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Why Drupal?

My choice of CMS is Drupal. It's an open source platform built for all sorts of sites from simpler personal blogs to more complexed sites. Because I know people seem to think other CMS' are better, I decided to list some reasons why I think Drupal is the best around.

A couple of years ago I tried a bunch of different platforms in order to find the best one for my needs. Before this I had mostly been building websites and some simple database or text file based content managements from scratch. Joomla seemed promising, but at the time it wasn't flexible enough and for some reason I found WordPress too difficult to implement. Drupal I got immediately. Of course since then all these platforms have changed and developed. Drupal is now way better than it was.

Drupal is flexible. It can be used for very simple sites as well as building something more sophisticated, like a full e-commerce site. There are thousands of modules available and more can be built if needed. A Drupal site is fully customizable, but you can get quite far with the basic installation as well. For a geek like myself Drupal is a great platform to tinker around as much as I can. Or as little as I want to.

Add-on modules include Views and Content Construction Kit (CCK) which can be used in imaginative ways for creating almost anything. I find new ways to utilize Views and CCK all the time.

Theming Drupal can be made difficult... Or very very easy. There are loads of contributed themes to choose from or you can build one from scratch. Starter themes, such as Zen and Fusion are there to help to get the theming on the way. Even more advanced theme frameworks are available, likes of AdaptiveTheme.

Making a Drupal site content easy to update isn't really that difficult. With different modules, including Views and CCK mentioned above, updating can be made extremely smooth for even less experienced web user. I recommend using one of the administration themes for (surprise surprise) administration and content editing. For instance RootCandy and my current favorite Seven are great admin themes.

And what does Drupal cost? Well, nothing. Drupal is a free open source content management system. The contributed themes and modules are free. Of course some third party plugins and themes may cost some, but that's the same thing with any other CMS.

If you want to see what can be done with Drupal and creativity, check out the interesting and cool examples on Drupal Museum and drupal sites network. Help with your Drupal is around the web. For those who like their instructions in video form DrupalCamp24x7 is filled with video tutorials (and is a good looking site as well).

Suomeksi (In Finnish): 

Syy miksi käytän Drupalia on se, että se on helppo ja joustava sisällönhallintajärjestelmä. Drupalilla voi rakentaa monenlaisia sivustoja, simppeleistä blogeista monimutkaisempiin verkkokauppoihin. Drupalin saa myös muokattua sellaiseksi, että sen sisällön päivittäminen on yksinkertaista jopa vähemmän kokeneelle netin käyttäjälle. Ja Drupal on tietenkin ilmainen. Jos haluat nähdä mitä Drupalin ja luovuuden avulla saa aikaan, tsekkaa esimerkkejä sivustoilta Drupal Museum ja drupal sites network.

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4 users have voted.
16 February, 2012 - 17:06 by Mervi

How web design should be seen

Chocolate

I have come to a conclusion on how web design should be seen. As an entity. Of course there are lots of different smaller and bigger details in the design, but simply put there are three main issues. The following list includes these main issues in their order of importance. The order of a design process may be somewhat different.

1. Content

Content is of course the main thing on a website. Without content the website doesn't exist. Well, it can exist, but it's pretty much blank.

Therefore content should be the priority. The site is build around the content, not the other way around.

2. Access

If the target groups can't find the website or can't use it, there's no point for the site to be. Usability and accessibility are a big deal.

Just make sure different sorts of people with different sorts of devices and needs can access the content. Of course there must be a line drawn somewhere and supporting all the old or less used browsers or devices is not possible.

3. Aesthetics

Humans tend to like things which look good. Somehow using a nice looking device or app is easier than using a boring or ugly thing.

It's important to remember that the aesthetics shouldn't ever collide with content and access. The design, graphs, fonts and all the bling should complement the content and work with the access.

Suomeksi (In Finnish): 

Olen tullut siihen tulokseen, että verkkosuunnittelu pitäisi nähdä tietyllä tavoin kokonaisuutena. Prosessiin tietenkin liittyy paljon pienempiä ja suurempia yksityiskohtia, mutta kaikessa yksinkertaisuudessaan sen voi jakaa kolmeen pääasiaan. Olen järjestänyt asiat tärkeysjärjestykseen. Itse projektijärjestys voi olla enemmän tai vähemmän eri. Tärkeysjärjestyksessä ensimmäisenä on sisältö, toisena pääsy siihen sisältöön ja kolmantena estetiikka.

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14 users have voted.
28 January, 2012 - 01:14 by Mervi

Retro frames

Seagulls

I was commissioned to make a website using frames. After ripping my pants, hitting my head on the wall and having other dramatic moments I got the work done. Sometime in the middle of all the drama I realized I hadn't done anything with frames since late 90's. At least as far as I can remember.

Kind of retro. So hip, pop and hot. Faded colors and blur.

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13 users have voted.
27 January, 2012 - 01:07 by Mervi

The site of Tuesday #35

Instant no Button! 070611

Instant no Button!

This post is part of The site of Tuesday series of inspirational (hehe) websites.

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1 user has voted.
7 June, 2011 - 21:09 by Mervi

Let it fly

Netted

The hardest thing with website projects is to let the client or someone else to start create and or modify the content. It's scary. I can give instructions, I can tell them what to do and what not to do, I can restrict them from doing certain stuff. Unfortunately I cannot control it all.

I have to have faith in the client or whoever it is I've given the control. I have to hope they will read the instructions and won't do anything silly. I just have to let it fly.

Photo by Louise Docker.

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2 users have voted.
5 June, 2011 - 23:05 by Mervi