For many clients seeking to implement a program-wide portal that integrates many services and content types, The Longsight Group often recommends Drupal. Drupal is a powerful and extensible framework for collating disparate resources into an attractive and manageable presentation.

Drupal has the ability to define very granular roles or permission sets that can be assigned to user accounts. This is particularly useful for providing appropriate access to content for different campus constituencies. Authoring and editing content are accomplished directly on display pages in a metaphor that makes site updates easy and when they are easy, they are completed often adding greater value (“freshness”) to your site.

Drupal is more than a content management system. The Drupal community has created many modules that add features to Drupal to meet a broad range of needs such as blogging, wikis, calendaring, online polling, photo galleries, content syndication through RSS feeds and subscriptions, online payments, event registration, proposal, abstract and manuscript submissions, and much more. These Web 2.0 tools not only make the web portal more attractive, but are well aligned with the expectations of today’s students and faculty.

Longsight has deep experience in designing and implementing Drupal as a solution for both content management and building online communities in higher education. Some of our recent projects include the New Media Consortium, Academic Commons, and a professional association portal for the National Shellfisheries Association.