U.S Government Picks Drupal Again

[Jeffro]

These guys must like Drupal. They just switched their Office of Science and Technology Policy site from WordPress to Drupal.

With regard to the blog, many of you know that we have long used a WordPress-based public comment function to get input from you on a range of issues, most recently via our Public Access Policy Forum. That comment functionality is just now being built into the Drupal platform upon which our new blog is built.

I went through their contact form and asked them why they switched. I wonder if I'll get a response.

[Ryan]

If I was them I would have chosen Drupal too.

IMO WordPress isn't very good at handling large scale sites with extensive functionality and many different users accessing various parts. Drupal is apparently much better at that sort of thing. And if they're already using Drupal to power one section, I don't see much point in using another software to power a blog within it when Drupal could supposedly do it fine itself.

[davecoveney]

I agree - we're WP experts, but we don't doubt that there are better tools around. In fact, when it comes to workflow and user management WP is pretty weak, and that makes it a tough sell in some corporate and governmental environments.

Where WP does win out is in ease of use and flexibility for creating quick sites. Can't win 'em all, nor should we try to.

[Jeffro]

I'm one of the first to say, use the best tool for the job. But considering it was powering their blog and that is what WordPress is STILL known for, I still wonder why they chose to use Drupal. I got a response back from their automated system but the link within the email took me to a 404 page.

[Ryan]

I assume the Drupal blog module (or whatever it's called) is capable of creating an identical blog to one made in WordPress (or at least the sort that they'd be wanting).

Adding WordPress into the mix would just mean that the sites admins would need to learn how to use another piece of software, and it wouldn't necessarily be integrated into their existing system.

I always prefer using less software wherever possible. It's simpler that way IMO.

[film_girl]

And when it comes to accountability, security and keeping track of stuff, especially for a large-scale site, Drupal is just better. I mean, look at some of the stuff that DC-based Development Seed is doing (http://developmentseed.org/) -- it's astounding really.

I have to say, as a long-time Drupal critic (I still think it has a really, really bad upgrade roadmap -- you're basically forced to stay at the version you start at unless you really want to take the time to migrate -- granted, they do offer extended support and patches for older versions), the work that a lot of members of the Drupal community have been doing to refactor the interface, making really complex apps (that aren't complex to use) and really pushing platforms to the limits has it becoming something that I'm really impressed with.

Plus, as Ryan said, I mean, the idea would ideally be to integrate all of the White House sites into one platform.