[development] Drupal administration survey draft based on 10 interviews

[Dries Buytaert]

Thanks for doing this work, Kieran!  It's important.  I do have some  
questions though:

On 09 Aug 2006, at 04:54, Kieran Lal wrote:
> 	Non-technical user developing community or social change web site  
> forced to become "accidental technologist"

Does it matter what the user is developing?  Maybe the following is  
sufficient:

   Non-technical user forced to become "accidental technologist"

> 	Inexperienced with Drupal but curious. Learning fast based on  
> other web site building experience

Does it matter whether I'm learning fast?  What if I'm an  
inexperienced user learning slowly?

> 	Learnable website that can be taught to users and allows website  
> developers to leverage existing learning when building new sites

I don't understand what this means.

> 	Module configuration, extensibility with new modules, and clean  
> code make it easier to configure the website as  you need it

Clean code does not affect Drupal's configurability.  Maybe this  
needs to be rephrased?

> Why do you use Drupal?

What is the difference with the previous question (eg. How does  
Drupal help you accomplish your goals as a web site administrator?)?   
Looks like both questions have sometimes similar answers.

> How does Drupal help your users?
> (select all that apply)
> 	Gives them the features they want quickly
> 	Allows users to create web based content such as forum posts, or  
> blogs
> 	Drupal community innovates and provides community building  
> capacity with Drupal

I don't understand how this answers above question.  Whether the  
Drupal community innovates shouldn't be of concern to users of, say,  
twit.tv.

> 	Cost effective and winning over non-technical decision makers

Cost effective for the user, or for the administrator?  Why do user  
have to think of 'costs'?  Looks like some answers target users,  
while other answers target administrators.

> What are some common Drupal administration tasks?
> (select all that apply)
> 	Monitor site through reviewing logs, looking at user activity
> 	Manage spam through comments, track backs, forum, and user  
> registration
> 	Configure modules
> 	Update modules, install modules, test patches, track fixes for  
> modules
> 	Work on themes and add theme template to customize module output
> 	Learn about Drupal capabilities and features, understand  
> terminology, and plan improvements
> 	Manage users accounts, change permissions
> 	Respond to user feedback during testing and make changes
> 	Create web pages through the creating content types
> 	Other_______________

Some of the answers use technical language which not everyone might  
be familiar with (eg. trackback, patches, theme template).

> What are some infrequent Drupal tasks?

I would rephrase this question so it is similar to the question  
above, to highlight the difference:

    What are the MOST common Drupal administration tasks?
    What are the LEAST common Drupal administration tasks?

Would it make sense to merge the answers of both questions?  Two  
questions, with the same answers.

> 1-5	Upgrade modules manually, manage module conflicts in output,  
> download modules that don't include dependencies

What do you mean with "conflicts in output"?
What do you mean with "modules that don't include dependencies"?

> 1-5	Manage content specifically creating new content types, viewing  
> differences in node versions, importing content, or seeing multiple  
> previews of content on a single page

What do you mean with "multiple previews"?

> 1-5	Configure user permissions with existing granularity

What do mean with "existing" here?  Without adding a new module?

> What other important tasks did not fit into the categories above  
> for you?

Why do we make this a separate question?  Why not add it to the  
answers to the previous question?

> (select all that apply)
> 	Analyzing logs to understand the state of your site

Wasn't this part of the previous answers?  If so, then it would have  
fitted in the categories, not?

> 	Integrating modules and resolving clashes in the output

What do you mean with "clashes in the output"?

> 	Work on the theme and templates to create structure and distinct  
> looks to sections of the site

Wasn't this part of the previous answers?  If so, then it would have  
fitted in the categories, not?

--
Dries Buytaert  ::  http://www.buytaert.net/