Sean Reiser

Recently I’ve been in chatting over email with a tweep who’s looking to build a webcomic system in Drupal and get her webcomic publishing friends to use it as well. We’ve gone back and forth discussing what Drupal can do, what it can’t do. Where I have no interest in publishing webcomics I have often wanted to put together a photo of the day site to show off some of my photography, which has mostly the same functionality. I haven’t gotten around to setting it up because the cobbler’s children have no shoes. Over the next few days I’m setting up the site and writing a howto along site which can be used by someone looking to setup a webcomic. As I started the howto I realized that I wrote up a preamble which made sense as a different post. So, without further ado, here it is.

Why Not Use ComicPress

As you read this tutorial on Drupal and Webcomics you might be saying “ComicPress does everything I need, and is easier to setup, why would I use something else?”. To be frank, that’s a good question and Drupal might be overkill for you. Some of my more zealoty Drupal friends and contacts would hate that I’m saying this but Wordpress and ComicPress are excellent products and if you want hassle free blogging or comic publishing they might be the way to go. If you’re looking to build a community around your blog or comic Drupal might be better for you. You should look at the features of both before making a suggestion.

Drupal and WordPress

So what’s the difference between Drupal and WordPress? It all comes down to the balance between simplicity and power.

WordPress is a blogging platform which simplifies the process of setting up a blog. Effectively, if you want to push a button to setup your blog, choose a theme and start blogging wordpress is what you should be looking at. There are less features but there is less to know so you can get going going quickly.

Drupal is either a CMS with an attached development framework, or a development framework with an attached CMS. There is a wider set of modules for Drupal, if you’re building a social network, looking to integrate a number of services, or are looking to build a community it’s a tool for you. There are far more decisions and options you need to be aware of before getting up and running, but once you do you’ll have a tool

At the end of the day, if one were inclined, and had more time then sense, they could build WordPress in Drupal. The inverse is not true.

Why Not Build a Web Comic Module

I’m pretty sure this has been done (or at least is in beta) but, IMHO Drupal is about building blocks giving you functionality. The purpose of this tutorial is to show a person that with existing modules how you can build a simple webcomic site and how you can extend it using modules that already exist. If I were to build a module for this, you’d install it, but really not be able to take it to the next level. If you’re not going to be able to harness the power of Drupal you might as well be using ComicPress.

OK, Where’s the tutorial

Working on that as we speak. Check back soon.