10 must-see Drupal websites

Drupal has a reputation for being hard-to-manage compared to other Content Management Systems. At Droptica, however, we believe that it makes up for it with its incredible versatility and flexibility. The following ten Drupal websites are the best examples of this!

1. Government website – European Commission

The new European Commission website combines two parts:

• political, presenting information on the political priorities of the European Commission;
• comprehensive information section focusing on other areas of activity.

The effectiveness of such a website as a reliable source of information for more than 500 million EU citizens depends on several factors:

• security – government websites are a highly coveted target for hackers because of the number of visitors and the trust of users. It is easy to imagine the chaos that could arise if one of the official information channels of any organisation was taken over by unauthorised persons. 
• transparency and accessibility – this means that the website needs to be adapted to the needs of all users, especially those with disabilities and with no access to the latest technologies.
• internationalisation – in which of the twenty-four official languages of the European Union should the information be available on the website? In every single one of them, obviously! Can this be achieved without creating 24 identical websites? In Drupal – sure, it can. 

All these elements are provided by Drupal by default, without the need to install additional modules. 

2. University website – Harvard

Would the wealthiest university in the world go for an expensive, uncomfortable system that is difficult to scale? They could, but... Let’s not suspect Harvard of such profligacy. 

Harvard liked Drupal so much that they developed and released their own distribution version. OpenScholar has everything a university may need:

• application forms and a system for monitoring academic progress;
• payment management system;
• support for projects requiring teamwork;
• intuitive content management...

...all packed in a clear, elegant layout that can be easily changed with dozens of built-in themes. 

3. Magazine website – Science

In the world of science and technology, information appears so quickly that paper editions of newspapers aren’t sufficient as the only source of knowledge. Hypotheses about the latest discoveries on Mars and the details of the latest sensors are quickly available on the web. The publishers of Science, one of the oldest scientific journals, are well aware of this.

As soon as the information about a discovery reaches the publisher, it appears on their website in an abridged format, and the paper edition of Science supplements and highlights the most important content. The site encourages visitors to see the extended version of the article by making it easier to buy a single copy of the magazine with interesting content or to get a subscription, which allows users to create their personal account and access most of the articles online.

Drupal enables editors to quickly add interesting content enriched with eye-catching images, and the readers to conveniently access selected content.

4. NGO website – Doctors Without Borders

Humanitarian operations, support for animals, promoting art – every single non-governmental organisation has its own goal. However, the websites of such organisations share many common features. They must not only contain the most important information about the association or the action but also present it in a way that inspires trust – transparent and easy to understand for the broader audience. 

Doctors without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières, MSF) is an international non-governmental organisation whose members provide medical assistance in war zones and areas affected by endemic epidemics. Since their activity is financed by donations, they use Drupal’s full potential to encourage supporting their action.

The visitors to the foundation’s website can choose among several language versions. The modern look and clear layout of the content emphasise the importance of the message directed at the visitors. The website offers colourful charts, data and a wealth of information about the activities of MSF, as well as a comprehensive page explaining how to support the organisation. This can be done even directly on the website, as it is connected to a payment system that allows visitors to use their credit cards, Amazon Pay account, as well as PayPal.

As an additional benefit, the fact that Drupal is an open source software means that instead of paying high license fees every year, the organisation can allocate more resources to its activities. 

5. Hypermarket e-commerce website – Carrefour.fr

The effectiveness of the message and customer trust is also what the success of the French giant is based on. Hundreds of products, promotions and prices are checked out by thousands of customers at the same time. In addition, most products can be ordered online for home delivery. To operate such a large and complex website, you need a system that’s up to some special tasks. Thus, it is no wonder that Carrefour decided to go with Drupal.

The website offers:

• different user roles and permissions, allowing editors to ensure that prices and product descriptions are displayed correctly, while buyers choose their products;
• easy editing, which enables frequent updates to the website content;
• on-line shopping and payment system – allowing visitors to do shopping without having to leave home;
• security of customer data;
• stability of operation even under heavy load.

Here is another example of Drupal being used in e-commerce.

6. Event website – DrupalEurope

An event website can be a big challenge. The cost of the website cannot have a significant impact on the budget of the event. On the other hand, it needs to attract visitors with an interesting front-end, allow for various types of content and, in addition, facilitate the purchase of tickets. And when it comes to the website of one of the biggest industry conferences for web developers, the stakes are really high.
How does Drupal deal with such a challenge? Without a hitch!

Simple elegance and readability are the first things that can be seen by visitors on the website of DrupalEurope – Europe's largest conference devoted to Drupal. The website contains a wealth of information on various aspects of the event, from speakers to tickets. Regarding tickets, the visitors can buy them directly from the website thanks to the shopping system implemented by the developers.

However, it doesn't take a world-class event to go with Drupal. We already wrote an article about building a website for an event of any size. 

7. Intranet – Supernus Pharmaceuticals

Do you believe in the principle that it’s what on the inside that counts? Drupal can also be used to build company intranets!
The Drupal-based Supernus Pharmaceuticals intranet supports over 450 employees in their daily challenges. The most important functions that have been made available to employees are:

• simple login system and user roles;
• control panels, which facilitate work thanks to numerous possibilities of modification and adaptation to the user's needs;
• information board displaying company news and share value updated every 15 minutes, based on information from the stock exchange;
• a file repository for company documents;
• options facilitating the use of third-party services, such as directly ordering courier services from the intranet;
• easy contact options with the company's IT helpdesk.

Since files and services are available to many departments at the same time, the time required for document workflow and many internal processes is significantly reduced. This directly translates into increased productivity and real profits for the pharmaceutical company.
You can read about another example of a Drupal-based corporate intranet here.

8. Culinary blog – Kwestia Smaku

The times of notebooks filled with recipes collected from relatives and friends at family gatherings and carefully glued newspaper clippings are gone. These days, having a recipe notebook is more of a hobby than a necessity for the modern cook. Today, you can read thousands of recipes from all over the world in just a few clicks. Websites and blogs try to out-do each other, publishing recipes for fancy dishes usually accompanied by enticing photos. 
If the fanbase of followers is small, a blog on one of the popular hosting services is usually more than enough. But as the number of dedicated fans grows, they should be treated to something special.

Kwestia Smaku does more than just serve delicious recipes. The advanced Drupal-based blog allows visitors to:

• comment on recipes together with pictures of dishes made by users, thanks to the content management system, which is clear and understandable for all blog users;
• save their favourite versions of dishes and create lists;
• convert round cake pans to rectangular ones with a convenient conversion system;
• visit whenever they want, even with a large number of concurrent visitors, without any impact on the smoothness of the website, which is extremely important especially before holidays;

All of this makes Kwestia Smaku one of the most popular websites not only in Poland but also in the world. As Droptica, we are happy to report that we are providing Drupal support for Kwestia Smaku.

9. Product website – Jack Daniels

When tradition is combined with modernity, there is no room for errors. Even well-known brands sometimes make mistakes as a result of ignoring the rules of the Internet. How can a company avoid such errors that push the product down in the search results?

They can, for example, use a CMS with built-in SEO options that will not allow the offered products or services to be skipped by search engines.
Many of these possibilities can be found on the website of one of the most famous whiskeys in the world: Jack Daniels Tennessee Whiskey.

• the graphics naming format and alternate descriptions of the images used not only make it easier for search engines to “see” the website, but they are a real help for the visually impaired and the blind.
• responsiveness of the website makes it easier to browse on various devices and increases the ranking of the website in search engines;
• SEO plug-ins help authors write content that attracts users.

It is not enough to make a name for oneself – one constantly needs to take care of it. Drupal’s SEO options will certainly help.

10. Social media – Pinterest Business

Have you found an interesting product, an inspiring quote or a delicious recipe on one of the previous websites? Share it with others on Pinterest! 
Pinterest brings together one of the largest communities on the web. Every day, content is added by as many as 175 million users! Many of them are looking for inspiration that can help with shopping or business among the 50 billion (yes!) images. Companies are happy to take advantage of this as it is an opportunity to present their products and services to a broad audience.
Pinterest Business has been created for companies as part of the website, which enables the promotion and development of brand awareness through Pinterest’s mechanisms. Pinterest Business is powered by – surprise, surprise – Drupal, because of:

• ease of integration with the main Python-based part of the website.
• ease of integration with external systems
• easy implementation of new functionalities on different subpages
• ease of creating subpages in different languages.

Drupal websites - summary

It's worth noting that as many as six of the ten above Drupal-based websites are ranked among the top in Amazon Alexa – the ranking of the most popular websites in terms of the number of visitors. This means an enormous load and the need to process impressive amounts of information at the same time. As you can see, Drupal is not just for simple blogs. Companies from all over the world choose and use it successfully for a variety of websites, because of the sea of options and the stability that they can rely on. Check how we can help you take advantage of these possibilities within our Drupal development services.