This is from Gene Crick, executive director of TeleCommunity Resource Center Metropolitan Austin Interactive Network
PROPOSED HOSTING OFFER ==================================================================== to: CTLS List re: Plone v. Drupal, CMS I agree mostly with what's been said about Plone/Drupal but must say that picking the right CMS is about as easy as choosing the best religion. :-) We spent three years evaluating CMS, finally selected Drupal to install (4.6 and 4.7 back then) so we could host our mayor's pet library project, called WriteOn Austin. (community-centered writings and stories) After that, as the old saying goes... "I don't have to fear death because I've already been to hell." Drupal has lots of power and flexibility (perhaps too much for some uses) but that earlier version wasn't stable and providing skilled support for large scale install was tough, even at our 15 year-old backbone NOC. We didn't pursue much more Drupal development for several years. But ironically, we recently decided it was time to review and upgrade CMS again... and our OS choice was still Drupal: maturing well, biggest user base. [for normal human CTListas, the biggest reason we want to offer a CMS is for the WYSIWYG or plain text editor. With that individual orgs can update and maintain their own content with fewer tech skill demands (e.g. HTML)] There's no right choice for every user. Plone for example makes Plinkit a great tool for individual Texas library websites. TSL deserves much praise for making this available. Yet you should have heard Plone excoriated as public outcry forced the City of Austin to rescind a website RFP calling for Plone. (Despite what was claimed I personally have never smelled sulfur when Plone code was being written.) So (getting to the point at last) if... anyone library wants to use Drupal for their website and... Robert or someone will volunteer to help with template/content then... I think we(MAIN) can host the site(s) free. [Currently Drupal 6.2] Let Holly know so she can work out details. gene Gene Crick, executive director TeleCommunity Resource Center Metropolitan Austin Interactive Network technology maven, Bastrop Public Library [email protected] 512-303-5472 > Hi, Holly and All: > > > > And, at the risk of adding more glaze to the eyes, I wanted to add > another > $.02 about Doug Robinson's hosting comment--which applies equally to > Drupal, Joomla, and WordPress-and for non-technical library staff I'd > recommend Joomla and WordPress over Drupal. While libraries can pay > about $50/month for Drupal/Joomla hosting, it's usually much cheaper. > Even if you pay the hosting provider for time to setup software and > help with questions about your site, the cost is more like $25/mo and > up. If someone will do the basic software/template setup for you, the > ongoing cost for simple hosting is about $5-10/mo. Registering a > domain name (like samplelibrary.org) usually costs as little as $10 > per year. The simple hosting package will also include e-mail > addresses that can be set up on the domain (e.g., > [email protected] or [email protected]). Not > having easy access e-mail for a domain is generally one of the > downsides to the statewide projects (Plinkit, My Kansas Library on the > Web, e-Branch-in-a-box (Idaho), etc.). > > > > --Robert > > > > From: [email protected] > [mailto:[email protected]] > On Behalf Of Holly Gordon > Sent: Friday, October 09, 2009 1:26 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: [ctls-l] Plinkit -- Plone vs. Drupal > > > > People who were at the Gates Summit may remember that Doug Robinson, > from the National Assoc. of State Chief Information Officers, > mentioned that libraries could easily set up their own websites using > Drupal (Content Management System) and webhosting (about $50/month) > > > > Henry Stokes quickly reminded everyone that public libraries in Texas > can use Plinkit (based on Plone), which the Texas State Library is hosting for > free. So it is even easier to set up and maintain library websites in > Texas -- contact me or Kam McEvoy if you would like to get started, or > re-started with your own Plinkit web site. > > > > At the risk of causing your eyes to glaze over due to too much > techno-jargon, here is a bit about why Plone (the CMS software under > Plinkit) is better for the content provider (aka the library staff) > that Drupal. > > > > Holly Gordon > > Technical Support & Network Systems Specialist > > Central Texas Library System, Inc. > > 1005 West 41st Street, Suite 100 > > Austin, TX 78756 > > 512-583-0704 ext.15 > > <http://www.ctls.net/> www.ctls.net > > > > _____ > > From: Tom Ceresini [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: Friday, October 09, 2009 10:11 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Plone vs. Drupal > > Here is my recent response to the question, "Why Plone and not Drupal?": > > > > I don't have direct knowledge of Drupal, although I understand that > it's a very good open source CMS. I have heard a description that I > think speaks directly to this question: Drupal is relatively easy to > deploy at an administrative level, at a cost of being comparatively > difficult to use from the perspective of the content provider (i.e., > the "power user" of the system). Plone (the CMS on which Plinkit is > built) is relatively more difficult at an administrative level, but is > simpler to use for the content provider. For a single site, Drupal > would likely be the best fit - it's easier to implement, and the > admin/content providers are either the same > person or close to one another. The more sites you try to support, the > more the equation shifts to accepting more complexity on the admin > side for the considerable benefit of greater simplicity on the content > provider side. > In the case of Plinkit, the libraries will be almost purely content > providers, and we'll be the admins. We can learn the systems well and > handle the complexity, and increasing the ease of use at the library > end means fewer support calls and end-user frustration. > > Having said that, I hope it's clear that I'm not dismissing Drupal (or > Joomla, a similar open source CMS). If I were building a CMS-based > system for which an individual customer would serve as both system > administrator (i.e., a non-hosted service) and content provider, I > might well choose Drupal over Plone. As a general rule, and based on > what I've learned so far, I would tend toward Plone as a system grew larger or more complex. > > > > I'll be curious to see other opinions. > > Best regards, > > Tom > > > > TOM CERESINI > > Library Technology Coordinator > LYRASIS > > [email protected] > > 3000 Market Street, Suite 200 > > Philadelphia, PA 19104 > > D 267-385-3113 > > T 800.233.3401 > > F 215.382.0022 > > www.lyrasis.org > > NELINET is now part of LYRASIS, Advancing Libraries Together > > > > > >
