When coming to content management systems, it cannot deny that Drupal is a common system. Hence, have you ever wondered what is Drupal, or how to make use of this framework?
As an open-source web content management framework, this CMS platform has provided an astonishing number of different types of sites and applications for free. Written in PHP by a hard-working team, Drupal is an amazing choice for dynamic digital experiences.
If you are going to dive deeper into Drupal, this article is written for you! With these 5 frequently asked questions about Drupal, it is worth keeping reading and discussing.
What is Drupal?
Now let us answer the question “What is Drupal?” Drupal is a content management system (CMS), which is free and open-source, and is coded in PHP and licensed under the GNU General Public License. It is the engine that drives most of the digital interactions you enjoy.
Drupal has been singled out for its flexibility and modularity. It provides a list of basic features, including simple content creation, high performance, and strong protection. But what makes it stand out from the competition is that it can be extended with thousands of add-ons. These modules add on to the capabilities of Drupal while themes enable one to change how the content is displayed.
In addition, Drupal is not only a CMS, but also a web application framework. It fulfills most of the standard feature requirements that are characteristic of such web frameworks. Despite the fact that the Drupal has a very powerful API for developers, the installation of the site and the management of the framework can be done without any coding skills.
Currently, Drupal is used in at least 14% of the most popular sites in the top 10,000 in the world. It is adopted by personal blog sites, corporate web sites, political web sites, and government web sites. The Drupal community is one of the biggest open source projects in the world with over 1.39 million members.
Who Are the Customers of Drupal?
As we proceed to answer the question, “What is Drupal?” it is crucial to consider the program’s wide range of customers. Some of Drupal’s customers are in businesses, universities, non-profit organizations, and government.
As per the records, approximately 1,678,660 websites are Drupal customers. This entails 474,792 live websites employing Drupal and 1,203,868 other websites that at one point in time utilized Drupal. Currently, there are 172,643 websites in the United States alone that are using Drupal.
Drupal is most commonly used by companies with 1-10 employees and the company’s revenue is between 1M-10M dollars. Some of the big names that have deployed Drupal include SEO Inc. , Infosys Ltd, HTS Inc. Consultants, Fujitsu Ltd, Panasonic Corp.
As for the market share, Drupal occupies approximately 2.5% in the Web Content Management category. The second most used system is among the top 10,000 sites on the internet and has 9. 4% of these sites developed on Drupal. This trend persists in the current generation with the top 100,000 sites (6. 4%) and the top one million sites (2. 7%) using Drupal.
Why Should You Choose Drupal?
If you are wondering, “What is Drupal?” and thinking of using it for your web development project, then you are in the right direction. Drupal is an open-source web CMS that is preferred in 2024. It is like building with Legos, except instead of Legos it is about web development. It is very easy to begin with a simple layout and then expand or reduce the number of components, or even change their positions to have a web site that is both different and individual.
1. Reliability and Security
When one poses a question such as ‘What is Drupal?’ there is a need to look at its stability and security features. Drupal has stood the test of time for more than 15 years in terms of vulnerability on the critical internet. This is because of the hardworking Security Team that is always on the lookout for any possible weakness that may be exploited.
Drupal has very good coding standards and it is strongly coded; the code is reviewed by the Drupal community, which helps to reduce many of the security issues. This process is well coordinated and well timed to ensure that any possible security risks are investigated, validated and posted on the website.
Also, Drupal has been recognized for its strong security features. For example, the Drupal REST & JSON API Authentication module limits and protects access to your Drupal site APIs with different types of authentication. These are Basic Authentication, API Key Authentication, JWT Authentication, OAuth Authentication, and External / Third-Party Provider Authentication.
Many professionals have thoroughly examined Drupal, and they maintain it to be very safe. Information is constantly passed, passwords are protected, and the community evaluates the modules. These are just a few reasons why Drupal is one of the safest Content Management Systems in the world.
2. Free and open resources
To answer the question, “What is Drupal?”, one must first understand that it is an open-source platform. This means that it is open source and therefore it does not cost anything to use and is supported by developers. However, the strength of Drupal is the availability of resources for its users.
According to the data, by 2024, there are over 1. 7 million websites that are powered by Drupal. This includes 12.8% of the most popular 10,000 sites. There are more than one million members in the Drupal community and over 250 million downloads of Drupal modules. These figures show that Drupal is widely used and is rather popular.
Drupal has over 40 000 modules that allow a site to be enhanced beyond the standard features. These are similar to add-ons or plugins which enable you to extend your website and make it more specific to your requirements. Starting from the search engine optimization to the e-commerce module, almost everything is available.
Another useful source available in Drupal is reports. These reports are helpful in providing information on everything ranging from available updates for your core Drupal modules to the status of your website. This makes the management of your site to be easy and efficient.
Some popular websites also use Drupal as well. For instance, Tesla Motors, Warner Music, and even Australian government have their websites developed in Drupal. These examples show that Drupal is very versatile and can adapt to almost any situation.
3. Flexibility and Scalability
It is worth mentioning that Drupal is one of the most modular systems in the industry. This architecture enables the developers to develop new functionalities and also to incorporate other tools easily.
For example, let us take the example of UNICEF. UNICEF, one of the biggest NGOs in the world, utilizes Drupal to deliver crucial services to children in more than 190 countries. They were able to develop a platform which could be easily modified to suit their needs due to the flexibility of Drupal.
Another advantage of Drupal is scalability. The good thing with Drupal is that it grows with your business. It makes sure that your website is always strong, fast, and capable of withstanding higher traffic and data. For instance, Harvard University employed Drupal to provide digital aid for hundreds of global initiatives and 14,000 global visits annually.
Further, Drupal is also capable of being used for small websites as well as large enterprises’ platforms. This makes it suitable for large sites with lots of content to display to its visitors. Therefore, no matter the size of your business, from a small business to a big company, Drupal is suitable for your business.
4. A dedicated supporting community
The Drupal community is a lively and extensive society that comprises more than one million engaged users. This community is not only massive, but it is also very friendly.
It is made up of developers, designers, and users who participate in the platform. They make sure that Drupal is current, safe, and progressive. This collaborative spirit is one of the key strengths of Drupal and it has been a major factor that has made it to grow to be one of the most popular content management systems in the world.
Each month over 1500 people work on enhancing the Drupal software, translations, documentation and the community. They share a common goal: to make Drupal better for all of us. For example, Kevin Thull began to record sessions at DrupalCamp Chicago in 2013 and even created a kit for other DrupalCamps.
The community also contains a lot of knowledge and resources. In case you have some questions or face some issues, most likely, someone in the community has already answered or solved it. This makes finding solutions as easy as looking up a discussion forum.
How to Use Drupal?
For over a decade, we at Designveloper have been specializing in web development and have completed over 100 projects in more than 20 industries. One of our areas of expertise is Drupal, a powerful content management system used by more than 1.7 million websites worldwide. So, let’s dive into the question: “What is Drupal?” and how to use it effectively.
1. How to install and host Drupal?
Drupal is a powerful, free and modular CMS that is used by millions of websites worldwide. It is highly flexible, easily scalable, and has a massive and active developer base that is constantly enhancing and adding new features.
Now, let’s guide you through the process of installing and hosting Drupal – an exercise we have done many a time on various client projects.
- Get the Code: The first thing that needs to be done is to download Drupal from the official website of the CMS. Select the version that will be more appropriate for your needs.
- Upload the Drupal Files: Subsequently, transfer the downloaded file to your web hosting account. This process may differ depending on the hosting provider that you are using.
- Create a Database: Before you can run the installer, you will have to create a database that Drupal will use. This is important because Drupal uses this database to store site related data.
- Run the Installer: Now it is time to run the installation script. This script will help you make the necessary selections regarding the language, profile, database, and site configuration.
- Status Check: Once the installation is complete, it is necessary to determine the status of your site. This assists in checking that everything is in order.
Please, do not consider these steps as a detailed guide, as this process is much more complex. It may be more complex depending on the exact requirements and the hosting environment that has to be used.
2. How to develop your Drupal websites?
Drupal is a force to reckon in the world of web development since it is currently powering more than 1. 7 million live websites in the world. It’s not only the figures that are involved in this process, though. Thus, one must admit that the actual power of Drupal is in its ability to meet different needs of web development.
When you decide to work with us in developing your Drupal website, you are working with a team that is focused on making our customers happy. We have used over 50 technologies in our projects and we are willing to share that experience with your Drupal site.
Our process is simple yet effective:
- Understanding Your Needs: The first step is to understand your business and your objectives and how you envision the website. This assists us in coming up with a Drupal solution that will meet your specific needs and demands.
- Planning and Designing: After that, we develop a comprehensive schedule for your Drupal website. Our skilled team of designers makes sure that the site is not only efficient, but also aesthetically pleasing.
- Development: This is where the action is at or where the sorcery takes place. Our developers take advantage of Drupal’s large module repository to expand the functionality of your website. We have dealt with modules that are widely known such as Chaos.
- Testing and Deployment: Before the launch, we perform a quality assurance check to make sure that your website is free from bugs and glitches. Once this is done, we launch your Drupal website into the world.
- Maintenance and Support: This is not the end of our job, when we deploy our products. We also offer maintenance and support services to ensure that your Drupal website is always updated and is useful to your business.
3. How to extend Drupal?
Drupal extension is the process of taking your site further than just the out-of-the-box Drupal core distribution. It includes the addition of new functionality and modification of the look of your website. This is made possible through the use of contributed modules and themes which are developed by other users and shared for others to use.
Modules that are contributed are those that are extra features that you can install on your site. These are developed and distributed by the Drupal community and are open source which means they are free. For example, you can discover a module that will enable you to include a photo gallery on your site or a special contact form.
On the other hand, themes alter the look of your site. They decide on the appearance of the site, including the location of the elements and the color and type of fonts. You can make your site look as you wish since there are many contributed themes that you can use.
Now, the question is how can one extend Drupal? Here are the steps:
- Add the Module: If the module is built into Drupal, then you can omit this step. Otherwise, you can add a module through Composer, Drupal UI or Ludwig.
- Install the Module: To get to the Extend page, go to the Manage administrative menu. Find the module you want to install and put a check mark in the square next to it. To activate the new module, click on Install.
- Set Permissions: Once the module has been placed, one has to grant people certain permissions to enable them to use it.
- Configure the Module: Some of the modules are installed in a binary form and need to be configured after installation. This varies by module.
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3. 5 Tips To Choose The Right Web Development Certificate in 2022 |
Which Are the Differences Between Drupal and Other CMSs?
To compare Drupal vs WordPress vs Joomla – 3 CMSs are considered as the top popular ones, let’s see this table.
| Drupal | WordPress | Joomla | |
| Beginners-friendly | No: Drupal requires basic coding skills | Yes | Somewhat |
| Available Themes & Templates | 2000+ Official Drupal Themes | 4500+ Official Free Themes | No Official Template Directory |
| Available Plugins | 44,000+ | 55,000+ | 7,500+ |
| Installation | One-click Install(or 10 minutes with manual installation) | One-click Install(or 5 minutes with manual installation) | One-click Install(or 10 minutes with manual installation) |
| Updates | A set release schedule (One bugfix update per month) | Update roughly every 50-60 days | Update roughly every 10-40 days |
| Support | 5/5(Official documentation & User Forum) | 5/5(Official documentation & User Forum) | 5/5(Official documentation & User Forum) |
To wrap up the comparison between Drupal vs WordPress vs Joomla, let’s discuss for which kind of business you should use each CMS.
If you, a non-tech person, start with a small business, WordPress is the better choice because this all-rounder simple CMS will help you build a full-featured website.
If you are finding a highly customized CMS, this will meet all your requirements. In addition, Drupal is the first choice for technical experts when they can handle every issue, create new modules, and design your own website.
Joomla attracts customers because it provides strong and powerful security as well as a useful user management scheme. If it is what you need, then keep an eye on Joomla.
In summary, with endless attempts, Drupal has proven why it is known as one of the most popular content management systems in the world. With a deep understanding of what is Drupal, and how it works, you can create and develop your anticipated website.
If you find this article helpful and informative, don’t forget to share it widely! And feel free to leave your comment below in case you have any questions, guys!
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