Drupal is a free and open source modular framework and Content Management System (CMS) written in the programming language PHP. It is used as a "back end" system for many different types of Web sites, ranging from small personal blogs to large corporate and political sites.
The standard release of Drupal, known as "Drupal core", contains basic features common to most CMSs. These include the ability to register and maintain individual user accounts, administration menus, RSS-feeds, customizable layout, flexible account privileges, logging, a blogging system, an Internet forum, and options to create a classic "brochureware" Web site or an interactive community Web site.
Drupal was also designed to allow new features and custom behavior to be added by third parties. For this reason, Drupal is sometimes described as a "Content Management Framework". Although Drupal offer a sophisticated programming interface for developers, no programming skills are required for basic web site installation and administration.
Drupal can run on any computing platform that supports 1) a web server capable of running PHP (version 4.3.5+), including Apache, IIS, Lighttpd, and nginx. 2) a database, such as MySQL or PostgreSQL, to store content and settings.
Criticism and review of Drupal CMS
Usability: Some aspects of Drupal's administration interface can be confusing and intimidating, particularly for new administrators. According to the Interaction Design and Information Architecture program at the University of Baltimore, Drupal lacks an intuitive, easy administration user interface. The administration area is regarded as clunky and cryptic with Drupal version 5 and 6, but improved ease of use is planned with the upcoming version 7. According to Dries Buytaert, Drupal 7 won't be released until 90% of the problems identified by the University of Minnesota and the University of Baltimore are solved. Usability will be one of the main improvements in Drupal 7 that will close the gap with easier CMS.
Learning curve: Drupal may be powerful, but it is also complex. The key is overcoming its steep initial learning curve. Most casual users are willing to sacrifice features for ease of use making Drupal less popular than more user-friendly CMSs despite its enhanced functionality.
Freestyler is an easy-to-use content management system with a range of applications to suit websites, intranets and extranets of any size. More flexible than Joomla, Freestyler is an Australian CMS written in PHP and can be hosted on either Windows or Linux. Ease of use for content editors is the key aim of this CMS with automatic image resizing function and rich text editing with the ability to easily add new pages anywhere within the site without having to create or manage the links to them. For webmasters, Freestyler comes with an easy installation script, access to an online and a range of built-in templates including pages, downloads and online forms.
Freestyler CMS web page.
Freestyler is an easy-to-use content management system with a range of applications to suit websites, intranets and extranets of any size. More flexible than Joomla, Freestyler is an Australian CMS written in PHP and can be hosted on either Windows or Linux. Ease of use for content editors is the key aim of this CMS with automatic image resizing function and rich text editing with the ability to easily add new pages anywhere within the site without having to create or manage the links to them. For webmasters, Freestyler comes with an easy installation script, access to an online and a range of built-in templates including pages, downloads and online forms.
Freestyler CMS web page.