IndyPlastic.com: Drupal-based Site for Indianpolis Plastic Surgeon

Dr. Bruce Van Natta, an Indianapolis plastic surgeon, found us through a referral from a trusted vendor. (That's always the best way to go, isn't it?) He needed a new web site to promote his plastic surgery practice, and his requirements were simple.

He needed a site that:

• expresses his personality (personable and informal, yet professional),
• interacts with his growing social media network (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Vimeo),
• incorporates a feed from his external blog,
• includes a WYSIWYG editor,
• allows for easy insertion of a variety of media (audio, video, photography),
• is configured for search engine optimization (SEO) from the outset,
• includes multiple automated before/after photo galleries,
• is easily maintained by his staff,
• and will evolve alongside his media and marketing needs.

Well, maybe those requrements aren't exactly simple. But with the tools available today, we think that they are the new "bare minimum" for such a web site. Simply put, a web site developed by a conscientious web developer, with the appropriate tools, should empower the client to maintain the site and grow his audience without constant intervention by tech nerds like us.

IndyPlastic.com includes individual FAQs, testimonials, and photo galleries within each procedure area. (The client creates a new photo page, selects a procedure from the pulldown, uploads a photo, and presses "Publish"; the photo is automatically inserted into the appropriate interactive gallery.)

Our client can insert YouTube and Vimeo videos on any page by clicking a media button and then pasting the web address... no need to copy and paste complicated HTML code.

Technical Details

For those of you interested in the details of the site, here you go. The site was built on Drupal. Drupal is, in our opinion, the most flexible content management framework available.

"So," you say, "I've heard of a CMS, but not a CMF. What's the difference, and why should I care?"

I'm glad you asked. Although people use the words interchangeably, a Content Management Framework (CMF) is more flexible than a Content Management System (CMS). Think of it this way: a CMS is a basic tool that allows someone to maintain a web site without knowing all the gory details. Using Drupal (a CMF), we built a more powerful CMS for our client. Without such an abstract and extensible tool, we might not have been able to create IndyPlastic.com in such a way that the client could maintain it.

(Truth be told, after that long explanation, we sometimes use the terms CMS and CMF interchangeably.)

There are a couple more comments we often hear. "I've heard that Drupal sites are hard to maintain." "Sites developed in [choose your platform] are ugly." Well, if you work with the wrong developer, any site can be hard to maintain. And we have certainly seen our share of ugly sites hosted on a variety of platforms. Look no further than drupal.org... it's not exactly attractive. But design and programming are two separate elements; the right developer understands how to combine them.

The Bottom Line

Does the difference between a CMF and CMS matter to our clients? Not at all. Were they impressed that we delivered a powerful web site, on budget, without flinching at their requirements? Most definitely.

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