I'm on the mailing list for a certain weblog publishing platform (okay, I admit, it's for WordPress, which is an excellent open-source software, if not as feature-rich compared to Drupal) and the following quote from an email which is part of a discussion about a technical matter related to the location of some files. The email list is a technical mailing list, after all, but it struck me as relevant to what Bryght is trying to accomplish. First the quote:
I have no real idea what this file does and the discussion about it, but with regard to the average blogger - like me - if, when I upgrade, everything goes to where it should, and the .htaccess that is generated does what it needs to do, then the impact on me is about zero.
That last phrase is important. I just conducted a brief tutorial with people who know their business well, and want an outlet to write about it but don't want to worry about the technical details. The tutorial illustrated that, with the HTMLArea module added to a Drupal instance, there is no need to learn HTML or any other formatting language to create the content. My way of selling is was "if you know how to use Microsoft Word, you know how to edit content". (You can see HTMLArea in action at Boris' personal site.) The impact on them, in other words, is about zero. That's important because people who don't know HTML and don't have the time to learn it out number those who do, and it's up to those with technical skills to not only talk in a non-technical way but translate, if necessary, techie-speak into normal language. We at Bryght want to make sure that those who have content to create and a community to manage and participate in not only don't have to worry about the technical details of administering a community site.