[documentation] Is Drupal right for you?

[Kim P. Werker]

Some notes about this page:

1 - Kieran identified a handful of user profiles, and we created the  
groupings based on those types of users.

2 - In light of the various types of users drupal.org attracts,  
identifying *one* target audience is a daunting task. As we're able  
to flesh out this "entry" documentation (read: the most popular pages/ 
pages potential users seek out first), we'll add "read more" links to  
each profile -- these links will be written with that type of user in  
mind.

I've tweaked as follows (played with intro bit; tweaked language to a  
small extent):

Drupal is a highly configurable, modular content management system.  
Before you can answer if Drupal is right for you, consider a couple  
of questions: Which type of Drupal user are you, and what are your  
needs?

Below is a list of common user types followed by Drupal features. If  
the features meet your needs and you have the skill-set required to  
implement them, Drupal might be a perfect system for you. (See the  
list at the bottom of this page for more on required skills.)

I'm a Blogger and I need...

     * single- and/or multi-user blogs
     * ability to categorize content
     * commenting
     * trackbacks
     * custom style and layout using sample or custom themes
     * image and/or other media support using contributed modules  
(i.e., plug-ins)

Skills needed: end-user, administrator

I'm evaluating Drupal for my organization/company and we need...

     * customizable user roles and permissions
     * robust security model
     * scalability
     * ability to configure and extend functionality to meet specific  
business needs
     * a support infrastructure (documentation, community, etc.)
     * ability to categorize content
     * additional features/functionality

Skills needed: evaluator, end-user

I'm a community organizer and I need...

     * ability for community members to share ideas (blogs, forum,  
files, etc.)
     * ability for members to self-organize
     * a site that can evolve as the community evolves (keeping up  
with the state-of-the-art of interactive web sites)
     * a support infrastructure (documentation, community, etc.)
     * customizable user roles and permissions
     * a site that is safe on the web (security, spam, trolls, etc.)

Skills needed: evaluator, end-user, administrator, site developer (to  
some extent)

I'm a small business owner and I need...

     * to be able to set up the site myself
     * custom style and layout using sample/custom themes
     * customizable user roles and permissions
     * a system that is scalable and adaptable to the needs of my  
changing business
     * ability to categorize content
     * a support infrastructure (documentation, community, etc.)
     * e-commerce support for
           o shopping carts
           o premium paid content subscriptions
     * ability to configure and extend functionality to meet specific  
business needs

Skills needed: evaluator, end-user, administrator, site developer (to  
a limited extent)

I build or design websites for clients and I need...

     * custom look and feel with my own themes
     * additional features/functionality
     * ability to easily provide support to my clients
     * access to a community of designers and developers

Skills needed: evaluator, administrator, site developer, developer  
(to some extent)

I'm a programmer and I need...

     * a robust, well-designed, modular system that I can customize  
and extend
     * well documented APIs
     * system and architecture documentation and coding standards
     * access to a community of other developers
     * a rich feature list

Skills needed: administrator, programmer

Do you know what type of Drupal user you want to be? If you do,  
review the different skill sets below to see what you'll need to get  
started:

     * Evaluator: Familiar with web terminology and concepts.
     * End-user: familiar with browsing, clicking, submitting web  
pages, selecting options.
     * Administrator: Manage roles, select themes, categorize web  
pages (content), configure module settings, install and upgrade  
software and databases, apply security fixes.
     * Site designer/developer: Install software, design style and  
layout (with css and minimal php), build and deploy websites,  
evaluate contributed modules, work with LAMP.
     * Programmer: program in php, administer databases, program  
through a well-defined API, design database objects, evaluating  
existing solutions and apply patches, collaborate with other developers

Now that you know what type of Drupal user you can be you should take  
some time to learn more about Drupal.

The Case studies section examines typical types of sites that use  
Drupal and presents links to real sites of each type. This section  
includes a listing of hundreds of Drupal sites.

In the Feature overview we survey some of the most important and  
commonly deployed features of Drupal.

A discussion of the merits of using Drupal over writing a custom Web- 
application framework to support your project is presented in Rolling  
your own system vs. using Drupal.


On 7-Feb-06, at 4:47 PM, Kieran Lal wrote:

> Hi, during the Drupal documentation session today we heard strong  
> feedback that the Drupal handbooks were difficult for new users to  
> understand.  We made two observations.  First, many of the most  
> popular pages ( http://drupal.org/handbook/most-popular-pages )  
> were related to evaluating Drupal, installing it, and configuring  
> it.  Many of these pages were redundant.   We also noted that these  
> introductory pages did not meet the different needs of audiences.
>
> We decided to improve improve this popular page which didn't really  
> answer the question: Is Drupal right for you?
>
> Please review and provide feedback: http://drupal.org/node/22963
>
> Cheers,
> Kieran
>
>
> --
> Pending work: http://drupal.org/project/issues/documentation/
> List archives: http://lists.drupal.org/pipermail/documentation/

---
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