Programming requires ingenuity and talent. And even more importantly, successful bug-free code requires detail-oriented coders and brilliant peers for testing, innovating, and refinement. Drupal is a content management system (CMS) designed specifically for collaboration and creativity. A core batch of modules and themes can be downloaded free to get first-time designers started. A community of volunteer developers are constantly contributing more code and content to Drupal. All the new developments can be used in personalization and in making individual sites more efficient and functional. The collaboration and creativity involved in Drupal's community gives off a fun, almost thinktank-esque atmosphere.

The process of building a webspace that is simple and usable, yet unique, can be intimidating at best. Drupal's piece by piece download options give experienced developers the means to innovate and take the web by storm. At the same time, the Drupal developer community has done enough legwork that, through easily accessible software module add-ons, website-building is doable even for the inexperienced.

Drupal is, at its most basic, built on a series of "nodes" of data. These nodes, which store the content, are each a page of a website. Web designers can choose which nodes' data should be displayed when and in what format. This is allowed as nodes are arranged into content types that have the same sets of options (allow comments, publish to front page, display author and date, . . .). Drupal is one of the only platforms to combine the accessibility of a content management system with the freedom of a content management framework. Essentially - frameworks come unassembled, giving experienced developers and designers the ability to build and code to create the website of a business owner's dreams. The add-on modules are easily understandable and arrive in pre-made chunks for quick assembly. Drupal's platform is designed to be specifically tailored for both everyday users and the hard core coder. Being completely free for download is an obvious bonus.

Within the core version of Drupal (excluding the user developed add-ons), there are modules for blogs, polls, profiles, notifications, along with core themes to add to the aesthetics. With more than 30,000 developers, Drupal doesn't seem to be running short on customizable, custom features for business owners or bloggers who want to go above and beyond.

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