About Content Management Systems
A Content Management System (CMS) is high-level computer software, often referred to as a framework, that's used to create, edit, publish, and manage different types of content in a consistent and orderly fashion.
A Web Content Management System is a CMS that is designed to simplify web-based publications. By using a CMS for the Web, users don't have to possess an abundant amount of technical knowledge to create fairly complex and attractive websites.
As an example, to create some of the dynamic and appealing websites that are present today, a web developer, without the use of a CMS, would have to know several different programming languages such as:
- PHP
- JavaScript
- HTML
- CSS
This same web developer would also have to have a very strong understanding of some form of relational database, as well as a good overall knowledge of various types of multimedia.
A CMS takes away the need for a great deal of the technical know-how requirement and allows web publishers to focus more on the content they want to provide versus the method by which they provide it.
Content management systems are in wide use for many different applications including traditional educational supplements and distance education, corporate websites, social networking sites, and community portals.
What is Drupal?
Drupal
is a Web Content Management System originally developed by Dutch
programmer Dries Buytaert, PhD. The core program started out in 2000
as a small bulletin board system which allowed Buytaert and his dorm
mates at the University of Antwerp to communicate with each other.
After graduation, Buytaert put their small internal website on the Internet so he and his friends could continue communicating with each other. The site grew quickly after that.
In 2001, the software was released to the Open Source community and has witnessed significant expansion in its core structure and functionality, thanks to the growing body of programmers in the Drupal community.
Why Choose Drupal?
There are quite a few different CMS frameworks available. Why has OSU chosen Drupal as its main CMS? There are quite a few reasons, actually:
- Open Source Software (no licensing costs)
- Flexible, extensible technology
- Good software support at the drupal.org community website
- Quick response to bugs and security issues
These are only some of the reasons to consider Drupal. We're sure you'll find more as you get to know the system.
OSU Drupal
One of the bulleted items in the previous section is "...extensible technology". By this, we mean that a particular technology has been designed with the notion that it may be able to, or may have to, provide more functionality in the future, so it is engineered in a modular, easy to adapt fashion.
The version of Drupal that you will encounter at OSU is not exactly the same as the core version you would download and install on your own private system. OSU Drupal has been customized by the CWS programmers to work within a very large, multi-user, multi-website environment. OSU Drupal features such as the Single Sign On (SSO) service, the Approval Queue, and the OSU default themes would not be found in the Drupal core installation.
This is part of the beauty of Open Source software, in general, and Drupal, in particular. It can, quite literally, be rewritten to serve a user's purpose.
CWS Drupal Training
The CWS Drupal Training series is an integrated, interactive collection of materials that can be used both in a workshop scenario or for self-study. Currently provided are Powerpoint presentations used for the actual workshops, as well as links to pdf handouts for printup and notetaking.
Future plans for Drupal training materials include forthcoming Flash animations for step by step, real-time, self-paced training. Bookmark this site and visit frequently for updates.