WordPress may be the most popular Content Management System (CMS) in the game, but it's by no means the only one. In fact, if you want an advanced solution that is more targeted at developers, you may find Drupal is more to your liking.
For the quick/small website, for the same level developers in Drupal & WordPress, Drupal is equal to WordPress with both developing from scratch or theming approach. For the medium complex of website/application, long lasting projects, Drupal is much better than. 22 minutes ago Spend some time investigating and browsing the Drupal agency's website. Their website may tell a lot about their personality and reach. Hiring a Drupal development company whose website is slow, lacks maintenance, and non-mobile-responsive might not be the best option. Their website is enough to give you red flags even before contacting them. Drupal is enterprise-ready for the world's busiest websites like GRAMMY.com and The Olympics where failure is not an option. And, more than just supporting high traffic sites, Drupal will scale with your business and your brands for your next-generation digital transformation and allow you to evolve down the road without skipping a beat. For all the Fortune 500 companies, influential news outlets, and notable government institutions that utilize Drupal—General Electric, eBay, The Economist, Whitehouse.gov, etc.—the most popular websites using the CMS might come as a surprise. Jul 08, 2020 Over 65 Excellent Examples of Websites Using Drupal (2021) Terrabites. The Laughing Cow. K2 Digital Agency.
Drupal is one of the most popular CMS platforms, thanks to its extensive functionality. Due to its complexity, it is commonly favored by developers and other advanced users who want to create secure, scalable, and ambitious websites.
Top Websites Using Drupal
In this article, we'll introduce Drupal and discuss its pros and cons. We'll also talk about its advantages when compared to other CMS platforms and show you how you can start using it to create your own site. Let's get to it!
Learning How to Use Drupal?
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An Introduction to Drupal
It may surprise you to learn that when it comes to CMS options, Drupal is one of the longest-running platforms. It started in 2000 — several years before WordPress and Joomla! were a twinkle in their respective creators' eyes.
At the time, Drupal was meant as a humble message board, enabling a few students to communicate with each other. However, the following year it evolved into an open-source project and has since grown to become one of the most powerful and popular CMS platforms on the web. It currently runs nearly 2 percent of all websites, making it the third most commonly-used CMS.
Drupal sets itself apart from its main competitors, as it's a more flexible and developer-focused platform. While solutions like WordPress and Joomla! focus on being easy-to-use and beginner-friendly, Drupal is a CMS made by developers for developers.
This has resulted in Drupal being used by many larger and more advanced sites, where security, speed, and stability are the main concerns. Among the sites that run on Drupal, you'll find plenty of universities, governments, museums, and environmental organizations (among others).
What Makes Drupal Different
As we've already mentioned, Drupal stands out from its main competitors by being a more advanced and developer-focused CMS. Due to this fact, there's a common misconception that Drupal is difficult to use, which is largely not true.
Rather, it can be difficult to start using, as there's a fairly steep learning curve, especially if you're more familiar with the straightforward interface of WordPress.
In return for this greater time investment, Drupal offers a lot of features and functionality that more than make up for the initial challenge. If you're willing to take the time to learn the ropes, Drupal will provide you with a lot of neat options, such as advanced user permissions, more content types, and the ability to handle massive sites with thousands of pages.
That last point is particularly important, as it's something WordPress can sometimes struggle with. WordPress initially began life as a blogging platform, and although it's grown up a lot since then, much of its functionality still caters to small and medium-scale sites.
In contrast, Drupal was designed from the ground up to help developers create bigger sites with more advanced structures and higher traffic levels. To support this goal, Drupal also comes with caching features and increased security included by default.
When You Might Want to Use Drupal to Create a Website
Whether or not you should go with Drupal when creating a new website depends mainly on two things:
- Your level of technical knowledge
- Your site's purpose
Thanks to its advanced functionality, Drupal is an ideal choice for any site where stability, security, speed, and flexibility are absolute necessities.
Drupal also lends itself to sites that require more complex structures and massive amounts of data. This includes high-traffic sites, such as user communities and social media platforms, as well as sites for governments, educational institutions, and other major organizations. It's also ideal for developers who want total control over their projects to create more ambitious sites.
On the other hand, if you're a less-technical person who wants a more immediately-intuitive system, WordPress is likely still your best choice. This is especially true if your site has a smaller scope, such as a personal blog, portfolio, magazine site, or even a modest e-commerce store.
Of course, which CMS you decide to use depends entirely on your preferences. Fortunately, like WordPress, Drupal is both free and open source. That means you can download and test it without having to commit financially.
To give this platform a spin, you can set up a staging site and install Drupal to try it out yourself with no commitment or risk. Drupal even offers several services to help you set up free demo sites in minutes.
How to Get Started With Drupal (In 4 Steps)
Now, it's time to get up close and personal with Drupal. In this guide, we'll introduce you to the basics of the platform — including how to install it, start creating content, and expand its features.
Step 1: Install Drupal on Your Site
The installation process for Drupal is a little more involved than with many similar platforms. The reason for this is that you will usually need to manually install the software on your site, rather than relying on one-click installs.
To perform a manual installation, you will first need to have a local environment or a site where you want to install Drupal. You'll have to make sure it meets the minimum requirements in order for the software to run correctly. You'll also need a MySQL database that the site can use.
Once that's out of the way, there are several methods for installing the platform. For instance, you can start by downloading Drupal from its website or use the command line to get the files you need. For more information about the different ways you can install the core files, we recommend that you refer to Drupal's extensive official documentation.
When Drupal's files have been installed on your site, you can configure your installation. All you need to do is to access your site using its standard URL, which will present you with the Drupal installation wizard.
In this first section, you'll be asked to select your site's language. After that, you can choose if you want to perform a Standard or Minimal installation.
This determines how much you'll be able to alter the default installation settings. Most beginners would do well to choose Standard, unless you want to configure your installation with more advanced settings.
What you pick here will affect the wizard's follow-up questions, so proceed to make whatever selections you require. If in doubt, the official documentation should again be your guide.
When you've completed all the required sections, the installer will add the Drupal software to your site.
Once that's finished, you can configure your site's settings and details. For example, this is where you can choose your site's name and create your own administrator account.
After you've entered all the required details, you can save your settings. Drupal will now be installed on your site, and then you'll be taken to its new homepage.
With that, Drupal is up and running! At the top of the screen, you'll see an admin toolbar containing several key options. Next up, we'll show you how to begin creating content for your site.
Step 2: Start Creating Content
While there's obviously a lot you can accomplish with Drupal, let's start with the basics: creating new content. Drupal offers plenty of options in this regard, including custom content types. For this example, however, let's just focus on how to create a single post.
To do this, you'll want to select the Content option in the upper admin bar. If that option isn't visible, click on Manage to expand the bar.
This takes you to your Content page, which displays everything that already exists on your site. Naturally, this will be empty right now.
To create something new, you'll need to select Add content. After that, you'll be asked what content type you want: an article or a page.
If you're familiar with WordPress' posts and pages, these options work in much the same way. Articles are primarily used for blog posts, updates, news, and other time-specific content, while pages are best suited to static information.
In this case, let's create an article. When you click on that option, you'll be taken to Drupal's content editor.
Once again, if you've used any content editing interface before, most of the fields here will likely be self-explanatory. You can add the actual contents of your article in the Body field and format it using the menu right above.
Underneath that, you'll be able to add tags to your article and select an image to accompany it. Chime login amazon.
You can then turn your attention to the menus on the right-hand side of the page. This is where you can configure your article's settings.
Each section can be expanded to reveal the options it contains.
Among other things, you can determine if the article should be featured on your site's front page, if comments should be enabled, and who the author of the article will be.
One important field here is the Revision log message, which you can use to describe what changes you make to the content. These messages will be saved in a log that aids both you and your collaborators, as everyone can easily tell what alterations have been made each time the content is edited.
When you're done creating your article, all you need to do is click on Save. This will add the article to your site and automatically take you to see it on the front end.
Now that you've successfully added content, let's look more closely at how you can expand your site with new features.
Step 3: Use Modules to Add New Functionality to Your Site
Drupal modules are sets of code that you can install on your site to add new features and functionality. A single module can contain CSS, JavaScript, and PHP, in order to alter your site's capabilities. Every Drupal installation will feature a series of core modules, but you can also download and install new ones yourself.
The easiest way to find these tools is to browse the Drupal Modules page.
This is a repository containing over 40,000 modules that you can download and add to your site. You can use the drop-down menus to refine your search and find tools with a specific purpose or status. To see more information about any given module, simply click on it in the search results.
This takes you to the module's page, where you can find more details.
When You Might Want to Use Drupal to Create a Website
Whether or not you should go with Drupal when creating a new website depends mainly on two things:
- Your level of technical knowledge
- Your site's purpose
Thanks to its advanced functionality, Drupal is an ideal choice for any site where stability, security, speed, and flexibility are absolute necessities.
Drupal also lends itself to sites that require more complex structures and massive amounts of data. This includes high-traffic sites, such as user communities and social media platforms, as well as sites for governments, educational institutions, and other major organizations. It's also ideal for developers who want total control over their projects to create more ambitious sites.
On the other hand, if you're a less-technical person who wants a more immediately-intuitive system, WordPress is likely still your best choice. This is especially true if your site has a smaller scope, such as a personal blog, portfolio, magazine site, or even a modest e-commerce store.
Of course, which CMS you decide to use depends entirely on your preferences. Fortunately, like WordPress, Drupal is both free and open source. That means you can download and test it without having to commit financially.
To give this platform a spin, you can set up a staging site and install Drupal to try it out yourself with no commitment or risk. Drupal even offers several services to help you set up free demo sites in minutes.
How to Get Started With Drupal (In 4 Steps)
Now, it's time to get up close and personal with Drupal. In this guide, we'll introduce you to the basics of the platform — including how to install it, start creating content, and expand its features.
Step 1: Install Drupal on Your Site
The installation process for Drupal is a little more involved than with many similar platforms. The reason for this is that you will usually need to manually install the software on your site, rather than relying on one-click installs.
To perform a manual installation, you will first need to have a local environment or a site where you want to install Drupal. You'll have to make sure it meets the minimum requirements in order for the software to run correctly. You'll also need a MySQL database that the site can use.
Once that's out of the way, there are several methods for installing the platform. For instance, you can start by downloading Drupal from its website or use the command line to get the files you need. For more information about the different ways you can install the core files, we recommend that you refer to Drupal's extensive official documentation.
When Drupal's files have been installed on your site, you can configure your installation. All you need to do is to access your site using its standard URL, which will present you with the Drupal installation wizard.
In this first section, you'll be asked to select your site's language. After that, you can choose if you want to perform a Standard or Minimal installation.
This determines how much you'll be able to alter the default installation settings. Most beginners would do well to choose Standard, unless you want to configure your installation with more advanced settings.
What you pick here will affect the wizard's follow-up questions, so proceed to make whatever selections you require. If in doubt, the official documentation should again be your guide.
When you've completed all the required sections, the installer will add the Drupal software to your site.
Once that's finished, you can configure your site's settings and details. For example, this is where you can choose your site's name and create your own administrator account.
After you've entered all the required details, you can save your settings. Drupal will now be installed on your site, and then you'll be taken to its new homepage.
With that, Drupal is up and running! At the top of the screen, you'll see an admin toolbar containing several key options. Next up, we'll show you how to begin creating content for your site.
Step 2: Start Creating Content
While there's obviously a lot you can accomplish with Drupal, let's start with the basics: creating new content. Drupal offers plenty of options in this regard, including custom content types. For this example, however, let's just focus on how to create a single post.
To do this, you'll want to select the Content option in the upper admin bar. If that option isn't visible, click on Manage to expand the bar.
This takes you to your Content page, which displays everything that already exists on your site. Naturally, this will be empty right now.
To create something new, you'll need to select Add content. After that, you'll be asked what content type you want: an article or a page.
If you're familiar with WordPress' posts and pages, these options work in much the same way. Articles are primarily used for blog posts, updates, news, and other time-specific content, while pages are best suited to static information.
In this case, let's create an article. When you click on that option, you'll be taken to Drupal's content editor.
Once again, if you've used any content editing interface before, most of the fields here will likely be self-explanatory. You can add the actual contents of your article in the Body field and format it using the menu right above.
Underneath that, you'll be able to add tags to your article and select an image to accompany it. Chime login amazon.
You can then turn your attention to the menus on the right-hand side of the page. This is where you can configure your article's settings.
Each section can be expanded to reveal the options it contains.
Among other things, you can determine if the article should be featured on your site's front page, if comments should be enabled, and who the author of the article will be.
One important field here is the Revision log message, which you can use to describe what changes you make to the content. These messages will be saved in a log that aids both you and your collaborators, as everyone can easily tell what alterations have been made each time the content is edited.
When you're done creating your article, all you need to do is click on Save. This will add the article to your site and automatically take you to see it on the front end.
Now that you've successfully added content, let's look more closely at how you can expand your site with new features.
Step 3: Use Modules to Add New Functionality to Your Site
Drupal modules are sets of code that you can install on your site to add new features and functionality. A single module can contain CSS, JavaScript, and PHP, in order to alter your site's capabilities. Every Drupal installation will feature a series of core modules, but you can also download and install new ones yourself.
The easiest way to find these tools is to browse the Drupal Modules page.
This is a repository containing over 40,000 modules that you can download and add to your site. You can use the drop-down menus to refine your search and find tools with a specific purpose or status. To see more information about any given module, simply click on it in the search results.
This takes you to the module's page, where you can find more details.
If you want to download a module, you can find links by scrolling down to the bottom of this page.
Once you have a module file saved to your computer, you'll need to return to your site to install it. Find and click on Extend in the admin toolbar.
This takes you to a page where you can see all modules that are currently installed on your site.
At this stage, these will likely just be the core modules we mentioned earlier. To add a new one, select the Install new module button, which will take you to the following page.
As you can see, you can install a module by providing a direct link to the file or by uploading it manually. When you choose Install, Drupal will upload and install the module to your site, after which you'll see a message letting you know if the process was successful.
You'll then need to enable the module. This is because installed modules won't actually do anything until they're activated. To do that, return to your Extend page and select the module you just added. Then, click on Install at the bottom of the page.
Once that's done, the selected module will be active on your site and you can start using its features right away.
Step 4: Update Your Site's Appearance With a Theme
Finally, let's end our beginner's guide to Drupal by looking at yet another way you can enhance your site. This time, we'll show you how to change your site's look and layout with a Drupal theme.
Themes work similarly to modules, but they are solely focused on altering your site's appearance rather than its functionality. You can find both free and premium themes all across the internet. However, a good place to start is the official theme repository.
This should look pretty similar to the module repository we showed you in the previous section, and it works the same way. You can browse themes, click on them to view more details, and download them using the links on each one's page.
Once you've found a theme you want to install on your site and downloaded its files, you'll want to select Appearance in your admin toolbar.
You'll see all the themes that are already installed, which should include one or more default themes.
Next, select Install new theme to visit another familiar-looking page.
This process works exactly the same as when you added a module in the previous step. Simply paste in the URL for your theme or upload the compressed file that you've downloaded and then click on Install. When the installation is complete, you'll see a confirmation message.
Next, you'll need to activate your theme to make it visible on your site. Return to your themes page and scroll down to the Uninstalled themes section, where you'll see your newly uploaded option.
If you want to apply the theme to your site, you'll need to select Install and set as default. This will activate the theme and apply all of its styles and layout to your site. To see the results, you can check out your site on the front end.
With that done, you've successfully transformed your site with a new theme. Of course, you can continue to tweak and personalize your site's appearance if you like.
Bear in mind that this is only scratching the surface of what you can accomplish with Drupal. If you're interested in the platform, we highly recommend digging deeper into the official documentation to learn more about what this powerful CMS can do.
Drupal for Beginners?
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Flex Your Drupal Muscles
When it comes to CMS platforms, Drupal walks the line between being reasonably user-friendly while offering a powerful website management system. It may take a little more work to get started with than similar platforms, but once you've learned the ropes, it offers plenty of options to expand and scale your site.
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Know what you want to develop or create using Drupal. The scope of your Drupal project is essential, and you need to make it clear from day one. Your Drupal agency needs to know precisely what you want from them, what website features you need, what you have initially, and how you'll measure success at the time of delivery.
Proximity
Make sure there is at least one hour of overlap between the working hours of your in-house and agency teams. Lack of overlap might need you to do additional planning and explicit written communication with your agency to ensure predictable project progress.
Websites Using Drupal Tutorials
At AddWeb Solution, we manage to deliver successful projects with clients, and our project managers have to take the asynchronicity of communication into account. We sometimes adapt working hours to schedule a status call with a client from the other side of the globe.
Keep The Budget Handy
Indeed, a small company can't deliver a massive project due to the lack of processes and experience to manage a bigger team and track progress in a longer timeframe. On the other hand, a big Drupal agency might not fit into a smaller budget.
Have a budget handy, as many agencies would ask you about it. Having a budget is not about telling the exact amount you are willing to pay. You need to give a substantial amount, and knowing an overall acceptable cost helps you decide if the match is correct.
A good drupal agency is preferred by many potential clients and will ask you the budget so that you don't have to waste your time if there is a misalignment of expectations regarding the project's budget.
Also Read: 10 Tips For Drupal Experts To Build An Amazing Drupal Website
Browse The Company's Website
Spend some time investigating and browsing the Drupal agency's website. Their website may tell a lot about their personality and reach. Hiring a Drupal development company whose website is slow, lacks maintenance, and non-mobile-responsive might not be the best option. Their website is enough to give you red flags even before contacting them.
Always Create Mobile-responsiveness
The best website development agency for your Drupal 8 project should have an in-depth understanding of both standard and modular mobile responsive features in Drupal 8.
Do you know that almost eight out of ten website visitors bounce back from websites that do not load correctly on their device? Therefore, mobile responsiveness is the ``crucial expertise in this area for the success of your website.
Expertise In Highly Technical Services Related To Your Project
The Drupal development agency you choose must have the ability to do everything you need for your project, complete with your competitors, and serve your customers in the best way possible.
Most of the Drupal projects need some niche service provision from the website development agency. Your organization's needs, unique business objectives, and the standard best practices of your industry will determine what specific product and service integrations your Drupal project requires.
Consequently, the Drupal development agency for your project should already know how to implement the essential functions for your industry/market niche like payment gateway integration, interactive map development and GIS integration with the website, and more.
Results-Oriented & User-Centered Development Practices
Working with a results-oriented Drupal development agency is vital for achieving your business objectives through your website. Well-developed websites that generate leads, convert leads, create a positive brand reputation, and increase customer loyalty should intentionally move visitors through the site. It will need expertise in several different services, including web design, UX design, and digital strategy, to create such websites.
Knowledge Of The Drupal API
Drupal offers a hook system for any component of how Drupal works to be overridden. Make sure your Drupal development agency understands this system. Masters of this hook system can do amazing things for your website. Do not hire an expert PHP developer to build something in Drupal. An expert PHP programmer can quickly become a Drupal developer, but they need in-depth Drupal tools and features.
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Secure Code
Drupal is a very secure platform when kept up-to-date and implemented correctly. The CMS even has its Security Team that responds to issues discovered by the Drupal community and keeps developers busy applying code updates.
However, as soon as you introduce a custom module to build large websites, ensure that the agency you hire is well versed in best practices for writing secure code in Drupal. Ask your prospective agency to ensure that their developers are aware of the custom development in Drupal and follow the best rules for web application security in the right direction.
References
Some of the best agencies in the business still have not worked with Drupal clients. You should check with the previous clients and know about their experience of working with the Drupal agency. Chances are you might get benefit from the experience of their past clients. If their website is not showcasing the portfolio, you can ask the Drupal agency upfront to name the clients they have worked with.