I do have quite a bit of experience with Wordpress, and I generally like it more than Drupal for its simplicity. The reason I am wary of it is that it is heavily plugin-dependent in general and specifically with regards to custom content types. I want to avoid having to use third-party plugins for basic site functionality. The litmus test for me is if I can make a dynamic database list page using out-of-the-box functionality. Neither Drupal nor Wordpress can do this as far as I can tell.
On Wed, May 14, 2014 at 8:43 PM, Riley Childs <rchi...@cucawarriors.com>wrote: > I am sure others have opinions: > You just described WordPress as far as the bus scenario goes, and for ease > of use WordPress gets a tick there, I don't know much about drupal, but > WordPress has solved most of my issues (I hope Michael Scofield steps in on > this one, he know a LOT more then me). My recommendation: Take WordPress > for a spin. Especially if you are prone to bus accidents ;-). > > BTW: Something that works best for me, might not be best for others, and > vise versa. > > Riley Childs > Student > Asst. Head of IT Services > Charlotte United Christian Academy > (704) 497-2086 > RileyChilds.net > Sent from my Windows Phone, please excuse mistakes > ________________________________ > From: Joshua Welker<mailto:wel...@ucmo.edu> > Sent: 5/14/2014 9:34 PM > To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU<mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU> > Subject: [CODE4LIB] Very frustrated with Drupal > > Warning: incoming wall of text. > > I've been working for the past several months on building a library website > with Drupal. This is my second try building a website with Drupal. I chose > Drupal for two main reasons: CCK/content types, and its ubiquity in the > library community. > > Theme development was going relatively well, if a little overly > complicated. But once I started trying to do anything beyond developing > static pages, I have become more and more frustrated with Drupal. > > Drupal supports custom content types out-of-the-box, which is great, but if > you want to actually do anything with that custom content other than have > it function as a plain page, you have to use the Views module. Views is > great, but views can easily become very complicated, with custom rewrites, > grouping, relations, contextual filters, etc. Plus, a lot of functionality > in Views requires more modules (for instance, basic data manipulation). > This is to build rather run-of-the-mill list features like a database list > or a list of events. And a lot of the advanced features in Views require a > solid understanding of SQL (groups, distinct, joins, etc), which kind of > defeats the notion that it is easy for non-developers to administer. > > Now, at this point, I have modules extending my modules. And those modules > have multiple dependencies on other modules. I am getting worried now. It > feels like my website is a house of cards. I've run into several instances > already where one of these plugins is updated and breaks compatibility with > the whole stack, and there is nothing to do in this case but open an issue > on the project tracker and pray for the best. I have looked into building > my own modules, but the umpteen APIs and hooks required to do something > simple as perform some regex on field data completely overwhelmed me (and I > am fairly experience with web app development). > > It's not just Views, either. Anything more complicated than static pages > and navigation menus requires relying on the module ecosystem. > > Not only is the whole thing quite precarious, but it defeats one of the two > main purposes of a CMS: ease of administration. I want to know that if I > get hit by a bus tomorrow, someone will be able to come in and take over > without too much difficulty. But when I go back and look at my views, I can > sometimes barely understand the work I did a week ago. It is very difficult > to keep straight which functions are coming from which modules, and all > those modules have separate (often poor) documentation. > > At this point, I am seriously contemplating dumping Drupal and moving to a > full-fledged framework like Django, Flask, or Laravel and adding some > WYSIWYG CRUD controls for pseudo-CMS functionality. ActiveRecord-like > systems are much easier to use IMO than fiddling for hours with Views, and > I have full control of what is happening. I honestly think it would be just > as easy for someone to inherit a custom-built framework app as it would be > to inherit my already-convoluted Drupal site. At least the framework is > well-documented and should allow my app to be understandable to anyone with > some programming experience. > > Does anyone want to talk me off the ledge here? I know a lot of you are > using Drupal for your websites. What are the killer features that keep you > using Drupal? If any of you have experience building websites using > frameworks, what are your experiences? I really want to like Drupal, but it > seems to be more trouble than it's worth. > > -- > Josh Welker > Information Technology Librarian > James C. Kirkpatrick Library > University of Central Missouri > Warrensburg, MO 64093 > JCKL 2260 > 660.543.8022 > -- Josh Welker Information Technology Librarian James C. Kirkpatrick Library University of Central Missouri Warrensburg, MO 64093 JCKL 2260 660.543.8022
