Droopler 1.3 allows you to make better websites

At our Drupal agency we have always wanted to solve the problem of time-consuming creation of Drupal 8-based small pages from scratch. Finally, we have been able to achieve satisfactory results with Droopler. Version 1.3 is even better.

Why did we make Droopler?

We regularly make websites for our needs (for example for marketing campaigns or events like DrupalCamp Poland) as well as for our clients. These may be smaller drupal implementations but can also be large corporate websites on Drupal.

Making a small website from scratch is time-consuming with Drupal 8, especially if you compare it to Drupal 7 or WordPress. It takes a lot of time to create a nice template that will work well on mobile devices, be easy to expand and comfortable to change.

We considered other technologies for small websites, but then we would have to learn all the processes connected with the new technology. And these would all be processes that we already have in place for Drupal 8 – automated testing, automated deployment to the production server, automated security updates and so on. For these reasons, we have decided to adapt Drupal to our needs.

Maximum flexibility

Our goal was to build a system that would allow you to easily add new subpages. Subpages are supposed to look good on your computer, phone and tablet without the need for using CSS. At the same time, the editor needs to be able to create a wide variety of subpages, and not only those containing the title and text.

We have used Paragraphs and prepared ready-made section types (paragraphs), which can be used to create subpages. Each subpage comprises one or more sections. Sections can be arranged in any order and multiple sections can be inserted on one subpage. Immediately after entering the content and graphics, the sections look very pretty. The editor doesn't need to do anything more – nor do they need any developer support when adding new subpages.

Droopler – it really hits the mark!

The editors are amazed! We have already deployed several dozen pages based on Droopler. Every time, the people who enter the content mention the following advantages of Droopler:

• each subpage looks very nice,
• high flexibility, there is no limit to subpages or sections within a subpage,
• no programming work required to make the website look very good,
• no worries about the correctness of the HTML code – no need to worry whether, for example, an inserted element will display correctly on the subpage,
• SEO optimisation, often websites that were switched to Droopler from other systems had better positions in Google search results.

Droopler is a flexible system for creating pretty-looking content and at the same time a platform for virtually unlimited development because it is based on Drupal 8.

Drupal 8 also ensures high security. The Drupal Security Team continuously monitors the system code and releases new versions immediately if any bugs are found.

What's new in Droopler 1.3?

Currently, the latest version of Droopler is 1.3. In this version, we have 13 paragraphs for the types of content used to add subpages – 13 different sections available, which you can use to build any number of subpages.

One of the new paragraphs is side embed. This paragraph allows you to embed external content such as a Google map or a YouTube video in a pretty-looking section. It is perfectly suited for use on the contact page. Video embedding can be used on the page listing clips from recent events in the company, among many other examples. This is just one paragraph – but it gives a lot of possibilities.

Another new addition to the system is a paragraph for creating a photo gallery. You can now easily build multiple galleries within a single page.

Version 1.3 offers 6 new paragraphs. You can see them all at https://demo.droopler.com

Droopler is also a blog because these days, everyone needs a blog on the company's website

Most traffic to the websites on the Internet is driven by Google search results. And what matters to Google is basically good content and a lot of it. That's why we've added a blog to Droopler.

Droopler blog is also made up of paragraphs. There is fewer of them, but they are enough to create beautifully looking content. Paragraphs make it easy to embed even full-screen photos into your content. Of course, everything looks nice and pretty on mobile devices as well.

A blog with flexible subpages is a set of very convenient tools for every marketing expert. Building different types of websites for different industries and sectors is simple and enjoyable. Examples of industry websites can be found in the demo: https://demo.droopler.com

Plans for future versions

We are going to continue to develop the system. We often use Droopler for our websites, and our customers use Droopler more and more often. It has already been downloaded more than 600 times from https://www.drupal.org/project/droopler!

We have a long list of changes that we want to implement in the system. One of the larger modules will be a module for product presentation. You will be able to add products with photos, descriptions, categories and tags to the system. There will also be a special page listing products with the option of filtering with the use of Faceted API and Search API. This module will be perfect for production companies and distributors. Together with the existing components, it will enable a very nice presentation of the company's offer on the Internet.

How to get started?

Droopler is free and based on Drupal 8. You can download Droopler from www.droopler.com. A full description of the installation can be found on our blog.
We encourage you to download it and see for yourselves. It's really worth it!