This is more of a wish, but my world would be complete if there was a true integration of wordpress into drupal, just like the gallery module integrates Gallery2 and drupal.

Drupal does lots of things well, but wordpress is just more specifically suited for blogging than drupal (in my opinion, of course). Wordpress isn't trying to be drupal, it's just great for blogging, just like Gallery does what it does with a lot more features and usability than drupal. But drupal does everything else for managing communities better. Right now I have to use wordpress for all my blogging and aggregate the feeds into drupal nodes with aggregator2 to have a full community site with user blogs.

Anyway, I'm not looking for suggestions on how to make drupal a blogging solution--wordpress already does everything I need and is more end-user developed (widgets, for example) for blogging. And I'm not trying to start a thread on which is better, worpress or drupal. To me it doesn't make sense to compare them since they're each trying to do different things.

I'm just wondering if anyone else has had this same thought and how realistic it is to hope that someday there might be a wordpress module for drupal. What I'm trying to say is that it would make more sense in my mind for there to be a drupal module that integrates wordpress than to hope that 5 years down the road, drupal would have similarly advanced blogging capabilities. Just like I'm not holding my breath that gallery turns into community plumbing or wordpress suddenly has the capabilities of drupal.

If anyone has comments, please let me know.

Thanks!

Comments

killes@www.drop.org’s picture

Why don't you just use wordpress if you want blog?
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jivyb’s picture

I also happen to really like what drupal does for a community site. So a community site that needs a full blogging component would benefit from a wordpress module for drupal. I have no ill-will toward drupal. I like them both very much and I was trying to suggest that a wordpress module for drupal would be an awesome thing just like I think the gallery module for drupal is an awesome thing. I don't think that the fact that there's a gallery integration for drupal takes away from drupal. It makes drupal better. So I was suggesting that a similar module for wordpress and drupal would make drupal better too. Any module out there tries to extend drupal or make it better somehow...

killes@www.drop.org’s picture

Well, the general consensus in the Drupal developer community is that integrating third party scripts is usually too much hassle and we'd rather improve the modules we have. So I suggest you open feature requests against the Drupal blog module (after checking they don't already exist).
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jivyb’s picture

I can do that (submit feature requests). I was figuring that a wordpress module would be something for a developer outside of the the core drupal developers. I was mostly wondering if it was a pipe dream or if it made sense to other people too.

kulfi’s picture

Big drawbacks, for me, in Drupal's multi-user blogs:

- no automated way to create user-specific subdomains at registration e.g. http://blogger1.mydrupalsite.com
- blogger's can't select their blog theme/colors
- no easy per-blog blogroll blocks

I've yet to evaluate the recently release mysite module, not sure if it addresses any of these needs.

agentrickard’s picture

MySite provides custom homepages similar to iGoogle or MyYahoo, including theming and layout choices, but it does not affect blog themes.

Demo is http://therickards.com/mysite

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eaton’s picture

If Wordpress is perfect for what you need, by all means -- stick with it! There is tremendous overlap in what the two projects do, and their differences are a matter of focus rather than features. In other words, WordPress has focused on polishing its UI and workflow into something very effective and streamlined for blogging, while Drupal has become a more generalized CMS package that is customized by users and developers for individual sites.

While some very focused projects (Gallery, for example) have been integrated in, they have much less overlap in terms of core functionality. Trying to 'integrate' WordPress into Drupal would be like tying two automobiles together because you like the body from one, but the towing capacity of the other.

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jivyb’s picture

So you think there's too much overlap between them for a module to make sense? I'm curious if there are any wordpress users out there and what they think too. It seems to me that you'd have to hire a team of developers for three years to make wordpress into a full-fledged cms like drupal. It does a lot, but you basically only have static pages and posts. It seems a lot more tightly focused on blogging to me and the cms plugins for it are only very basic, almost hacks. But I guess like you say, marrying the two is just a dream. I just can't seem to get drupal's blogging to work for my users' needs and wordpress already does it all...I wondered if anyone else felt the same way or if it's just me:)

eaton’s picture

On the surface, they may hae different approaches to things like administration UI, posting new entries, managing trackbacks, etc... But under the surface, they both do a LOT of the same work, like database abstraction, user permissions management, theming and templating, category management, etc... And they do them in different ways that would have to be integrated with each other.

I want to stress that I'm not trying to sell you on moving to drupal whole-hog. If WP is the best solution for the blogging aspect of what your users need, that's that! After working for a year or two with MovableType, and tinkering a bit with WordPress, I think that a *lot* of the differences are about the cosmetic presentation of administration and management screens, and the workflow that users are presented with. Feature for feature, Drupal + contrib modules has all of WP's features. But WordPress is very focused and presents users with only what they need for blogging.

A number of us have been talking about ways to improve Drupal's built in blogging system. Are there particular failings that you're running into? ie, ways for each blogger to maintain their own private lists of categories, or to approve only comments to THEIR posts, or things like that?

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nikkiana’s picture

I'm a WordPress girl who's been tossed into Drupal due to agreeing to participate in a community blog project and then getting hired to work on the development end of that community...

I know I've definately had some frusterations regarding blog related features that WP has but Drupal doesn't.

For example, blog titles and descriptions. Users that have blogs ought to be able to title and describe their blog, and this should be tied to the blog.module because of permissions reasons. The way the original developers of the site I'm now working on worked around the fact that you can't set titles and descriptions was to create some custom profile fields and then presumably hacked some file that I can't even find to make the title display on the blog. This ended up not working so well because of our permissions structure... Basic authenticated users are commenters, and then there's a second user level for bloggers.. Since the blog titles and descriptions were tied to the profile module and not the blog module, we had to remove access to the blog title and description fields for everyone because confused commenters were creating blog titles and descriptions when they didn't have a blog.

nikkiana
everytomorrow.org - blogsNH

beaglebot’s picture

I found this thread because I was hoping someone had integrated them. All that I really need is something very simple though. A function like the Worpress/Livejournal plaug in so that users can post to the site using wordpress but still maintain their own blog. Outside of posting to the individual logs I need no integration.

mfer’s picture

There is a module for this. It's out for 4.7 and in dev for 5. http://drupal.org/bloginfo

It provides fields for title and description that display in a block. Users edit it just like a profile field but it's not tied to the profile module. Only displays on the users blog pages.

Songstress’s picture

Right, it only displays on the user's blog pages, which makes it about useless, IMO.

Not trying to be negative here and I see this thread is two years old and more -- but after those two years Drupal's blogging module + extensions is still so primitive compared to Wordpress that I was really hoping there was an integration module, too.

Love Drupal for what it does and plan to stick with it because Wordpress doesn't have the breadth of utility. I just really wish I could use Wordpress blogging capabilities on my Drupal site rather than waiting the requisite number of years for Drupal's radically excellent development teams to bring their core blog module up to speed...

Just my thoughts.

jivyb’s picture

I want to give you some specific info in response to your questions, so I'd like to think about it in detail and get back to you. Thanks so much for your response. I've been using drupal for the last 8 months and wordpress for the last 4 months or so. I do need drupal because, as you say, wordpress is very blogging-focused and only presents users like me with what they need for blogging. So to run the rest of my community site I need drupal. I'm surprised that you've found they're so similar under the hood, so to speak. Do you think drupal +user contrib modules have all the features of wordpress+their user contrib plugins, widgets, and themes? The user contrib stuff for worpress seems really strong to me and I'd be interested in your thoughts generally since you know both from a developers point of view. I'll get into specifics in my next response.

buck2769’s picture

Sure, lots of overlap, but really it's open and someone could do it. Why not choose the best of both worlds? Also see ->
http://ls1tech.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=28

Jeff Burnz’s picture

IMHO Drupal and WP are both great blogging tools, it's horses for courses, use what you prefer or are used to...

...WP does have that delicious admin area... hmmm... nice...

neerajinfo1-at-gmail.com’s picture

blogs download for my website ,this blogs used sosical service website so that i want run this blogs in php. so that send blogs code

venkat-rk’s picture

I was just thinking of this today but from another angle with which you may or may not agree.

In the nonprofit sector where I work, the easiest way to start a website seems to be to begin a Wordpress blog. But, I would ultimately like to bring them to Drupal (at least the one that want to more than just blog), so I was thinking if it would be possible to have a module that simply imports a wordpress site into drupal, categories and all. I haven't given deep thought to this, of course, but does this sound interesting to anyone?

nikkiana’s picture

I think it would be helpful... One area that Drupal seems to be lacking in is importation... I think WordPress would be a good place to start, one because it's a rather popular blogging platform... and two, it potentially could be a temporary bridge to convert to Drupal from other systems that don't have importation tools yet. (WordPress seems to got importation down really well for a number of blogging platforms....)

nikkiana
everytomorrow.org - blogsNH

Heine’s picture

There is a wordpress import module under active development: https://svn.bryght.com/dev/browser/wp2drupal

Still needs work though.
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nikkiana’s picture

Do you know how functional of an "in development" it is? I ask because we're looking to import someone using blogger, and I know for a fact that it's easy to import a blog from blogger to WP... is this module functional enough to possibly get me from WP to Drupal as far as entries and titles are concerned? What about comments?

nikkiana
everytomorrow.org - blogsNH

Heine’s picture

It's really in development. I had to modify it for basic node & comment import. Maybe in the next two / few weeks it will become truely useful.
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Borek-1’s picture

Hello nikkiana, there is a working and tested wp2drupal module here: http://drupal.org/node/69706

Borek, http://borber.com/

jivyb’s picture

Wordpress is definitely easier to set up than drupal and since it's so focused on one thing-blogging--it is a good, simple starting point for people to have a first website. But anyone needing more than a one-person blog will feel like they're outgrowing wordpress before too long.

I'd love to see a wordpress import tool AND a module. I seem to want it all:)

But my reasons for still wanting the module is that if someone wants to expand to drupal they don't have to abondon wordpress completely to migrate to drupal. They'll have to learn about all of drupal's ways of doing things, but their blog would function the way it always had. Drupal would retain their existing users who like it but want to use wordpress for blogging. And both of those groups could also have the big benefit of continued access to the very active development going on in both communities, though, of course, the wordpress development would only benefit the blog part of an overall drupal community site. This would be a big plus for me personally. It seems like drupal would really benefit and reach out to lots of new people.

jivyb’s picture

Could a wordpress module function similarly to the gallery module in that it's mostly a wrapper that puts the gallery/wordpress blog into the drupal template,adds a single sign-on feature, and some blocks? Maybe also add the functionality from aggregator2 that turns posts into drupal nodes and matches wordpress categories to drupal taxonomy?

chlobe’s picture

As stated ad inifitum, Worpress and Drupal are two very different beasts, each with their own strengths/weaknesses. Wordpress as a standalone blog tool is best of breed by most measures and its useability is its key strength, particularly the easy customisation as personalised themeing possible in allowing for an individually customised web presence. However Drupal's community building and CMS capabilities are very different strengths. The individualisation of Drupal's native Blog tools are certainly lacking and for this reason the deployment of wordpress-drupal through a wrapper of some kind and SSO would be a welcome addition for sites aiming for a 'community of individuals' rather than an 'individual community' when it comes to blogging capability...

hope that didn't sound too zen....

jivyb’s picture

If that point of view has been stated ad infinitum, the drupal developers who wrote above feel the opposite way--that they're so similar that there's no point to have a wordpress module. Maybe we do need to continue this discussion. Perhaps they're similar if you know the code but very different if you're a user? Anyway, there are a few users who'd really like to see drupal and wordpress work together...

killes@www.drop.org’s picture

The problem is again that the people who want/need the module are not the ones who could write it and OTOH the people who could write it aren't interested. I think you'd really get the most out of your idea if you made useful suggestions about improving the blog module or maybe creating an install profile for bloggers.
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jivyb’s picture

That seems to be what's going on. The people who want a wordpress module can't do it and the people who can don't see the point or don't want to. Thanks for responding.

www.robcomm.net

eaton’s picture

I wouldn't put it quite so harshly as Killes. ;) Rather, I'd say that the people who want a wordpress module aren't familiar enough with the 'under-the-hood' stuff to recognize how large of an undertaking that would be... And the folks who COULD provide an integration module are more interested in improving Drupal's native blogging functionality so that it's a better solution.

One of the points of confusion, I think, is the 'blog' module itself. You can toss it out completely, and use something like the 'story' module to build the equivalent of a single-user WordPress blog quite easily. The configuration and administration interface is not as focused and smoothas WP's, obviously, but the same functionality is there.

For multi-user blogging, the 'blog' module automatically splits up posts by different users into separate 'sub-blogs', but that presentation difference is the only thing that separates it from any other drupal content (like amazon items or images). That kind of flexibility is part of what makes setting up and maintaining a drupal site less straightforward than WordPress.

It's also, though, what causes folks to say, "OK, what specifically about WordPress?" when these discussions come up. I'm of the opinion that some minor feature tweaks (like the ability to set one's own blog title) and a streamlined 'just for blogging' administration tool would bridge the gap without bolting two overlapping products onto each other.

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Songstress’s picture

This was a very insightful response.

Heine’s picture

What features would you like to see in the blog module or Drupal in general to make it more blogger friendly?
I can't really do much with 'like wordpress'. Integrating wordpress is a waste of time when that time can also be used to improve Drupal itself.
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jivyb’s picture

I am making a list of wordpress things I wish were in Drupal. Should I put it in this or in a new thread? I know that there's a formal way to submit feature requests, but I'd like to have a bit of forum discussion on my ideas and hear from other people too...

By the way, I don't agree (not that it really matters) that having a module that integrates a blogging-focused, mature program is a waste of time when it's got features thousands of people love for blogging right now and a huge community.

(please don't think that I'm suggesting that drupal is immature or not as good. but it's not focused on only one area--blogging--like wordpress is, so wordpress seems to have the benefit of experience on only blogs, while drupal does community plumbing that can't compare to wordpress)

www.robcomm.net

eaton’s picture

I've still yet to see any major features that aren't provided either by Drupal Core, or one of the downloadable contrib modules. Some things (like users being able to rename their blogs) are necessary. Others, like automatic 'friendly URL' generation, trackback support, image captchas, easy podcasting support, and spam removal, are available in downloadable modules.

Now, that's not in ANY way dismissive of your frustrations. Although those features are all there, configuring, implementing, and managing them is scattered and difficult to 'get' for someone who doesn't already know Drupal. That's why there's resistance to just providing a 'compatablity module' -- the features are there already for the most part, we just need to put the work on making them usable by non-geek-heads who Just Want To Do It.

This, actually, is something that's being confronted for more than just blogging. I'm looking at the same problems for webcomic management, the civicspace people are tackling it with community site development, etc.

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Heine’s picture

Go ahead and post them right here.
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jivyb’s picture

Hi Everyone,

I just wanted to let you know that I very much want to continue this conversation and provide the detailed info that will be productive for you. However, just as this discussion heated up, I got swamped with projects that I need to finish before I have a baby in a couple of weeks. I will post again as soon as I can--I didn't want you to think I'd just given up on the conversation...

www.robcomm.net

jivyb’s picture

Put this in the category of what you've already heard a million times. Ready?

Putting images in posts. Yep.

I'm setting up a site for a client right now. He just asked me the age-old question "so I see I can easily include an image that's in the menalto gallery (using the g2image plugin, which requires me to use tinymce), but what if people just want to upload an image directly into their post?" Here's a thread by people with the same problem who were trying to use the drupal as a blogging tool for simple end users: http://drupal.org/node/32221

And I've spent 3 hours trying to figure some way my client can use tinymce and upload images directly into a post. I found that image assist sort of helps but in the end, it's very complicated when wordpress does all this out of the box! I just finished following a very long tutorial on getting image assist up and running (it was referenced in the above thread) from a very kind person but I still can't find the info on tiny and image assist. Anyway, something so commonly needed shouldn't take the site administrator hours to figure out, forget the end user and the questions they're going to ask about how it all works...they're just going to want to use another blogging tool that's easier.

Please feel free to enlighten me. Hopefully I'm doing this all the hard way and there's something obvious I'm missing...

edit: Note that the person who wrote the image assist tutorial uses blogger!

venkat-rk’s picture

I assume you prefer to upload images through TinyMCE using the drupalimage plugin. This post might help you:
http://drupal.org/node/70210#comment-131582

jivyb’s picture

Thanks--I finally got it set up and it's working well.

www.robcomm.net

Boris Mann’s picture

1. Deploy identity server (could be Drupal, e.g. with SXIP homesite module)
2. Deploy Wordpress Multi User
3. Deploy Drupal Community Hub that aggregates post from all WPMU blogs, identity server allows login to all systems

Drupal makes an excellent community blogging platform out of the box. WP makes a great individual blogging tool. Aggregation and SSO can join the two together, if you need both.

Drupal as a pro blogger platform? Definitely...see performancing.com. Could still use work in making a blogger install profile.

rickvug’s picture

Drupal isn't too much different in typing up a post or blogging. The reason that it seems harder is due to all of the organizational "cruft" in the admin interface. The solution (IMO) would be to completely revamp the display of the admin side of sites with a specific theme, along with using the forms API to display forms in more user friendly way. Such an extensive revamp is unlikely to happen in the core of Drupal, as the interface will need to be generic and light as possible.

I would watch out for the install profile feature that is currently in alpha/beta. I'm sure that there will be a blogger installation available around the release of 4.8 that would make Drupal much more like WP. Until then, I would recommend using Drupal and putting up with some of the usability gripes for a while until 4.8. Hope this helps your decision.

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Rick Vugteveen | Image X Media (work) | Blog (personal)

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Rick Vugteveen |rickvug.com @rickvug on Twitter

rickvug’s picture

How Drupal Could Become Easy to Learn, Easy to Use
http://www.nicklewis.org/node/837

Here's a post thinking along the same lines.
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Rick Vugteveen | Image X Media (work) | Blog (personal)

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Rick Vugteveen |rickvug.com @rickvug on Twitter

jivyb’s picture

All I can say is "amen" to this bit you wrote:

"The most common reaction I've observed to findability problems is RTFM. However, I see no reason to reach any conclusion other than 'maybe we should think about why this is so difficult to find.'"

I've been told FTFM numerous times usually with a similar comment like "we've told you all this over and over (stop bugging us until you have a real problem)". Then I think, maybe the fact that people keep asking the same things over and over is an indication of something that needs to be improved.

Anyway, back to a wordpress module...I think making the UI more intuitive is a great start but part of why I would like a wordpress module is things like widgetized themes where you can drag and drop your widgets in your sidebar, there are tons of links/blogroll/rss widgets you can add in a snap. I've used drupal for almost a year and I have no idea how I would easily create an rss block or a links block or one that lists categories, etc. I'm sure it's probably easy in drupal and there's at least a way to do it, but it's not as simple as wordpress, which as we've said has the benefit of being solely focused on blogs. There are more suggestions I have and I wanted to more thoroughly test drupal's blogging before I got too specific, but that's the general idea...

If anyone else has specifics please add...

www.robcomm.net

nikkiana’s picture

I've been told FTFM numerous times usually with a similar comment like "we've told you all this over and over (stop bugging us until you have a real problem)". Then I think, maybe the fact that people keep asking the same things over and over is an indication of something that needs to be improved.

I'd say it's either an indication that people are lazy or people are genuinely having problems finding things... Honestly, I think it's probably a combination of both.

nikkiana
everytomorrow.org - blogsNH

rickvug’s picture

All I can say is "amen" to this bit you wrote:

For the record, I'm not Nick Lewis, but thanks :) As for the drag and drop blocks in WP, I think you are talking about Dashboard. It would be really nice if Drupal could add a bit of AJAX to the block system to make it easier to use (ie. Draggable). The base is there, someone just needs to extend it. What would/will be amazing is the summer of code project for a CCK form builder. Now THAT'S power in an easy to use package!

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Rick Vugteveen | Image X Media (work) | Blog (personal)

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Rick Vugteveen |rickvug.com @rickvug on Twitter

jivyb’s picture

(If I understood correctly that you're referring to the dashboard module) Dashboard is probably my favorite module, but there's a difference betweeen looking up your block's name and number, adding php tags and code, and pasting it in a field in a dashboard than having a widgetized theme where you just activate the widget you downloaded in the admin, then go to your list of plugins, turn them on or off, change titles, etc, and drag them into the order you want--nothing even resembling code to do there...

Besides, for example, if you want to display an rss feed in a drupal block, do you first have to figure out the views form and set it up to display an rss view then plug that into your dashboard or do you put your feed in the aggregator? If so, aggregator blocks are named differently from the others and I haven't been able to figure out how to call them in a dashboard like other blocks. Anyway, the point is that drupal is just more complicated and doing something simple like this the first time would probably involve reading handbook pages, using at least two different modules etc., though if you know enough about drupal, it can probably wash your kitchen sink for you and will do so easier if you wait for a future release.

Draggable blocks would be fine if you just want to change the order of drupal blocks without using the number rankings like drupal does now. But wordpress widgets are much more than just draggable as wordpress uses them. I tried explaining further but erased it--if you haven't used widgets in wordpress or even just wordpress in general, I'm at a loss right now in summing up the comparison.

If drupal wants to pull in the wordpress people needing a cms, they're going to need something simpler like a wordpress module (ok, that was a shameless plug for my idea:). If I'm the only one who likes the idea, though, let me know and I'll just send my comments to myself in an email or something:) I don't want this to become a rant. I want to make sure it's productive at least for the drupal developers who are working so hard to improve the drupal blogging.

www.robcomm.net

jivyb’s picture

After visiting your sites and hearing your input, I'm looking forward to giving the drupal blog option a thorough going-over. I think you've all brought up some good points both for and against a wordpress module and being mostly drupallers, you've been very patient with my comments in favor of wordpress.

www.robcomm.net

mctones’s picture

*bump*

OK, this topic has well and truly blown tumbleweed through, but if you would excuse me a small bump - only started looking for something just like this today.

I am currently investigating setting up a community site, and will use drupal as the 'hub' of the site, phpBB for the forum, gallery for photos and would like wordpress for the community blog. Yes Drupal can do all of this BUT it's about choosing the right tool for the job.

To slightly expand, drupal would handle key stories, about, events etc, but for good old community rumours, thoughts, opinions I want that in a wordpress blog, probably using agregator to show in drupal.

Drupal trying to emulate wordpress IMHO is a fruitless expedition, wordpress is streets ahead for blogging from a UI, ease of use, ease of set up, available themes, range of 3pd modules, and I could list more.

My analogy of wordpress-drupal, using a car example as someone did above:

Ferrari and a family saloon (couldn't think of a car that everyone will get) - Yes under the hood they are both the same with an engine, four wheels a steering wheel and you could take the family saloon into a garage and add lots of 3rd Party things to improve it, but you know the ferrari just drives better out of the factory.

At the very least, even a module that would allow me to let people register on the main drupal hub, and the users database is shared with wordpress (much like the phpBB module in development).

tones

coreb’s picture

I understand what you're saying by your analogy, but you have to keep in mind that the two "vehicles" are intended for different purposes. I wouldn't use a Ferrari for carrying around 4 kids and going grocery shopping.

I think what you want is the UI and abilities of Wordpress in Drupal. It may be closer to possibility now that there are admin themes in core. You could create an admin theme for your blogger that has only what they need to blog. I suggest filing feature requests against the blog module in core for the specific things you want that Drupal doesn't have (select "blog.module" in the component box).

And as someone else said earlier, those that want Wordpress in Drupal don't have the understanding of the internals of Drupal to be able to code it. The ones that do have that ability, don't see it as a priority thing to do.

lias’s picture

I think Drupal is good for a basic blog but what I would like to see is the option to change the blog theme per user like Wordpress. I'm trying out the blog module that allows you to post a blog title and description next to the blog which is a definite plus, but in my case, we'd like to get teachers on the blogging wagon and I'm afraid that having everyone's blog look the same is not going to satisfy them because of the lack of different blog designs.

Anyhow, I love drupal, that's why I'm interested in this topic, and while I've already installed Wordpress for testing, it's just one more app I need to wrap my head around, along with all the bugs and modifications that involves.

Lsabug

mfer’s picture

There are a couple options to get what you want. One is http://drupal.org/project/taxonomy_theme. The one that may be more of what you are looking for so the users can select their own blog theme is at http://drupal.org/node/19248. Also, for Drupal 4.7 see the attachment at the bottom of http://drupal.org/node/59318.

valley-1’s picture

I am not sure I am on the right thread but this seems to be the
most recent posting about Migrating from Wordpress to Drupal
using the WP2Drupal module.

I have installed everything and get this error when I try to Migrate

PHP Fatal error: Call to undefined function: _wp2d_custom_process_text() in /home/paratlan/paratlan-www/modules/wp2drupal-4.7.x-2006.06.23/migrate.php on line 913

Where is function _wp2d_custom_process_text() defined ?


function _wp2d_process_text($string) {
    include_once(drupal_get_path('module', 'wp2drupal') . '/user-function.php');
    $string = _wp2d_custom_process_text($string);
    return _wp2d_iconv_if_needed($string);
    
}

Many thanks for pointing to a right thread if this is not the place

lunatinker’s picture

that site has some serios visual problems. using Firefox 2 and Iexplorer.
so there's an integration module for gallery for Drupal.
would a suggestion to have a similar integration with wordpress be a good/bad one?
There are a ton of threads on WPgallery2 integration (installed on one db)
and migrating WP to Drupal.

MrMercutio’s picture

Just to add my .2 cents worth to this thread, but the ability to integrate WordPress was why I chose to go with Xoops CMS instead of Drupal this time around, even though I like Drupal better. Its WP-module allows you to have Wordpress as an integral part of your site, and I would like to see that for Drupal as well.

Why did I go that route? In a way it's a redundancy-issue where an integration may be a bit complicated but on the other hand it is less complicated than duplicating the functionality of Wordpress. WP does blogging very, very well, and since it is open source it would be, IMHO, a bit on the wasteful side to not use the open source-angle and incorporate it into another open source project.

If Drupal had a WP module, I'd switch, but as long as it doesn't have it I'll stick with what I consider an inferior system.

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http://bloggenbent.dagenspolitik.se

mfer’s picture

I can understand your desire to use wordpress for blogging. But, drupal does blogging on it's own. There is the blog module and being someone who has used both wordpress and drupal to blog I have been quite happy with it.

Because, drupal has it's own blogging module don't expect wordpress integration. It's not needed.

But, I wonder what functionality in wordpress you desire that's not in drupal with contributed modules? I am honestly curious and being a blogger who uses drupal it might be something I would be interested in writing. Constructive feedback is always appreciated.

Though, if your reason is just because it's wordpress that's not something constructive and is not about functionality but your personal preference. We want to make drupal better and are looking for how.

--
Matt
http://www.mattfarina.com

lunatinker’s picture

well, for starters, operating on a 10 table database instead of the 57 for each gallery and drupal.
in some ways, that alon show how much easier it would be to tie-in to wordpress?
more curious than knowing anything for sure.

MrMercutio’s picture

The reason I wanted it was because it would be the easy way. There was a substantial blog already, and Xoops offered me a way to be lazy and just coopt the WordPress blog as a plugin. A minimum of search & replace in a sql-file allowed me to import the blog into the joint xoops-wordpress database at once and without effort.

So, basically it offers the user a chance to save a lot of time and hassle. Besides, Wordpress is a fantastic blogging platform and is a blogging standard - which means that it is more easily hooked into other services like the ping servers and such. You save time by not having to find (or possibly create) your own solutions for the extra bits around the blogging.

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http://bloggenbent.dagenspolitik.se

mfer’s picture

Wordpress is not a blogging standard. It is a popular and great open source blogging platform, sure. I have used it. But, not a standard.

Just because wordpress is great doesn't make it the only option to use and it's not the only option out there. Drupal has a blog and there are features that can easily plugin to that, too. For example there is the ping module. It lets you ping just like wordpress.

Drupal is not going to integrate wordpress unless someone wants to do it as a contributed module. At this point no one does. Complaining about it won't do any good but any suggestions on functionality would be appreciated. We are looking to improve drupals blog and not just replace it.

Matt
--
Matt
http://www.mattfarina.com

MrMercutio’s picture

Why do you think I'm complaining? You'd know it if I was complaining. I'm just telling you why I chose another solution that better fitted my needs, and my reasoning for acting the way I did. If that's not really interesting, then I can live with that. I'd still act the way I did and choose the tools that best fitted my requirements. If Drupal doesn't fit my requirements, then I won't use drupal. If drupal would, at some future date, live up to my requirements, I'd use Drupal.

It's as simple as that.

Meanwhile I can always try to debate my reasoning. But again, if that's not really interesting. I can always live with that.

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http://bloggenbent.dagenspolitik.se

secrets123’s picture

Hi, First all I love drupal as the best opensource project.
But as far as blogging goes there are many reasons I prefer Wordpress actually wpmu for community blogging.
Feature's that would be great in drupal if not integrated with wpmu
1.Each user has a blog admin panel in drupal where they can change colours of blog.
2. Move widgets.
3. select different themes already uploaded by admin.
4. subdomain for blog like john.drupal.com for john's blog.
5. approve/dissaprove comments
6. upload pics
7. Individual blogroll
8. Ability fir user to Categorise his post's.
9. custom sidebar
That's what I could think for now and also to keep blog like a complete different site of user.
My 2 cents.
Cheers.

Seneschall’s picture

I know this is old, but one main important reason not to use wordpress is simply because here in China (and I believe Pakistan, Iran & a few other select countries) Wordpress is simply blocked. That's billions of potential users who would find my upcoming site completely useless if drupal tied into Wordpress directly.

As an optional module, then great! But tied into drupal, rendering my sites unviewable to 1/4 of the world population, then forget it.

bergenudd’s picture

You seem to have installed Wordpress and Drupal on the same server. I have some problems with that since both programs use a rewriting via an .htaccess that rewrites all urls on the site. that means that either drupal or wordpress get all the urls in their format and the other program is left out in the cold.

Could you point me to any resources on how to set this up

kodiat’s picture

Maybe I'm one of not so many people who think Drupal and WordPress can go together to get the best of both world. Just published a Drupal module to integrate WordPress within. This module has not been contributed to Drupal web site, tho. Works with Drupal 5 and WordPress 2. Your inputs are welcomed!

Heine’s picture

Thank you for your hard work.

Unfortunately, the module is rife with SQL injection vulnerabilities. For the Drupal part you may want to read Writing secure code , esp. the section Database access to prevent such mishaps.
--
The Manual | Troubleshooting FAQ | Tips for posting | How to report a security issue.

phillamb168’s picture

We've got a celebrity client who uses wordpress for posting to her blog because of ease-of-use, and migrating the blog functionality isn't much of an option, so I was thinking about figuring out a way for Drupal to create a sort of pseudo-node for everything that's created via wordpress. Your module may be the solution for me, but I was curious how development is coming along?

thunksalot’s picture

Man, I just finished reading this whole thread and am bummed out. I was and am still seriously considering using Drupal to develop a community portal for an organization (which already has multiple vibrant blogs implemented with Wordpress). One of my primary considerations in looking at community portals is the ease of integrating Wordpress. Why? Is it because I don't think Drupal or any other community portal could have blogging features that are just as good? No! It has *nothing* to do with the feature sets. I simply don't want to mess with something that is working perfectly as is. Why fix something that isn't broken?

Asking to be able to easily integrate Wordpress blogs into a Drupal portal is an eminently reasonable request. I don't see why the Drupal developers should be so arrogant as to insist that I should move all of an organization's active Wordpress blogs into Drupal just because I want to use Drupal for some of its non-blogging features. That kind of "our way or the highway" attitude is a bad way to treat users, which makes me wary. I would tell any commercial developer to go where the sun doesn't shine if they treated me the way the users in this thread have been abused for suggesting a Wordpress module. If I weren't already considering implementing my own SSO solution (over-top of Wordpress, Drupal and any other best of breed app I may want to add to my portal), I think I would rule out Drupal after having read this.

SyGo’s picture

not only that, sometimes it's simply political.

It took quite some convincing a board of directors to let me install wordpress and get my company blogging. now I thought i'd take it to the next step and create an in-company social network, which possibly means me stepping forward and saying "I was wrong about wordpress, let's install this instead"...not the coolest move I can make for myself and in all probability I won't.

As to your second paragraph, I couldn't agree more. The sort of attitude you describe is the modus operandi of company's who are out there for world domination, which is fine, but every consumer has been down that road before and it's general consensus that sucks big time to be that dependent of them (and on an ethical and moral level seems to collide with what opensource is supposed to achieve).

also, creating fortifying walls and refusing integration is a very nice way to become an island. and in today's world I thing it's wiser to create partners and synergies that are simply not available in other business models (I can think sharepoint services, top of my head).

All this is strictly my own personal opinion and in regard to the hole I digged for myself. :) your are all obviously welcomed to disregard it, however, there is clearly a group of people who would like to see this happen, and disregarding that is setting a very nasty precedent.

sepeck’s picture

Asking to be able to easily integrate Wordpress blogs into a Drupal portal is an eminently reasonable request. I don't see why the Drupal developers should be so arrogant as to insist that I should move all of an organization's active Wordpress blogs into Drupal just because I want to use Drupal for some of its non-blogging features.

My how fast the descent into name calling goes. Do you agree with the previous poster that if someone you don't pay doesn't agree with you they should be deemed as arrogant? Do you support this as a method to get what you want?

This is Open Source software. Drupal is not WordPress. It is older then WordPress and does not strive to be WordPress. It strives to be an integrated CMS where all the content is well, integrated.

The active, regular code contributors have a vision of Drupal. You and the previous poster have different needs. Those needs do not match the existing contributors needs, desire or vision. WordPress and Drupal are very different and serve very different needs and goals. If you are after just a blogging platform, by all means, use WordPress. However, if you need more, then Drupal may be the solution for you.

That said, as Open Source (GPL) software, you can write code to bridge the two products as you desire. You can pay someone to write code to bridge with WordPress as you need. Note, I do not say integrate. Integration infers that they become one. Integration is not really possible. Bridging is the more likely outcome. You have some very complex considerations and it would require dedicated resources familiar with both products. You have to account for accounts, database schema's, passwords, URL's, software versions, security releases, content, search indexes and methodologies. For an example of the complexities of bridging, see the Gallery module.

For the previous poster, calling people arrogant is not a way to entice others to code for free nor change their vision. Just saying 'a reasonable request' does not actually simplify the complexities, it pretends that doing such a bridge or integration is not complex and fragile.

-Steven Peck
---------
Test site, always start with a test site.
Drupal Best Practices Guide -|- Black Mountain

-Steven Peck
---------
Test site, always start with a test site.
Drupal Best Practices Guide

SyGo’s picture

nor anyone wants it to be.

I do agree that it's a bit arrogant *not* to address issues that clearly are in demand by the community that actually *uses* the platform developed. what is arrogant is really to insist that we are dumb, that we should migrate, when sometimes (as I exposed my own situation) that simply isn't the available/best route.

(mind you that in a 66 reply thread staring in 2006 where every single response to the problem is really "migrate, drupal does that" is simply calling us dumb...we know that feature exists, I'm sure most of us did their home work and dedicated enough time to find out what drupal is and what we can do with it...that's why we are requesting a feature that *isn't there*. repeating "migrate", "drupal does that on it's own" obviously does not address our request)

Do I understand drupal's development stand on this? Sure I do! Am I happy with it? No. And the only thing I can really do is voice my need and add my reply to the others requesting a feature. I have all the respect in the world for the regular contributors vision (as you put it) however, addressing your users (or potential users) requests with a bit more then "migrate!" shows the same respect for our *needs*.

You can call it what you will: integration, bridging, lit'tid'bits of code, but at the end of the day what this group of users (mind this: *USERS*) is requesting is merely using their existing platform with drupal. if that sounds outrageous in some way... my bad.

as to the 3rd paragraph you are right...I ended my message with that same claim, I was posting in regard to the hole I digged for myself. maybe drupal isn't for my current project at hands.

But name calling is ugly...i won't argue with that. :) but you can imagine that getting the same reply over and over and that reply simply not addressing *our* issue is a tad little bit frustrating.

Sure it's GPL, I can pay someone or If I had the talent I could do it myself... but being GPL and drupal already having a cohesive group of contributors I thought I'd first give the push for *you* guys do it, since it seems to me it's in everyone's best interest. If it's not going to happen...fine, it's not going to happen.

Cheers Steven, and thanks for the reply.

ideviate’s picture

Custom Wordpress Mu integration module:

I have a custome module for sell that integrates Drupal and Wordpress Mu. This allows your users to create and administer their own blogs. Once a Drupal user is created they are able to utilize the Wordpress Mu. Users must re-authenticate (login) in your blog section, but not register. The module works great and increses your sites fuctionality. I am selling for $100USD.

You may contact me by e-mail ddhart77@yahoo.com

http://drupal.org/node/258539

Here is the integration module, and he is selling it. :(

Drupal to rule them all :) ideviate

Songstress’s picture

I'd settle for the same kind of integration bridge that exists for SMF/Drupal. The way it works, users log in on the Drupal side and are automagically logged in on the forum (SMF).

There one of these for Drupal/MediaWiki too, but it's been written by the MediaWiki folks. Same deal -- Drupal is the master login.

With my limited understanding of PHP/SQL, it seems this approach would avoid all the "massive differences under the hood" problems and simply provide a way for users to access differing parts of a huge community site without having to log in multiple times.

Believe me I understand that the radically excellent Drupal developers (and they really are, IMO) would like for me to use THEIR forum, and THEIR blogging module -- and I tried both with my userbase. They're putting up with the blogs because that's all we've got, to date, but I was at least able to set up a forum that served their specific needs a bit better than Drupal's did/does.

Specific blogging needs were asked for several times in this thread and provided in several cases. For my part and my users, I'd like their individual blogs to be an extension of their site presence, becoming their little piece of LCG while they're hanging out there. Attached to MySite (or not, as they choose), with an extended profile and widgets, a way to "tag" posts for different characters and games (which they could do now with taxonomy access, I know, but not easily), the ability to select a different user pic for each post (a la LiveJournal), etc.

So I'll continue to check back from time to time, or maybe think of some "outside the box" ways this could be accomplished on our site -- but I really do hope someone with a lot more expertise in PHP than I've got will figure out how to make a login integration type module work.

synth3tk’s picture

I go searching, in hopes of finding something to help build my community, and here I find two years-worth of back-and-forth. After reading for over half-an-hour, I basically got the feeling that it's all Drupal or nothing. Sure, the original vision was/is completely different than ours, that's respectable.

What's not, is when a group of people, neigh, USERS, voice their opinions for a suggestion, and they get shunned with a broken record stating we should either use Drupal or use Wordpress, but never both. I'm not going to repeat what was said above, since this is a pretty old post, but there are multiple reasons for integrating other apps.

And yes, I realize that most of the ones who are calling for this module, are technically-challenged in the coding area, but is it really that hard to find one coder who's semi-interested in making this happen?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to storm off in a huff or call the devs poopie faces or anything. Just posting in agreement.

NewZeal’s picture

I think the feeling is that there are some people who want Drupal coders to create a Wordpress bridge/integration as a feature request and the developer responses are based on that. What these people and you should really be doing is going over to the paid-services page and employing a developer to create an integration. No doubt many developers have done such a module but no one yet has contributed back to the community and as pointed out, a developer on this thread is advertising such a module for $100. You can pay that $100 and then contribute it back to the community if you like (see link http://drupal.org/node/258539 and then follow through to the link regarding the GPL license).

If you really see value in an integration then you need to put your money where your mouth is rather than just getting sad. Most contrib modules only exist because some sponsor or other saw fit to give back to the community.

Passing Phase Web Development

WorldFallz’s picture

...but is it really that hard to find one coder who's semi-interested in making this happen?

Nope, not at all-- if you're willing to hire one. If all the 'USERS' complaining about needing this integration pooled resources and actually hired a developer it would be done already.

The very fact that such a module doesn't yet exist in spite of "two years-worth of back-and-forth" suggests that coders are, in fact, not interested in coding this. More than likely because they too believe it's not necessary to integrate the two.

At least let's be honest about the real issue-- users wanting significant coding effort for free.

Such an integration is not a matter of contributing a few minutes of coding as frequently done here in the forums. What you're asking for is non trivial functionality that coders, to date, have not had the need for themselves for free-- doesn't seem quite fair.

If you want something for drupal that is not currently available you basically have two choices:

1) code it yourself
2) hire someone to code it for you

Complaining in the forums and and trying to berate people into doing for you for free is not a winning formula. ;-(

===
"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." - Ben Franklin
"Search is your best friend." - Worldfallz

macrodesign’s picture

I have been looking for similar questions, now I am convinced, Drupal is the world with possibilities.

Thank you all, this discussion is only possible with Drupal. (with due respect to all others)

I am learning, soon I will become a contributor and surely I will experiment on this subject.

Best wishes
Danish

richmck’s picture

I think that it is worthwhile looking at other tools such as PhpBB, Moodle, SugarCRM and Wordpress and figuring out some sort of standard bridge strategy. At the very least having some sort of SSO. I think that most of these tools are php based and use MD5 hash to encrypt the password. Perhaps separating out the username and password from the rest of the user table would be a start. I think that someone could write it, but this is a module that perhaps needs some discussion and a community consensus before being written. This would allow the creation of mashups between the major opensource applications.

jrdixey’s picture

As much as I'd like to see Drupal have the perfect blogging module to replace WP, and the perfect LMS module to replace Moodle, sometimes those other platforms are already in place, or are preferred for those functions some other reason (for instance, at a lot of .edus, Moodle is already in place as an LMS, and/or is seen as the frontrunner candidate for an OSS LMS, something that has usually been under discussion for years -- thus it would take a huge mind-shift to generate support for a Drupal LMS module instead).

I'm just thinking, based on your comment, I wonder if some overarching authentication module (similar to Shibboleth, http://shibboleth.internet2.edu/) might make sense. Maybe it could even be a version of Shibboleth.

I know authentication is built in to the Drupal core, but if there were a way to do what you're suggesting in your comment, it would make Drupal easy to integrate with other platforms. Could a module be written that causes Drupal authentication to trigger a set of PHP scripts that would (securely) also authenticate the user to the other platforms installed on the same server?

I would think that, rather than separating the username and password from the Drupal user table, which would involve a major change to Drupal core, there could be a cross-referencing table in another separate database outside of Drupal that relates different authentication data from the different platforms; combined with prompts for the user to supply their Moodle/WP/what-have-you auth details in order to link them (or, if they don't have them yet, establish authentication for them in those systems). It would make Drupal the 'gateway', but in a way that didn't mess with Drupal core.

Unfortunately I am a Drupal and PHP novice, so I guess that puts me into the category of "people who want this feature but don't know yet how to make it happen".

WorldFallz’s picture

Could a module be written that causes Drupal authentication to trigger a set of PHP scripts that would (securely) also authenticate the user to the other platforms installed on the same server?

Drupal is as much a framework as it is an application-- anything can be be coded. There's nothing preventing anyone from coding anything they want. As I said above, the fact that it hasn't been indicates that the people with the skills to do so have not found it to be a worthwhile project.

It's really very simple-- if users without coding skills really want a module then they can sponsor a developer to write it. All the posting in the forums and the "+1"s in the world are not going to change that. If all the "+1"s coordinated a bounty instead of posting in the forums it would be done already. If it's not worth a bounty to the people that actually want it, why should developers, who don't want/need it, be expected to work on it for free?

Jeff Burnz’s picture

If it's not worth a bounty to the people that actually want it, why should developers, who don't want/need it, be expected to work on it for free?

This logic makes perfect sense. Much more so than the illogical argument that because a very small number of users want something therefore the people with the skills to do it should step up, for free. That argument riles me something bad as we do do a lot for free but we cannot please everyone. After all we are mostly here to please ourselves, this is OUR leisure time we are spending - please don't demand on me how I should spend it.

MaskedMarauder’s picture

This has already been done for phpBB. There is a site that claims to have done it for WP too, but I haven't been able to find the module. It seems broken, moved or abandoned. If anyone knows where the bugger is hiding, please let me know.

http://wpcandy.com/plugins/integrate-drupal-with-wordpress.html

NewZeal’s picture

I do not know about the site you linked to but there is a Drupal/Wordpress integration here: http://webbopolis.com/home

Login as mytest/mytest. If you want a contact email get in touch with me.

NewZeal’s picture

Have you considered OpenID: http://openid.net/? Drupal has a module: http://drupal.org/project/openid and according to that page it is in Drupal 6 core. This is the ultimate overarching authentication method.

Also regarding Moodle: I have developed sites using this and while it has market share, it is severely limited in terms of flexibility and comes with more features than many e-learning sites need. Also it is based on an old world bricks and mortar form of learning and is not really shaped for many forms of online learning. There is an opportunity for a Drupal module to be developed to fill a rather large niche in on-line learning requirements.

jrdixey’s picture

I agree that Moodle is not necessarily ideal; but it is already in place in a lot of institutions, or is being seriously considered as a front runner to replace expensive licensed LMS's. The glacial pace of institutional decisionmaking means that a lightning-fast switch from Moodle to a Drupal module would be very difficult to effect. However, I believe there is at least one Drupal LMS module already under development.

jrdixey’s picture

New Zeal made a great suggestion. OpenID! Of course that's all that's needed, because Shibboleth's strength lies in being able to authenticate to multiple servers/providers simultaneously, and all I had in mind was being able to authenticate to multiple installed applications on the same server. If I'm not mistaken, OpenID would work for that, and a module already exists. If I make it work for Drupal/WP integration, I'll post another note here.

bwright’s picture

I just discovered this:

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/external-database-authentication/

This won't integrate WP & Drupal but it does allow you to easily set up single sign on. I have it installed on WP 2.8 and am now able to have my Drupal users login to WP with their Drupal username/password.

sharpend’s picture

@brad

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/external-database-authentication/

Im trying to do this exact thing, but with wordpress 3.1... I have installed the plugin and it 'works' for my user only, but no others on my drupal site. Any chance I could see your settings for this plugin?

many thanks.

Blake