Drupal is an open-source (operated under the free, GNU General Public License) Web Content Management System (“WCMS”) developed using PHP.. Drupal is a full open-source solution which makes it flexible to extend and customize sites built upon it to match specific requirements. It enjoys a diverse community constantly enhancing and maintaining its function and includes access to thousands of modules that enable rapid deployment of virtually any function desired in a website. It is large enough to have a dedicated security team and is in use in commercial/enterprise deployments.
Features of Drupal include:
· Rapid building: Base site in minutes, configuration and customization in days.
· Create content easily – WYSWIG editor – anyone who can operate Word can add or edit a page
· Organize Content – substantial tools to organize and find content as a curation
· Administer – Roles and permissions controls
· Design & Display – Theming system, which enables design of highly usable and interactive, engaging experiences
· Extensive Modules – more than 34,000 available to quickly build almost any feature for a website.
· Community – links to Facebook, twitter, reviewing, ranking, reputation engine, rewards features, etc.
· Connect Aggregation – includes modules for content feed integration, delivery, etc.
· Through Ubercart integration, comprehensive physical and virtual inventory/cart/checkout system linked to major eCommerce clearing houses
· For Media companies, the benefits of low-cost of ownership and deployment, coupled with a module set that gives virtually every feature desired on a website, are compelling. Durpal enables editors to work directly on the content set for the website in the WYSWIG editor, with proper role permissions. Further, it is multi-domain, meaning multiple, visually different web sites can use the same core repository to drive content, which dramatically simplifies management of that content and those sites, and is a ready path to device-specific websites selling eContent for publishers.
The only weakness in Drupal VML has identified is that it stores its content in a not-very-agile, relational database. As such, VML chose to implement a module (MLS4D, see About Drupal and MLS later in this section) to replace the relational database with MarkLogic Server.
