A Close Look at Drupal 7

Transcription

1 smart. uncommon. ideas. A Close Look at Drupal 7 Is it good for your bottom line? {WEB} MEADIGITAL.COM {BLOG} MEADIGITAL.COM/CLICKOSITY { } [email protected]

2 Table of Contents Executive Summary... 3 CMS Powering Your Enterprise Website With Drupal Reasons to Choose Drupal Bonus Tips for Enterprise Website Development

3 Executive Summary Drupal is an open source content management system (CMS), powering millions of websites and applications. For many, its features are far superior to that of similar CMSs like WordPress and Joomla, and as such it has garnered plenty of attention from developers, businesses, and marketers alike. The latest topic of conversation among them is Drupal 7, which boasts the most sophisticated breadth of features to date. They include, but are not limited to the following: Updated modules handle innovative technology such as HTML5 WYSIWYG editors are easier to use Administration menus float above the content for easy access to relevant website pages Content blocks are more powerful and secure Features once powered by modules have been integrated into the core platform, allowing for easier usage More intuitive user interface thanks to a new design and tools But is Drupal 7 good for your bottom line? This white paper takes a close look at its features and benefits to help you make an educated decision. 3

4 CMS 101 A CMS is essentially a collection of procedures that allow its users to manage workflow in a collaborative environment. More specifically, it can: Store content in a database, allowing for a large number of people to contribute and share Maintain the design integrity of a website during updates Apply website-wide updates from a single source Control access to data based on user role Facilitate storage and retrieval of data Control data validity and compliance Reduce duplicate inputs Improve communication among users In general, CMSs are highly scalable. As a result, they re growing in popularity among businesses looking to develop an enterprise website that is easily manageable and updateable in the short and long term. However, some solutions are better than others. 4

5 Powering Your Enterprise Website With Drupal Whether you run a large-scale ecommerce website, a small business hub, an online publication, a university portal, or beyond, Drupal was designed to meet your business demands. In general, it gives you the ability to manage multiple content types, contributors and editors, group collaboration, complex functionality requirements, back-end integration, and more. Just a few examples of enterprise websites that are taking advantage of Drupal s functionality include: Whitehouse.gov Zynga.com Examiner.com Fastcompany.com Popsci.com (Popular Science) Research.yahoo.com The latest version of Drupal, Drupal 7, is best suited for ecommerce-driven enterprise websites. While most solutions are developed with an application mindset, highlighting what you can do out of the box, Drupal 7 s ecommerce platform was developed with a framework mindset, focusing on what you can build with it. It also makes no hard-coded assumptions about your business model. More specifically, Drupal 7 ecommerce features include the following: Create product types with custom attributes Setup dynamic product displays Manage orders by line item Implement payment method APIs Calculate tax (VAP support) Implement discount pricing rules Integrate complementary systems such as D7 s Fields, Views, Rules, and more 5

6 8 Reasons to Choose Drupal 7 The growing popularity of Drupal 7 is due in part to its stress-free maintenance and various tools. As an open source CMS, it also gives you a high degree of flexibility to modify, share, and distribute content such as text, video, and data. But perhaps more importantly is the active and diverse community of developers around the world who are constantly sharing ideas and contributing to its evolution. Among other things, this unique group is what truly sets Drupal 7 apart. 1. Ease of use Drupal 7 s drag-and-drop interface allows you to effortlessly order pages, menus, images, and files. Even if you re a less tech-savvy user. You can also avoid dealing with complex HTML code with Drupal 7 s What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) module, which simplifies the installation and integration of the WYSIWYG editor of your choice and is capable of supporting any type of client-side editor (e.g., an HTML-editor or a pseudo-editor that includes buttons to insert markup into a text area). 6

7 2. Free, open source software Many proprietary CMSs charge fees as part of software licensing agreement, ranging from a couple hundred dollars per year to tens of thousands of dollars per month for larger implementations. For companies with tighter budgets, these costs can be prohibitive. Particularly when put into context of the average lifecycle of an enterprise website, which is three to six years. Drupal, on the other hand, is free, making it an ideal solution for most enterprise websites. 3. Application Programming Interface (API) support When shopping for a CMS, it s crucial to investigate the kinds of third party applications that are available. Today s most successful enterprise websites depend on sophisticated APIs that allow multiple programs to communicate and work together. Drupal 7 supports a number of APIs that include, but are not limited to: Salesforce Google Analytics & Apps Facebook Twitter Constant Contact And more Utilizing aggregation, feeds, and search engine connections, Drupal 7 makes it easy to integrate complementary websites and services with your enterprise website. For example, external media, file services, and social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. You can even build and integrate your own niche social platform. Whether you re uploading a catalog, processing payments online, communicating with shipping services, or responding to customers Facebook comments, you ll have access to the tools you need to generate significant ROI. 4. The strength of community A community of likeminded developers is writing the future of Drupal. As they continue to contribute securer code and more templatized modules via Drupal.org, online interest groups, and blogs, you ll have the opportunity to tap into this resource and continue to improve your enterprise website. 7

8 5. Design and user interface (UI) In contrast to other CMSs, which offer narrow frameworks and custom coding, Drupal 7 features a flexible theming system that allows you to design an attractive website and display its content in a sophisticated UI. Combined with the available Javascript packages and social plug-ins, the possibilities are virtually endless. It even offers you the opportunity to customize the look and feel of your admin interface. 8

9 6. Speed and flexibility Drupal 7 makes it easy to deploy your enterprise website and its documented API and modular extension concepts allow for easy extension of functionality. It also includes a suite of internationalization tools to help you translate navigation, content, and design into multiple languages quickly. 7. Collaboration With user authentication, access control, customizable rolls, and a permission system, Drupal 7 offers you the control and flexibility required to maintain your enterprise website. Drupal 7 collaboration features include, but are not limited to: An access control system that can be applied to your organizational structure Role-based permissions Audit trails Content workflow For many enterprise websites, it s important to set up controls for adding or deleting, editing, and publishing content to ensure it remains organized, the website is secure, and the process is efficient. 8. Out-of-the-box search engine optimization (SEO) SEO should play an integral role in your business online marketing strategy. Fortunately, Drupal is inherently SEO-friendly with a unique ability to display content favorably for search engine spiders. Drupal SEO modules include, but are not limited to: Page title: Enhance the HTML page header tag that shows up as <title> META tags: Automatically provide structured metadata about your website Apache Solr: Replace core content search, improve performance, and benefit from extra features such as multiple searches and results pages with unlimited custom filters and ranges Pathauto: Automatically generate URLs for various nodes and taxonomies, control their display patterns, and boost your enterprise website s rankings in search results Sitemap & XML sitemap: Theme HTML and customize RSS content based on specific categories Redirects: Redirect a URL from one path to another to build link equity or preserve the original page names while displaying the most current versions 9

10 3 Bonus Tips for Enterprise Website Development 1. Choose the right team to work with The learning curve of Drupal is steep. Choose a technology partner that has experience with the latest version of the CMS as well as enterprise website development and understands the complexities of technical design. Just as importantly, your partner should: Grasp your business and its challenges Take an integrated approach to managing the project Understand the impact of SEO Implement analytics to measure the impact of your enterprise website/marketing efforts and optimize accordingly 2. Design clean interfaces between systems Don t be tempted to take shortcuts when it comes to integrating multiple systems. Instead of deep linking, build API interface layers and you ll benefit from flexibility in the long term. Web services are a smart way to interconnect system components, giving you room to be technologically agnostic. 3. Develop solid management processes No technology platform can save an organization from bad planning. Invest in the expertise necessary to foster a sorted environment, build a solid infrastructure, and implement effective deployment and control processes. This allows application developers, whether in-house or vendors, to plug in to your organization seamlessly. 10

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