Drupal Content Management System

Do you need to build a website? If you want to manage your custom designed website you have two options to choose from – the paid content management system or the free open source management system. The word free could lure you to choose the open source CMS but many website developers have chosen this type of system not because of its economic viability.

Closed or paid content management systems have very glaring flaws. One of which is the source code that is intentionally hidden from the user. Users who would want to modify the program to suit their needs are not allowed to do so. Apart from this, users of the program will remain at the mercy of the vendors when ever they want a bug fixed or trouble shoot the program. Since the source code is hidden, the vendor can also hide major flaws. This monopolistic model lost its appeal when the open source content management system was introduced.

Open source CMS means a whole community of developers that are actual users of the product. These unpaid developers would contribute to the development of high quality product as they have a vested interest on the development of the product. Because of this, companies using this software will be able to improve the product to suit the needs of the company. And since the program is free, it’s not limited to only large organizations but also small businesses and charities.

There are many sources of where you can download an open source CMS for free but Drupal is fast becoming one of the most popular. http://www.mtv.co.uk, http://www.observer.com and http://www.musicbox.sonybmg.com/ are examples of several sites developed by Drupal. Drupal’s content management system is designed to be customized. As the system is used by thousand of people it would be pretty easy to find a web programmer that can easily trouble shoot your content management system if ever a need arises.