By bsimser on

Hi,

I just stumbled onto this site/software (thanks slashdot!) and am trying to get my head around what exactly Drupal is and how you can use it? Besides the textbook description I'm not sure about something:

-is it a portal?
-is it a cms system?
-is it knowledge base system?
-is it a wikki?
-is it a combination of any/all of the above or can become one?

I'm trying to figure out should I consider it for a intranet community website for developers and possibly look at it as a delivery mechanism for a knowledge base system (maybe having that part integrated into the community website). We have CMS, SharePoint, etc. already in the corporation but I'm looking just to spin something up that doesn't fit into a specific mold.

Also there's a question of what's happening behind the scenes (I haven't downloaded and tried the software yet). Is it just server load or maybe my connection because every page seems to come up as a generic webpage then the CSS kicks in and formats the style. There are only 8 users and 200 guests so I'm not sure if that's a limit the server is pushing or what?

Any help would be appreciated at understanding the focus and purpose of Drupal. Thanks.

Comments

Boris Mann _Old Blogger.com Account_’s picture

Boris Mann _Old Blogger.com Account_ commented

Drupal can be considered a combination of all of the things you mention. If you enable many of the queuing and moderation features, you end up with something portal-like.

It certainly is a content management system, and can be used to run what amounts to a more "traditional" website, which just happens to have some dynamic features. Editing HTML and/or PHP content, revisions, uploading images -- it's all here.

The book module is well suited for creating a structured knowledge base system. As well, depending on user permissions, book pages can be edited by anyone, and then get entered into a queue. For wiki syntax, install the wiki filter.

I keep pointing to two main items as Drupal's main strengths:
- taxonomy system: a way to create custom categories (even different by node type, and by next release, create custom category nodes as well) to be able to organize and slice and dice your content in any way you see fit; these taxonomies also automatically create RSS feeds
- which leads me to the second point: with all the attention blogging has been getting, Drupal can be seen as allowing you to install your own shared blogging tool; different users (admins, moderators, etc.) might have permission to post directly to the front page, but everyone can write their own blog items; each blog has it's own RSS feed, as does the front page and many other areas
- ok, here's a bonus third one: did I mention that Drupal imports RSS feeds as well? these can be displayed anywhere, and "blogged" about directly by clicking on an icon next to the item

From a development standpoint, Drupal is built of very, very, very nice PHP code. It is very simple to extend and customize, and more useful features are being added all the time.

Behind the scenes: sounds like the IE6 "flash of unstyled content" issue -- not a problem with Drupal. Could also have been a delay in loading the CSS stylesheet because of the /. crowd.

--
Boris Mann

bsimser’s picture

bsimser commented

Boris,

Thanks for points. Sometimes its hard to see the potential for something like Drupal because it's like a lump of clay and, with enough molding, can be anything you want it to be. Sounds well suited for a lot of things that I can see a use for so now I'm off to investigate how much I can tweak and tune it.