Drupal is an open-source content management system (CMS) that is incredibly popular with government agencies, big corporations, healthcare practices, higher education institutions, nonprofits, and small businesses. It allows users to design, build, and manage websites with relative ease. Worldwide, it is used by 1.3% of all websites.
While Drupal isn’t as popular as WordPress, it still has a lot of benefits. It has great security, is infinitely customizable, and is incredibly scalable. However, there are drawbacks to using Drupal - including a steep learning curve, labor-intensive updates, and a more complex administrative panel.
Inclind is a website design and development agency that works with nonprofits throughout the United States. We work with a range of CMS, including Drupal and WordPress, based on the specific needs of each individual client. We offer a full range of services, from initial design and build-outs to redesigns, custom integrations, and accessibility audits. Reach out to talk to a team member about our design and development services.
Pros of Using Drupal for Your Website
Compared to WordPress, Drupal has a relatively small market share for websites globally. That being said, people who use Drupal for their website truly love it. The underrated CMS has a lot going for it, including the ability to customize your website to make it exactly what you want it and a high level of security.
Completely Customizable
Drupal is an open-source platform, meaning the software's source code is available to anyone. As a result, Drupal can be highly customized with thousands of module themes and taxonomy management tools. Webpages can be customized quickly with Drupal’s drag-and-drop page-building features through Gutenberg. Gutenberg is versatile enough to allow users to build a website that is exactly what they want.
For example, a medical practice could use a module to create a patient portal. A nonprofit organization could use an event management module to create online registration for an annual charity walk. By using modules, themes, and other tools, developers can create a website that is exactly what you need.
Quick Start-Up
Time Drupal is extensible, which means that it starts as a blank slate. This allows users to build their site exactly how they want it using tools like content types. This means that developing an idea or a more complex data structure in Drupal can take a fairly short time. Once a working prototype is developed, you can build it out using contributed modules or your own coding.
Great Security
Drupal is known for being highly secure. Open source software does tend to be more vulnerable to cyber-attacks because anyone can access the code. However, Drupal has a great security team that works around the clock to provide patches and fixes. You can even subscribe to Drupal’s security email notifications to be alerted whenever a new patch is released.
In addition, Drupal has user management options and secure access control to protect your content. This can ensure that unauthorized users can’t gain access to your website.
Community Support
Drupal has a huge online community of people who work on and use Drupal for websites. The developers at Inclind are actually active community members, with Inclind being a Drupal-supporting partner. Users, administrators, and developers come together to share both code and support. This can make it a lot easier to get help if you are having an issue with your Drupal site. It also means more time and money is spent developing Drupal themes and modules.
Scalability
One of the biggest benefits of using Drupal is its scalability. This means that it can support large volumes of site visitors and spikes in traffic. With a more modern web development framework, Drupal is capable of supporting even large websites without the need to redevelop a website.
During the initial site build, you will need to define expected user loads and traffic spikes so that the system can be designed to support it. This feature allows even major websites - like the White House website - to be designed using Drupal.
Accessibility
Federal law - specifically, the Americans with Disabilities Act - mandates that websites be accessible to people with disabilities. Drupal meets accessibility standards the World Wide Web Consortium sets, including the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0. These guidelines provide policies for making content accessible to people with disabilities, such as using high-contrast fonts for people who use screen readers.
Drupal also uses HTML5 for its semantic structure, which is how a website organizes and labels HTML, as well as Accessible Rich Internet Application standards. This allows Drupal sites to structure content in a logical way, which can make screen readers more functional.
Cons of Using Drupal for Your Website
Of course, every CMS has its downsides - and that includes Drupal. One of the biggest knocks against Drupal is that it requires more coding knowledge than other CMS. This can make it difficult to run if you don’t have someone on your team capable of learning how to manage the website - or the budget to hire someone for maintenance and support.
Big Learning Curve
Drupal is not as user-friendly as other CMS, such as WordPress and Joomla. This can make it harder for inexperienced website administrators to manage content, create sites, and customize their sites. It definitely takes some time and effort to learn how to build and manage a site using Drupal. For some entities, that reality may be a turn-off - although Drupal is making great strides to make its CMS more user-friendly.
Speed and Performance Issues
Drupal sites are incredibly customizable and scalable. This is usually done with the addition of modules. This can lead to speed and performance problems. For example, if your website uses too many modules at one time, it could increase the load on the server - and slow down your site.
These third-party modules may not always have the best coding - which can cause performance issues. Using only high-quality, highly rated modules is one way to prevent performance and speed issues.
Challenges with Doing Full Updates
Like any other CMS, Drupal - and its modules - will require updates. Generally, updating most modules is easy. However, doing updates to full versions of Drupal - suchas upgrading from one version to the latest one - can be difficult. These updates usually have to be done manually, which can take a significant amount of time. In addition, older modules are no longer compatible with the latest version, which can mean a loss of site functionality.
Module Compatibility
Using modules is a great way to customize your Drupal website. However, some modules conflict with each other - which requires custom configurations, taking up valuable time and money.
As your site gets larger or requires more customization, most users simply add more modules. The result is that these modules are running their own code on top of each other, which can lead to crashes, slow speeds, and errors. This is a particular problem with larger websites.
You can address compatibility issues by retooling or modifying modules when you install them. An experienced website developer can help you make sure that all of the modules that you use work well together.
Interested in Building a Great Website? Contact Inclind Today
Drupal is a great software platform that is low-cost to start. It can also easily be customized and scaled. However, there are some downsides to using it, including the need for some coding knowledge and the difficulty of updating the software and various modules.
Inclind works with businesses, government agencies, nonprofits, and other entities throughout the United States. We offer a full suite of services, including website design and redesign, support and maintenance, website consulting, and custom integrations. If you choose Drupal or another CMS platform for your nonprofit, our team can help you create a beautiful, functional website.
If you’d like to learn more about our design and development services, fill out our online contact form or give us a call at 800-604-8139 to talk to one of our experts about your website.