{"id":21922,"date":"2019-05-01T08:20:34","date_gmt":"2019-05-01T13:20:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hostgator.com\/blog\/?p=21922"},"modified":"2019-04-11T17:26:18","modified_gmt":"2019-04-11T22:26:18","slug":"what-is-drupal-hosting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hostgator.com\/blog\/what-is-drupal-hosting\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is Drupal Hosting?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

You\u2019re doing your due diligence as you start your new new website-doing all the research into your different web hosting options in order to make sure you make the right choice before you buy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s smart! While it\u2019s always possible to switch to a new web hosting plan down the line, it\u2019s a lot easier to stick with the same company if you make the right choice from day one. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You may have come across an option called Drupal hosting<\/a>, and now you\u2019re wondering what that\u2019s all about. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What is Drupal Hosting?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Drupal hosting is any web hosting plan that promises compatibility with the content management system Drupal. All of the hundreds of thousands of Drupal websites require a web server and hosting to be accessible to visitors on the wide web. Where Drupal provides the basic framework for building a website, Drupal hosting is the necessary component that makes that website available to the masses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For many of sites that use Drupal, choosing an application web hosting<\/a> plan that specializes in providing hosting services for Drupal sites is the best choice,  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is Drupal?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Drupal<\/a> is an open-source content management system that powers hundreds of thousands of websites online. It\u2019s particularly popular with professional developers, who appreciate how powerful and flexible it is, and by government and enterprise websites that choose it for the high level of security it offers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"drupal<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Drupal core-the main framework it provides-consists of the main features and functionality common to content management systems in general (more on that in a bit) and can work as a good foundation for any kind of website. But while the core is powerful, where Drupal really sets itself apart is the customization options developers can tap into with the use of Drupal modules. As long as you, or someone you hire, has the skills to run a Drupal website, you can do just about anything with your website you could want. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Is a Content Management System? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

To really understand what Drupal is and whether it\u2019s right for your website, you need to understand what a content management system is<\/a>. A content management system, or CMS for short, provides a number of important functions to website owners. Some of the top features common to pretty much all content management systems include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. An intuitive interface for making website changes<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

One of the main reasons individuals and businesses use content management systems is because it saves you from having to know and use coding languages when you\u2019re building your website and then again every time you have to make an update to your website. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For businesses, that can save you the cost of having to pay a developer for every time you have a minor update to make to a web page. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A CMS gives you the power to publish new content to your website, change the layout of pages, add media and images to the website, and manage your menus-just to name a few functions-all through a user interface that\u2019s easy for most beginners to figure out. It removes the headache of trying to get code just right every time or having to know a coding language to begin with. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Content management and organization options  <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As the name makes clear, a big reason websites have for using a CMS is that it helps you manage your content. For any website likely to have a lot of content-which includes government websites, enterprise websites, media sites, entertainment sites, and businesses doing content marketing-you\u2019ll end up with a lot of different content pieces to keep up with. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A CMS allows for collaboration on pieces of content, since you can control who has access to content in the system and what they can do with it (e.g. who has the power to view, edit, and schedule a piece of content). With a CMS, you can schedule out content in advance, making it easier to plan out and stay on top of a content calendar. And you can easily track which pieces of content are still in draft form, which are scheduled, and which are already published, which helps you keep everything better organized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If your plans for a website include the potential for a high volume of content, a CMS is an extremely valuable tool for managing it all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Account management and permissions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Business or media websites typically have a large number of people that will need some level of access to make changes and updates to the site. Content creators, editors, designers, developers-the more people using a website, the more risk you\u2019re potentially opening the website up to. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What if a writer with limited technical skills actually does something that breaks a page on your website? Or what if an angry employee you let go uses their access to make malicious, embarrassing changes to the site?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A CMS reduces your risk by allowing the website owner and any administrators they trust to manage the accounts associated with the website and the levels of access each one is allowed. A writer only needs to be able to load the text on the pages they\u2019re working on, for instance, and doesn\u2019t need the ability to mess with your menus or plugins. Through this feature, a CMS increases the security of your website<\/a> and gives you more control over it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How Does Drupal Measure Up to Other Content Management Systems?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The features described above are common across the different types of content management systems, so can provide insights into whether you should use a CMS or not. But there\u2019s still the question of deciding which one makes sense. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drupal is one of the three most popular content management systems, falling behind just Joomla<\/a> and WordPress<\/a> in popularity. The reason those two beat Drupal in market share is pretty clear to anyone familiar with the CMS market: Drupal\u2019s harder to use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WordPress and Joomla are accessible for beginners with limited experience building or maintaining websites. They\u2019re democratic software options that put website updates into the hands of almost everybody. Drupal, on the other hand, is mostly used by professional developers who come to it with some web design skill to begin with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drupal requires more work to learn and use, but the tradeoff to that is notable: it also provides more flexibility and power. Anyone with especially specific or complicated plans for a website will need a solution that enables them to make their vision a reality, and Drupal is better for that than the other top CMS options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who Should Use Drupal?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Drupal is most commonly used by companies and organizations that:<\/p>\n\n\n\n