e.politics: online advocacy tools & tactics

Learning Drupal

December 8th, 2008

So there I was, sitting innocently around the e.politics bunker, wondering how to pass the time now that the election’s over and the economy’s going to hell (already switched from champagne to Pabst Blue Ribbon, FYI). Wait, didn’t I have a client site to build? Oh, yeah — and a new content management system to go along with it.

After building three Joomla sites from scratch this year and relearned WordPress to work on a couple others, why not add a third CMS to the list? After all, I clearly haven’t had enough jaw-clenching frustration and anger in my life lately, and figuring out Drupal’s quirks should nicely make up for that lack.

So far, though, so good — despite the usual weaknesses of open-source “documentation,” I got that sucker installed on an actual server and turning out real-live web pages late last week. Now for the content, the design, and the features that turn it from a flat outline into a usable site. MUCH easier than Joomla so far, though it’s hard to say whether that’s because of Drupal itself or because I’ve learned enough from the other CMS’s to speed things along. The site should be live within a few weeks, so keep an eye out for the announcement. And if my good experience so far turns out to be premature, listen for the distant sound of the gnashing of teeth.

– cpd

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