Gonfiare

Today, outsourcing website design has taken the internet world by storm. So why are global organizations choosing outsourcing? More and more global companies are choosing to outsource today for various reasons, such as, cost-effective services, increased efficiency, increased productivity, shared risks, reduced operating costs, increased quality, better services and more time to focus on core competencies. Here are some reasons why organizations are outsourcing today. But why outsource to India and why do companies outsource to India. India is the most ideal place to outsource to, because India offers several advantages.

Everyone from small to large-scale organizations is outsourcing their web design requirements to a website design company.

Saves time

To be a successful business owner takes time. Most of your day will be spent streamlining operations and increasing sales. You shouldn’t have to worry about developing a new skill. Additionally, if there are activities which you prefer not doing, or can simply be done by someone else for a fraction of the cost, it can definitely be worth it to outsource.

Quality

Costs can be reduced by these plus effective quality programs that can reduce quality costs from a substantial percentage of revenue  to the insignificant levels of six sigma (which represents the statistical goal of about three defects per million).

Actively participate on product development teams. Design for manufacturability is even more difficult when outsourcing arrangements keep changing when  other companies chase cheap labor and change vendors for a new low-bidder.

Highly skilled talent pool

Today, one can get better quality services from a website design company. Countries such as India have many top designers, who are well-versed with the English language. Many of the designers in a website design company have high-level qualifications and many years of experience in designing. Therefore, entrusting them to do a website design job means a quality finished product.

Scalability

One of the most significant advantages of outsourcing to a website design company is that your projects have scalability. That means, in future, when there are more peak loads on the website, your design will accommodate it easily. Many a website design company incorporates these tactics to ensure a more robust design.

Thus outsourcing design to a website design company has several advantages. You can find the proper website design company after assessing rates and service portfolios.

Following on a new requirement, I wanted to find out about the best Multi-Site Open Source CMS available. Doing plenty of Google Searches I am of the opinion that Plone might just be the best Multi-Site CMS out there, but based on Python it is ruled out as I am looking for something PHP based.

The challengers are quite predictable, the 2 most popular CMS out there, Drupal and Joomla. I have worked on both Drupal and Joomla and stopped using Joomla due to Drupal’s superior arcthitecture and SEO friendliness, not to mention the number of features you get out of the box with Drupal. I would say Drupal is like Coke and Joomla is Pepsi. Pepsi might taste better at the first few sips, but it is hard to enjoy a whole bottle.

At a first glance, Drupal provides Multi-Site hosting out of the box and for Joomla a component called JMS (Joomla Multisites is required and has to be paid for). Please note that I am using Drupal version 6.x and Joomla version 1.5 for the comparison.

To get a good comparison I compiled a list of features that may be required:

1. Installation and Configuration
2. One/Multiple database for different sites
3. Abilitiy to use different modules on different websites
4. Ability to use different templates on one site
5. Simple organised directory structure
6. One login for all websites
7. Content Sharing across multiple sites

The following will be more of a JMS comparison with Drupal. I have added a little point system to make things interesting.

1. Installation and Configuration (1 point)

Drupal does Mulsites out of the box, Joomle requires and extention.

Drupal 1 – Joomla 0

2. One/Multiple database for different users (1 point)

Both have this feature using table prefix or multiple schemas.

Drupal 1 – Joomla 1

3. Ability to use different modules on different website(3 points)

In Drupal this is possible using /sites/<sitename>/modules directory. Even though to make multiple modules accessible you have to copy them to different directories individually or make symbolic links, yes it does get a little confusing!

This has been implemented very nicely in JMS using the interface you can share not only modules but file and folders as well.

Joomla rules this one.

Drupal 1 – Joomla 4

4. Ability to use different templates on one site (3 points)

Drupal, again you need to copy templates to different directories. Joomla wins this again with their interface.

Drupal 3 – Joomla 6

5. Simple Organised Directory Structure (2 Points)

Drupal has a nice clean directory structure and it is easy to make out where all the modules are stored and the owning sites of those modules based on the directory structure.

Joomla provides extra flexibility by adding extra flexibility through the administration panel.

Drupal 4 – Joomla 8

6. One login for all websites (4 points)

Universal login comes standard to Joomla for Drupal we either have to install all sites in one database with prefixed tables or install additional module. Drupal has an advantage in this case as you get the option to make groups and roles with different permissions easily. But I will keep the scores equal as there is just one prefixed database in Drupal.

Drupal 8 – Joomla 12

7. Content Sharing across multiple sites (4 points)

Again this can be achieved in Drupal through a shared prefixed database. There is an excellent artilce on this available at http://drupal.org/node/200631

To achieve this in Joomla we need to install another component, Article Sharing for Joomla. This is a paid component!!

Drupal 12 – Joomla 14

On paper and through the analysis above Joomla wins by 2 points.

But, since in Drupal’s I do not need to install anything extra to have a solid multi-site setup I choose to go with Drupal. Having made my choice I must tell you that I am known to be a little biased towards Drupal.

Also I am not a big fan of paid software as it defies the whole purpose of, and taints the spirit of Open Source Community. I would rather donate through my choice, than pay money for something that should be free.

I hope this articles helps you make the right selection for your website.