Why It Is Valuable to Use Open Source Web Technologies

Open Source means software, whose source code may be further modified and enhanced. It means that developers may use such a code without paying and include it in their own IT projects. Find below the advantages of building a Drupal website with Open Source.

Benefits of Open Source

There are many reasons, why Open Source is the basis for IT projects. Here are a few major arguments:

• Control. Before starting a project, the developer has the opportunity to try out the code, make sure it has the right functionality and that it may be altered as needed. Benefit for you: you can see every fragment of the code, identify possible issues, and modify it as you see fit.
• Safety. Despite popular opinion, Open Source may, in fact, be safer than Closed Source. Because everyone has access to the software, there's more opportunity to identify and resolve problems, and all interested parties will learn about such fixes. This process is faster compared to Closed Source because there is no need to ask the authors of the software for approval. Benefit for you: you gain the assistance of thousands of developers across the globe, who not only improve code's functionality but also its security – a small team would not be able to ensure this level of safety of custom code.
• Stability. Some Open Source projects don't see much engagement. However, having a large community involved in a project ensures that the software will be developed for years to come. Benefit for you: you can formulate long term development plans based on your own business growth.
• Community. A very important aspect, that is distinctive to the world of IT, is the active collaboration of developers with the Open Source community. Regular meetings, events, and forming think tanks on web platforms focused on a specific subject ensure the dynamic development of software products. Benefit for you: you have an almost direct contact with the developers of a solution, thus making it easier for you to fully utilise its potential.

What makes Drupal Open Source special?

Drupal has more benefits, besides the ones listed above:

• Reliability. Drupal is one of the most popular content management systems (CMS) in the world. It is constantly being developed (Drupal 9 will launch soon), while its previous iterations are supported for a period of five years.
• Scalability. By using various modules, that integrate easily with the Drupal core, the systems may be expanded to enhance functionality.
• Safety. It is worth mentioning, that because of its superior security Drupal is used by government institutions across the globe. Minimising the technological risk of a project is very important to a customer. There's also the Drupal Security Team, whose experts resolve reported safety issues in real-time. They provide support to module creators as well as formulate documents with guidelines for safe coding and tips on web page security.

Droptica and involvement in Open Source

Here at Droptica, we believe in developing Open Source in an effort to benefit our customer. Our goal is to provide software that is not only expertly coded but to ensure, that our customers may implement solutions without paying extra.

What is it, that we do?

• DrupalCamp Poland Wrocław. We organise a conference, that every year brings together over 100 individuals interested in Drupal. Both novice and advanced users of Drupal are welcome.
• DrupalDay. We host a day of free lectures for anyone interested in learning about Drupal. These lectures take place in different cities around Poland.
• Droopler. We've created a Drupal distribution that helps in building modern, user-friendly enterprise portals. There are already over 200 websites created with Droopler.
• Drupal projects. Our developers constantly support and work on projects such as Freshmail, Dotpay, InPost, Paragraph View Mode, Popup message, Slack Logger, Autotitle, Ga_disable

Drupal ecosystem

When discussing Open Source and Drupal, we have to talk about its entire ecosystem. Apart from Open Source software, this ecosystem includes also:

• brands, which use this CMS, so, for example, NASA, Arsenal FC, Harvard University, NASDAQ, NBA, JYSK
• developer plans: you can be certain, that the services are constantly improved – these plans are formulated a couple of years in advance
• Drupal iterations: every six months there is a new version which includes added functionality (for instance Media, Layout Builder, Bigpipe, etc.)
• certificates: these are issued by Acquia, providing the developers with a proof of their Drupal expertise
• content editing and marketing: modules (such as Workflow, Paragraphs, Ckeditor) that help adjust the content layout with pre-built components and sections; manage the formatting of introduced content; crop photographs; publish content at a specified date and time; format the content – even if you lack HTML expertise

Summary

Open Source provides value, which you can add to the website you're creating. This means you reap all the benefits go with being involved with the Drupal ecosystem. Open Source is not just a term – it is a world of numerous, actual solutions, that help satisfy the needs of website owners.