Why Drupal Is Not a Word Processor

Writers, content managers, and editors are often the ones who wind up putting the "content" into the "content management system." So why is it that much of the content that appears in your CMS looks haphazard, ungrammatical, and even nonsensical? And why does the content often stay that way through launch?

You might think that the content specialists who add content to a Drupal site suffer from one of the following conditions:

• a) writer's block
• b) inability to learn a program besides Microsoft Word
• c) a deep-seated hatred of developers

Truth is, content specialists don't actually suffer from any of these conditions. (Most of them, anyway) Many wordsmiths simply haven't had access to tools that can help them whip content into shape well before your site launches, or they are intimidated by putting content directly into Drupal. Oftentimes, writers aren't brought into a project until well into the development process because clients often underestimate the time it takes to write solid website copy. Another issue is the well-meaning but misguided notion that having access to Drupal Paragraphs can provide structure for page content. The idea of giving content structure is important, but waiting to provide structure until development means that writers have trouble creating good content during a large site build or migration -- because they are too busy learning how to use Drupal at the same time.

Thanks to tools like GatherContent, content specialists at DrupalCon, at your workplace, or in your life can actually start writing and building pages before gaining access to the CMS. GatherContent enables writers to create templates, start writing body copy, include SEO metadata, and attach additional content based on those templates. They can also take advantage of GatherContent's visual, easy-to-adapt project workflow, all without needing to train on a new CMS. When the writers are finished, you can use the GatherContent Drupal integration to pull content into your Drupal CMS. Once the content has arrived, writers, editors, and the like can focus on content cleanup and learn how to use Drupal properly. You also benefit because faster writers mean faster content creation and migration, which gives you a little extra time to do your work.

This session -- which is geared toward developers who have experience with content input and migration -- will provide more arguments for why Drupal is not a word processor and why it's important to start content creation early, even if you aren't using GatherContent in particular. You'll learn how to use a combination of GatherContent and functional specs to structure content for a higher-education website at the page level. Then I will show you how GatherContent works with Drupal to help import content, plus how to treat that content after it is imported. Finally, I'll answer any questions you may have.

Note: Slides are TBD, as I hope to show an example from a site that has not launched yet.