Drupal

The security of having a tool that allows me to deal with almost any web project that requires content management, scalability and security.

Puntos a favor

If you have to face the development of an intranet or a medium or complex web project, Drupal is definitely one of the options that you have to consider. It is open source backed by a large community that has been committed for years to a project that is characterized by its flexibility and security. Drupal provides a robust content authoring platform and is capable of handling large numbers of users with clear rules and permits.

One of the bases of Drupal is its system of modules. Eventually, almost any functionality you may need can be added to the system through modules (built based on PHP, JavaScript, HTML and CSS). And yet, I bet you will not even have to develop it, because surely it will already be available among the immense amount of modules that the community has contributed during these years (especially for version 7).

The theme system is another of the important element. If you do not need to develop your own interface from scratch, you can choose one of the large number of free themes available and adapt it to your needs, being able to even configure many features without modifying the source code. Certainly, it does not seem like a very intuitive method, but once you understand it you can implement almost everything you need.

In its latest version, Drupal has been almost completely modernized; it has discarded many failures that hindered its performance and have included in its core many important functionalities that were contributed by modules.

Puntos en contra

Drupal can be difficult to deal with for non-developer or technical profile users. Depending on your objectives, the learning curve can be considerable.

The fact of being an almost module-dependent system for most of the functionalities can force you to deal with many configurations, compatibility issues and workflows when you want to implement complex functionalities that may even need several modules working together. As I see it, this is not necessarily a negative thing, but rather the cost of the flexibility and power it gives you.

If the design and the appearance are important in your project, you will have to put a little more effort into the work; unfortunately, many of Drupal's graphic themes do not look as fashionable or in trend as those of WordPress, which is still the leader in this section. It is possible to achieve it, but you will have to dedicate time or pay for it.

As the number of modules and the database grows, the performance of Drupal may be affected, so it is important to learn to keep it in shape and updated, activate the cache and continuously evaluate the relevance and usefulness of each of the added modules. Although it has been greatly optimized with the arrival of Drupal 8, it is not something that should be neglected in medium and large projects.

In my work I managed to complete the development of a project with this software, our team was congratulated by our bosses and the board of directors is very happy with the results, we are currently in the quality testing phase, I hope that soon Drupal can be launched in the production environment On a personal level, I see it as an option to do independent work, so I can obtain many benefits.

Puntos a favor

What I like most about Drupal is that it is free, you can make a complete implementation without investing money in software, we have chosen to implement only free software, so we have done it without cost, I like the possibility of being beyond the simple The content of the administrator has options for future developments, it is easy to install and its use is quite practical, I liked the fact that it has a nice and worked administration interface that makes it easier to explain to users how they perform their tasks. Daily within the application, the English-speaking community is numerous, which helps with some problems that may arise along the way. I think the system of blocks that has at the moment of structure the content within the page makes it relatively pleasant, we have taken a project to its final phase with Drupal I can say that we have done well.

Puntos en contra

The first thing that comes to my mind about what I do not like about Drupal is the cache system that has sometimes driven me crazy, it serves obsolete content and there are many conflicts when different users need to edit the same article, another problem is that there is failures in some buttons of the administration, sometimes the buttons do not perform any action, I had problems because sometimes the functionality of uploading an image or a pdf file fails when they are large, I think Drupal is designed for programmers and not for people without experience In the area of information technology, this could improve, the Spanish-speaking community has fallen short, it is difficult to find documentation and quality help in my mother tongue, I feel that Drupal is staying a bit behind in terms of extensions If there were more, it would be more attractive for more people.