Drupal is indeed known for having a steeper learning curve than other CMSes, such as Wordpress and Joomla. It is also known for being more flexible and powerful.
However, the infamous steep learning curve applies to building a site using Drupal, not to editing or adding content to a well built Drupal site. (If you can post to LiveJournal, you can add/edit content to a good Drupal site.) And even then, how steep (or flat) that curve is really depends on what you're trying to do.
Like Wordpress, Drupal is PHP/SQL based. If you really want to, you can add your own PHP code... but usually someone else has already done the work for you. ("There's a module for that!" is an oft-heard Drupal cliche :-)
Especially with Drupal 7 (just released! w00t!), you don't really need to do more than install it in order to have your basic site. It's only when you start wanting to add more (and more and more) advanced features that things can get complicated.
Which brings us to hrj, who is known for regarding databases as her favorite kind of computer game. I'm confident she's going to want relational database type dynamic data presentation for her relational database type data. Drupal can do that very nicely, especially with a few key contributed modules. And, of course, she's likely to come to regard developing a Drupal site as a computer game...
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However, the infamous steep learning curve applies to building a site using Drupal, not to editing or adding content to a well built Drupal site. (If you can post to LiveJournal, you can add/edit content to a good Drupal site.) And even then, how steep (or flat) that curve is really depends on what you're trying to do.
Like Wordpress, Drupal is PHP/SQL based. If you really want to, you can add your own PHP code... but usually someone else has already done the work for you. ("There's a module for that!" is an oft-heard Drupal cliche :-)
Especially with Drupal 7 (just released! w00t!), you don't really need to do more than install it in order to have your basic site. It's only when you start wanting to add more (and more and more) advanced features that things can get complicated.
Which brings us to
Anyway, to complete my blatant self-promotion: SharonKrossa.com