Drupal are Plone are both open source content management systems (CMS) for building websites.

They enable a community of users to collaboratively develop and maintain a site, while also assigning roles and associated permissions to individual members.

They are ideal for research groups and communities that want to share content development, site administration, and the management of visitors and contributors.

Drupal and Plone are both easy to use and require no html or coding skills to use the core features, making them a great solution for those with limited or no website development experience.

Core features of both include:

• share the creation and editing of content between multiple user
• install an advanced search function
• set up comment threads, forums and polls
• manage user profiles (so you can control who has permission to do what)
• enable an RSS feed and aggregator
• gather website traffic statistics
• customise your site's layout and colours.

There are also a range of plug-ins available if your research group needs special functions that are not part of Drupal and Plone's core functionality. Some coding skills are required to add these plug-ins but eResearch SA can provide support.

We can also advise you on whether Drupal or Plone is most suited to your needs. While both are designed to manage collaborative content building, each supports slightly different features.

Get started

eResearch SA can help you install and set up Drupal or Plone. We can also provide training and support to help you get your site constructed.

Talk to the eResearch SA Service Desk to find out more.