[consulting] DrupalCOM: european Small Business distro

[Bèr Kessels]

Hello,

Quite a while, already i have maintained a local configuration and patches of 
Drupal, which I called drupalCOM. We are reviving this, and I would like some 
feedback.

I would love to hear from you people how you think a drupal for small 
enterprises should look. I am aiming at those brochure sites, mostly in 
Europe (multilinual!). 

I want to re-think this and not look at it from a technical point, but just 
make a list of what is needed functionality wise, rather then what modules 
should we have, what must a theme do etc. please keep this in mind when 
adding your ideas: I do not want to talk about modules, themes, what 
can-be-configured-how, etc.

(also look at http://drupal.org/node/31896)

* Able to add hierarchical data, to gather usefull articles etc (about, route, 
prices, philosophy etc)
* Able to add and remove single pages in a simple menu (about us, etc)
* Maintain a few lists with articles, for products or services
* Maintain a list of recent articles (blogs, news), with a configurable date.
* Simple managment of one or two custom blocks. 
* Simple, single, contact form, possibly with saving feedback on-site.
* Search
* Each artilce and page has a coounterpart in another language.
* Simple image managment in two ways:
 ** add fancy images to about us pages, to contact forms etc. (aka, learn the 
f*ing HTML, with a simple upload system) 
 ** Add simple pre-styled images to news/products. (like image module)
* Clear and transparant admin/moderation interface. 

It is also good to note what should NOT be included: 
* Login / advanced user management (log in for moderateors only)
* Comments, forums, trackers and other tipical community ware
* User/post/date details on various pages, including in search!
* Moderation qeues, promoted entries, and other community-centric workflows.

Now the funny thing with all this is: its so darn simple!. It is so simple, 
that drupal cannot do it! Drupal adds complexity all over the place. And most 
often the biggest bulk of the work lies in getting rid of that complexity and 
getting rid of all these pages, links, read-counters, attachement-lists, 
user-profiles, post-dates, and what more. 

And yes, i have heard this too: Drupal is probably not the best app to do 
this, since it is aimed at communities. But there is no proper alternative. 
Quoting Boris:  Drupal s*cks least. The other good part about Drupal is that, 
if a client decides she wants all this, but also a forum, its there!

Please give mee feedback on what you people think would be wrong and / or 
different in this? Or what you are missing.

-- 
| Bèr Kessels | webschuur.com | website development |
| Jabber & Google Talk: ber at jabber.webschuur.com
| http://bler.webschuur.com | http://www.webschuur.com |