A Sneak Peek Into Drupal - A Beginner’s Guide

Published on:
February 16, 2024

If you build, develop, or administer websites or produce digital content, you've undoubtedly wondered what Drupal is. After all, this name comes up frequently in conversations with developers, content editors, and other digital industry experts.

The official site says, “Drupal has great standard features, like easy content authoring, reliable performance, and excellent security. But its flexibility sets it apart; modularity is one of its core principles.”

In this MarsDevs blog, we set out to discuss what Drupal is and why it is so famous as a content management platform. So, let’s get started!

Drupal - Your Digital Experience Platform!

At its foundation, Drupal is a content management system (CMS) that provides tools for structuring and managing your material. It also enables you to create flexible content publishing workflows and many dynamic features based on that material.

Drupal, being open-source software, liberates your creative potential by not limiting your options or expectations. You can create anything from a simple blog site to a complex one. As a result, even if you're a novice, your website may still look fashionable and sophisticated.

Drupal also serves as the primary component of your digital experience platform (DXP) for enterprises wishing to alter and increase their digital presence. It implies it can work with payment gateways, CRMs, analytics tools, social media platforms, and marketing automation systems.

Many prominent corporations and organizations, like the Government of Australia, Red Cross, Harvard, The Economist, BBC, NBC News, Whole Foods, Cisco, Twitter, and many more, utilize Drupal daily without even realizing it.

The takeaway is that Drupal excels in projects requiring high-quality content and comprehensive functionality and marketing tools. When using Drupal as a DXP, there are several approaches to prioritize content strategy.

How is Drupal different from other CMSs?

How is Drupal different from other CMSs?

When you think about it, almost all websites have the same functions. They usually include navigation menus and content lists, pages with attractive URLs, a logo in the header, a footer with contact information, the option to search material, etc. 

At the same time, each website contains elements that distinguish it. Websites frequently have their bespoke information architecture, a distinct set of content, a distinct visual style, and, on occasion, specialized functionality.

Drupal is ideal for both standard and customized features. It includes the most common capabilities each website needs while still being flexible enough to allow you to build a unique, customized experience. 

Here are a few of Drupal's significant advantages:

  • Open Source: Drupal is open-source software, which implies that it is free to use and that the source code is available for modification and expansion. 
  • Flexible and Customizable: Drupal is extremely customizable and can be customized to meet a wide range of requirements. You may construct and customize content types, add features, and design the site's style to tailor it to your needs.
  • Scalability: Drupal's versatility allows it to handle websites of different kinds and sizes. It can easily expand from tiny personal blogs to huge business websites without having a major rewrite.
  • Strong Security: Drupal prioritizes security, and the community actively maintains and upgrades it to solve vulnerabilities. It is an excellent solution for websites that handle sensitive data or require high security.
  • Multilingual Support: Drupal provides great assistance for the creation of multilingual websites. It enables you to develop content in several languages, including translation and localization capabilities.
  • SEO-Friendly: Drupal has tools and capabilities that can help you enhance the performance of your website's search engine optimization (SEO). You may edit your content and adjust URLs and meta tags to make it more search engine-friendly.
  • E-commerce Capabilities: Drupal may be used to develop e-commerce websites by connecting with popular e-commerce systems such as Drupal Commerce. 
  • Integration: Drupal integrates seamlessly with other systems and services, making it suited for developing sophisticated web applications or connecting to third-party services and APIs.
  • Responsive Design: Drupal makes it simple to develop responsive and mobile-friendly websites.
Responsive Design

Above all, as the official site explains, “The Drupal community is one of the largest open-source communities in the world. We're over 1,000,000 passionate developers, designers, editors, trainers, strategists, coordinators & sponsors working together.”

Where can you use Drupal?

Drupal powers about 1.7 million websites, with Drupal powering around 11% of the top 10,000 most visited websites. It is employed in various industries, including entertainment, finance, government, and education. Well-known Drupal users include Warner Music Group, Fannie Mae, the Australian Government, Princeton University, and Pfizer.

Drupal is extremely adaptable and well-suited to websites with organized content and publishing routines. Meanwhile, smaller projects or single-page sites won’t be reliable & cost-effective. Many large enterprises choose Drupal because it offers one major benefit over other content management platforms: flexibility. 

While most other CMSs are focused on specific use cases, Drupal has grown to handle practically any digital content use case. Drupal enables several digital experiences, including:

  • Websites for corporations & institutions - Distributed publication processes, corporate branding.
  • Intranets - Private content, bespoke workflows for internal procedures, private content listings, and single sign-on.
  • Online directories - Advanced search interfaces, relevant content listings, and third-party content integrations.
  • Features - For logged-in users, multi-step forms, content customization, custom JavaScript to generate dynamic interfaces such as maps and visualizations, and decoupled front-ends are all examples of interactive websites.
  • Marketing portals - SEO and user experience landing pages, integrations with marketing automation systems, taxonomy, and metadata management.

What’s new in Drupal?

What’s new in Drupal?

So, what’s new in Drupal? The Drupal team released version 10 last year with new technologies and significant improvements in speed and security.  

The newest version of Drupal includes improvements to both the front-end and back-end design, with the Olivero front-end theme and the Olivero admin theme now being the defaults. The WYSIWYG editor has been upgraded to CKEditor 5, which includes major enhancements to in-place editing features and excellent pluggability. 

Drupal 10 continues the principle of continual innovation established in Drupal 8. It's the simplest upgrade in Drupal's history and easier to use than ever before. Other developments include:

  • Olivero user interface. Olivero will replace the Bartik design theme, which came standard with versions 7, 8, and 9. The antiquated UI misrepresented Drupal's capabilities.
  • Backend by Claro. It also takes the place of the old-fashioned Seven themes. Enhanced usability for content management: admin tabs were changed based on user experience research for greater accessibility, and mobile editing was enhanced. Such enhancements could improve the site experience for moderators and content managers.
  • The Starterkit theme builder. It is now considerably easier to create new websites. You may now create a theme based on the base version without worrying about update issues. After you've created a theme using Starterkit, you may keep track of revisions to include enhancements and problem fixes. It will aid in the site's stability.
  • Symfony 6 comes as the successor to Symfony 4 and PHP 8.1. Symfony 6 has enhanced efficiency and security by addressing bugs and vulnerabilities. The new PHP 8.1 version is quicker and more secure than previous versions.

Dig Deeper Into Drupal With Us

As you can see, Drupal can be used for various projects, ranging from blogs to complex e-commerce websites. Furthermore, you may outfit them with additional features.

Now that we've covered the fundamentals of Drupal, you can delve a little further and discover how it can transform your digital experiences. The CMS offers scalability, modularity, and security for any project you want to construct. Consider putting it to use. Your Drupal website may be a huge success!

At MarsDevs, we can help you develop the best Drupal website. So, why not check us out?

Contact us today, and we will help you improve your Drupal development!

FAQ

  1. What is new in Drupal?

Drupal 10.2 is now live, enhancing content modeling, block management, menu and taxonomy structure, permission administration, and other features.

  1. What Drupal is used for?

Drupal is a tool for managing material on a website and developing tools for managing content on websites. Web developers use it as a meta-tool to create customized online publishing tools.

  1. Is Drupal in demand?

Drupal is extensively used by organizations, government agencies, and corporations worldwide to construct and administer websites and online applications due to its scalability and security.


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