Are you planning to start a new blog or launch a website? Want to know the key differences between Drupal and WordPress? Both are excellent CMS and operate as free open-source format platforms. There are many different CMS and Blogging platforms out there to choose from. Some of the more popular platforms include Joomla, CMS Made Simple, Magento, and PrestaShop.

For the purposes of this article, we will concentrate on comparing WordPress and Drupal. Here’s an overview of each platform and why Drupal may be a better choice, depending on how customized your needs are, as well as some questions to ask yourself before you choose a CMS platform.

WordPress

WordPress is excellent if you are a single blogger and need a basic system. It is also a good choice if you run a small business and just need an informative company website with access to social networking tools. It is easy to use and provides thousands of widgets and plug-in options.

Drupal

If you´re in the beginning phases of a small business and you have an interest in growing your content as your business grows, Drupal may be more efficient and better than WordPress in the long run. Drupal is superior in the overall management of complex page layout and multiple content streams. It is optimized for specific and customized needs such as building forums, multiple contact forms, complex data management, and sophisticated SEO integration. Drupal is more technical than WordPress and will require you to learn more.

Before Choosing A CMS Platform

Understand what your content goals are and what CMS requirements you will need. Take the time to plan your short and long-term business goals up front. Choosing the best platform in the beginning will save you the headache and costs associated with switching platforms down the road. You will need to consider various types of contact forms to allow for feedback, guest posting, event scheduling, spam protection and social network sharing tools.

As you plan your content, it´s not just about writing a blog entry and posting it. There is much more to the process. Some key factors to consider are the following:

1. Who is your target audience and what are their needs?
2. What type of content would you like to develop – Instructional, informative?
3. How do you want your content displayed (e.g., basic scrolling structure, multiple linked pages)?
4. What specific tasks do you want to employ (e.g., information, transactions, data collection)?

Conclusion

On a final note, as you develop content goals, other things to keep in mind for your chosen platform are Search Engine optimization (SEO), social network functions, web staff organization, mobile apps and globalization and Accessibilty. Regardless of which platform you choose, WordPress and Drupal are two fantastic options in the growing pool of CMS platforms.

Drupal is a versatile, open and free software used to create stunning websites. Even if you are not technically trained Drupal offers you a range of tools to create beautiful websites for every need. Drupal basically comprises of two types of platforms – a development framework and a content management system, together.

Drupal can be easily used to create innovative sites such as:

1. Portal
2. Forum
3. Blog
4. Business websites
5. Personal websites
6. Social networking websites
7. E-commerce website
8. Resource directories

Drupal is ready-to-download-and-use software. It is written in PHP programming language. Anyone with a GPL (General Public License) can download and start using Drupal. It has one of the most active and biggest online support community. Drupal CMS allows businesses of all sizes to easily create, manage and support Drupal websites with loads of content. It supports a wide range of operating systems such as BSD, Solaris, Linux and Windows to name just a few.

Drupal can be used to build blogs, enterprise applications and stunning websites. It offers a number of themes and templates to choose from. As Drupal is a team-work of various contributors of the Drupal community it is versatile and an all-inclusive platform in itself. Using Drupal, you can build your very own customized portals, forums, e-stores and much more. Some of the established brand names which use Drupal are The Economist, The White House to name a few.

Very soon, Drupal is coming up with its newest version – Drupal 11. This will be one of the most customizable and easy to adapt platform. It will offer a number of ways to better and faster customize data, listings and web pages. It will offer new functionalities to users to easily showcase data on mobile, build API and focus on multilingual needs of the customers.

The main benefits of Drupal 11 are as follows:

• Mobile-centric
• Easy to customize
• Improved content edit options
• New system of configuration
• Built-in web services
• Language translator services
• Custom display and form mode
• Easy migration from any other version of Drupal to the new Drupal 11
• Highly advanced APIs for developers
• Latest front-end library support
• Easier and more accessible interface
• Fully Responsive

Being nurtured by an open source community Drupal empowers businesses to unleash their full potential. Its community constantly works to make Drupal a viable and up-to-date platform of current times. The vibrant community of Drupal renders its unlimited support to the platform via IRC channels, Drupal based events and forums. The community has a Drupal documentation which gives details of the various topics covered by it and related to it. Drupal runs on the collective innovation efforts of its members. Its community members are constantly improving and developing the platform to make it a viable and user-friendly platform of the future.

There are a number of giant industries which are using Drupal to empower their business. These are AOL Corporate, Popular Science, Sony Music, Warner Brothers, Team Sugar, NowPublic, DrupalSN to name a few.

Drupal allows users to easily and creatively categorize content via the Taxonomy system. It offers one of the most efficient language as it is written in PHP. With unlimited ease-of-use Drupal also provides a large selection of modules or themes for users to choose from.

With Drupal you can be assured of receiving the best of security. A specialized team of dedicated community contributors are present, at all times, to offer the best of security and privacy. Being web-based Drupal is compatible with all operating systems. Your server must meet a few basic system requirements to install and run Drupal.

What’s your Opinion about Drupal Content Management Platform?