8 Reasons You Should Use Drupal

Drupal is an open-source system for managing content running on PHP. With more than a million users and developers behind it, Drupal has grown from a simple CMS to a large-scale framework responsible for running everything ranging from web services and applications to government websites and big businesses. Most people know very little about content managing systems, making it hard to choose the right one for their needs. Here are 8 reasons why developers should use Drupal to improve the experience and security of their websites.

Accessibility

Unlike similar content managing systems, Drupal actually integrates all the accessibility standards into its core code. Using Drupal, users with vision impairment can set their screen readers to different defaults, which means two users can have completely different accessibility experience. More and more organizations are forced to make their websites WCAG 2.0 AA and AAA compliant. This means that the websites need to be accessible even for those with different disabilities. Drupal has been in the compliance with the standards since the last version came out, which says a lot about its accessibility.

Advanced Modules

Drupal contains a staggering twenty-nine thousand different modules with over two thousand themes. This gives the developers a number of different options when designing highly customized templates for clients and websites. They vary from modules for developing educational websites to those defining password policies and safeguarding content. Granted, there are several hundred different CMSs available that also provide a safe digital platform, however, Drupal has always been considered as one of the most secure content management platforms out there.

Easy Content Creation

Unlike similar content management systems, Drupal contains a collection of tools which support COPE, or create once, publish everywhere strategies. These strategies allow developers to accomplish more work even when having reduced staff, saving precious time, effort and resources. With COPE, creators can make their content manageable, with lists of curated content separated by categories and types. It also handles almost all commonly used file types, making it easy to integrate into various media platforms. Current content strategies are also supported across different media, which makes content more adaptable to different devices.

Integration

This single most important thing about Drupal is that it effortlessly integrates into a variety of services and applications, which makes its implementation within a business a piece of cake (for those who know what they’re doing, of course). This means that businesses now have the opportunity to invest their efforts not only into technology but also the functionality of said technology. All that remains is to connect to that technology using a web service. Simple as that. This is especially useful with the integration of any internal services, not available to the general public.

Multilingual support

Drupal’s multilingual capabilities allow businesses to create new language strategies with the administrative interface in more than one language. This can prove to be an excellent competitive advantage by allowing the team to use company’s services in their preferred language. This allows for quick decisions on whether all content must be translated and which page should be displayed if there are no translations available at the moment. The community behind Drupal has made numerous of language-specific information and resources available, aiding in the further development of its multi-lingual capabilities.

Usability

Drupal provides numerous tools for the creation, authoring, and publishing of content. It’s customizable “what you see is what you get” editor is used extensively for marketing professionals, permissions for editorial management and authentication. Site admins, authors, translators, publishers and even developers use Drupal because it gives them enough access to meet the average working requirements without being too obtrusive and in the way. That’s because it delivers content across all devices with adaptive and responsive development behind it.

SEO friendly

As search engines become more content oriented, having an original and engaging piece of content increases the odds of the website having a good ranking in the search results page. This is why experts recommend using it for SEO, as it contains numerous SEO modules such as Page Title, Content Tagging, Content optimization and reports, Keyword management, Redirect management, Sitemap, and XML Sitemap and even Google Analytics, complete with API integration. All these tools provide the users to display their content at the top of the search results page.

The Community

Interestingly enough, Drupal’s maxim of choice, so to speak, is “Come for the Software, stay for the Community”. Being free and open-sourced, it has amassed a large community which includes around forty thousand active developers, over a million accounts and more than two thousand commits per week. As you can see, the community is really the backbone of this CMS. They maintain the platform, adding innovative ideas every day and guaranteeing the quality of the modules the platform works on.

Bottom Line

Drupal is a free platform which can be installed without being hassled into purchasing a monthly plan and spending on recurring fees. It’s open-source, which means it’s accessible to everyone who wants to give it a shot. Its scalability and integration capabilities, allow for businesses to easily incorporate new internal policies as well as various media platforms. Along with great accessibility, flexibility and security, make it the best content managing platform you can use right now.

by http://nirmal.com.au/