WhiteHouse.gov Runs on Drupal
The New York Times recently reported that WhiteHouse.gov is built using the open source content management system Drupal. This is a pretty interesting choice; while Drupal does offer a really flexible approach to content, it’s a bit tricker to get things and running — and looking good — than some of the other players in the market.
When evaluating CMS options for clients, we typically take into account their long term goals, internal skill set, budget and time to launch.
Based on these evaluation criteria, it’s no surprise that the White House looked right past the dominant player in this space, WordPress. WP is great for blog-style communication, installation and support for free and attractive templates, but it lacks the robust set of site feature enhancements.
It is interesting though, that the feds skipped the #2 player (based on downloads/usage) in this space, Joomla!. Joomla is easy to setup, has a fairly intuitive admin interface, and can be expanded to include may popular site features, including our favorite : Mail Chimp. For many mid-size companies and non-profits, Joomla offers an easy entry point; you can focus your dollars on adding the bells and whistles that help bring your website to life, while minimizing engineering costs.
It’s also interesting that the webmaster-in-chief looked at the challenges that lay before him/her and didn’t opt for a custom, in-house solution. Whether the reasoning for avoiding this was political or practical, I guess we can all be grateful that they decided to save a few bucks and just get the information out in a timely manner.
For help in evaluating the many CMS solutions available, send an email to ggates@asimpletheory.com.
