you have the ability to make something suitable or even better yourself, then temporarily use something else while you're working on the development.

Willaim · Lurker Joined: 27 Jun 2003 Posts: 242 Location: IRC

Well for those of us not gifted in coding, ANYTHING, it's kinda easy to use a program already coded Smile

darkwarrior · Lurker Joined: 02 Aug 2008 Posts: 172

That's why I mentioned, "if you can".. And it's actually not difficult to learn either.. PHP is somewhat similar to mIRC scripting in many ways..

PingBad · Guru Joined: 05 Feb 2005 Posts: 2096 Location: New Zealand