Introduction to Drupal
Distributed under General Public License (GNU), Drupal is nothing but an open source content management framework. A good digital experience goes beyond the appearance and has become a market differentiator in this competitive world. In recent years, with the help of Digital experience platforms (DXP), global companies are focusing on creating a better digital experience that effectively communicates and engages with its users through their website, mobile apps and in many other ways.
With the advent of the digital age, the role, impact, influence of digital experience has garnered tremendous respect and attention. It is a digital experience platform that is written in PHP language. Ranging from government, corporate, political to personal blogs, around 2.3% of websites are supported by the Drupal back-end framework.
Understanding Drupal
It has similar features like any other content management system. With the help of this, one can develop a wide range of complex and large websites with ease. It consists of menu management, account registration, system administration, RSS feeds, taxonomy, and page layout customization. It is a web application framework that serves as a single or multi-user blog or a website. Programming skills are not required for the administration of the framework and website installation. For developers, it offers a sophisticated API.
How to Use Drupal?
Drupal is very flexible as compared to other content management systems. Because of its PHP based template, one can edit or add any information without having any technical knowledge. Web server capable of running PHP and a database to store configuration & content are two basic requirements for running Drupal.
Drupal requires ‘stack’ of Software as:
- Software server
- Software Database
- Interpreting PHP software
Codebase and Database are the two code sets used by every Drupal websites. One gets files and folders when they download Drupal. These folders and files are called as Codebase. These files manage and create all of the website’s content. Database store the content. One can make a duplicate or move the Drupal site by copying these codes. With Drupal it’s easy to upload; edit any type of content in web-based applications.
What is Drupal Good For?
Flexibility along with simplicity is what separates Drupal from other CMS. Its Modular approach of site building makes it easy to understand for newcomers who need both simplicity and flexibility. It is acting as both the Content management system and content management framework for the user. Whether its an online store or news site, one can create a great website by combining the right module. Moving from ‘many to many’ to ‘one to many’, helps its users to create content and interact with each other. Designed from the ground up, it can delegate content creation and site administration to users. After defining user permission, everyone can start collaborating in Drupal.
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It is super easy to install as compared to other CMS. Within an hour one can create a Drupal site with few web-based configuration questions and FTP upload. One can connect with the database in a very short time.
With built-in themes, one can start adding content at any time. Operating and working is extremely easy as compared to other CMS. We can add dynamic content with a website without needing any raw PHP because of its Twig templating system. It has clean generated markup, standards-compliant XHTML.
Why Should We Use Drupal?
- With built-in user interfaces, it translates everything in the system.
- With Drupal, one can connect own website to other site and services.
- It requires no licensing cost as it is open source software.
- It has effective display quality which has the ability to engage its readers.
- One can connect the website with different social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and many others.
- It has many customized themes to create an attractive website. One can also create its own theme by using a base theme for design web-based applications.
- It manages content on web applications, social media sites, informational sites, and member sites
Advantages
- With Drupal, one can add any type of content to their web-based applications such as video, text, blog, real-time statistics, menu handling, etc.
- It has built-in temples for developing web-based applications, thus there is no need to start from scratch.
- It has an organized structure, it is easy to find and reuse the content in Drupal.
- With the help of Drupal’s built-in themes and templates, one can create an attractive and engaging website.
- It has more than 700 plug-ins. As it is an open source, one can create own plug-ins.
Disadvantages
- As compared to other CMS, Drupal doesn’t have a user-friendly interface. Professionals are required for installation.
- It has less compatibility with other software as it is a new content management system.
- It lacks in performance as compared to other Content Management System. It required a strong interconnection for smooth working. It also generates a big server load to the system.
How this Technology Helps you in Career Growth?
Drupal has gained a lot of popularity among numerous companies across the globe as well as India. Adaptation of Drupal websites across the globe is driving the growth of Drupal professionals. Professionals with Drupal skills and experience have a lot of opportunities in this sector. Currently, more than one million websites and applications have Drupal as their Digital experience platform. It has become the first choice for thousands of content-rich, dynamic websites. Professionals can make their flourishing carrier in the field of Digital Media Developer, Web Developer, digital marketing, and many more. Everyone has different reasons for picking up different technologies but learning this surely adds benefit to your skillset and also offers a lot of growth opportunities.
Conclusion
In the above script, we have come up with essential points. This article gives detailed information about its uses, features, advantages, and disadvantages. With Drupal as a Digital experience platform, one can develop a feature-rich, interactive high-quality website that fulfills all web requirements. It helps companies or individuals to deliver web content to the right user at the right time. Organizations or individuals can create an innovative and dynamic website to engage their visitors. With basic knowledge, one can operate Drupal with ease. Besides, one should also take into account that heavy traffic and a slow internet connection can severely affect Drupal websites.
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