By gamingangel on
Hi everyone! I'm new here as you can tell. I read the whole getting started guide and searched the forums, but I am unable to find anything concrete that explains what the difference between 5.x and 6.x is. Also if there is an ability to upgrade to 6.x later if I choose to install 5.x first.
Can someone please let me know which is better to use?
Thank you,
Trina
Comments
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read the changelog.txt file in the D6 download, it explains whats changed betwen 5 - 6
There are endless
There are endless discussions about whether to use 5.x or 6.x. But the conclusion is usually to plan which additional modules your site will require, then to check that the key ones have been ported to 6.x. If that is generally ok, use 6.x.
It doesn't harm to play around with both to get the hang of the differences for yourself, too.
Magnity
http://webdesign.magnity.co.uk
Drupal 5 themes | Drupal 6 themes
Thank you Magnity for your
Thank you Magnity for your help. I'm switching over from Xoops, so I'm a bit overwhelmed on where to start.
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start by setting up test sites on your local machine or as subdomains of your server.
The only advantage of Drupal
The only advantage of Drupal 5 is that there are lots of additional modules available, many of which are not yet ready for Drupal 6. So, for example if you are developing an e-commerce site, then Drupal 5 is currently your only option.
Upgrading from Drupal 5.x to 6.x is possible and not very hard if all the additional modules which you are using have (or are expected to have) an 6.x version. So, besides the core modules, it is a good practice to use only active popular modules, with more-or-less regular updates and an active issues queue.
Generally, go for Drupal 6 except if you have an important reason. A fancy "good to have" module which has only a Drupal 5.x version is not a good enough reason to stay with D5.
In any case, there are a few "must have" additional modules: CCK (for creating types of posts with different fields and different behaviors) and Views (for creating lists of posts with different criteria and different formats).
I would say: use Drupal 6,
I would say: use Drupal 6, unless there is a module that you absolutely need and is not ported to Drupal 6. CCK and Views are mentioned, but they are almost ready for Drupal 6, so personally I would use Drupal 6 with those beta versions if I were building a site now, because in the end it will save you upgrade effort. Drupal 6 really has advantages to users, administrators and developers:
Just to mention some:
- Better performance because of better caching and the ability to split modules in separate files to reduce memory on runtime
- Improved menu and forms API
- Built-in module update tracker
I'm a module developer myself and I would really like to know why people are still sticking with Drupal 5.
I'm a module developer
That's a simple one-- module availability. Only recently have cck , views, workflow, nodeaccess, og, & nodequeue had even rc releases. Panels and TAC still don't have one. Neither do ecommerce or ubercart-- so shops don't even have a choice. Content Access (the supposed successor to node_privacy_byrole) doesn't have one. Content_profile, the d6 user profiles as nodes solution, doesn't have one (though it has a beta, most people don't feel comfortable with betas on production sites).
Basically, unless you're running a plain blog or vanilla info site, you have to use d5.
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"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day.
Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." -- Lao Tzu
"God helps those who help themselves." -- Benjamin Franklin
"Search is your best friend." -- Worldfallz
what about now? btw, it seems
what about now?
btw, it seems D5 liter than D6, could be an advantage on shared hosting, on the other hand views for D5 cannot hold a candle to D6 views...
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I think its safe to say that all modules that had intentions of being ported to D6 are ported. Those that aren't either are replaced or aren't needed or weren't popular enough for the maintainer to worry about.
I agree
Every time there is a major version upgrade of Drupal, it takes awhile for third-party contributed modules to get upgraded so they work with the new version, and some modules never get upgraded at all. This means that when a new version upgrade comes out, I like to wait awhile before starting to use it. However, I think the time has come for Drupal 6. A year ago (or even six months) I probably would have leaned more towards Drupal 5, but the important modules have largely been upgraded by now.
For someone who is dependent upon a module that doesn't work with the latest Drupal version, it can be annoying if no one does the upgrade or if you have to wait awhile. However, there's also a positive side to this. A lot of Drupal modules are written by people who are just learning how to write code or for one-off uses. A lot of modules exist that mostly duplicate functionality found in other modules. Sometimes someone starts a module but doesn't have time or interest in continuing to develop and improve it. As a result, some modules are just better than others, and there are so many modules in existence now that it has become increasingly hard to figure out which ones are the good ones.
For me, the question of whether a module has been upgraded to Drupal 6 is a useful litmus test when I'm trying to decide whether to use it. If it hasn't been upgraded by now, I tend to assume that it's not very popular and likely to give me problems if I use it. Using Drupal 6 therefore helps me sift the good from the not-so-good.
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Customer Support Engineer, Granicus
https://granicus.com
if so
Some people go and grab the latest version when it is made to the public.
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There is a high priority on contrib modules with the realse of Drupal 7.x for those module to be ready for D7.x
Project pages has notes about this where the developers have noted they will be ready. Those project pages that do not have this notation, may not be ready.
Those who grab the lastest release of core, may have to wait for contrib module developers to update their modules or as users of the modules help port them where they can. Nature of the beast. If you live on the razor's edge, you run a greater risk of getting cut.
Drupal 5 vs 6
The only reason Drupal 5 is supported is because there are modules that aren't ready for Drupal 6, and a lot of hosting companies provide Drupal 5 to their customers. So, unless you have a module you depend on, Drupal 6 is the definite answer.
Actually
Drupal 5 being supported has nothing to do with contrib. The previous version is always supported. As soon as D7 is released, D5 support will be dropped, just like 4.7 was dropped when D6 was released.
Michelle