What is Drupal?

Drupal is a free software package that allows an individual or a community of users to easily publish, manage and organize a wide variety of content on a website. Drupal is open-source software distributed under the GPL ("GNU General Public License") and is maintained and developed by a community of thousands of users and developers. Tens of thousands of people and organizations are using Drupal to power scores of different web sites, including: Built using modern techniques, and under constant improvement by the rabid developer community, Drupal has a number of powerful advantages over other open-source, commercial, and custom content management systems:
  • The ability to access content in a number of different ways.
  • An established security team that releases updates whenever a vulnerability is discovered.
  • Zero licensing costs.
  • Built-in caching for high-visibility sites.
  • Role-based permission system.
  • Advanced taxonomy system.
Drupal is not a desktop application. It is commonly run on a Linux-based server using the PHP scripting language and the MySql database, all of which are also open-source projects. For development and evaulation purposes, Drupal is often run on standard Windows, Macintosh, and Linux based personal computers commonly using an all-in-one local server enviornment such as MAMP or XAMPP. A common question people who are inquiring about Drupal often ask is, "how does it compare to Dreamweaver (or any other web design tool)?" The short answer is that Drupal is not meant to be a design tool - Drupal is designed to manage and deliver content. While Dreamweaver is sometimes used to manage small, static web sites, Drupal is meant to manage larger web sites often with a range of interactive features. Many people use Dreamweaver to design the site then use Drupal to manage the site. DrupalEasy can help you learn more about Drupal and teach you how to leverage its power for your organization. Contact us to learn more.