Drupal is an open source (operated under the free, GNU General Public License) Web Content Management System (“WCMS”) developed using PHP.. Drupal is a full open source solution which makes it flexible to extend and customize sites built upon it to match specific requirements.  It enjoys a diverse community constantly enhancing and maintaining its function and includes access to thousands of modules that enable rapid deployment of virtually any function desired in a website.  It is large enough to have a dedicated security team and is in use in commercial/enterprise deployments.  For publishers, EVN has found only one weakness in Drupal, learn more below.

Features of Drupal include.

• Rapid building: Base site in minutes, configuration and customization in days.
• Create content easily – WYSWIG editor – anyone who can operate Word can add or edit a page
• Organize Content – substantial tools to organize and find content as a curation
• Administer – Roles and permissions controls
• Design & Display – Theming system which enables design of  highly usable and interactive, engaging experiences
• Extensive Modules – more than 34,000 available to quickly build almost any feature for a website. 
• Community – links to Facebook, twitter, reviewing, ranking, reputation engine, rewards features, etc.
• Connect Aggregation – includes modules for content feed integration, delivery, etc.
• Through Ubercart integration, comprehensive physical and virtual inventory/cart/checkout system linked to major eCommerce clearing houses

For Media companies, the draw of low-cost of ownership and deployment, coupled with a module set that gives virtually every feature desired on a website is compelling.  It enables editors to work directly on the content set for the website in the WYSWIG editor, with proper role permissions.  Further, it is multi-domain, meaning multiple, visually different web sites can use the same core repository to drive content, which dramatically simplifies management of that content and those sites, and is a ready path to device-specific websites selling eContent for publishers.

The only weakness in Drupal EVN saw was that it stored its content in a not-very-agile, relational database.  EVN selected Drupal as its first WCMS implementation for several reasons:

• The media group of MarkLogic’s user community had  several clients and prospective clients asking how best to perform an integration
• Drupal is open source and has no license cost to deploy
• Drupal’s scale – in terms of add-on modules, themes (visual designs), and community members is sufficient to ensure longevity of the solution and a robust future
• Connecting Drupal to the MarkLogic Server (MLS) solves a common challenge of how best to get content into the MLS – the module supports both authoring and editing of content on the MLS using the Drupal interface
• Drupal’s low cost of deployment, implementation and hosting support the MarkLogic agile content mantra – propping up and testing Drupal deployments that present the same content in different way for different audiences is straightforward and rapid.