Time for Another Migration
Posted on May 1st, 2005
I think it's time for me to bid adieu to Drupal, the blog software that I switched this site over to a couple months back. I reached the same point with Drupal that I did with WordPress and Movable Type-- things just don't fit together as well as I'd like.
How well a program "fits" is hard to realize until you've used it. Drupal seemed like a good idea when I installed it-- it is widely regarded as being well written; it has numerous modules that provide additional features; and there is an elaborate system for customizing the appearance of a site.
I was completely sold until I sat down to do some of that appearance customization. Things were more complicated than I needed them to be. Some aspects were easy to change but not others. At first I chalked it up to being unfamiliar with Drupal's code. Then I read a post on the Drupal website about the blog module being unnecessary if you're running a single-user blog, which I am, and about how the blog module was more designed for multi-user sites. That was a clue about why I was having trouble. I had something that was more than I needed, and I was trying to gut it.
That led to the realization that I wasn't as interested in learning the ins and outs of Drupal as I initially thought. I had an attitude more along the lines of "I just want it to work."
WordPress was easier in that regard-- I could get it to work the way I wanted with a modest amount of effort. The problem was a lack of confidence. At the time I was using WordPress, I was never quite convinced that its code was as clean or clear as it should have been.
This is all subjective. WordPress and Drupal are both great products, as plenty of people will tell you. But finding best-fit software seems to get more and more complicated the more specific you get about your expectations. Parts of The Paradox of Choice are starting to click in-- the fact that I have so many choices in blogging software complicates the decision about which one is the subjective best. I could be satisfied with either Drupal or WordPress or MovableType. But I wouldn't be able to let go of the nagging idea that I was missing out by not making a switch.