Well it's better than joomla which you'd be better off stabbing your eyes out than attempting to use. I've not had too much experience but really unless it's a large site I've yet to see something it can do better than wordpress which does the templating and plugins much better in my opinion.
I agree with karmatosed. Having used both Drupal and Joomla, you're better off going with a WordPress install and tweaking it to your liking. Both Drupal and Joomla, in my opinion are a lot more work than they're worth.
Yeh, looks like ya'll might be right. I installed Drupal and was almost immediately offput by the admin interface. I'm really not trying to spend all that much time on a learning curve.
Going with Wordpress with a magazine theme that I'll customize.
a couple years ago, I experimented around with a couple of different cms/portal packages, and at the time, found I liked Mambo/Joomla the best, but in the end, opted to put together my own little homegrown cms. It was a real basic html template loader, with sql/file options for stuffing the <div id="content :)
Then I found Drupal, as I needed something that had some "big" news capabilites, searching, comments, etc etc...and I found Drupal. Since putting that site together, I'm finding it's easier in the end to use Drupal for just about everything, even somewhat static html type sites.
So far I have about 4 Drupal sites live (including one that uses the Ubercart e-commerce module), and 5+ more coming.
I've just always found Wordpress to be exactly what I need for most of my web projects. I think it really depends what you're looking at building and how much time you're looking to invest. Then you choose a CMS with those things in mind.
As themike hayes pointed out, I'm sure Drupal works fine as a solution for some. I had heard the same 'works for big...' arguments, and that's why I chose to download it and try. For me though, the learning curve was more than I'd want to invest in this particular case -- hence the decision to go with WP instead.
I haven't looked at wordpress at all, really haven't needed anything like it, but maybe one of these days I'll figure out something worth blogging about, and then go with it...
One of the things I love about drupal is though, is the whole content construction kit and views. Even on the surface, things are fairly simple, but it has the ability to take your skills and let you work on more complex issues, w/out having to worry about a lot of what I'd call "piddly" coding (formatting, layout, etc).
it's not for everyone, but I like it :)
just curious if anyone has used WP to setup a "basic" no blog site and just used it as a page cms with things like sitemap plugins, form plugins, gallery etc?
This project I'm putting together is more of a magazine than blog.
That's the primary reason why I was interested in Drupal initially.
After discovering that Drupal appeared to be more than I was wanting to take on (learning wise), I did some research and found there are ways to make WP work as a CMS. Although opinions are divided on how well it does that, I decided to give it a shot simply because the admin side of WP is a little more familiar to me.
If you're curious to see my "big" project, and you probably aren't, but anyway...
check it out:
http://beta.homegrownmusic.net/
This will be an upgrade of:
http://www.homegrownmusic.net/
The big factors were in overall everything regarding this site:
keep look/feel (std 3 col layout), but modernize it, and not use table layout, also move towards a large fixed width. I came up with the original template idea about a year ago, add that with about 6months of thoroughly trying every descent cms known...finally landed with Drupal. The basic original site design has been in place for several years now.
modernize the news system, what is in place now is some archaic c/c++ cgi-bin program that stores all the news in a flat text file...now we have more robust content types, categorizing, and SEARCH :)
build everything with expandability kept in mind, somewhere down the road, we'll want to integrate the online store with the content part of the site in order to better promote products and such.
Next version ideas are:
news aggregation, like digg, but for related music/industry/festival material.
richer user profiles, everything in that dept is pretty basic
integrated storefront, with the ability to sell music downloads. (this is dependent on some ubercart functionality that hasn't been completely worked out yet)
"newer" template, with more focus on readability & whitespace etc (trendy web2.0 kinda stuff)
Right now we are still in the "content" import stage, which is being done by hand...as these flat text files that get written to by the cgi news program are a discombombulated un-awkable, un-sedable MESS!
The site is built on Drupal 5, and makes use of the following:
CCK (Content Construction Kit)
Views (and panels)
Taxonomy
Pathauto
Drupal Ad Module
Drupal Location Module
DrupalIt Voting Module (we may last minute axe this in favor of going with a thumbs up/down module instead)
there are others too...
Also we'll be using the Google Anyalytics & sitemap.xml, but those won't get installed until right at the end.
so anyway, if you care to, take a look, let me know if I've really messed up somewhere etc, have any suggestions, etc...anyway...this is Drupal.
Yeah, I agree with themikehaynes.. looks really good!
I´m also planning a new site here in sweden and my plan is to use Drupal. First of all I really liked the "plugins" available for Drupal, basically everything I need to put together a community. Secondly... it seems really easy to style.
I have been bouncing back and forth between different systems for months and haven´t really been able to decide what system fits my needs best. But now, after loads of research (surfing basically ;)), my choice is Drupal!
Let me tell you one thing, they are overrated products because they have a big sheep-community ! Why? well for a coder/programmer both are a nightmare to work with! When someone starts programming there should be one basic but verry important rule. "Know what you are doing and KEEP IT SIMPLE". both project will end up as PhpNuke wich was great at start, then they wanted more and more, and at the end we get one huge package that does comply to the basic objective "managing a website" BUT you do not need hundreds of classes and functions to visualize a website,and about 70% of these classes and functions are made by over 100 people who do not communicate with each other.
it think you should carefully think what you want to do with your website.. if you just would like to post messages and receive replies for them go with wordpress
if you would like a little more check if wordpress has addons/plugins for doing this.
if you want a forum like website stick with phpbb (Wich i do not like either because for most plugins you have to dig in the source files before the work.)
third option goto hotscripts there is a vast list of CMS systems that might do the trick , most are smaller and easier to use than joomla or drupal or phpnuke ..
At the end it's up to you, and the efford you are willing to stick in your project.
One last thing from some self experience, never try to over-do what you actually would like to do, you can always grow bigger with time.
one of the problems I've seen with the smaller CMS's that have popped up, is that they never get a big community going, and tend to fall of the original developer's radar...and well, then if it falls into disrepair in relation to the code, and no one is there to make bug/security fixes, then it would have been a bad choice to decide on that as a backend...and I am NO FAN of joomla...but at least by going with something that has a large community following, odds are fixes and security issues will get addressed in a much more timely fashion.
I personally have found that creating new code/modules, and manipulating views as I need them under drupal have been relatively easy...once I got over a few learning curves.
another thing I like about drupal, is the "don't patch/adjust/change" anything in core...I remember having a joomla site a long time ago, and there were a bunch of things I had to do to some of the core files, then when an upgrade came along, I'd have to go and re-do those patches, and mind you, also HOPE that the original changes I made, were compatible with the new code...this was not always the case...this was one of the big reason's that particular project, which was a personal one anyway, slipped off into the oblivion of /dev/null
Comments
14 Comments
karmatosed
Written Jan. 26, 2008 / Report /
Well it's better than joomla which you'd be better off stabbing your eyes out than attempting to use. I've not had too much experience but really unless it's a large site I've yet to see something it can do better than wordpress which does the templating and plugins much better in my opinion.
themikehaynes
Written Jan. 26, 2008 / Report /
I agree with karmatosed. Having used both Drupal and Joomla, you're better off going with a WordPress install and tweaking it to your liking. Both Drupal and Joomla, in my opinion are a lot more work than they're worth.
fuscom
Written Jan. 26, 2008 / Report /
Yeh, looks like ya'll might be right. I installed Drupal and was almost immediately offput by the admin interface. I'm really not trying to spend all that much time on a learning curve.
Going with Wordpress with a magazine theme that I'll customize.
themikehaynes
Written Jan. 26, 2008 / Report /
Good call.
trevorlee_nc
Written Jan. 28, 2008 / Report /
sorry to hear of the various woes using Drupal...
a couple years ago, I experimented around with a couple of different cms/portal packages, and at the time, found I liked Mambo/Joomla the best, but in the end, opted to put together my own little homegrown cms. It was a real basic html template loader, with sql/file options for stuffing the <div id="content :)
Then I found Drupal, as I needed something that had some "big" news capabilites, searching, comments, etc etc...and I found Drupal. Since putting that site together, I'm finding it's easier in the end to use Drupal for just about everything, even somewhat static html type sites.
So far I have about 4 Drupal sites live (including one that uses the Ubercart e-commerce module), and 5+ more coming.
themikehaynes
Written Jan. 28, 2008 / Report /
I've just always found Wordpress to be exactly what I need for most of my web projects. I think it really depends what you're looking at building and how much time you're looking to invest. Then you choose a CMS with those things in mind.
fuscom
Written Jan. 28, 2008 / Report /
As themike hayes pointed out, I'm sure Drupal works fine as a solution for some. I had heard the same 'works for big...' arguments, and that's why I chose to download it and try. For me though, the learning curve was more than I'd want to invest in this particular case -- hence the decision to go with WP instead.
trevorlee_nc
Written Jan. 28, 2008 / Report /
I haven't looked at wordpress at all, really haven't needed anything like it, but maybe one of these days I'll figure out something worth blogging about, and then go with it...
One of the things I love about drupal is though, is the whole content construction kit and views. Even on the surface, things are fairly simple, but it has the ability to take your skills and let you work on more complex issues, w/out having to worry about a lot of what I'd call "piddly" coding (formatting, layout, etc).
it's not for everyone, but I like it :)
just curious if anyone has used WP to setup a "basic" no blog site and just used it as a page cms with things like sitemap plugins, form plugins, gallery etc?
fuscom
Written Jan. 28, 2008 / Report /
This project I'm putting together is more of a magazine than blog.
That's the primary reason why I was interested in Drupal initially.
After discovering that Drupal appeared to be more than I was wanting to take on (learning wise), I did some research and found there are ways to make WP work as a CMS. Although opinions are divided on how well it does that, I decided to give it a shot simply because the admin side of WP is a little more familiar to me.
trevorlee_nc
Written Jan. 29, 2008 / Report /
If you're curious to see my "big" project, and you probably aren't, but anyway...
check it out:
http://beta.homegrownmusic.net/
This will be an upgrade of:
http://www.homegrownmusic.net/
The big factors were in overall everything regarding this site:
keep look/feel (std 3 col layout), but modernize it, and not use table layout, also move towards a large fixed width. I came up with the original template idea about a year ago, add that with about 6months of thoroughly trying every descent cms known...finally landed with Drupal. The basic original site design has been in place for several years now.
modernize the news system, what is in place now is some archaic c/c++ cgi-bin program that stores all the news in a flat text file...now we have more robust content types, categorizing, and SEARCH :)
build everything with expandability kept in mind, somewhere down the road, we'll want to integrate the online store with the content part of the site in order to better promote products and such.
Next version ideas are:
news aggregation, like digg, but for related music/industry/festival material.
richer user profiles, everything in that dept is pretty basic
integrated storefront, with the ability to sell music downloads. (this is dependent on some ubercart functionality that hasn't been completely worked out yet)
"newer" template, with more focus on readability & whitespace etc (trendy web2.0 kinda stuff)
Right now we are still in the "content" import stage, which is being done by hand...as these flat text files that get written to by the cgi news program are a discombombulated un-awkable, un-sedable MESS!
The site is built on Drupal 5, and makes use of the following:
CCK (Content Construction Kit)
Views (and panels)
Taxonomy
Pathauto
Drupal Ad Module
Drupal Location Module
DrupalIt Voting Module (we may last minute axe this in favor of going with a thumbs up/down module instead)
there are others too...
Also we'll be using the Google Anyalytics & sitemap.xml, but those won't get installed until right at the end.
so anyway, if you care to, take a look, let me know if I've really messed up somewhere etc, have any suggestions, etc...anyway...this is Drupal.
-Trev
themikehaynes
Written Jan. 29, 2008 / Report /
I checked out your site and it looks great! Very professional and well branded. Best of luck to you and your project.
kekke
Written Jan. 29, 2008 / Report /
Yeah, I agree with themikehaynes.. looks really good!
I´m also planning a new site here in sweden and my plan is to use Drupal. First of all I really liked the "plugins" available for Drupal, basically everything I need to put together a community. Secondly... it seems really easy to style.
I have been bouncing back and forth between different systems for months and haven´t really been able to decide what system fits my needs best. But now, after loads of research (surfing basically ;)), my choice is Drupal!
Sebastiano
Written Jan. 29, 2008 / Report /
holy smokes!
Drupal? Joomla?
Let me tell you one thing, they are overrated products because they have a big sheep-community ! Why? well for a coder/programmer both are a nightmare to work with! When someone starts programming there should be one basic but verry important rule. "Know what you are doing and KEEP IT SIMPLE". both project will end up as PhpNuke wich was great at start, then they wanted more and more, and at the end we get one huge package that does comply to the basic objective "managing a website" BUT you do not need hundreds of classes and functions to visualize a website,and about 70% of these classes and functions are made by over 100 people who do not communicate with each other.
it think you should carefully think what you want to do with your website.. if you just would like to post messages and receive replies for them go with wordpress
if you would like a little more check if wordpress has addons/plugins for doing this.
if you want a forum like website stick with phpbb (Wich i do not like either because for most plugins you have to dig in the source files before the work.)
third option goto hotscripts there is a vast list of CMS systems that might do the trick , most are smaller and easier to use than joomla or drupal or phpnuke ..
At the end it's up to you, and the efford you are willing to stick in your project.
One last thing from some self experience, never try to over-do what you actually would like to do, you can always grow bigger with time.
^-^ Ciao
trevorlee_nc
Written Jan. 29, 2008 / Report /
one of the problems I've seen with the smaller CMS's that have popped up, is that they never get a big community going, and tend to fall of the original developer's radar...and well, then if it falls into disrepair in relation to the code, and no one is there to make bug/security fixes, then it would have been a bad choice to decide on that as a backend...and I am NO FAN of joomla...but at least by going with something that has a large community following, odds are fixes and security issues will get addressed in a much more timely fashion.
I personally have found that creating new code/modules, and manipulating views as I need them under drupal have been relatively easy...once I got over a few learning curves.
another thing I like about drupal, is the "don't patch/adjust/change" anything in core...I remember having a joomla site a long time ago, and there were a bunch of things I had to do to some of the core files, then when an upgrade came along, I'd have to go and re-do those patches, and mind you, also HOPE that the original changes I made, were compatible with the new code...this was not always the case...this was one of the big reason's that particular project, which was a personal one anyway, slipped off into the oblivion of /dev/null