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Couple things. Drupal documentation has heavily gone the way of the screencast, while I personally think they move too slowly, but I'm like that. There have been times where I haven't been able to figure something out and I've watched a screencast on a module and not only find the solution to my problem but learn of two other features I didn't know about. The module "problem" you describe is the downside of a very conscious decision made by the community. There are several reasons. Firstly by having more but smaller modules for things it means that you can reduce the size of the code on the system, if every feature you might want was in the main modules you would have a lot of code you don't need being loaded into the system. Secondly it means someone working on a feature you don't use is unlikely to break your code by changing something higher up to fit their needs and breaks yours. Thirdly it allows individuals and groups of people to try doing things differently and let the community choose which best serves their needs. This brings up something else about modules. There is a reason the information about the number of sites using the module is on the webpage, the more you stick to modules heavily used the less likely you will run into update problems and the more likely someone will figure it out and fix it before you even notice it. Which brings me to the next thing. Google is your friend. Drupal throws you an error put it in Google and most of the time you will get the answer. Same goes with wanting to know about how to do something. Which brings me to the fact that there is a Drupal way of doing things that can seem odd from time to time for people who know how to code decently. The Drupal way isn't necessarily the "right" way something should be done, but the best way to do it with the peculiarities of Drupal. The more you do things the Drupal way instead of how you think they should be done the easier things become. If instead of writing your own module you find a way to use a Drupal module to accomplish what you want, that module may eventually do exactly what you want and in 2-3 years when you have to upgrade there is a decent chance the module will be upgraded and if not you will have a group of people using the same one you are trying to upgrade to help each other through the process. The reason I have no intention of leaving Drupal is actually its robust multi-user support. Your right pulling data out of databases and displaying it is easy. Giving people control of parts of a website's content is complicated. Stale content because its too difficult to change things is rarely a good thing. On a closing note, if a system comes along that does everything Drupal does and more with better performance and what not I would consider changing, but one thing noticeable in this thread is that outside of WordPress for simpler stuff there is no consensus on other products out there. Projects need a certain amount of mass to keep them going forward with enough momentum to continue to thrive. Drupal has that for the time being. The only book I have found that I like on Drupal is Drupal for Designers. It assumes you know how to make a webpage but aren't a programmer but want to leverage the things Drupal can do, so it is very different than other Drupal books I have or have come across. Brent Joshua Welker wrote: >Thanks for the suggestions about videos and the Services module. I will give >it a look. I am still quite torn overall about whether to stick it out with >Drupal or use a framework. > > > >