I love Drupal

Getting Content Administrators to Crush on Drupal

by Joaquin Lippincott , CEO
Filed under:

We're just getting back from a great weekend at DrupalCampLA. A lot of topics were raised there but the message that really came home for me was this: as Drupal service providers we have to get CMS administrators to fall in love with Drupal.

This is incredibly important in getting the people (not just developers) to buy in Drupal moving forward. It's not enough to get them to use Drupal because if they don't have a great experience they will blame the technology not the implementation. And if someone has a crappy CMS experience I'd rather it be some other CMS out there.

So how do we do this? Here are a few ideas that came up:

  • Always tailor permissions (hide what doesn't matter)
  • Create personalized screencasts of admin functionality
  • Replace the default user list with a View
  • Use the back ported D7 UI modules

I'll be following up on this list with more details later, but I'd love to hear your recipes as well. It's every service provider's responsibility to create great Drupal experiences - and get more people to crush on Drupal.

Date posted: August 9, 2010

Comments

LeeHunter

Mon, 08/09/2010 - 19:18

My one small contribution in this area was to get a separate Administration Guide (http://drupal.org/node/627152) teased out of the jumble that used to be the Drupal docs. Part of the challenge was just getting people to recognize that site administration is a distinct discipline separate from site building.

The administrator is the person responsible for keeping an *existing* site running smoothly from one day to the next. Yeah a given individual might, from time to time, take on other responsibilities like building a site from scratch but that work is not "administration".

There's lots of work that still needs to be done on the admin guide so please jump in if you have something to add or fix!

Joaquin Lippincott

Mon, 03/28/2011 - 20:45

Admin Views is the best thing since sliced bread! I really like cloning the list view for each type of content and tailoring the filters and fields to match the type of content being listed. eg. events show dates, marquee elements thumbnails, etc.

Stewart Pringle

Wed, 08/18/2010 - 02:31

I was unable to go to Drupal Camp this year. Do have any recommendations for sessions I should watch when they post the sessions?

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About the Author

Joaquin Lippincott, CEO

Joaquin is a 20+ year technology veteran helping to lead businesses in the move to the Cloud. He frequently speaks on panels about the future of tech ranging from IoT and Machine Learning to the latest innovation in the entertainment industry.  He has helped to modernize software for industry leaders like Sony, Daimler, Intel, the Golden Globes, Siemens Wind Power, ABC, NBC, DC Comics, Warner Brothers & the Linux Foundation.

As the CEO and Founder of Metal Toad, an AWS Advanced Consulting Partner, his primary job is to "get the right people in the room".  This one responsibility is cross-functional and includes both external business development functions as well as internal delegation and leadership development.

A UCLA alumni, he also serves in the community as a Board Member for the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, the Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce, and Stand for Children Oregon - a public education political advocacy group. As an outspoken advocate for entry-level job creation in tech he helped found the non-profit, P4TH, an organization dedicated to increasing the number of entry-level jobs in the tech industry, and is in the process of organizing an Advisory Board for the Bixel Exchange, a Los Angeles non-profit that provides almost 200 tech internships every year.

 

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