When you get the Drupal open-source CMS (content management system), you are actually following in the footsteps of many well-known websites including those run by the US government and many corporations. However, even if you just want for your personal blog site it is possible to get this free CMS as a GNU General Public Licensed download.

 

If you have used other CMS before, you may find that the Drupal core features have some aspects in common with other CMS. Some examples are the user account registration, user account maintenance, RSS feed, menu management, a method for customizing page layout, and even system administration. This means you might find it easy to adapt the Drupal for your needs no matter how simple or complex. A simple application of Drupal could be making a blog site with multiple users while a more complex application is developing a community discussion forum. This may be why this CMS is useful for important institutions like the US government.

 

As a free CMS, the system is improved upon by the open-source community itself. Thus, you can get support from the community of users when there are aspects of the CMS that you want to amend or are puzzled about. It should be relatively easy to install it on your website as well as to manage it over time – but if you do encounter problems it may make sense to hire Web Publishing Systems (WPS) to do the CMS installation and management for you. By hiring Web Publishing Systems (WPS)  you get the assurance that your CMS will function more smoothly thus preventing you from encountering downtime due to technical delays.

 

It is important that if you want to rely on Drupal as your CMS that you have the right computing platform. This means you will need a PHP-based web server and a related database for your settings and content. You have to get the PHP 4.4.0 for the Drupal 6 version, and at least a PHP 5.2.5 for the Drupal 7 version. Take note that Drupal is a multi-awarded CMS even if it is open source and continuously being developed by the Drupal user community. It is now used by over 910,000 websites as of August 2013. If you want to stay ahead of the pack, stay tuned for when the Drupal 8 will be released – for now, that CMS version is still being developed.