Drupal

I've built several sites using Drupal 7. I've found it to be easier to use from a setup and interface point-of-view, but I've also found it to still be very buggy. I'm getting pretty comfortable with what I need to do to get the functionality out of it that I normally need, but overall I think Drupal 7 still needs a lot of work. I find myself using modules that are still in development or waiting for other modules not yet completed. I like using Drupal 7, but using it has its costs.

What do you think...

As a trial run of both Drupal Gardens and Drupal 7 for possible future projects, I've decided to rebuild my company website on a Drupal Gardens site.  I've been working with Drupal for about 5 years and am really interested to see if these tools will become part of my Bat-Belt.  I thought it might be helpful to others if I post a few quick thoughts here and there as I take this thing for a spin.

Drupal Gardnes claims "Simple content editing"

...well let's see.

I pushed 1 button to add content...1 button to select content type...then I started typing.  It took a simple click of the "Add media" button to add an image.  Easy.

The UI also allows you to easily select HTML input types from a dropdown on the top left.  This adds more tools (like center) to the UI.

CONCLUSIONS

Everything I have been reading about Drupal 7 has been trumpeting the User Interface improvements.  Adding content is an excellent place to start to see these improvements.  It's quick, clean and easy and my clients would find this a nice upgrade in usability. 

I've worked with a lot of content interfaces over the years.  Many have been nightmares. This is Cheech & Chong...

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Have you been using Drupal Gardens or Drupal 7 yet?  If so, share some of your thoughts in the comment section.  In the meantime, I'll keep building and continue posting about what I see.