Drupal Web Service Is Essentially A Content Management Framework

Drupal Web Service is a free open source software that enables amateur users to effortlessly create and manage various kinds of web sites. Drupal Web Service is essentially a content management framework written in PHP and distributed under the GNU General Public License. Users can download the software with web-based installer and add-ons. Drupal supports content management, collaborative authoring, newsletters, podcasts, image galleries, peer-to-peer networking, file uploads/downloads and more. Drupal Web Service can be used for web-properties like blogs, personal or corporate web sites, portals, forums, e-commerce sites, intranets, resource directories and social networking sites.

Drupal Web Service was written by Dries Buytaert as a message board and only in 2001 did it become an open source project. Today, Drupal has set guns blazing in the world-wide-web with more than 1.4 million downloads from its parent site. Like any other open source software, Drupal is currently enhanced and worked upon by a community. Drupal Core, the standard release of Drupal, contains basic Content Management features, some of which are; user account registration and maintenance, menu management, RSS-feeds, page layout customization, and system administration. With the Drupal Core, users can execute a brochure-ware website, a single or multi-user blog, an Internet forum, or a community website providing for user-generated content.

Drupal Core is the DNA of Drupal Web Service, so let’s try to understand what the Core is all about. Drupal Core is generally considered to be the stock element of Drupal. In the Drupal community, "Core" invariably means anything that is outside the "sites" folder in a Drupal installation. In its default configuration, Drupal enables the site's content to be contributed by registered and/or anonymous users. Core also includes a hierarchical classification system, which allows content to be categorized or tagged with key words for easier access.

Drupal works with Windows, Mac OS X, Linux and many other operating systems. However, it does require a database, such as MySQL to store content and settings. Anyone can create modules for Drupal, and currently available modules range from photo galleries to e-commerce systems. Modules can even change Drupal's default behavior in order to build a better website. There are also extensive tutorials and documentations available for Drupal, due to the community.

Some may think that the learning curve for Drupal is going to be steep and it will take months to learn. Wrong. Your first, largely static, web site of 20 odd pages can be up and running in less than a week after you have installed the first copy of Drupal. Then, it is just a matter of sorting out hosting arrangements and domain names with a helpful web hosting providers.