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By Elizabeth-Quay on
I've used Wordpress for a while and have to say I quite like it. It's easy to install and modify, with lot's of themes to choose from. Everything I've thought of doing on a Wordpress site seems to be possible with a simple plug-in (although it can take some time looking).
What I want to know, from all you Drupal users, is what makes Drupal better than Wordpress? What's different, and why? I want you to sell it to me to give me a reason to convert!
Thanks.
Comments
IMO, Drupal is only 'better'
IMO, Drupal is only 'better' (ie. more flexible) than Wordpress if you are proficient in PHP, CSS and JQuery. However, if you know all that stuff anyway, I've read over and over that it is faster and leaner to just build from scratch in many situations (depending on the website brief).
For sites that don't do anything except sell stuff or display ads, Wordpress is way faster/easier. In my opinion the statistics show Wordpress is way more 'popular' than Drupal and Joomla because millions of internet marketers use it, and each marketer often has hundreds of sites (100 sites making 10$ a day is the same as 1 site making a 1000$, and the diversity is less risky). They automate the set-up and content as much as possible - the game is to build and rank sites faster than Google can penalise them. If you took the marketers out of the equation, and all the abandoned blogs, just leaving 'normal' users who only run a couple of sites, the Wordpress usage statistics would plummet to more sensible levels.
Being able to program PHP is
Being able to program PHP is very useful, and I wouldn't put much faith in someone who isn't proficient at CSS even with Wordpress, but I certainly wouldn't say Jquery proficiency is essential to get more out of Drupal than Wordpress - surely the power of Drupal is primarily on the server-side.
For me Drupal is only better if you understand:
Database structure
How SQL works
Object orientated programming (not necessarily actual coding, but the theory of structure and properties)
The process of how information goes from being in a database field to being displayed on a page
With wordpress you can definitely get away being ignorant about all the above, but if you don't understand databases or SQL you're going to have a hard time getting to grips with views, fields etc
_
There is quite literally tons of info on wordpress vs drupal. The short answer is, it's all about the right tool for the job. If wordpress does what you need it to do than great use wordpress. If you need more power and flexibility then use drupal. If you want to spend time learning one system to server any requirements, then use drupal.
all fan boy arguments aside on both camps, there must be a reason you don't see sites like examiner.com, economist.com, lifetime.com, myplay.com, whitehouse.gov, popsci.com, etc etc etc on wordpress.
Hardly a pro, lol. That alone is reason enough not to.
Everything I've thought of
You are right. Here is a slightly odd comparison which describes my experience: if you ride a scooter for a few years, then spend a few weeks riding a hand-built Italian sports motorcycle (or maybe drive a Ferrari... I never tried), in that few weeks you will start thinking of new exciting things to do which would never have entered your head if you stuck to your scooter.
I have puzzled over why in my experience Drupal works out many times more expensive than WP (in skill, time, and for paying clients, money) than WP. My conclusion is that there are two reasons: (a) that Drupal is far more complex: your 100cc Honda is (like WP) superbly made and good for non-techy users, but your 1098 Ducati or whatever is (like Drupal) a totally different beast which is well made in a very different way, and with a different kind of beauty and capability which appeals more to the technically minded but makes it the wrong tool for short-distance commuter; (b) when you start getting into Drupal, you (or the client) thinks of new things which they would not have thought of or asked for until the vista of possibilities start to open up: but to achieve those extra possibilities takes a lot of time and effort and skill.
In summary: (a) Drupal is more complex; (b) Drupal stimulates new ideas you may not have thought of before. Saying it is a question of the right tool for the job is clearly right -- the person who can afford to run a Ferrari might still choose to use the scooter or small car to do the shopping because it is the better tool for the job, and many Drupal people do use Wordpress too.
I know that comparision with cars or motorcycles may seem off the wall, but it is close as I can get to really explain my experience of the ways in which WP is better, and the very different ways in which Drupal is better. But to be honest my experience is that Drupal is far more expensive to run, as you discover if you maintain Drupal sites long-term. I would like to see that change so that I can use it for low-budget clients without being concerned about their potential maintenance costs. As it is, I (or friends who do not pay commercial rates, or clients who can really afford but buy and maintain something with quality under the hood) get Drupal; clients who just want a good reliable site which can do everything they thought to ask for, and do it economically, get Wordpress.
Digit Professionals specialising in Drupal, WordPress & CiviCRM support for publishers in non-profit and related sectors
Hardly a pro, lol. That alone
It wasn't supposed to be a pro. I was giving the reason why Wordpress wins the CMS popularity contest by a massive margin. It's not because it's so much 'better' than other CMS, it's because it enables millions of marketers and affiliates to earn money by easily and quickly setting up hundreds of 'thin' websites and landing pages.
A lot of people who write WP
A lot of people who write WP software also make money by affilliate programs offering huge cuts, and tempting 'reviewers' into making hopelessly biassed reviews with embedded affiliate links. Actively though not expressly tempting people to write dishonest reviews with direct and large financial incentives strikes me as unethical, and this aspect of the WP world is unattractive.
I have bought three WP theme frameworks, and consider the cheapest and least marketed to be the best (Weaver Pro II). Oddly enough, the nicest piece of paid software I have bought for WP was inspired by its free equivalent in Drupal (WPML is a collection of Drupal-like multi-lingual tools).
To be fair, there are excellent free WP plugins as well as core. The people who give the WP world a sleazy feel are not the majority, and when Drupal is equally successful in terms of the power and ease of use Dries is aiming for, it too will attract more of the type who are keen to make easy money without giving value back.
Digit Professionals specialising in Drupal, WordPress & CiviCRM support for publishers in non-profit and related sectors
This has been very
This has been very interesting reading. I'm a .NET developer by trade but have come to use WP a fair amount because it's quick and easy. It seems to me that most WP websites have little in the way of flair, but they do a job and cover the mass market. It seems Drupal gives more of a polished feel which is ideal for more professional websites.
I've created a number of .NET websites which rank well in Google. Interestingly, not many of my WP sites come close. Perhaps Google doesn't rank them as well because of the sleazy internet marketing side of WP?
That's a similar background
That's a similar background to me. I've been using blogengine for .net but after being hacked a couple of times I started looking for something more reliable.
Worpress is just a blogging software
No matter what anyone says, the only difference is the fact that WORDPRESS is just a blogging software not an actual CMS and DRUPAL is a powerful web CMS.
Now many will debate that wordpress is a cms, it can do what a cms can do and blah blah blah. ....... Etc
Ofcourse why not!
A tablet can be used for doing most of the office works but that doesn't makes it a laptop and there is not way it can compete with it ever!
mac vs windows
During drinking a beer at the Nieuwmarkt in Amsterdam last summer, a friend of mine, who has developed an entire business around WordPress (he is doing very well too) said that WordPress and Drupal is a bit like Mac and Windows:
WordPress has fans and Drupal has users, WordPress is intuitive and easy to use, Drupal has a technical learning curve with a technical overload and so on...
It seems to me that WordPress will handle most websites and the complexity and flexibility of Drupal is only needed occasionally.
BUT when it comes to localization both WP and Drupal are not very nice!
Look at Magento for how language can be handled as an attribute to a given entity (post, node, menu item and so on) and localization become a breeze
If you want to put content online and get help with how to do it directly from your CMS, try WordPress, even if you are a dedicated Drupal user - because Drupal could really learn from the ease of use of WordPress.
Drupal is far better than wordpress, check following
1. Security:-
a. Drupal have Dedicated Security Team to manage CMS security. Drupal uses a combination of modules and settings to enhance availability and meet enterprise security requirements.
b. Drupal account password have been encoded and hashed with the support of some password policies such as minimum length, complexity, or expiration. Fetching password in Drupal is not easy. Its security is far far better than WordPress.
c. Drupal is based on Symfony framework. It is a more secure framework because it used with different insights to fix bugs and create security patches.
d. Drupal can handle complex security situations like PCI compliance and we can improve the security of Drupal by staying to latest version of the Drupal.
e. The main security issue with WordPress sites comes from the vulnerability that is created when 3rd party plugins are uploaded. WordPress themes are preloaded with many unused plugins, that reduce response and increase security vulnerabilities. Apart from this Drupal themes and modules are covered by an internal security program.
2. Features:-
a. Drupal is more flexible with features like taxonomies, content types, blocks, and views built into core. Customizing content types and fields is built into the Drupal core, whereas WordPress requires extra plugins to customize.
b. Drupal allows you to create more complex and custom data relationships across various types of content. WordPress comes with two content types (posts and pages)and Drupal also comes with two content types (article and basic page). Additionally, If you need multiple page templates or content types, Drupal is better choice to handle your needs.
3. Flexibility:-
a. Drupal have a very large community. The community contributed around forty eight thousand modules or extension which are free and contain many of the same pieces of functionality that are available using WordPress plugins.
b. Drupal allows us to control till the field level, which is the bottom level. Other CMS lacks this facility.
4. Permissions:-
Drupal’s user permissions are also more advanced than WordPress. With Drupal, you can have site admins, content editors, individualized access to private content, and may more. Drupal core also allows you to create and define your own user roles and associated permissions for each role. Unlike WordPress, Drupal allows granting more than one role to your users.
5. Ease of Use
Drupal have made the platform easier to use for non-developers. The "what you see is what you get" (WYSIWYG) editor has been around in Drupal for a while, but it is being replaced with the CKEditor, which includes a drag-and-drop interface along with a module for the editor that allows users to embed external resources such as videos, images, tweets and more via the editor. Another feature is the in-line editing, or Quick Edit, which allows editing on the front end of the site.
6. Multi-lingual site:-
Drupal core supports multilingual sites where as WordPress needs to use 3rd party plugins.
7. App Development:-
Drupal has more robust features for complex projects. You can integrate many third party applications with SOAP, REST and JSON.
Thank you
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