Drupal and Wordpress and Joomla, Oh My!

An Account Manager writing a blog on something web related… it sounds scary, I know. But technically, I speak client, and I also really enjoy the web/digital side of my job. So, what I want to translate into non-technical speak for you is why your Content Management System (CMS in agency lingo) choice matters.

There are so many CMS options to choose from today, WordPress, Joomla, Typo3, ExpressionEngine, Drupal…. I can keep going… but not all CMS are created equal. In the process of building or rebuilding your website, the design is important, but it’s the CMS that’s going to either make your life easy or cause you to scream and pull your hair out.

As you may know from some of our previous blogs, Drupal is our CMS of choice here at Texas Creative. The question I get asked the most when meeting with clients about a new website is, “What is Drupal going to do for me that something like *insert CMS of choice here* can’t?” Good question. Here are 4 things I have found to be true when it comes to using Drupal as your Content Management System.

1. It’s going to be easy for you and your team to update.

Working at an agency, sometimes we forget that not everyone is as comfortable as we are with technology. A lot of clients think that they need coding experience to make content updates or swap out an image on their website, but Drupal makes it easy for even the most tech-challenged of people to make updates without any coding knowledge.

The backend of Drupal is organized by content types and contains text fields/image upload fields for each content type, which makes it extremely simple to update. So while you may have a page with over 100 different pieces of information listed, editing one of those pieces is one click away and as simple as filling out a form.

2. It’s going to be easy for me to update.

I know what you’re saying at this point, “I don’t have the time nor do I want to make updates myself.” That’s OK, not all of our clients want to do it either. The great thing about Drupal is that it is easy for your Account Manager to make content, image and other minor updates for you. That means if you call with an edit, I can easily complete it without having to send it back to the web team, which makes for a shorter turnaround time. But if I can’t solve the problem for you, I can easily walk to the other side of the office and ask someone who can.

3. It can do anything.

You name it; we’ve probably built a site for it in Drupal. From selling high-end luggage products to cattle, Drupal has the flexibility to accommodate all of your website needs. But no matter how complex your site is, our team builds the CMS with the end user in mind, which allows our clients to make updates without the fear of breaking their site.

Here are some links to a few of the projects Drupal has helped us build:

Take Care of Texas

The University of Texas at Austin

The San Antonio Medical Foundation

4.     It’s open source.

I’m slipping into technical speak here (don’t leave, come back), but basically all this means is that Drupal is one big group project. Because Drupal has no license fees, there are thousands of Drupal developers working to build new and better technology all the time. This matters to you as a client because your site is not only portable (aka you’re not handcuffed to one agency) but it is constantly being worked on, which leads to improvements and helps increase your site’s security.  

So, to sum all of this up for you (I told you I’d make this simple), it may seem like an intimidating subject but YOUR CMS IS REALLY IMPORTANT. Whether you go with Drupal or not, you should feel comfortable working in the backend of your site. Your website should be working hard for your brand, you should not be working hard to maintain your website.