CeBIT Open Source Project Lounge: Drupal

Just a drop: Drupal

Short and sweet: How would you describe your project in one or two sentences?

Based on the number of users, Drupal, along with WordPress and Joomla, is at the top of the content management systems. Its innovative technological concept allows for building and further developing the simplest webpages all the way to the largest portals.

When did the project begin?

January 2001.

How many active members does the project have?

The drupal.org project has more than 400,000 registered members.

How did the project come into being?

Dries Buytaert wrote Drupal in 2000 for his own use to communicate with his fellow students. After he finished university, the site was brought under drop.org, where the members discussed the possibilities of new web technologies and experimented on the site with various add-ons. To allow more people to participate, Dries released the software in January 2001 as Drupal 1.0. Since then its growth rate has continued to exceed his expectations, leading to where it is at its current size. Its roots -- to make online communication as easy as possible -- are still easily recognizable today.

Why should a CeBIT visitor come to your booth?

We offer them an entry into the Drupal world with live demonstrations and extensive information. Drupals make it a rule for their community to be especially friendly and inviting -- we provide the opportunity to confirm this for yourself.

Who do you make your software for?

Anyone with some Web Publishing experience can use Drupal. An advantage is if you know HTML, CSS and PHP. Because of its high scalability, Drupal implementations are noticeable especially at sites with very large webpages, such as www.mtv.co.uk, ubuntu.com and http://www.france24.com.

Where do you see your biggest current challenge?

Online documentation at drupal.org could be better structured. Along with this work is being done on a more intuitive user interface.

If you could hire a full-time project developer now, what problem should he or she be ready to solve?

An easy and possibly idiot-proof widget for loading graphics. Also, a well thought out structure for the online documentation.

Under which license is the software currently offered?

GPLv2.

Project website: www.drupal.org or www.drupalcenter.de

Additional screenshots show examples for websites built with Drupal.