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Posted by Steven Taylor | Josh Blanton | Jan Benschop

Drupal is an open source content management platform. If you aren't familiar with the term, “open source,” it means that this software is free. Drupal is also considered to be a content management framework. This means that instead of the software being specialized for building certain types of websites it can be used to build any type of website you want. Drupal is left open and generalized intentionally. You can use the included tools to piece together and create a seemingly endless array of websites, widgets, news programs, or whatever: the possibilities are up to the programmer.

This is great if you’re a beginner, because you can use different tools in Drupal to contain and merge different ideas. When working on a website, most programmers will look for specific modules that cannot be merged to include on the website. When you first use it, Drupal may not seem as flexible as it turns out to be. Once you learn the program, the possibilities are almost limitless. If you’re new at it, Drupal is flexible and user-friendly, yet its power provides the professional programmer with opportunity to expand ideas to new and greater levels.

Drupal is also very convenient if you’re an end user. Normally, you design a website to function differently on different pages. You log in and navigate the preset layout to find what you need. Using Drupal to design a website allows you, the programmer, to customize the end-user experience as soon as you log into the website. Depending on the client or user, you can customize content on the fly, depending on what type of user logs into the web site.

Drupal is an excellent choice for your website if you need your web site flexible enough to evolve over time. It is not uncommon to begin with a blog site and find out later that you want to add a forum or a Wiki entry. You can easily configure Drupal to interact with other websites to allow speedy customization based on user query.

When you edit a Drupal page, the administration page and the page users see are almost identical. The only difference is that the administration page has menus for page customization. Many programmers find this extremely helpful and much easier than other programs such as Frontpage, Dreamweaver, or Joomla. Being open source makes the program free. It also provides a massive on-line community of users who can help you solve problems. I've found that you can learn programs created in an open source community much more easily because everyone has a stake in their success and no one is playing the corporate culpability game.

Drupal is not as easy to master as simple page builders, but it is simple enough, and you can move virtual mountains with it. The flexibility of the program and its easy-to-use modules are a much better choice for anyone looking for a more elaborate, yet user-fiendly content management system.

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