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 <[log in to unmask]>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:[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: ‎5/‎14/‎2014 9:34 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> 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