Make me a static website with an easy to maintain a professional look, you ask?
Well, look no further than using Drupal Gardens for this task. I just finished putting together the foundation pages for the future SWSA site (still in the process of transitioning but will post links once its up and running). Deciding on a very white paper clean and crisp theme was no problem. Copying the data over (consisted of perhaps 7 pages in total so far), ridiculously easy. On the go theme building, priceless.
Cons:
- I did have to go into the theme builder and custom add the advanced css line
a {color: #c22823;}
Drupal Gardens is amazing for changing things on the fly (just select your element and chose your font/color/borders/etc). However, if you want to make theme-wide changes - its perhaps best to know what lines of CSS will get you there the fastest.
- Useful but limited selection of available modules
- No quick and dirty way of importing node content - though, there may be a way to do this in future. So I had to go in and create the pages one by one. Not very hard or time consuming if there is just 7 of them.
- Knowledge of Drupal speeds things up considerably. For example, knowing how to make a created static page your frontpage and avoiding the blog-style teaser type display [In Configuration-Site Information set the Default Frontpage to the node you would like to show]. Other examples would be how to enter links to content within the site (especially if you're in dev mode and want to be able to use a different url without having to find and change all of your in-site links) as well as setting up blocks to be viewed on specific pages.
Pros:
- Knowledge of Drupal speeds things up considerably.
- You don't have to sweat the server side stuff nor keeping the Drupal and module versions up to date
- The 'basics' in this case give room for ALOT of flexibility, for a basic website there isn't much that Drupal Gardens doesn't allow for.
- The Forums (link at the bottom of the Drupal Gardens page) provides all the questions and answers from all the users who have come before you. Chances are there's an answer for the 'how to' or 'when can I's that you may ask yourself as you navigate your new website. You can also pose a question.
- I can't say enough about the on-the-go theme building. Fixing tables or blocks to exactly how you would like them - adding borders or shading... changing font with real-time viewing results.
Would I do it again? Absolutely. I managed to put up the website within 2 hrs.
Would I switch my current website to Drupal Gardens? - No. But that has more to do with my inner geek which requires me to be able to install and investigate all a manner of random things (whether modules, CSS theme elements, or other) so that I can report back in my blog.
Just finished moving the content from the Galway Gospel Choir website (
My most recent Drupal 7.x site (not counting my personal site) to go live is