Why Drupal is the Best Choice for Enterprise Websites

When you think about content management systems (CMSs), WordPress usually pops into mind first. But if you check out the websites of different tech outsourcing agencies, you'll notice that Drupal is a major player in the CMS world. So, what exactly is Drupal? And why should you consider it over other popular CMS like WordPress? This article will dive into those questions and highlight the benefits of using Drupal.

 

What is Drupal?

 

Drupal is a robust, flexible, and highly functional open-source content management system that enables organizations to establish high-performance, striking websites. Based on the PHP core for its foundation, Drupal ranges from the simplest creations-editing of content-to quite intricate web applications. Drupal is designed to be modular and can thus expand to an unlimited degree with literally thousands of available modules and themes.

Beyond that, beyond the features, Drupal is all about security, high performance, and good user experience. Its active community keeps it updated and supported on a continuous basis to keep your website safe and current. Whether you are a small business or a big enterprise, Drupal can scale and flex to meet the growing needs of your organization.

Drupal also powers at least 14% of all web development on the world's top 10,000 websites. Due to its strong features and agility, Drupal has become the prime choice for organizations at every scale, whether personal bloggers or megascale government agencies. Backed by one of the largest active open-source communities with more than 1.39 million members, the Drupal community continuously contributes to its ongoing development and extensively supports its users.

Drupal.org claims this framework has been extensively used across a host of industries, including government, higher education, nonprofits, FinTech, media and publishing, and many more. This also happened to be in use with a number of organizations like commission.europa.eu (The European Commission), ox.ca.uk (University of Oxford), emmys.com (The Emmy Awards), and tesla.com (Tesla's official website).

 

Why Should You Choose Drupal for Enterprise Websites?

You're in the right place if you're wondering what Drupal is and considering utilizing it for your web development project. In 2024, Drupal—an open-source web content management system—will be favored. It is similar to building with Legos, but web development is used in place of Legos. To create a unique and distinctive website, it is very simple to start with a basic layout and then add or subtract components, or even rearrange their positions.

 

For Security and Reliability

Stability and security features of this framework are the first ideas to strike one's mind when one is asked, "What is Drupal?" During a period of more than 15 years, Drupal has gained a reputation for being resistant to vulnerabilities, thanks to a huge Security Team that is constantly looking for weak points on the web.

Drupal maintains a high standard of coding and is developed very strongly. Code review gets very nicely done by the community of Drupal, which reduces security vulnerabilities to the least. This saves time in the organized process of promptly investigating, validating, and publishing any security threat on the website.

Moreover, Drupal is considered one of the most secure systems in general. An example might be the module Drupal REST & JSON API Authentication, which secures access to your site's APIs using various forms of authentication, like Basic Authentication, API Key Authentication, JWT Authentication, OAuth Authentication, and External/Third-Party Provider Authentication.

 

Free and open resources

To tackle the question, "What is Drupal?", it's important to know that it's an open-source platform. This means you can use it for free, and it has a community of developers backing it up. The real power of Drupal lies in the resources available to its users.

By 2024, it's estimated that over 1.7 million websites will be running on Drupal, which includes 12.8% of the top 10,000 sites. The Drupal community boasts more than a million members and has seen over 250 million downloads of its modules. These numbers highlight how popular and widely adopted Drupal is.

Drupal offers more than 40,000 modules that let you enhance your site beyond its basic features. Think of these as add-ons or plugins that help tailor your website to your specific needs, whether it's for SEO or e-commerce functionalities—there's almost everything you could want.

Another handy feature of Drupal is its reporting system. These reports provide insights on everything from updates for your core modules to the overall status of your site, making site management straightforward and efficient.

Many well-known websites also utilize Drupal. For example, Tesla Motors, Warner Music, and even the Australian government have their sites built on this platform. These examples demonstrate Drupal's versatility and its ability to fit various needs.

 

A dedicated supporting community

The Drupal community is a vibrant and expansive network of over one million active users. Not only is it large, but it also boasts a welcoming atmosphere.

This community consists of developers, designers, and users who actively contribute to the platform. Their efforts ensure that Drupal remains up-to-date, secure, and innovative. This spirit of collaboration is a fundamental strength of Drupal, significantly contributing to its status as one of the leading content management systems globally.

Every month, more than 1,500 individuals dedicate their time to improving Drupal software, translations, documentation, and community engagement. They share a unified objective: to enhance Drupal for everyone. For instance, Kevin Thull started recording sessions at DrupalCamp Chicago in 2013 and even developed a toolkit for other DrupalCamps.

Additionally, the community is rich in knowledge and resources. If you have questions or encounter challenges, it’s highly likely that someone within the community has already addressed or resolved them. This makes finding solutions as simple as browsing a discussion forum.

 

Drupal is a leader in multilingual websites

In this, Drupal shines by offering good multilingual aspects: where no other CMS does-it supports more than 100 languages out-of-the-box. Its strong automated translation potential will allow powerful organizations to reach out and engage with international audiences in locally relevant matter. This becomes very helpful for multi-site brand platforms to support the seamless communication of brands across different linguistic markets.

Besides, Drupal considers accessibility in the way that from its very foundation, by following web accessibility standards, organizations can build digital experiences on Drupal inclusive and usable to the largest possible audience. This commitment increases not only user satisfaction but also improves SEO and conversion rates.

Conclusion In conclusion, with its powerful multilingual features and great devotion to accessibility, Drupal is among the best choices for organizations looking to build high-performing, inclusive, globally-focused websites.

 

Modules and integrations

Drupal is constructed using PHP, Symfony, Twig, and Composer, technologies that are well-known to numerous developers. However, in addition to this user-friendly framework, it offers the capability to completely customize your enterprise website to meet user needs.

There exists a vast array of both free and premium modules and themes that modify existing Drupal functionalities or introduce new features to your site. Consider modules designed for managing meta tags, creating forms, generating sitemaps, and setting up URL redirects.

These modules significantly enhance the Drupal experience by facilitating integrations with various third-party services. Whether you require connections with Facebook, Google Analytics, Salesforce, or AWS, you are likely to find the necessary integration options available within Drupal.

 

Functionality

Drupal provides a solid framework for the development of intricate websites. It includes vital functionalities such as user management, customizable page layouts, and system administration.

In addition to its fundamental features, Drupal boasts a comprehensive library of modules that allow developers to enhance its functionality. These modules, created and validated by a worldwide community, are capable of managing extensive content, optimizing search processes, and boosting website performance. For instance, the Apache Solr Search module in Drupal significantly accelerates the execution of complex search queries.

The SEO-friendly attributes of Drupal, including customizable URL aliases and compatibility with modules like CCK and View Attach, contribute to improved rankings in search engine results. Since the release of Drupal 8, its responsive themes facilitate optimal viewing experiences across various devices. Furthermore, its multilingual support and accessibility features make it a favored option for organizations seeking to engage a global audience, including individuals with disabilities.

 

In terms of Cost

As with other Content Management Systems, developers and customers can create complex content-centric sites using Drupal at no licensing cost. By convention, all highly customized Drupal modules from experts are similarly free, not just plug-ins, add-ons, but also widgets.

However, this is actually a CMS platform that is fundamentally for customized development, hence requiring users to have technical know-how and capabilities to make effective use of Drupal in enhancing their websites.

Because Drupal requires some serious experience in programming, it is going to be way more expensive to look for the services of a Drupal developer than it would be on WordPress, which is more familiar and user-friendly. Fortunately, recent generations of Drupal started to include frameworks-in such as Symfony-so that PHP developers feel more at ease when using this CMS platform.

Besides, the new versions of Drupal, including Drupal 10, allowed even both professional developers and beginners to build websites more easily. This could reduce some costs involved in paying developers, which is another advantage of using Drupal. In other words, it is with scalability, security, and adaptability that Drupal becomes one of the finest options for organizations of different sizes. With the powerful possibilities of Drupal and the competencies of a renowned development crew like AnchorPoints, your website will look great but ingeniously work. Do not hesitate to contact us today to talk about your project and how Drupal can help you reach your online objectives.

 

In conclusion, Drupal's versatility, security, and scalability make it an exceptional choice for organizations of all sizes. By leveraging Drupal's powerful features and the expertise of a skilled development team like AnchorPoints, you can create a website that not only looks great but also performs exceptionally well. Contact us today to discuss your project and discover how Drupal can help you achieve your online goals.