I have been using Drupal this week to build a website with a shop (Ubercart), user login, and obviously content managed areas. I built the HTML/CSS from a provided design (as you normally would), and then went about uploading it to Drupal and setting up the Shop.
It took me the best part of 8-10 hours to install, configure and set up this website (not including the time taken to build the HTML/CSS). It wasn't very easy, and I had to download a lot of modules and configure them just to get a shop running. Please read on...
Just installing the Shop (through Ubercart) took me a whole morning. I had to download lots of modules that had dependencies, plus obviously I had to make sure that Drupal was set up properly on the web server and configured. I even had to choose a WYSIWYG editor and download and install that.
From a developers perspective I guess this is normal, and I am not bad-mouthing Drupal because it is very powerful and works for lots of sites. My point is that a lot of this time can be saved, and therefore clients money can be saved too.
What's more, how would a client or someone who is not that technical be able to do this? They wouldn't - so the developer is still required.
Wordpress, in my opinion is easier for designers who just want to upload their designs and make them content managed and I have built a few Wordpress sites quite easily. However there is still a requirement for FTP access, database permissions, and knowledge of Wordpress tags and themes.
Halogy has to be the winner here without a shadow of doubt. Obviously I am very biased (because I did help build Halogy!), but it really is so much simpler!
- A hosted CMS, so no need to install software or databases
- Built in modules, so no need to download loads of modules
- Inline editing, don't have to keep clicking on Admin to edit pages
- Built in shop
- Template import for XHTML/CSS, so no need to mess around with themes
So, there you go. I do like Drupal and I respect it, but in terms of saving time - there are alternatives!
