Help needed: what is Drupal?
In my upcoming DrupalCon keynote, I'd like to talk a bit about "What is Drupal?". It means something different for all of us. As an experiment, I'd love for each of you to describe, in one short sentence, what Drupal is for you. It would be great if you did a short 10-15 second video, but you can also leave a comment on this post. Be honest, be smart, be funny or wicked creative ... all submissions welcome!
When you do, please leave your name and role (developer, designer, end-user, etc) so I can give credit where credit is due. Fill out the e-mail field and I may follow up with you for additional comments. Please keep it short and succinct. The more submissions the better, so help spread the word and invite others to participate. Maybe even hit the streets with a camera and ask a few random people "What is Drupal?". All help and all submissions welcome.
(Don't worry if you don't see your comment right away. I might leave your feedback sitting in my comment moderation queue for a bit so you don't influence each other too much.)
Comments
Drupal is love (=^_^=) - and a life changer.
Drupal is this "thingy" that allows you to:
Hi Dries,
I saw your tweet, so I'm coming to help.
I am French, so I suggest the french way:
"Drupal is a powerfull tool to built flexible websites but Drupal is like red wine. The time makes it better, and Drupal is already 10 years old." :D
Good luck Dries.
Luc Bezier
developer
"Drupal" in one sentence: The shoulder's giant to step on.
THE website building system for everyone to create every possible website you can imagine ... and it's FREE!
:-)
I am a "hobby" website builder who understands CSS and just enough PHP to be dangerous. Even though, when coupled with the right modules Drupal has enabled me to build various pretty awesome websites without having to "program" anything.
Bedankt Dries!
Role:developer
A key to my successful marriage (to feed my family, buy things) and even keep wife anger at bay for my continues over time work hours with her own website to play (no, we don't like facebook)
Drupal is a symbiotic relationship between Code & Community, and Drupal wouldn't be a fraction as powerful without that synergy.
Breaking it down further, the same relationship exists within 'Code': 'Core' & 'Contrib'.
And within 'Community' : 'People'(contributors) and 'Place' (drupal.org).
For Drupal to progress and thrive, all 4 parts must move together.
[Insert fancy graphic by Saman Bemel Benrud here
Drupal for me is: "The foundation to create greatness from - Including building websites, meeting/working with brilliant people or just brainstorming ideas - its all there!"
/thomas
A bit of everything
From my son Terrence, age 8 "Drupal is cool, you can make a website just-like-that!"
Drupal is freedom to be able to create sites how I want, when I want, where I want. Drupal is a well supported and well thought of CMS used by governments, NGOs and major corporations worldwide. Drupal is more than just a way of building a site - it's our way of building a site...
(Or for those feeling like cheating on a tag line a little) There are some sites I can't build, for everything else there's Drupal...
Drupal is an open source content management system; A highly extensible framework allowing you to build almost any kind of data-driven website, supported by a creative and demanding community.
Drupal is a versatile & rocksolid CMS system that works great in the background while I'm busy working on creating drupalthemes.
Drupal themer-Antwerp-Belgium
Better than a lot of vendor Web Content Management products.
Drupal is my viagra. I need it to get laid. LOL
On a more serious note...
Drupal provides me, and many other people, an opportunity to create robust applications without having to know every detail about the framework and it's functions.
As a developer, I use Drupal for three reasons;
1) The fabulous modular hook system that promotes code reuse
2) The awesome documentation, support, and modules provided by the community.
3) Drupal is in demand. It has become my niche and it has been much easier to find Drupal work than when I previously carried a broader label of PHP developer.
Drupal has certainly changed my life and has elevated me to a more professional career.
"Drupal is the lifeline of my website."
Drupal is "the great and powerful wizard" for data driven Web applications!
For me, Drupal is money generator!
fantastic :-)
It's not just a CMS, it's a way of life!
Drupal is a way to make a living. (I'm a developer, mainly specializing in theming)
Drupal is a my work, my life, my love :p oh and a wicked open source web platform.
To me, Drupal is pain, suffering, loathing, frustration and easily the worst part of my job.
I am a Drupal developer who helps small startups and non-profits and I have seen Drupal being used in huge projects so for me
"Drupal is a glove that fits all sizes".
Drupal to me as a developer is...
The Swiss army Knife of content management systems. Lots of sharp edges to hurt yourself on but lots of uses and great once you know how to use it.
Drupal is an awesome framework with which I can build almost anything dreamable online.
Drupal is usually a dream with a happy ending but occasionally a nightmare
Jamie
Module Maintainer + Developer + End-User
Drupal is the idea that we can all work together towards a greater good, have fun doing it, and profit from it. Sounds too good to be true, yet it is true.
For me, Drupal is an outstanding platform with a great community that lets me, as a PHP developer, do just about anything I want without having to reinvent the wheel with each new project.
an addiction that is ruining my marriage :)
Serious answer - A hobby but at the same time developing something that is helpful in my job....
Sistema inteligente(que pode crescer quase indefinidamente), facilitou muito meu trabalho na web.
Drupal is anything I want it to be.
The way I spent my days; either busy or procrastinating.
Drupal is the best career choice I have ever made!
Drupal is love. Because all you need is Drupal. The Beatles would be proud of you Dries !
Drupal is for me a turning point in my life. Gave me the chance to teach myself (for free) and get a job back on the web development market. grateful for it.
Vinny Poliseno
Web Marketing Manager
What is Drupal to me?
Drupal lets me leverage my developers, designers, and marketing generalist to make us all look like Web Gurus.
The possibilities of the web are infinite, but unfocused. To create form out of the void, Drupal is the next best thing to using the force!
- Brad, president
Symetris.ca, web development specialists
A long time buddy
Drupal is the answer to my prayers for an elegant yet inexpensive website for my state government agency.
I'm a public information officer/web developer for the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board.
Drupal is my towel! Don't forget your towel!
For me Drupal is the perfect mold that allows me to build anything from the simplest of websites to the most complex of websites. I can build GMail with Drupal, that is my quote to my customers.
Drupal? sounds like a STD from Belgium...
Frans van der Meer
Drupal Developer (from Rotterdam, NL with love!)
A life changing experience that helps me realize my passion of providing tools to bridge geographical, language and cultural barriers.
Ok; here's two
* Drupal is so far the only human compatible CMS
I put Wordpress under blogging software, not with CMS - though I do admit its rather a subcategory..
* Drupal is the only CMS I dared to have my aunt administer
Also
* Drupal is the aspirin to your "challenged site admin" headache
To me Drupal was firstly our first step into entrepreneurship after 22 years of working for several companies. Being a non-programmer (I am a project manager with a design background) Drupal turned out to be a tool with a very steep but enormously rewarding learning curve.
This year we (me and my colleague) decided to deploy Drupal for our main product, a work flow tool for therapists in youth care all over the world. We are confident that this will give us more flexibility in providing solutions to our customers.
Developer/Designer
...."most powerful content communicator"
Drupal is a Job, a Passion, an Adventure, a hobby and is as jealous as a Girlfriend. I don't know what I was doing before Drupal but it certainly changed my life. Thanks to all.
I'm a developer, a themer, a user.
I'm a designer, no programming knowledge. When the programmer I work with explained me some essentials of Drupal I made the remark that Drupal actually has he potential of an operating system, and he seemed not to disagree. In the meantime we have a big database running in Drupal 4 since 2005 without any problems. So to me, Drupal means reliability and potential.
Drupal makes me look like a smart web developer! All those modules make my life awesome!
Drupal is a quantum head start when building websites that must have excellent user experiences.
Designer
Drupal is: that geeky girl in the movies who is crazy sexy when she takes off the glasses.
I like that one!
developer - drupal is my platform of choice
Drupal is a full-featured, highly configurable platform and a large open source community which can be leveraged to build modern web applications.
Drupal is one of the few things that give purpose to my life:)
Develop stuff that will help other people and GPL it!
Keep sharing ^^
paris,fresh developer,beginner
Drupal is my best friend and my worst enemy, its flexibility is both ingenious and extremely frustrating, but the ability to put a corporate quality solution in the hands of a small business, at a competitive price is simply brilliant!
A beautiful instrument that gives me chance to rock science, politics & marketing communities.
Drupal is "Harold's Purple Crayon" (a childrens book where whatever Harold draws comes to life).
Knowing the modules helps me envision what can be built; having the modules and API allows me to build it very quickly and cheaply.
I work with schools to create online learning environments on the fly to support projects. This is different than creating commercial instructional designs, which involve a great deal more planning and development time and generate income. Without Drupal, everyone would need to use Moodle or Ning or another prefigured intranet, and social learning would be constrained by these tools.
Without Drupal, the desks are screwed to the floor, facing front.
I'm a drupal developer and running a small company in Sri Lanka now. When I was at the university Drupal was my universe, I learned a lot of new stuff in coding, hacking to be the smart guy at the uni at that time :o). Drupal is a university and I'm still learning stuff and everyone in globe too.
Drupal means I can say "yes, I can do that" to my clients.
The way I would drive this is to always tell people that Drupal is no longer a CMS. It has way past that point. It's a framework. A complete framework with the ability to build crazy complex applications that is useful to any industry and all kinds of businesses. Right from the start of installation, Drupal already fulfill the basic needs; login, registration and most importantly, the hooks to grow the system beyond than what it is. I see that capability & potential. It's so much more than meets the eye.
Drupal is a drug. A good one that is :D
Drupal is the most amazing system in the world. It`s not just CMS or CMF ,It`s really new generation of web development.
Ayham Alsuleman
Drupal Developer
A tool for getting things done quickly...but with quality.
A tool for getting things done quickly...but with quality.
"What is Drupal?"
..... Listen to my breathe .... listen to my heartbeat ....
(see that cardiogram going up and down, up and down, with a little Drupal face on it!!)
Drupal is my .... life !!!!!
I breath it, i eat it, I sleep with it ... .
I develop for customers, I design for clients, I speak Drupal lingo to my wife.
Help .... My wife is starting with Drupal for her own site.
My kids want a Drupal bike and a sticker for school :)
Hence, the school website is in Drupal.
Shit, my whole life is Drupal!! :) :) :)
Drupal is the platform that will re-unite the Open-Source community and be the foundation for all content-driven web properties from here on out.
Drupal is the most powerful and flexible platform that i ever seen in PHP to make applications and bussiness solutions online.
Thx Dries,to maintain it in Open Source mode. ;)
Drupal changed my life! I worked for a secondment company as a PHP developer. One of the clients wanted me and another collegue to build a community website for the Dutch fashion industry. But it had to be build in 2 months. And actualy they asked me to build it using their own , not completed, PHP development framework. So me and my collegue scratched behind our ears. We tought, they are asking us to build a CMS for them, in 2 months. Why reinvent the wheele, we neem some sort of CMS builder. So we did some investigation and found a couple of CMS frameworks. We wrote down the pros and cons of all the CMS frameworks incl. building their CMS from scratch using their php development framework. The large community, number of modules, references and our enthausiasm as developers, made them to choose Drupal. With succes, we build what they wanted while we learned all the facets of Drupal. Offcourse we missed a lot of usefull functionality, but the customer got what we want, and we as developers got the extremely useful knowledge and experience of using Drupal. For the restyle of the website they asked us again and there we could use all of the new knowledge that came to us during and after the first project. (indemode.nu) So for me the power of Drupal is the low barrier you need to pass before enjoying it's power, the large community/module repository and the open source and open minded ambience of Drupal. Thank you for starting it, it made me a far more valueble professional! Ik bedenk me trouwens net dat ik dit ook gewoon in het Nederlands had kunnen typen, aangezien je oorspronkelijk uit België komt :)
You share a little, you get a lot - this is Drupal!
I've been a software engineer for over 30 years. I've done development on the entire stack. So, I'm a tad cynical most of the time when it comes to any technology that promises as much as Drupal does. Drupal is on my very short list of technology phenomenons that over deliver on real world application problem solving. If you build web apps, do not start a new project without looking at Drupal first! Great job Dries.
Drupal is a rapid application development framework that allows me to quickly build a full-featured, user-driven website.
Drupal for me is a short-cut to success.
Drupal is a content management system/web application framework that has yet to choose between end users and developers as its primary audience.
A lifestyle.. In fact I have a company now providing only drupal theming services
Drupal is a funny way to work. It's unbelievable what a great community is there for such a powerful tool, which would normally attract many 'treasure' hunters.
I love Drupal and I'm proud to be part of the movement.
To me Drupal Drupal means freedom - free to express yourself through creativity and business. Freedom to blaze your own trail making cool stuff. Look at our community and what do you see? A bunch of free souls who are blazing a trail of total coolness using Drupal.
Drupal is the most fun I have had with web development and I make a decent living out of it too.
I'm a developer at Internet Unlimited, a dutch Drupal Web development agency.
Drupal is the tool I use every day to realize our dreams as a team. Drupal is also the reason I occasionally have nightmares because it's sometimes difficult to make it do what I want. Bottom line... Drupal is part of my days and my nights.
to me Drupal is a language which is very easy to learn! I can speak web fluently now.
If yoomla is playmobil, wordpresses are barbies,
Drupal is lego but you can customize all the blocks.
I can name that answer in two words: opportunity and community.
I am a developer. My d.o username is oadaeh. My d.o profile is http://drupal.org/user/4649. I created these projects: Basic webmail, Contact attach, Courier MTA and Stock chart. I additionally maintain these projects: Checkmail and Mass Contact.
I think that Drupal is a framwork with a CMS.
Drupal is a development framework with a UI for non-developers.
D R U P A L - Develop Rich, Ultra Portals in All Languages
Sir people get trained on your Drupal and doing jobs in many organization just becoz u made the strongest CMS. Drupal changes the era of Web Development.So robust and flexible. :)
Drupal to me is a well-built web framework supported by the most awesome community.
roles = end user, themer, site builder
Drupal is a life in a microcosm; wonder, excitement, opportunity, frustration, growth, satisfaction, and community.
Drupal is:
Dynamic
Reusable
Ubiquitous
Powerful
Adaptable
Legendary
Role - Developer
I am Drupal addicted.
In a single line, Drupal to me means "past its expiry date".
Drupal is the Anita Pallenberg to my Keith Richards. I love/hate/need/fear it. There's beauty in its complexity, baby.
(Jordan Yerman, site administrator, content manager, devteam liaison for nowpublic.com)
Drupal helped my friends fight off crooked politicians and saved their businesses.
My role: Software Engineer
The site in question: http://www.SaveArdmoreCoalition.org/
Drupal is the framework I launch my mind in the web with.
Unlimited power for the web designer.
Drupal is the hot sauce on top of PHP to make your website taste extra spicy. Ha!
Drupal is my paycheck. (Seriously, I've been doing nothing but Drupal gigs for almost 7 years.)
Drupal is anything I want it to be. Drupal is EVERYTHING I want it to be.
Drupal is an all-in-one web application development platform that enables our low-budget non-profit to leverage volunteer effort and create a world-class set of tools to advance our mission on the web and internally.
Drupal is a tool that lets me earn a great living, be part of a vibrant community, and provide tremendous value to the organizations I help. From this perspective, talk of a technical architecture and programming theory seems trivial.
Drupal to us is like Finder on Mac or Windows Explorer on a PC. It is the place where we start the development of each and every project.
Drupal is to me the most amazing Eco-System!
I have fun when working with Drupal, talking about Drupal, implementing Drupal and earning money by the way.
I like the people who are involved in the project and hope that in future there are even more people who contribute to the community.
Drupal is to me the world's best CMS and we should constantly work on it to keep it like that!
Ivo Radulovski
Drupal evangelist :)
Drupal is the Swiss Army Knife of website development.
Drupal is.....
An opportunity to grow and evolve everyday! There is always a new feature or technique that keeps developing in Drupal fresh and engaging!
Mike Taylor
Developer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Xrw4xh0koo
Drupal is the best CMS for creating customized CiviCRM sites for non-profits and advocacy groups.
It is a software development platform and not just a CMS. I compare it to MS Access and can make database driven web applications quick and easily without having to worry about security, users access controls etc.
What is Drupal? Drupal is how I make a living.
I came across Drupal a few years ago when many PHP CMS apps were sprouting, including Wordpress and Mambo; today I use Drupal as a framework for 80% of my highly-paid contract projects and I thank my luck for picking a good horse.
Real name: Randall Goya
Role: Drupal Developer
Hi Dries,
In my role as a VP Marketing/BizDev at Jamcracker (cloud services aggregation platform), I stumbled on Drupal 5/6 when I was evaluating different website CMS offerings. Going with an open-source provider was a no-brainer, and my selection came down to Joomla and Drupal. We evaluated both, and I initially selected Joomla because the UI was much better (my opinion) and was concerned with the learning curve wrt Drupal.
After using Joomla for a week, it became apparent that it lacked the feature, functionality and scalability of Drupal, so I bit the bullet and climbed up the learning curve with Drupal 6. Since then we've launched multiple websites on Drupal for my company and our distribution partners (e.g. www.jamcracker.com & www.cloudcatalogue.com), and am now rolling out several new sites/applications with Drupal 7 (www.cloudcrossings.com).
My view of Drupal has evolved over the past several years -- initially it was a means to control my own destiny with our website content and not be dependent on a website admin for day-to-day needs. Today, I view it as more of a website CMS + web application development platform.
My congratulations to you and the incredible community of Drupal innovators. I'm a huge fan and grateful user.
Best regards,
Steve (stevecrawf)
Steve Crawford
VP Marketing &
Business Development
Jamcracker, Inc.
In one sentence - it helps me run a small business and more importantly - it ensures i enjoy every moment of it.
For me Drupal is like a web developers Lego store. You pick up the base (core) and any other piece(modules) that you want and build your site; no matter how big or small it is; is a flash.
Aj
D Developer
Drupal? A living creature: just like a bee, leopard, or a curious child. But one that, instead of running some slowly mutating DNA program, employs highly-optimized open-source code that is in constant flux. As a result, this amazing creature grows new limbs, develops faculties that have never before existed, changes shape each time you look at it, and surprises you with emergent features that nobody really consciously planned. Its creator is no less impressive: a swarm of over a million nameless humans scattered around this planet that, for this one purpose, are able to put away their differences and work together as a one single collective super-intelligence!
Drupal pays my bills.
College Final Year Major Project
woke up at 9 am made a site on drupal in two hours, showed it to the External examiner and got the good marks. Thanks to Drupal. Saved the day once again. Now I am a drupal developer.
Since discovering Drupal became a new way of understanding design and web development. Now I can do things that previously I could not imagine. I love Drupal.
Jorge Pereyra
web designer
Drupal is proof that gift communities are not just pie-in-the-sky idealists tilting at windmills, that community can create something that is not only competitive, but something of exceptional quality and scope that is an industry leader and an example of what is possible.
Drupal is life line to me! My first project was in Drupal so it holds a very special position in my life. Drupal rocks :)
Drupal is 66,66% of my life since I use it 16 hours per day.
Drupal to me was a nightmare avoided, then an assigned project that no one else wanted, then an curious interest and now my first real job. It was the scary unknown and now it is my enjoyable livelihood.
Drupal is development platform that deals with the users and content so I can focus on getting the rest of the website right.
Drupal is my anti-drug. Or, maybe it's my drug. Still trying to make up my mind...
Drupal is:
... what enables me to look at a 'mess of content' and see it as a repository of perspectives, organization, and possibility.
Drupal is your content's momentum towards users (or towards sharing).
Without Drupal, PhP would be a mistake
Drupal is just like my childhood Lego which can be made flat to look like a sea, it can as well be made to look like a well-fortress. It's just as easy as playing with your lego!
Drupal - By the masses, for the masses.
Drupal - Revolution in Semantic Web.
Drupal is a Web Services framework that enables me to author and publish APIs and sell SaaS products with extremely low investment, while offering outstanding performance & flexibility.
Drupal is just Drupal: our native tongue, our night and day, our web, our purse and piggy-bank, our habit, our work and hobby, our network. Our life.
I am Web developer and Drupal is best CMS for us, however standard users are a little bit complicate Drupal functions. Drupal Gardens is best for users. I think Drupal is for developers, Drupal Gardens is for users, just my idea.
Drupal makes doing good web stuff easy. My role? a bit of everything.
When I was looking for a CMS I came across Drupal and found a full-blown PHP framework that allows me to develop first-class web-applications in no time. Lession learned: Drupal system architects are far beyond the Drupal marketeers who are completely mis-positioning Drupal when "just" calling it a CMS.
In the simplest terms "DRUPAL = FREEDOM".
Because of Drupal I have been able to:
Many thanks to you personally Dries and to the community as a whole. Viva la Drupal!
elusive
I work with Drupal since 2002 and I love it.
Elegant, smart, intuitive and powerful.
I could summarize this project with the motto:
DRUPAL
Lead the WEB!
It's something lets People to be public.
Drupal is community cohesion.
Drupal is freedom, liberty and power to decide.
The freedom to focus on my favorite parts of the puzzle, knowing all the other parts are within reach
Drupal is the web content framework that I looked at when I started out in web design 6 years ago and was afraid to try but has become the web content framework that as CIO of a B2B publisher, I am using to replace all of our websites.
A complete web site delivery platform
Drupal is … everything you want it to be !
Drupal is... knowing I have invested time/money in a web platform which can grow and evolve with my business, no matter what opportunities and challenges the future may bring.
Role: End user, who develops own site (self taught)
Drupal is a framework to do more, do it quickly, and do it without sacrificing quality. My role: developer, end user, and rather poor designer.
Drupal is like the philosophers' stone. You can make Gold out of it if you know how to use it properly.
Drupal is an international community that works collaboratively to find solutions for web publishing problems.
Cheers,
Dave
Mediacurrent
Drupal is a constant fascination and a bit of a hobby; I develop websites for family, friends and non-profits that I am associated with. I did imagine turning it into a business, but now four years on I have moved on to other things.
Drupal to me is access to a worldwide community of intelligent, creative individuals that I get to collaborate with on a daily basis. It's also my ticket to visiting new countries with my wife and learning from different cultures.
Ryan Szrama, Developer
http://drupalisyournewbicycle.com/
Scott Reynen, Developer
Role: Developer
Drupal is a racing car, not suited for all roads but powerful when needed
Drupal means empowering people. Using Drupal, someone without a lot of money or technical know-how can reach millions of people. Its the tool of the printing press brought home to anyone with an internet connection. But it doesn't stop there, because once a Drupal site is live it becomes a press itself: empowering the sites users to share their stories and ideas with the world.
Drupal is Community on the Web.
Drupal is...the past, the present and the future.
We shouldn't forget what has come before, we're only as good as our latest release and in the future anything is possible!
Drupal is simply the best tool for building websites today. Period.
Drupal is a plethora of tools which help provide rapid web application development. The qualities that really stand out and separate it from other frameworks are its ability to be customized and extended easily to create complex web sites in a relatively short period of time. It succeeds in these areas where most other systems fail. When working with Drupal, you can emphasize this motto:
"If it takes too long, you're doing it all wrong."a swiss army knife for the 21 st century
Drupal is us.
Hi Dries,
As a developer, Drupal (+ contributed modules) is a multi-purpose website building machine for me.
As a designer, Drupal looks like a plain canvas, that can paint any kind of beautiful images.
As a end-user, Drupal offer clean interface, remove unnecessary staffs for different user roles, highly interactive responses and content (with the powered of CCK, Views, Panel, Rules and so on..)
Thank you so much for creating Drupal and releasing free for the community. I love the way of using nodes that can be used to create any kind of content easily. This make Drupal very powerful, dynamic and easy to extend for any kind of website.
(And also the way of using nodes become a complex thing for the new comers whose come from other CMSs background. Then they said Drupal learning curve is steep. Flexibility make them complex.)
Best Regards,
Maung Maung
Drupal developer, themer, Burmese localization team lead
http://drupal.org/user/404070
http://localize.drupal.org/user/37153
Drupal has changed my life
We mainly use it as a framework (cmf?).
Most of the websites we built with Drupal are not classic drupal site but we always find the correct module and use the drupals api to change everything as we want.
Before we used to work with joomla for basic sites and from scratch for complex sites. But sometimes the basic site must evolve in something complex and you have then to choose in a list of modules taht you need to pay if you want quality or develop it which I think is horrible joomla architecture. Same for the complex website it take time to build from scratch some part that drupal will quickly provide us: user management, permission, roles...
So we do most of our development in drupal now that allow a lot of flexibility, use free module from the community (that we fix sometines and participate to improve it, try to do that with a joomla module...), very well documented
and with a fucking great communauty.
Sorry for my poor english maybe, I'm in china...
Drupal is an "Addictive Headache"; which keeps me always awaiting, either for a new release or for the modules to be upgraded.
(( Systems/Database Admin ))
Drupal for my web-developing skills is what Borland Pascal was in school for my programming skills: it was a great instrument to learn the basics and beyond. I am so grateful that I started my road in the world of web in the "Drupal-wagon". Thank you Dries and Drupal community for this great product!
Drupal is simply friendship, a community supporting and driving each other towards innovation, creativity and success.
Drupal is a great equalizer.
A fun outlet for both my creativity and logical mind, it shows me the art of the possible when I'm surrounded by so many strategic ideas and solutions that don't deliver.
A fun outlet for both my creativity and logical mind, it shows me the art of the possible when I'm surrounded by so many strategic ideas and solutions that don't deliver.
I am a senior developer at Rayvarz Co.
To me, Drupal is a Tool, to build any webthing with :-)
The Popular Republic of Drupal, with its numerous citizens, many provinces and strong core is successful, but its slowness in evolving, its technocracy as well as its refusal of content negotiation let us know that its last decade has already begun.
"Drupal is my daily job tool, but important essence of Drupal is its community - people with open and free minds who contribute back with new core features, modules, themes, translations, bug reports or helping with local events and I love sharpening my daily-job's tool with you my friends."
That wasn't short isn't it? Again:
"Drupal is my daily job tool in first place, but important essence of Drupal for me is its open and free-minded community and I love sharpening my daily job tool with you my friends."
Vojtech Kusy, developer at Atomic Ant Ltd., http://atomicant.co.uk
Drupal is Business.
(Many companies are running on Drupal based websites and services.)
Drupal brings advanced website development within easy reach of non-programmers while providing developers with unlimited potential to extend its possibilities.
To me, Drupal is Hope. As a developer, empowered by the contributions of the community, I can develop a feature to be re-used on several projects. Once I accomplish my project goals, I can publish the list of modules and the install profile as a Distribution, providing a working platform for users all over the world. Drupal is the hope of working once and solving several problems at once.
A modular and configurable website operating system, collaboratively developed, maintained, and used, by anyone who wants to, without restrictions.
Chris Heuer put out the same question on Twitter before Drupalcon Paris - read more about his presentation here.
I don't have my own answer to your question but on Saturday I will be doing a short presentation on the Open Source Days conference in Copenhagen where I will show how we are bulding Version2.dk on Drupal 7.
In my presentation I intend to include an answer to Chris' original question by Jeremy Keith which has become my favourite Drupal quote:
"It's a platform where it's harder to build simple things, but easier to build complex things. IF you know what you're doing."
Couldn't find the original tweet but posted a screengrab on Imgur
http://i.imgur.com/rOl3P.png
It's a platform where it's harder to build simple things, but easier to build complex things. IF you know what you're doing.
I wonder why I care more about this "IF" than any other good aspect. Let's say I am too lazy or too silly to spend years climbing on the top of this giant named Drupal ( so to make it turn my way ). Drupal is a giant even if you need a smart and tiny little mouse.
It literally saved my life; I wouldn't be answering this question had I not gotten involved with Drupal.
Drupal == Lego for Geeks
Drupal gives you the building blocks, rest is up to your imagination!
Drupal is an enabler
Jean-Marie Slove
Alena Systems Founder and CEO
For me, Drupal is a path to a better future.
A swiss army knife.
Stefan Vaduva
Web Developer
Drupal is my sorcerer's wand through which I transform outdated content and technologies into websites that can change the world.
"What is Drupal?"
WordPress for people with a lot of time on their hands.
(Kidding! I use Drupal to do what WordPress cannot easily.)
Druapl is the tool that helped me make the transition from mostly video editor to mostly web developer.
John Hood
Developer
Drupal is the first approach I take to implement a new website because it always has an answer to a problem.
In terms of empowerment, Drupal is about as close as I can get to acting like a God without being crucified. In one word: awesome.
[end user | administrator]
Drupal allows me to work, learn and play on the shoulders of giants.
Drupal is helping transform the world by lowering barriers and increasing transparency. Drupal is also a community of people that lives with openness every day and, as such, is a model for all.
Designer/Developer-wannabe
Drupal is the flux capacitor in the future of the internet. It is the community that humbles me into knowing I will never know it ALL as well as the community that is there to help me try.
drupal is the lego
israel dahan
develper
Drupal makes things possible - the hard work of others empowers me to create a unique website that I otherwise wouldn't be able to do.
Drupal is passion. I even run on drupal.
To have a look at my drupal shoes: http://nicolasleroy.be/content/drupal-shoes-sequel
Nicolas Leroy: Drupal consultant/developer
Here’s my video answer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgHzYkJ6J_Q
Drupal is the very best thing since sliced bread.
In future will cure cancer and solve poverty.
Drupal is a community.
-a community that is large and growing every day
-a community that is active, supporting and thriving on each other
-a community that has high standards, quality and security controls
-a community that is large enough to always have people integrating the bleading edge technology into Drupal
-a community that is a do-acracy
-a community that builds an architecture, CMS software, quality software processes and plans social gatherings
-a community that is intelligent, fun and prosperous
Drupal is the way to create a website within a hour and spend the rest of day relaxing.
I wish I could draw a comic strip:
Scene 1) Little druplicon goes up to framework icons, who berate him away with barrage of code and turned up noses, and they kick him to the curb.
Scene 2) Druplicon bounces over to apps and WP, joomla and other cms icons, and they bounce around happy until Drupal whips out a scary swiss army knife of mad tools, and they bounce away.
Scene 3) Druplicon works in a cloud of dust and out pops open publish, open atrium, drupal commons, etc, and they all dance happily together.
I know, it's goofy!! Wish I could draw it.
Drupal is where I'm wondering how people really "contributing".
Being familiar with Drupal is just a marriage with Drupal.
The best 3 things I see in Drupal are,
- It's well-thought CMS. Extensive, powerful and of course, secure.
- It's really free of charge.
- World's most rocking people live there. Every developer wants to help someone.
I love you!
Drupal is the answer to ?q
Drupal is like freedom. Sometimes it's hard but once you get it, you're the happiest person in the world.
Drupal is the gigantic set of Legos I always wanted as a kid, but could never afford. Thanks to everyone who has ever helped make a free 'Lego'.
My answer, in 9 seconds of video:
http://vimeo.com/stevepurkiss/what-is-drupal
Job role: Project Manager (+ info architect, occasional site builder, training/support, jack-of-all-trades)
Community role: Co-lead of Documentation, Drupalchix/Vancouver group admin, helper of event organizing in the Pacific NW.
Drupal is a fantastic open source CMS that lets us build pretty much anything our clients need, enabling them to do good things for other people and the planet. But that is the tip of the iceberg.
It gave me a job when I was only self-taught, and later it gave me a career making websites and web applications with an amazing team of people, to support those doing positive work in the world.
It gave me support and mentoring to keep learning and succeeding. It gave me so much of that that I've been able to return that favour to others in the community.
It's given me the opportunity to be part of building something bigger, to be part of a movement, to challenge myself, to gain skills and confidence.
It gave me the chance to travel and meet lots of new people, many of them now good friends who have become important people in my life.
Drupal and the community behind it have changed my life in ways I never could have imagined 5 years ago when I needed a website for my small business.
Drupal is THE glue.
- Glue of code (editor, jquery plugin ... thx GPL)
- Glue of tier-services (Google analytics, facebook connect ...)
- Glue of People: the community !
PS: Original idea of the glue come from the way I see PHP as a glue...
Drupal to me, is the most 'complete' tool/system that allows you to manage your online content in one place
Drupal is about socially building the web. Social web building.
Drupal is an outward expression of Man's higher self with regard to his technology and his fellow Man. ("Man" referring, of course, to both women as well as men).
Community oriented interface and platform
COIP
People oriented platform
POP
Code. Functions. Algoritmes. Patches. Collaboration. Writing. Travelling. Meeting people. Creativity. Inspiration. Fun. Friendship. Love.
Matthias Vandermaesen
Drupal Developer & Drupal Trainer
In short my LIVELIHOOD...
Drupal is the result of free and equal human collaboration.
Drupal is not a product of contrived monetary-based competition.
Drupal:
It's similar to my girlfriend..
sometimes extremely pleasant, mind-soothing and fun to be with..
and sometimes... it get on my nerves...
The fact is that I can't live without either of them..!!!
Drupal is a dream space, like Inception. Inside Drupal, you can dream bigger.
Drupal made me left my country and live and work in 2 cities already.
Drupal is the best CMS out there.. and the most powerful tool for websites/intranet systems.
Drupal is life - (practically speaking) it's where i get my money from, to develop sites using Drupal
Drupal is freedom - Drupal lets you do want you want to do, whatever it is.. that's how flexible Drupal is.
More power to Drupal, Dries, and Drupal Community.
Drupal is a piece of software that allows a non programmer like myself create a full functioning social networking and establishment review site.
or here is another one that expresses what I feel about Drupal...
Drupal, no coding necessary, full functioning website!
To be honest, I absolutely love drupal, ever since I used it to program my first website. I have now created more than 5 websites all with drupal and I rave to all my friends and coworkers about how great the software is. Thanks for making it possible Dries.
Drupal is the powerful buddy that enables our group to deploy about 30 non-profit organizations' portal since 4.1 version.
Drupal powers our Project Peoples Web. It puts organizations on the web with organized contents.
I am a Drupal developer / themer /user/ trainer.
After visits to Textpattern, Mambo, Typo3, WordPress, Joomla and CMS Made Simple - Drupal feels like home.
Nicolai Schwarz, Designer and Webdeveloper
Drupal as community, working for a better web. Drupal as tools box, helping to spread ideas.
Web architect & Consultant
Drupal is the lackey that I force to write all the boring, repetitive code (e.g., log in/log out, change password, database CRUD operations) so I can focus on the interesting problems.
There's even a module^H^H^H^H^H^H GDO page for that: http://groups.drupal.org/node/108604
Drupal is equal to the power of the community.
Role: Developer
Drupal is "The framework" XD
Drupal is a crossover between a Content Management Framework and a Content Management System. This way it enables development teams to build tailor made web solutions with 'Lego' while their clients get to use the 'Lego Constructions'. While is is open source, it is still growing stronger to combine commerce with community. Once it will have crossed this gap, presumably sometime soon, it will leap forward in the footsteps of Linux and the likes.
A tool and community that gives the smallest and largest organizations all the pieces they need to create amazing web experiences.
Developer & Project Manager
Technical Writer, Drupal enthusiast
Drupal is incredibly powerful, incredibly frustrating, and incredibly community-driven.
Drupal is Drupal :)
Drupal is way of Creation
Drupal is being the clueless guy on IRC asking stupid questions to all these incredibly bright, incredibly patient people for a while... and after some time, and someone asks a question, and you say "Hey, I've been thru that!", and you help out that incredibly thankful individual... then it all sinks in; Drupal is about connecting: sharing, helping, building, discussing. And isn't that why we choose to build stuff on the Internet to start with?
Drupal is like the old Chinese game called "GO",
It takes minutes to understand it, and years to be an expert.
Drupal is an oportunity for Buenos Aires City Government, to set up an application that provides us the flexibility and scalability we need to respond to our citiens.
Drupal is a powerful platform created and maintained by an incredibly generous and helpful open source community which allows people who understand the web to build sites maintained by those who don't without the tedium of wrangling HTML files, page navigation, and all of the other boring or difficult aspects of website management.
Like any good CMS, Drupal is a stumbling block to site builders who do not understand the separation of content and presentation, and to those who refuse to plan their site's content before starting to build "web pages". Drupal sites can do anything that any other site can do, but some bad practices are discouraged by default. The true power of Drupal can only be seen when you stop looking at your website as individual web pages and start seeing a complete collection of content waiting to be managed.
Micah Webner
Drupal site builder, themer, developer
An automated web development system.
Hi Dries!
For me...
Drupal is a paradigm shift on every level of engagement, development and implementation - a perpetual motion machine that is at the center of every convergence.
Best, Ray.
I've released a video statement under a permissive Creative Commons license (CC BY-SA 3.0) at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tgeller-what-is-drupal.ogv . Here's the text.
---BEGIN---
Hi, I'm Tom Geller. I'm a writer and presenter, and Drupal is how I tell people who I am and what it is that I do. Now, you might say that any web tool will let you do that, and in fact you'd be right. But after 15 years of making web sites, I’ve never found anything that lets me do it as easily and with as much flexibility as Drupal does. Drupal brings my ideas to life -- you can't ask for more than that!
---END---
I added a shorter (12 second) version as well, under the same Creative Commons license. It's at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tgeller-what-is-drupal-short.ogv . Here's the text:
---BEGIN---
Hi, I'm Tom Geller. I'm a writer and presenter, and Drupal lets me tell the world who I am and what it is I do. Drupal gives me a voice; it brings my ideas to life. You can't ask for more than that!
---END---
Drupal is efficiency, productivity, organization and innovation, all wrapped in a shiny, blue, infinity-eyed shell.
Drupal is like a rainbow... Millions of tiny droplets making something beautiful.
Role: developer
Free tool to make money.
Drupal is an enabler.
Drupal allows a diverse range of organizations to collaborate with each other without knowing it through the medium of open source code. In other words, Drupal is a trojan horse for social change.
Drupal is singing, dancing and camping :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mN49g0-pfqc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8Q5bXdVQQk
Drupal to me is much more than just the word "drupal". Drupal means communication and everything else is just a website. The community is the heart of whole thing even if it wouldn't be called drupal anymore. I am proud to be a part of it and want to contribute back as much as I can to the whole thing as it gave so much to me. And I like to quote the first comment "Drupal is love!" :)
Drupal is some software. But it's not what Drupal is that matters. It's what it represents.
Software is the road network of this century: it's what allows goods and knowledge to spread quickly and efficiently. And just the same as we learned that shared public roads are better than private roads, shared public software is better than private software. Drupal represents that shared public infrastructure; made by us, for us and everyone.
As a Project Manager I can say: Drupal is a framework and is a powerful business tool.
Drupal is as affectionate as a mother, as understanding as a father honest as a teacher and as friendly as a good friend
I can write a whole poem on Drupal. It has definitely changed the way web development was before. Drupal is one of the greatest technological change of this era.
Drupal is come to unity... through its community wherein people can come and share.... give and take knowledge.
The best link what it link is energetic and passionate people contributing for the success of Drupal.
Its not for/of one person but worldwide..
Nice to be a Drupler.
What is Drupal? "It's the community. Stupid!"
What is Drupal? "Drupal is what allows me to be surrounded by bunch of great (heart & mind) people at work. Every day."
Roel : Business owner
Drupal is an open source, content- and user-centric web application framework that stands apart from similar software projects because of its modular architecture, the high quality of its code, and its thriving developer community.
Drupal is a framework, we can create any kind of applications or other frameworks on top of it.
Drupal + CCK + Views + Zen + 40hrs of tinkering = a great looking website that your client will love for years.
Mike (Designer)
drupal is time; because it saves my time. Helping me do things I'd do in 20 days in 20 hours.
Mwangi - Webmaster
"A dream to some, a nightmare to others"
View my video response at http://unity.dev4.webenabled.net/Drupal_is.mov
:-)
"Drupal is like a water, from many perspectives its very useful for all of us".
Dan (Developer, Themer, Site Builder, Project Manager).
Drupal makes it possible for me to help nonprofits and social profits do good things for people all over the world.
Drupal exemplifies humanity at its best: The willingness to contribute to something bigger than one's self for no personal gain.
Of course the irony is that the return is greater than the investment. Peace.
Drupal has helped us at www.eqnova.net to achieve adroitness in delivery and design dextrousness; I still have not got the answer to quest of what Drupal is to me?
Drupal made it possible for me to learn, grown, travel, have fun and make money all in one. In only two years in Drupal world I could find focus in my business part of life.
Drupal is the friendly community that welcomed me with open arms, gave me tools to help others, challenged me intellectually, and gave me the courage to leave academia and its monastic traditions.
Role: Developer
Drupal is the reason I defected from Java. And never looked back.
Drupal is the only real content manager / framework that I feel comfortable using, believe me I've tried many others. :)
Drupal is like a love story. I'm passioned about it. Some days I hate it. I almost can't live a day without it, I leave it but then again I always return.
... and ultimately it's my last hope to rescue my back.
Whatever I plan, Drupal can!
Hi Dries,
Drupal is what I didn't have to create websites, thousands of years ago. It would have granted me an extra day to rest...
Thank you,
God
Developer, (The Universe Project, The Earth Project)
Maybe...
Drupal is having control
Drupal is the ultimate Internet developer community altogether
Drupal is how all the web should be. It's standards compliant. It's easy to learn and use. It's easy to adapt and grow. And It's easy enough to develop for.
An alternate reality creator
As it was this blog which was one of my main inspirations, here's our short film we just made about the subject of what is drupal which we funded from our Drupal Association Community Cultivation grant - enjoy!
http://bad-ass.org.uk/what-is-drupal
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