A.P. Lawrence

2005/04/02 Drupal

Drupal is an open source php/MySQL based content management system. As noted before, I don't like this sort of thing because I like to do things *my* way, and because the minute some security problem becomes known it is apt to be exploited against you. On the other hand, this looks pretty good, and if I were not so stubborn and unpleasant, I might even consider it.

I liked that it apparently allows categorization of content:

Content management. Via a simple, browser-based interface, members can publish to a number of available content modules: stories, blogs, polls, images, forums, downloads, etc. Administrators can choose from multiple theme templates or create their own to give the site a singular look and feel. The flexible classification system allows hierarchical classifications, cross-indexing of posts and multiple category sets for most content types. Access to content is controlled through administrator-defined user permission roles. Site pages can display posts by module type or categorized content, with separate RSS feeds available for each display type. Users can also keyword search the entire site.

and that it lends itself to collaboration:

Discussion-based community. A Drupal site can act as a Slashdot-like news site and/or make use of a traditional discussion forum. Comment boards, attached to most content types, make it simple for members to discuss new posts. Administrators can control whether content and comments are posted without approval, with administrator approval or through community moderation. With the built-in news aggregator, communites can subscribe to and then discuss content from other sites. Collaboration. Used for managing the construction of Drupal, the project module is suitable for supporting other open source software projects. The wiki-like collaborative book module includes versioning control, making it simple for a group to create, revise and maintain documentation or any other type of text. If you want a news web site where the stories are provided by the audience, Drupal suits your needs well. Incoming stories are automatically voted upon by the audience and the best stories bubble up to the home page. Bad stories and comments are automatically hidden after enough negative votes.

There are examples of different types of sites listed at http://drupal.org/cases, and a more detailed feature list is at http://drupal.org/features. It's a very attractive list, and I seriously would consider this if I didn't prefer to roll my own.

Comments /Words2005/2005_04_02.html


Sat Jul 16 19:52:15 2005: Subject:   TonyLawrence
Sure enough, Drupal recently had a major security problem that allowed arbitrary code execution through a POST.



That's why I will not use CMS systems. They are attractive because all the hard work has been done for you, but when a hole gets found, it spreads fast.



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