Drupal

Drupal is free, open source software that can be used by individuals or groups of users -- even those lacking technical skills -- to easily create and manage many types of Web sites. The application includes a content management platform and a development framework.

Types of sites that Drupal can be used for include:

• blogs
• personal or corporate Web sites
• portals
• forums
• e-commerce sites
• Intranets
• resource directories
• social networking sites.

Drupal is written in the PHP programming language. The software is ready-to-use upon download and also includes a Web-based installer and add-on modules. The software supports content management, collaborative authoring, newsletters, podcasts, image galleries, peer-to-peer networking, file uploads/downloads and more.

Drupal originated as a bulletin board system developed by Dries Buytaert in the Netherlands, and became an Open Source project in 2001. When establishing his original Drop.org Website, Buytaert wanted to call the site "dorp" ("village" in Dutch), but made a typo when checking the domain name, and decided the altered form sounded better (Drupal is a transliteration of the Dutch " druppel " which means droplet). Drupal has been downloaded over a million times and is the focus of a large development community.

Drupal is offered under a General Public License (GPL).