NW Linux : blog

Drupal Gardens is a web version of Drupal’s version 7 of their popular Content Management System (CMS). My Drupal Gardens page is http://rbucky.drupalgardens.com.  For now, you can only gain access by invitation, as they are in Beta testing now. If you are lucky enough to receive your invite, like I have, then you should get ready for a treat. Now, I admit that Drupal is not anywhere near high on my favorite CMS list. However, after several hours of peering through pretty much every feature available, Drupal Gardens really caused me to assess my favorite online page maker!

Pricing

Drupal Gardens is free across all tiers of their platform for the remainder of 2010. When I say Tiers, I refer to the pricing plan that Drupal Gardens plans to initiate after the conclusion of 2010. I have seen many pricing Tiers in my time, but the free plan seems more than reasonable for any small business. However, the only downside is that the free version has ads. Most annoying. Here are the features that you will receive with the free version beginning 2011:

• Custom domain available
• Unlimited users
• Creation of up to 2000 moderately sized pages
• 4000 page views a day
• 5 support tickets
• Drupal Garden ads

Opinions

Overall, Drupal Gardens is a phenomenal online CMS. The editing actions are smooth and well organized for the beginners to seasoned web developers. Elements within a page are edited in blocks like the Concrete5 CMS. Blocks have configuration options, but I could not enable them to move using Google Chrome or Firefox. Are they supposed to move? Not sure, but that would be nice to drag and drop them around.

I really like the ability to configure RSS feed publishing and add a custom description for your content. With many CMS’s, you have to create custom page templates if you want a different look on a page. For instance, if you want your homepage to have a nav bar on the left and a main block, while you wnat your pages to have a main block and two sidebars. Wiht Drupal Garden, you can change the layout of specific pages (e.g. sidebar and content for one and then 2 sidebars and content for another page). Perfect!

I did not encounter any errors with Google’ Chrome or Firefox 3.5+ on Ubuntu Linux 9.10. However, I found that when you add subpages the main page navigation CSS creates a stair step appearance. It throws off the entire navigation and page layout. One simple CSS tag would do it. Minor issue to fix. If you have the means, I strongly recommend giving Drupal Gardens a shot.

Screenshots

download these screenshots in a .zip