However, with it tends to be grouped into the category as a CMS that is great for building web blogs and landing pages. The complex nature of Drupal as a CMS can create numorous sites and clone variations. With an excellent API documentation you can build any site with the right set of tools. Many companies, agencies and governement are incorporating Drupal and using the CMS as a framework to build robust sites.
However, with it tends to be grouped into the category as a CMS that is great for building web blogs and landing pages. The complex nature of Drupal as a CMS can create numorous sites and clone variations. With an excellent API documentation you can build any site with the right set of tools. Many companies, agencies and governement are incorporating Drupal and using the CMS as a framework to build robust sites.
Before we set forth a list of clone sites, we do not condone replecating or cloning of websites in any form. The purprose of this article in particular is to showcase the flexability that one can achieve with the Drupal framework.
1. Blog
This is one of the most obvious and common uses for Drupal and many other CMS for that matter, but that doesn’t mean it’s not important. Drupal comes primed for blogging straight out of the box, and there are many modules available that can enhance the commenting and overall blogging functionality.
2. News Portal
For those of you wanting a site that can showcase lots of information like Yahoo! or some of the other news portals, Drupal has you covered. Thanks to an excellent module called Views and some custom categories, you can quickly create many different types of content and display them in different ways on the homepage. Views is an indispensable module for a Drupal site. It’s a rare occasion that I’m not using the module on a site that I’m developing.
3. Robust user site
Here is where I think Drupal shines brighter than most (if not all) content management systems. Drupal has an excellent user management system, user profiles and even OpenID right out of the box. It also has modules that can connect to Twitter, Facebook, and it’s easy to connect to other authentication gateways with the use of custom modules.
Drupal also has a stellar module called Organic Groups that allows users to “organize” themselves into groups. Each group can have it’s own homepage, blocks, themes, taxonomy and more.
4. File Storage Site
File storage sites like Drop.io or Box.net could be created with Drupal and the help of a module like Media Mover. Media Mover allows you to take uploaded files and copy them over to Amazon S3, the highly-scalable data storage system.
5. Flickr Clone
Photo sites like Flickr and Photobucket could also be created with the Image module and Views. The Image module gives users the ability to upload images, and then creates thumbnails and galleries from the uploads. Users could also comment on the photos using the built-in commenting functionality.
6. Delicious Clone
It turns out that making a bookmarking site like Delicious is fairly trivial in Drupal. There are several options for modules that give users the ability to post bookmarks to their Drupal account.
7. Blogger Clone
If you’re wanting to start a blog host like Blogger or Wordpress.com, Drupal is easily equipped to do that. Drupal has a blog module that comes shipped with the package, and it allows every site member the ability to have a blog.