English /
CMSSurveyReportDrupal
Report of Drupal
Person(s) reviewing it: Rob (boston on IRC)
Official Information: Main Website - Modules - Documentation - History, Mission, and Community
Software version(s): Drupal 4.7.3. Version 5.0 is currently in a code freeze and tentatively due for final release within 2006.
Status of the report: DRAFT
Status of test implementation:
Other Resources: Indymedia Drupal-Dev mailing list
What We Want
Based on the original list: CMSWhatWeWant.
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| User Logins | User logins are available out of the box. How much of the site is accessible anonymously is entirely based on the administrators of each site. We are certainly able to configure the system to allow anonymous access to stories, including posting new media/stories and leaving comments. |
| User Logins (network wide) | The Drupal module, included in the core, "uses the XML-RPC network communication protocol to connect your site with a directory server." So network wide logins would be available to other IMC sites using Drupal and that also have the Drupal module enabled. Better news: Support for OpenID is in the works. |
| Access Controls | Yes, user roles are included in core with the ability to create unlimited custom roles and grant permissions for both out-of-the-box functionality as well as for installed modules. |
| Notify Moderator Button | I'm not even sure what that means. But we could have a contact form with link back to respective stories as well a node moderation for all users or just editors. There is also a plug-in to notify of 'abuse' nodes |
| User Moderation - Open Editing | Open editing is certainly available by granting permissions to anonymous users to post and moderate media and comments, among any other feature installed on the system. There are also optional modules for user moderation in different grained ways, by organic groups, by user voting... |
| User Profiles | The Profile module, included in the core, allows for extended users profiles. This module development will be discontinued in the 5.0 release but the feature available through the CCK module, to be included in core. |
| Podcasting/Vidcasting | audio module good for upload download and live playing using flash. Video module still complex and developing |
| Redundancy (DB content storage) | |
| Version Control | versioning - yes |
| User Notifications | various subscription to node/topic/content systems |
| Customizable skins by users | Anonymous and registered users can be given permission to choose between skins if multiple skins are registered within the CMS. |
| Accessibility | Core installation is Section 508 and WCAG Priority 1, 2, 3 compliant. Further investigation and preparation would be needed as maintaining accessibility depends also on the code behind the modules installed and the theme. More Info... |
| GIS | |
| Photo Galleries | yes |
| Licensing Options | |
| Image Manipulation | image module allows basic automated manipulation for thumbnails etc. Other manipulation posible with modules that have not tested here |
| P2P Integration | |
| Social Networking - Filtering systems | (not tested here) organic groups systems |
| WYSIWYG Editor | tinyMCE with IMCE for TinyMCE are available. We also have Textile and BBCode are available modules as well for wiki-style formatting options. |
| Tagging | core includes optional free tagging of articles, simple module tagadelic for 'cloud', core admin relation control on tags |
| Anti-bot Systems | CAPTCHAs are available for comments and posts, a Troll module is available for anti-troll measures, and multiple anti-spam modules are available for installation. |
| Easy installation | Current version requires a MySQL database setup prior to installation with tables (.sql file included) - some automation exists, and upgrading is automated. Upcoming release will include a complete installer plus compatibility checker for installing modules. |
| Cross Site Search | |
| Hiding comments | No solution exists to show hidden comments without admin access, a custom module needed |
| In-site content administration | The Adminblock module allows for site editors and administrators (if logged in) the ability to delete or edit (and therein block) posts and comments on the site itself. |
| APIs | Oh hell yeah. An open explanation of available APIs is available at http://api.drupal.org/api/4.7 |
| VoIP | |
| Multi-node | |
| Multi-language support | UTF-8, I18N translated with core, and open posting of translations with module |
What We Have
Based on the original list: CMSWhatWeHave.
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Anonymous open publishing | Yes |
| Easy mirroring capability | Yes. All site data is stored in MySQL so we could setup replication. |
| Syndication -out/in | Yes, both included in core (Syndication in via Aggregator module |
| Search | Yes, simple and advanced searching included in core |
| The ability to create multiple instances | Yes, even including extensive documentation |
| Multimedia handling | Yes |
| Categories | Yes, included in core |
| Good performance on affordable hardware | Yes, (PHP and MySQL) |
| Customizability | Yes |
| Internationalization | Yes |
| Translation | Over 40 language packs available (in various stages of completion) |
| Comments | Yes, included in core |
| Anti-abuse measures | Yes, in modules (see Anti-bot systems above) |
| Easy moderation | Yes |
| Calendar | Yes, Event module available |
| Features | Yes, "promoted to front page" option for stories included in core |
| Documentation | Extensive |
| User moderation - open editing | Yes |
What We Could Also Have
This list contains what else is available as add-on modules for Drupal that IMC administrators may be interested in using. Please take these with a grain of salt. Some of them are very much designed towards an active, registered user base over promoting anonymous roles so this list is not for everyone. Just some plug-and-play possibilities.
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| CiviCRM | The CiviCRM module allows "Nonprofits and community groups maintain relationships many types of constituents." Read more about it on the module page. |
Resources
- Tuning your server for optimal Drupal performance
- Simple Decision Tree for Drupal Enterprise Scalability
Further notes
- I think the CCK module to be included with core in v5.0 is huge. This allows administrators to create completely custom content types, everything from different types of stories to user profiles or events. Very cool. -Rob
- The http://drupal.org/handbook/modules/watchdog? is included in the core installation and is very handy in storing user behaviors to monitor usage and catch errors. Discsussions will be necessary to see if this needs to be branched for editing and/or made optional.