If you are considering using Drupal for your website or have been using one for awhile, you know about the issues with it. We have seen them too, both on our projects and from other companies, and have found ways around them that enable you to be more productive on your site. I hope you find these solutions useful and become part of the Drupal success stories.

Problem #1: It's hard to find good help these days. 

While there are lots of people contributing to the Drupal community with valuable modules, our years of contribution and involvement have taught us that the experience and talent needed to build complex websites is harder to come by.

The solution is to familiarize yourself with some basic information to know the good from the not-so-good. While you can't know everything (or you would do it yourself), you can ask a few questions to check them out. In order to know what they know, you can also brush up on some other development material.

Problem: Difficult to find an experienced development team.

Solution: Ask some basic questions to gauge a team's expertise.

Problem #2: So much learning, so little time! 

People are often overwhelmed when first introduced to Drupal because it's developer-centered environment presents a huge learning curve. You need to learn it fast to get on with your job, but the custom modules and content types involve speaking a whole new language.

The solution is to shorten the learning curve with a variety of training. Providing on-site training for engaged, hands-on learning gets them comfortable, and custom training videos provide help for later reference.

Problem: Drupal's framework presents a tough challenge to newcomers.

Solution: Provide adequate training in a variety of formats.

Problem #3: I can't find anything I need. 

Drupal's framework is flexible to allow for high-customization, but this lack of structure can be challenging as well. Non-technical users often have difficulty understanding the navigation to find what they need. 

The solution is to create a dashboard based on each permission level. Each permission level, like bloggers and developers, see everything they need in their dashboard. Aggregating all the information simplifies their job.

Problem: Hard to find content and other tools easily.

Solution: Build a dashboard to bring content and tools to one location.

Problem #4: Website admins forgotten. 

When a website is built, more focus is spent on the experience of the external users than internal users managing content. Don't get me wrong, this is how it should be, but too much emphasis is a bad thing. Web admins are left struggling on their new, custom Drupal site just trying to get things done.

This is a question about priorities. Web admins are responsible for managing the website, and if their job is difficult and time-consuming, they cannot make changes easily to benefit end-users. By focusing on improving internal administration, their jobs are made easier and faster to provide benefits to external users..

Problem: Low priority on web admins user experience.

Solution: Simplifying the web admins user experience gets things done faster.

Problem #5: Security updates galore! 

The Drupal community is 32k strong and growing, which means modules are constantly being updated and improved. People can feel overwhelmed having to handle all the updates to keep their site from becoming vulnerable.

While you can't stop modules from being updated and fixed, you can rest assured that the majority of issues won't compromise your site. Regarding the ones that do, having a plan to monitor and fix these types of issues keeps them from damaging your site. Monthly, quarterly and yearly checkups keep a website running smoothly with the latest modules to keep your users secure.

Problem: Constant security updates to manage.

Solution: Have a plan in place to handle periodic updates.

Problem #6: Website migration always goes wrong. 

While Drupal is built for large, complex sites, these sites also have bigger problems in migrating all of their data. It is difficult to coordinate and often rushed due to deadlines. Many companies are afraid to even switch  to Drupal because it seems like an insurmountable obstacle.

The solution is to plan for migrations from the beginning. While it is a tricky process, if you plan effectively, it can be done successfully. An experienced team knows how to plan and coordinate all of the moving parts, so you don't risk your website's earned SEO ratings and reputation.

Summary

You may have noticed that most of these problems have to do with a lack of a proper admin interface for non-technical users. Developers can often forget that non-technical users need a little more help because they, themselves are very used to the platform and can access everything easily. One of our top priorities is to provide an amazing, scalable website that is also extremely easy to use. If the average person cannot handle it, how can the website reach it's potential?

Have you had similar issues with Drupal? Let me know in the comments!