CMS Weekly

Posts Tagged ‘support’

Mediacurrent: The Value of Post-Launch Drupal Services and Support
Transcript From Episode CMSW2009-08-10

You may be one of the estimated 400,000+ people or organizations that have launched a Drupal site since the open-source content management system’s inception. Not to take the wind from your sails, but the work on your Drupal site is not immediately over after you launch – it is really just beginning. In short, a website developed using an open source or proprietary platform, is not a one-time capital expenditure.

The “car” analogy is often used in the Web 2.0 world, but it is germane. When one makes a major purchase like an automobile, the expectation is that a certain amount of ongoing maintenance and support comes with the territory – oil needs to be changed, brakes replaced, tune-ups, etc. Same would go for a Joomla site. Once launched, a website requires alert maintenance to keep it secure and accessible.

As an open-source technology, Drupal, for example, is supported by a passionate community of international developers who quickly find and fix security vulnerabilities, which means you need to be on the ball to install and test frequent patches, as well as migrating to the latest major versions where the ongoing support is provided in a timely manner.

Two questions that Mediacurrent would like you to consider are: one, what does routine Drupal support actually entail; and two, what are the ramifications if I do not properly maintain my site over time? They have a checklist at www.mediacurrent.com. The same questions would come to mind if your site is based on Joomla or any one of the other web content management systems.

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