Drupal from Drupal.org is one of the most popular content management systems and for good reason. Touted as the “CMS for developers”, it offers a variety of benefits that make it very appealing for its millions of users around the world. These benefits range from Administration to Connect properties and abilities but mainly have to do with the fact that the CMS is open source and thus easy for customization. The following are a breakdown of what exactly makes Drupal so awesome and the benefits of choosing Drupal for your web development.
9 Benefits of Drupal Web Development
Easy to manage
Compared with most of the other content management systems, Drupal may seem difficult, however once it is explained, it grants the webmaster the abilities to do practically anything with the site content. This is quite unlike other Content management systems where a complete knowledge of all the intricacies of the site have to be developed before the webmaster can have complete access.
Open source
Drupal is open source unlike most other Content management systems like WordPress and Joomla. This is especially beneficial because it allows the developer to modify the source code away from the template and create something completely new and different each time. This is wonderful for brand developers and site owners who are interested in creating brands which are different from all others. The open source code also has other benefits asides from appearance modifications and these can be classified as customization.
Customization
Drupal is so easily customized it makes other content management systems look forced. You can get into the code and modify it to the extent your site starts to look like nothing that has ever existed. Other content management systems offer you a variety of templates and this results in you having a site that is similar to another somewhere else in one way or another. With Drupal, you can be sure that there is no site like yours, and this does not only refer to the appearance of the site but also in the way the site is navigated, features available, and the layout. There are more than 2,000 different themes and 29,000 modules available on Drupal.org with Plugins available to modify your site. With so many options and choices, it is no surprise that designer and developers usually have Drupal as their first pick.
Drupal community
A healthy and active community exist using and operating Drupal. This is evident in the over 400,000 websites, over 600,000 users and numerous developers and designers. If you have a problem, all you need to do is send a message and within a short time your answer has been developed and delivered to you. With a fully open code, solutions to problems are never in short supply.
It is SEO and Mobile friendly
Above all other CMS platforms, Drupal is the most SEO friendly. This is because it can be modified very easily. Sites hosted using other CMS platforms have a problem with bank end modifications and these can forestall some attempts at SEO. These sites have definite templates that do not allow certain modifications, which is where Drupal comes in. With its enormous and powerful flexibility, it can be easily adjusted for SEO.
This also applies for Mobile technology users. Users of your site, whether it is an ecommerce or blog site, would appreciate you when you use Drupal over any other technology. Not only is Drupal easy to scale, but it has been shown to be fully supportive of mobile usage. Mobile users view sites that are on Drupal platforms in the same way in which Desktop users do. This has gone a long way in promoting the visibility of many websites which currently use Drupal.
Easy redeployment
Modifying your site or redesigning it is something that is sure to occur the longer you remain active. This is because as technology evolves, perception changes and evolves also, therefore you would need to constantly revamp and redesign to make sure you stay ahead of the curve. This requires you to often change how your site works or is designed. Making this modifications can be tasking and can often delay. This delay is cut short when you use Drupal. Portions of your site are easily modified and redeployed before peak periods so you do not lose customers or suffer clients. This is extremely favorable because it means you can modify your site as quickly as you get user feedback. This ensures that your customers and visitors remain happy and satisfied which is very good for your rankings.
Administration and Organization
One of the really amazing things about Drupal is the extent to which you can utilize the tools for Administration and Organization. There are many tools available for structuring the site according to your whim. Whether you want to create friendly path urls, associate different content with each other on your site or simply create smart content for your writers and editors, you can do it with Drupal. And it is not just with organizing. You can easily assign roles and privileges for different members of your staff using Drupal. These privileges could include view and create permissions or even administrator privileges, with Drupal they are made easy.
Availability of APIs
There are so many APIs available on Drupal so you can modify your site in so many various ways, depending only on what you want. With over a thousand developers on hand and as many available APIs from Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google Apps, Google Analytics and so many others.
Everybody who is somebody uses this
Ask yourself, if The White House uses Drupal for their website, what CMS could be better? Drupal boasts of over 400,000 users and these are people who know what they are doing and what they want. Clients who favor Drupal include: The White House, The Economist, Examiner, The New York Observer, Fast Company, Symantec Connect, The Pulitzer Prizes, MTV UK, Warner Brothers Records etc.
Drupal web development is one of the best options you could ever have, especially if you are interested in developing a website that would stand out as different from the crowd or if you want to include a variety of features into your website without the attendant difficulties when using other CMS platforms. In any of these cases and more also, Drupal is your best choice.