Drupal
June 11, 2008
What is the difference between a CMS (content management system) and a Wiki?
In a nutshell:
Both are web based applications/software designed to allow many people to contribute content (typically articles … but podcast and videos are becoming more common) to a website.
I would say the basic difference is that a CMS (Ex: Drupal) is a closed system where only certain people can add or edit content to the website/cms.
On the other hand, a wiki is an open system where anyone can edit and add content. The idea behind a wiki is that the masses will eventually correct any false information – with the help of editors.
My thoughts:
I’m no wiki expert, but I see wiki’s being more suitable to general encyclopedic information. If you need a tighter structure and control over what is being posted on your site, I would be leaning towards a CMS rather than a WIKI.
That said, I am sure that the differences between the two types of software has room for a lot of gray area – I’m sure some CMS software have WIKI like functionality and vice versa.
How about blogs?
Blogs are kinda like a CMS for one person. One other distinction would be that the blog traditionally is date driven – where newer articles are posted to the front page of the blog. As with the WIKI/CMS blurring of the lines, you see the same with blogs and CMS software.
For example: WordPress (a popular blog program) has CMS like features:
- Multiple users can post articles.
- You can have static non date affected pages. WordPress call these ‘pages’.
Beyond the CMS-like features built into the core WordPress package, WordPress has a huge number of plug-ins out there that extend it’s capability considerably … bringing it even closer inline with a true CMS.
A few links:
WordPress home page: www.wordpress.org
Drupal home page: http://drupal.org
Another popular CMS – Joomla: joomla.org
Wiki software: Media Wiki
Ciao,
Stefan Mischook
www.killersites.com
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May 20, 2008
Hi,
I was just looking around the CMS and Blog scene, in terms of software, and I just finished taking another look at Drupal 6.
… Based on what I’ve seen so far, it looks very cool.
With this version of Drupal (Drupal 6.2) you see a lot of administration panel improvements and the whole process of installing and configuring Drupal has been streamlined. It is actually really easy.
Drupal 6 has a lot of other cool additions and tools like:
- Built in triggers: you can tell Drupal to do things when say for example someone post a comment.
- Better Forums: more features now.
- Drag-and-drop admin UI capabilities. It is easier to manage where things appear on your pages.
… And much more.
Most important, Drupal looks to be much faster than it was in previous versions.
… That’s one thing that bugged the hell out of me about old and slow Drupal 5.
You can get Drupal at: http://drupal.org/
I know, short post. I’m just busy with other stuff.
Thanks,
Stefan Mischook
www.killersites.com
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October 9, 2007
In the following article, using a question and answer format, I try to answer some of the common questions about how blogs fit within a business.
1. Can you describe your introduction to blogging, how you became interested how has it impacted you personally?
I first heard about blogging in about 2001 and dismissed it as another tool for people who didn’t want to learn HTML. A year or so later, I realized the significance of blogging and blogging software:
… it was going allow for the original vision of the Web to actually materialize, where anyone could easily get a website on the Web.
Blogs and the blog phenomenon, made me rethink my whole approach to web design as a web professional: blogs, CMS and other similar content formatting tools where the future of web design.
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September 19, 2007
Preamble:
I’ve mentioned several times in the past 2 years, that web designers should learn how to use/edit at least one blog or CMS. Some popular choices:
- WordPress – a blog.
- Drupal – a CMS.
- Mambo – a CMS
.. And there are many, many more.
Why should web designers be concerned?
I won’t go into all the details here, but in a nutshell, a lot of web sites can use the features/functionality provided by blogs or CMS packages. Why reinvent the wheel?
That said, what is the difference between a blog and a CMS?
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September 15, 2007
Killersites.com was started by David Siegal (of ‘Creating Killer Web Sites’ fame) back around 1996. This was effectively the first version of the site.
In 2002-2003, I officially took over and started version 2 of killersites.com. It has gone through a lot of changes over the last 4-5 years that has resulted in a lot of web design related content … too much content to manage with html, php and jsp pages running all over the place!
… It is time for a major shift.
WordPress vs. Drupal and Killersites.com version 3:
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