Drupal

Author: Chris Kaminski

Definitely not the prettiest system out there, either in terms of admin UI (which is spartan) or templates, but the code is a thing of beauty. Whether this has caused its user base to be relatively geek-heavy or is a result I can't say, but either way a technically proficient user (or at least one who is willing to become one) will find plenty to admire. The installation went off without a hitch on OS X.2.6. The only trouble was that my ISP blocks port 25, so I had to configure a scrip (available in the Drupal CVS) to handle an SMTP connection to my ISP's server. While it definitely requires some PHP knowledge, it was as straightforward and well-explained as I could ask. Moreover, the Drupal code is very clear, clean and well-commented. Drupal bills itself as 'community plumbing', and that it definitely is. It offers wonderful knowledge management and community functionality. It is not, especially suited to other sorts of sites (ecommerce, brochureware), but the quality of the coding and the very active and helpful user community should make it possible to make Drupal do more or less whatever you like. A very solid--if specialized--system.

Author:

Drupal is not Yet Another Nuke Offspring. Drupal has quite a different way to do things, which may just suit You. If you want real categorization or if You want to have better content syndication Drupal is an excellent choice. Drupal does not have the plethora of thirdparty modules that some other systems have. However - the modules Drupal has are fully integrated into the core of the system. Drupal does not yet sport a smart template engine - but the theme system is quite simple to use - even for non programmers, and after all you don't redesign your system every week. In short: What Drupal does - it does well!