Drupal - A OpenSource Blog Platform To Consider
As I've said several times to other bloggers, I particularly like Google's Blogger.com for its simplicity. But every blog has its own needs, and sometimes you need sophistication in a blog platform.
Over the years, I've evaluated a lot of very high-end (6-figure cost) CMSes (Content Management Systems). Blog platforms are a scaled-down version of the older corporate CMS packages. While there are a lot of rather impressive blog platforms, many of which are free, not one single platform seems to satisfy either my needs, or those of some of my clients.
In particular, at least five of my current projects include setting up not just a regular blog but a resource website that includes an online community: forums, commenting on posts, individual blogs for each user, possibly individual storefronts, shopping carts, etc.
Now, it's true that you can set all of these things up with other blog platforms, but in most cases, you need loads of other supplemental software, from other vendors, to complete the "online community" features.
Based on my evaluation of blogging platforms for the past 8 months, the ones that appear to come closest to Drupal's feature set through modules/ extensions are WordPress, TextPattern, and a few others. But overall, Drupal is the strongest contender for me. (See my 21 Important Blog Platform Features article over at Performancing.com - links below.)
There is a technical learning curve with Drupal, and it's not as easy an install as WordPress's famous 5-minute install. But the rich, mature feature set is well worth the effort. Enlist a techie friend to help if you don't have any technical webmastering experience. There's also an active, supportive community forum, to which you can post questions and usually expect a prompt response.
Note: I have no affiliation with Drupal.
Note: If you read my article "21 Important...", you'll notice that I was a bit disappointed with Drupal's set up and the errors I was getting. I did, however, figure out that the errors were a result of the database tables being new. They were not major errors, and disappeared after I started creating content.
Links: Performancing - 21 Important Blog Platform Features, Drupal, WordPress, TextPattern.
(c) Copyright: 2006-present, Raj Kumar Dash, http://blogspinner.countwordula.com/
Technorati Tags: blogspinner, blogging, pro blogger, multi blogs, blogging platform
Over the years, I've evaluated a lot of very high-end (6-figure cost) CMSes (Content Management Systems). Blog platforms are a scaled-down version of the older corporate CMS packages. While there are a lot of rather impressive blog platforms, many of which are free, not one single platform seems to satisfy either my needs, or those of some of my clients.
In particular, at least five of my current projects include setting up not just a regular blog but a resource website that includes an online community: forums, commenting on posts, individual blogs for each user, possibly individual storefronts, shopping carts, etc.
Now, it's true that you can set all of these things up with other blog platforms, but in most cases, you need loads of other supplemental software, from other vendors, to complete the "online community" features.
Based on my evaluation of blogging platforms for the past 8 months, the ones that appear to come closest to Drupal's feature set through modules/ extensions are WordPress, TextPattern, and a few others. But overall, Drupal is the strongest contender for me. (See my 21 Important Blog Platform Features article over at Performancing.com - links below.)
There is a technical learning curve with Drupal, and it's not as easy an install as WordPress's famous 5-minute install. But the rich, mature feature set is well worth the effort. Enlist a techie friend to help if you don't have any technical webmastering experience. There's also an active, supportive community forum, to which you can post questions and usually expect a prompt response.
Note: I have no affiliation with Drupal.
Note: If you read my article "21 Important...", you'll notice that I was a bit disappointed with Drupal's set up and the errors I was getting. I did, however, figure out that the errors were a result of the database tables being new. They were not major errors, and disappeared after I started creating content.
Links: Performancing - 21 Important Blog Platform Features, Drupal, WordPress, TextPattern.
(c) Copyright: 2006-present, Raj Kumar Dash, http://blogspinner.countwordula.com/
Technorati Tags: blogspinner, blogging, pro blogger, multi blogs, blogging platform
