brakkar - 8:20 pm on Apr 27, 2009 (gmt 0)

Drupal is very different than all other cms: its unified.

For example, you have by default: comments, url rewriting, file attachement, authoring information, and an infinite number of features like this.

These features, can then be tied to any kind of content you add. So each new features can benefit from comments url rewriting, file attachement etc etc..... Modules by default can make use of already existing features, which makes the system exponentially feature rich.

For example, when you create a content, you don't see like in other cms, a different form because module was developed by this or that developer: all new content is centralized, and benefits from all existing feature.
In joomla one day I added a directory module: it was handled completely differently than rest of the system and forced user to register separatly, has its own content creation form somewhere else: not in drupal: any module integrates in the system almost as if it was built in by default in the system.
This is the key concept to understand about it which make it completely different than anything else.

Also, with drupal, you can very easily create any kind of content. Want a "Company" content type ? Want a "People" content type ? Want a "Video" content type ?
In few clicks you define your content, perfectly integrated in admin of the cms, each with its own field, permissions, settings and already benefiting from all the built in / added features (comments, file attachement...... )not only can you create your content type, but can use enormous base of module.

Another key concept about theming: drupal has a single main template: you define zones, and tell which features should load here or there, and when. For example, you may want a module display a block in your "left column" zone only for non registered users, or for registered coming from that specific page. Possibilities are endless.
The main template with zones, is far far superior than anything I ever worked with (of course you can dig deeper and define template for every bit of a module and use conditional statements).

Drupal is really different: a real, flexible toolkit. I can't possibly use anything else since I tried it.

One problem: sometime you must install a module, to have another module work. Even if the module update notifications is really well done, you can end up with huge numbers of modules, requiring your attention and support (for updates, fixes, and security patches) from benevolant, sometimes arrogant "free open source" developers. Both a strengh (countless features and modules) and a weakness.

Other problem: drupal management of files is very weak: by default you can attach files and things like this, but system needs to be more centralized: all files should be sorted in a "multimedia" library.
Also no suppport by default for WYSIWYG, and a pain to integrate images in your content as you type (again, file attachement weakness) or you must rely on modules for such a basic task.

[edited by: brakkar at 8:35 pm (utc) on April 27, 2009]