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Benefits

Wondering what's in it for you?

Utilizing Drupal for your website has the following advantages:

  • Update your website easily with less frustration. Drupal is easy to use--experience with web development, programming, Dreamweaver, or html is not needed.
  • Enlist some help in managing your website with a team of contributors. Drupal's permissions and roles allow you to delegate some of the management of your site to your colleagues. They can be assigned specific pages to update or given wider access (or "permission") to add or edit all the pages of your site. If desired, you can choose to review and approve the pages they create before they are published to your site.
  • Helps to ensure that your website meets the standards required by the American Disabilities Act---specifically, Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). These laws require universities to create websites that are accessible to persons who utilize screen readers, cannot hear audio content, or have other disabilities or impairments that limit their access to the information on your website. While Drupal offers key accessibility features and the capacity to create standards-compliant pages, web page authors could still unknowingly insert content that is not compliant. However, with training, this can be reduced or avoided.
  • Save time in designing a website or updating your design to stay current with the university theme. Through the use of an Appalachian theme in Drupal, all the design work is done for you, leaving you free to concentrate on creating quality content to serve your audiences. As new designs become available in the future, they can be easily and automatically added to your site.
  • Manage the site from any computer; you and your team need only an internet connection—no need to have dedicated office computers or downloaded, licensed software.
  • Easily incorporate the features you want: forms, blogs, event calendars, photo galleries, and more. Web development skills or programming time are not needed.
  • Get the support and training you need. Beginning Fall 2009, workshops, user manuals and how-to documentation, user listservs and groups, and email/phone support from the CMS team will be available. Visit Support for more details.