using drupal 6 or 7 for a new PHP web application?

Question

if i create a new web application tomorrow, should i use Drupal 6 or 7?

i have never used drupal before so i have to start learning it first (very familiar with PHP) so i can understand the basics and how to extend it.

my concerns for using 7:

• no modules contributed yet? so i dont have all the fancy stuff i can add like in Drupal 6?
• no good documentation and lack of web tutorials? how could i learn about it if there is not that much support?
• too early in the development process? it's not stable enough?

i would like to use 7 cause i dont want to relearn everything and 7 is indeed just around the corner. but im afraid that it lacks all other stuff version 6 has.

could someone guide me into right direction?

thanks

Answer 1

For a new project version 6 would perhaps be better suited. When a new version of a framework is released you usually test it properly to see that it fits your expectations when it comes to functionality, stability and compatibility. And of course if it is even worth converting, sometimes the earlier version still has all you could possibly ask for.

But since you are going from scratch, you don't have much to compare to if you choose version 7 since you haven't used drupal 6. And as you said there's not much support or modules for drupal 7 yet so you'd be pretty much in the dark until the rest of the community with previous drupal experience catches up.

On the other hand if you feel comfortable writing your own extentions and taking the risk that drupal 7 could have one or more issues then go for it, it's a tougher road but you'd get a headstart if you put some effort into it and won't have to deal with converting later on.

But most important I think is that you research if there are any major differences between drupal 6 and drupal 7. It is very well possible that most of what you can learn about drupal 6 also applies for drupal 7.

Answer 2

You should write modules for the currently maintained stable version. These are D6 and D5. D7 is in alpha and thus might be unstable and might change a lot before an actual release (ie, your module might work in D7 alpha, but be completely broken in D7 beta and further). D7 is there for testing, not for production sites, so don't expect your module to be used before D7 is stable (and D5 maintenance is terminated).

In short: better start with Drupal 6.

Answer 3

Unless you are a veteran Drupal developer, it is way too early to adopt Drupal 7 for new projects. With previous major releases the sweet spot for adopting the new version has typically been three to six months after the official release, at which time lots of the most important add-on modules have been ported to the new release and life is good.

Just my two cents based on almost 5 years of experience with Drupal.

Answer 4

fayer, go with Drupal 6. Many live sites are still even using Drupal 5, so don't bother putting your project at risk using unstable technology.

However, while developing using D6, ensure that the modules you are using also show some early D7 snapshots. Try to avoid modules which don't seem to be well maintained. Also, in some cases it might be that Drupal 7 has core support for things you have to do with modules in D6. Try to get aware of such problems to make upgrade later possible.

In general, an upgrade makes only sense if you are actively developing the site. For example, if you don't extend the site with new functionality but just add new content, there is probably no reason to upgrade it to D7 anytime soon.