The state of open source content management systems

The state of open source content management systems (e.g. Backdrop, Drupal, WordPress) monthly nonprofit-oriented Drupal (and sometimes Backdrop) conference calls:

• https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jFCgv4by7O0TKiwK6vKMzEhiD7JIpRXMfXZuCRcCw6I/edit
• sponsored by NTEN
• also see list of links at the bottom of that document

ATEN's Drupal distro for libraries and other space-centered groups:

• https://atendesigngroup.com/webinar/intercept-open-source-solution-event-management
• https://www.drupal.org/project/intercept

Backdrop 3/6

• Fork of Drupal 7 (now is at Drupal 10(?))
• Tailored for non-profits
• Upgrades to Drupal break backwards compatibility. Backdrop has more compatibility with Drupal 7
• A lot of overlap with CiviCRM community
• Zulip chat is active
• Drupal 8 and beyond is very different - would be extremely difficult to try to port something from one of those to Backdrop
• Can still bring Drupal 7 modules over to backgrop as support continues beyond end-of-life
• Backdrop needs more developers. A lot of the developers are also interested in CiviCRM
• A lot of the larger Drupal community does not pay attention to Backdrop, but folks who are still supporting their Drupal 7 sites are starting to look toward Backdrop. Will get more attention from the Drupal community that way.
• CiviCRM has an official release on backdrop

Drupal 4/6

• Drupal & Backdrop both have (over WP)
  • Publishing flows
  • Structured content
  • Views module
  • (better) CiviCRM integration
  • Can be harder to use if you just need to add content to a page

Wagtail 2/6

• Django-based CMS - https://wagtail.io/
• Responsive, has built-in A/B testing
• Seems easy to use on the user/content editor side; a simple front-end for that.
• Has Django's advantages built in, e.g. emphasis on security

Wordpress 4/6

• Have been feeling some of the workflow problems on WP
• Wordpress has gotten better in dealing with version control for content
• Vast resources in the WP community!
• Interesting time in WP right now: a lot of effort towards the "page builder mentality," augment core functionality, build designs out one block at a time
• Core software is moving in that direction, though more slowly in order to maintain commitment to backwards compatibility
• If you want to do lots of custom design out of the box without writing much code, WP prioritizes that
• More design controls available in WP without lots of custom code, declared through json instead
• Good for agencies who want to give clients only the options they need to build the kind of design developed for the site
• Using WP more as a platform for developing web application. With the DB behind WP, you can build a fairly sophisticated database app for the web like that. Started as a blogging platform but you can do so much more with it. Web app is not so much the focus as page builder is, but still a worthwhile consideration as a dev platform.
• Backwards compatibility commitment is a double-edged sword
• The plugins available on top of Wordpress - are there some that create more problems than they solve? How much would you recommend that clients stick with the "stock" wordpress
  • i.e. having Elementor on top of Wordpress to make custom pages that look good with little to no code
  • you're locking yourself into an "extensions" way of doing things, and it may be hard switching it up
  • There's always going to be a niche for adding something even easier than what you get "out-of-the-box. Many of the reasons people turn to page builders like Elementor is going away as more is shipped along with Wordpress.
  • New folks coming in and learning alongside those who may have not-as-up-to-date knowledge, which will effect the way forward
• Complicated with CMS in general is separating the job of the designers from the people writing the text. The various systems aren't always great at it.

Note: I wasn't able to join this group, but if people are interested in talking about challenges with Drupal 7 to 9 upgrades, I'm always happy to talk about our experience working with a variety of nonprofits on this upgrade. The monthly NTEN Drupal calls are great and I'm a regular participant. - 312-505-7461 tim@congruity.works - Tim Nafziger