Drupal is a powerful, open-source CMS (content management system) that has come a long way since its advent. From being a simple CMS tool, Drupal has evolved into being a robust web development platform used by hundreds of thousands of web developers worldwide. More than 200 countries use Drupal, and it is available in 182 languages. Websites of well-known brands like Sony Music, The Economist, White House, Ubuntu and Harvard are powered by Drupal.
Drupal comes with a number of advanced features and a relatively easy to use admin interface. Its built-in report generation tools make it one of the most favorite CMSes for webmasters and website owners.
However, just like any other technology, Drupal has its negatives. This post discusses pros and cons of Drupal, which should be considered while choosing a platform for your new site. Read on:
Drupal Pros
1. Feature Rich. Drupal comes with an array of user-friendly features. Some major features offered by Drupal CMS include the menu management, user account registration, system administration and RSS-feeds. These features offer high-end usability and facilitate the development of basic websites, forums and blogs.
2. Advanced Admin. The admin panel in Drupal comes embedded with advanced features and functionalities. These include an easy and instant creation of new user accounts and setting custom permissions for existing users.
3. Design Customization. Drupal offers great design and development tools. It has thousands of pre-built themes and templates that can make the entire process of web development to be a piece of cake. All that the user needs do to create a Drupal-based site is to install a pre-built theme and add the text content. Drupal also gives users the freedom to customize their own templates, which can be extremely handy for advanced developers and online brand building.
4. Robust Content Creation and Management. Creating and managing the content in Drupal is a pretty simple task. With a WYSIWYG editor one can easily copy/paste text copy, add/move images, and embed videos.
5. Scalable. Drupal-based web solutions are scalable and can be extended to new versions at any given time. The 7,000+ plugins available in Drupal can help you to expand the capabilities of your site and increase your website security.
6. User Collaboration. Drupal makes collaborating with users to be a very easy process. Drupal-based sites give users the freedom to contribute while the admin can exercise the control over what is being created and published on the site.
Drupal Cons:
Some issues have got Drupal thumbs down from website users as well as web developers:
1. Poor Usability. From a usability perspective, Drupal is still far behind WordPress. It has a difficult learning curve and is tougher to use compared to Joomla and WordPress.
2. Slow Loading Times. The loading times of Drupal-based sites is considerably higher than the page load speed of WordPress-based sites. The high number of tools and features embedded in the Drupal CMS can affect its performance in terms of usability.
3. Compatibility Issues. The backward compatibility of Drupal is not very impressive. Since the platform is comparatively new, it is not compatible with several other systems and platforms. If you are accustomed to using other systems, then Drupal is definitely may not be the right choice for you.
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