A brief history of Drupal

As a company offering Drupal Development services we often find ourselves talking about the history of the platform and its evolution. It’s quite a fascinating story. Read on to learn more.

Drupal is a content management system (CMS) that was first released in 2001. It is an open-source platform that is widely used for creating and managing websites and web applications, and it has a rich and varied history.

The development of Drupal began in 1999, when its founder, Dries Buytaert, started working on a message board system as a way to keep in touch with his friends while studying at the University of Antwerp. In 2001, Buytaert released the first version of Drupal, which was a simple, lightweight CMS that was primarily used for creating and managing forums and discussion boards.

Over the next few years, Drupal gained popularity among web developers and grew to include new features and capabilities. In 2005, Drupal 4.5 was released, which included support for multiple languages and the ability to create and manage blogs.

In 2007, Drupal 6 was released, which included a number of major improvements and enhancements, such as support for custom content types and the ability to create and manage web forms. This was followed by the release of Drupal 7 in 2011, which included a new default theme called Bartik and added support for jQuery and the ability to create and manage taxonomies.

In 2015, Drupal 8 was released, which introduced a new default theme called Classy and added support for HTML5, Twig templating, and a number of other improvements and enhancements. This was followed by the release of Drupal 9 in 2020, which introduced a new default theme called Olivero and added support for PHP 8 and a number of other improvements and enhancements.

It has a number of features and capabilities that make it a popular choice for a wide range of users, including:

    Scalability: Drupal is a powerful and scalable platform that can handle large amounts of traffic and data, making it suitable for high-traffic websites and web applications.

    Customization: Drupal offers a wide range of customization options, including the ability to use custom themes and modules to change the appearance and functionality of a website.

    Security: Drupal has a strong focus on security, and includes a number of features and tools to help protect websites and web applications from hacking and data breaches.

    Multilingual support: Drupal supports the creation of multilingual websites, allowing users to easily translate their content into multiple languages.

    Community and support: Drupal has a large and active community of users, developers, and enthusiasts, which provides a wealth of resources and support for those working with the platform.

    Extensibility: Drupal is highly extensible, with a wide range of modules and integrations available to add new features and capabilities to a website or web application.

Drupal is often considered to be more secure than WordPress, due in part to its strong focus on security and its use of industry-standard security practices. Drupal has a number of features and tools that are designed to help protect websites and web applications from hacking and data breaches, including:

    Security updates: Drupal regularly releases security updates to address vulnerabilities and fix potential security issues. These updates are available to all users and are easy to install.

    Security advisory team: Drupal has a dedicated security advisory team that is responsible for identifying and addressing potential security issues. The team works closely with the community to ensure that security issues are addressed in a timely manner.

    Security testing: Drupal has a comprehensive security testing process in place to identify and address potential security issues. This includes the use of automated testing tools, as well as manual testing by security experts.

    Strong password policies: Drupal has strong password policies in place to help protect user accounts from being compromised. This includes the use of password hashing and salting to protect user passwords.

    Secure coding practices: Drupal follows secure coding practices to help ensure that the platform and its modules are secure. This includes the use of coding standards and the use of security tools to scan code for vulnerabilities.

Overall, these are just a few of the many reasons why Drupal is considered to be more secure than WordPress. While both platforms are highly secure, Drupal’s focus on security and its use of industry-standard security practices make it a particularly secure option for websites and web applications.

Today, Drupal is used by millions of websites around the world and is widely regarded as a powerful and flexible CMS platform for creating and managing websites and web applications. It continues to evolve and improve, with new versions being released regularly to add new features and capabilities.

If you are looking for a company that offers Drupal Development services, our team would love to have a chat with you.