PHP

I don't think I've ever been so spoiled with any other web site client. The site is advertising a graphic novel, so of course the author had very particular ideas about the graphics. And that meant he provided them -- all of them. Beyond that, he just basically wanted a Wordpress blog. All the graphics + basic Wordpress install = happy web developer.

I've become such a Drupal fan that I was tempted to try to convert him. But I'm glad I decided to let him have the Wordpress he wanted. If all you want is a blog, Wordpress is still really really good at that.

PHP

When I first started working with the Population Research Institute, their website relied on a proprietary content management system. Their site offered hundreds of articles, but they were full of hard-coded formatting like fonts, heading sizes, and colors (such as purple). Many hours of Perl and proofreading later, PRI had a new Joomla site with a clean, consistent look.

Joomla served them well, but fortunately, by the time they discovered the real constraints, I had discovered Drupal.

DrupalJoomlaPHP

St. Mary's Messenger is a new Catholic kids' magazine (ages 7-12), and most of our energy goes into the print version. (I'm also the editor and layout guy.) But we know the web site is our crucial tool for keeping in touch with our readers.

I was very happy to migrate this site from Joomla to Drupal. In past years, with Joomla, I had to write custom PHP scripts whenever we wanted to get custom feedback (e.g., a drop-down list of answers) from potential readers. Today, with Drupal profiles and CCK, it's almost too easy.