Some time ago I went through the various Content Management Systems (CMS) out there to find one suitable for by Users. At the time I ended up with Drupal, and spent several weeks finding and implementing a design, transferring content and adding necessary plugins to get the site to a usable state.
Then they released an necessary update for Druapl.
I tried three times to upgrade, and each time I was presented with no error messages just a blank web page. Each time I checked that I was following the suggested upgrade routine, and each time it failed. Time to admit defeat and move on.
It didn’t help with the fact that you had to disable everything to upgrade, and whatever idiot decided that you needed to do that for an upgrade certainly won’t win friends with a lot of web maintainers.
So back to WordPress. I’ve spent less than a week getting things ready. Being able to transfer the content has helped, and finding necessary plugins was easy. I’ve even managed to copy the design, or as close as I can get it. Yes WordPress has dome failings when trying to use it as a CMS, it doesn’t even search page content by default!, but it will suffice.
The by Users hasn’t been moved over just yet, but this will hopefully take place next week.
bye bye Drupal may I never ever have to work with it again.
Hi Rich – hope you’re well!
As a developer, I’ve loved working with Drupal in the past, but the admin has always been lacking, and I agree regarding upgrading – it’s been easier to upgrade “manually” using the upgrade script as reference. Not ideal!
Personally, I’ve moved on to developing with a framework to speed up the development process, allowing me more time in projects for the little custom bits that need doing, which for me mostly involves concentrating on making things as easy to use as possible.
For a quick and easy CMS, I don’t think you can go far wrong with WordPress! 🙂 It really depends on the application, doesn’t it?
The features where drupal outstrips WordPress for a CMS are perhaps in some of the modules/plugins available for the admin side of things.
WordPress, with a lot of plugins, is a good CMS these days.
But yes the application does make a difference. It was one reason why I didn’t choose WordPress initially, I thought it lacked features that drupal had. Turns out they weren’t so necessary, and I can live without them.
First off – Hello. Nice site, good layout and great content. I stumbled upon your site whilst Googling “UK2 CPanel problems” I’ll maybe chip in on your UK2 section in a day or two with my own experiences if thisgs don’t improve very soon.
Meanwhile… I’ve just created my first WordPress Blog. My “Archive” Widget is the same as your “Recent Entries” (Month year). Any idea where I can get hold of the Widget that does just the year, as in your “Archives” menu?
Hi Rich! You’re right on both counts. A few more available types of plugins wouldn’t hurt WordPress any, and yes, it’s an excellent CMS. It only has to be strictly (or mostly) a blog if the site owner wants that. It’s nice that the WordPress code is so straightforward and lightweight. My personal blog is WP, and I’ve used it for a library site, a community (in the works- bbPress is nice for this). And with helpful, smart people like you writing plugins, even a WordPress shop is possible. 🙂 People who aren’t too comfy around computers have an easier time navigating the WordPress dashboard than they do trying to figure out other CMS admin menus, so I like being able to recommend it.
byUsers looks phenomenal! What a surprise to think, at first, that you hadn’t found time to switch it to WordPress, then to scroll down and see that “powered by” line. Very polished.
Thanks Chell. There are a few things missing from the navigation menu, and maybe one day I’ll figure out how to do it – its possibly fixable with CSS.
Thanks for your interesting article