2005/04/02 Drupal
© April 2005 Tony Lawrence
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 https://drupal.org/cases, and a more detailed feature list is at https://drupal.org/features. It's
a very attractive list, and I seriously would consider this if I
didn't prefer to roll my own.
Got something to add? Send me email.
1 comment
Sat Jul 16 19:52:15 2005: 805 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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Drupal: Tech Words of the Day Copyright © April 2005 Tony Lawrence
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