I’ve finally downloaded and installed Drupal to get an idea if this would be a possible CMS for a small web project I’m planning to start.
Installing the basic modules and setting up the MySQL database was straightforward. No problems here.
What I’m finding more daunting is the CMS interface itself. There are a lot of modules and settings. And it takes some time to grasp the concept and terminology.
For example, it took me a while to figure out how to create a simple menu. I found this posting that suggested using the so-called Menu on-the-fly module. I guess, I would have expected this to be part of the basic install. Or maybe there’s another simple way that I’m missing.
I haven’t had a look at how to change the design of a theme or how to build my own theme.
Drupal offers a lot of options and additional modules. But at this point I’m worried that the CMS interface is too complex for the end users I’m planning for. And probably too much effort to customize for a small web project.
Think of all the time you will save when you implement your next site with Drupal. I use Drupal for small sites and it works fine. As to menu_otf, the important bits will be in 4.7.Drupal evolved from a community oriented system where content was king, not hierarchy. The menu is coming along fine. Also, contrib modules is often how new features are explored before migrating the surviving important bits into core.
Try out http://www.phpwcms.de/. Really simple and great! Good Luck!
The menu on-the-fly module did indeed get assimilated into core and will be there for the 4.7 release.