Learn about Drupal

I went in to the Drupal site and felt my way through. It was rather easy. When I went to the content section to add my content, I had to choose between a page and a story. Logging in, I noticed that the stories were all there and the description said that they ended up there by default. I was curious where the page would end up, so I created a page thinking that there would be a link to it from the home page. Wrong...there was nothing on the home page to even show that I had even done anything. I wanted something there, so I went to the administer tab, content management, and content. From there, I edited my page to promote to front page. Now I can see it and I'm much happier.
Tamra Lanning edited 17:01, 14 Oct 2008

I tore up the sites a bit (hope I didn't break anything too badly) -- I agree with Jason; Drupal seems a bit restrictive, or at least inscrutable. I know there's a lot that can be done with it, but it seems like it would take quite a bit of tweaking.

Joomla, on the other hand, is busting over with options. More than I want, really. It was difficult for me to get a feel for what bits affected what other bits. I might use it, but only if I was doing something BIG.

Jeff Ferrell edited 21:08, 14 Oct 2008

I guess I'm an oddball or maybe it is just the way I think, but I find Drupal much easier to use and find that there are more options in it even if you have to push them out a bit more. For me Joomla is so user friendly that I can't do anything with it. Drupal is a program that is very bare when you start with it, but you can really get your hands in it and play. you can add blogs and discussions (even if the forums are kind of crappy) its all there and there are tons of add ons for it too. I know Joomla can do these things too, but I just don't get it for some reason.

Drupal is definitely a much simpler program. I didn't enjoy "toying" with it nearly as much as I did Joomla. A lot of options seemed to be available, but the friendliness just wasn't there for me. I have no doubt that I could use Drupal, however, if I had to choose one I would probably go with Joomla.
Disclaimer: Truth be told spending enough time with either program would enable practically anyone to design an environment that they like and could make function for a class or possibly a website.

I think I like Drupal better than Joomla. It seemed much easier to navigate. I like the more simple, easy to use options. Joomla seemed far more advanced for what I am capable of. I am sure once I start playing around with both Joomla and Drupal they will show their true colors and I will like/dislike one or the other.

I think that the content in Drupal is organized in a way that makes more sense to me than Joomla, but I think the learning curve for Joomla is easier. I logged into Drupal and set my Role as 'king (queen) o the hill' created by Jeff. After I added my 'story' I just went in and started clicking buttons in the Administrator menu. I added a slogan to the website, seen in the browser title bar, let my presence be known in the footer and enabled a few modules, such as Aggregator, Forum, Search, Statistics... I then realized that as an admin, I could not vote in any of the polls, so I went in and added both administrator and authenicated users to the polls.

I guess with both of these CMS it's a matter of going in and playing. When you come across something you think should be on the website, there's probably a way to get it to show up; it's just takes some playing around to figure it out. edited 21:54, 15 Oct 2008

Okay, I have to admit that as of last week I did not "get" Drupal. I could not find where things were going and what to do. So after playing a while, I decided to step back and soak it in. Went in today and it was much better. I finally figured out how to create a side bar. (thanks Jeff) I think of the two that we looked at, I like Drupal the best. I had a fear that I would crash Drupal and then decided "what will be, will be" and went to work! Time and clicking is the key!

My verdict is still out. I still need more time to look before i judge between the two. Like most have stated just get in there and don't be afraid.

Well I messed something up on the Drupal. I published a page and a story and then it went downhill. I wanted to do a poll, but I think I changed some settings instead of creating a poll. Everyone who did create a poll now has "Will your Halloween Costume be funny or scary" beside it. I tried to undo it. No luck. You did say you would fix what we messed up.

If I were entering content for a class or project that had significance to me, I think I would use this over the Joomla. I have had a little more light this week as I visit the site again. Actually I understand both sites much better now. edited 02:41, 17 Oct 2008

I have now played with both CMS, and like I commented on Heather's story, I've found that there are more search results on both Google and Youtube for Joomla than for Drupal.

I like Joomla's GUI more than Drupal's, but Drupal seems to have more editable content.

It did bother me that in Joomla you had to apply first before saving... that makes no sense to me. But then id Drupal there are certain sections (like adding primary links) that after I've filled out the information, I'll get a black page and nothing will happen, even after refreshing the page. so that's annoying too.


edited 16:07, 17 Oct 2008

Well I like Drupal better. This is probably due to the fact that my content was not deleted and I just found it to be much easier to use. I would still have to use both a lot more before I really committed to one or the other.

At first I thought I was going to really like Drupal, but the more I got into it, the more I was thinking how much I liked Joomla! better. I couldn't get Drupal to do what I wanted it to do. Perhaps if I played around with it more, I could eventually get what I wanted. I tried to create a page, but every time I tried to save it, I ran into problems. I ended up just adding my text as a story. I hate to admit it, but I kept looking for some place to click to upload a file (I wanted to add a vacation picture) and got very frustrated that I couldn't find it. So, I snuck over to Heather's page to see if I could figure out how she got her picture there. Silly me, she used html coding. Remember, teacher, what you learn in one class can be applied to the next!

I spent more time on Joomla. I can't decide if that was because it was what I looked at first or if it is because I was having trouble navigating around Drupal. Considering I had never heard of either of them, I really enjoyed seeing what is available. This class keeps opening my eyes to what is out there and for free!

That was pretty cool as well! I think Drupal is a little more user friendly, but Joomla was more fun. I think both could be useful in my classroom and my personal life. I would recommend Drupal for formal use and Joomla for other interests.

I like both of the websites, some things more than the other. It's really cool learning new things that are available free.

Woo hoo! I did it! I don't know why... but I like Drupal better than Joomla. It seemed easier for me to follow. I agree with Heather though... I think both of these will require a slight learning curve in order to really benefit from all its features.